In what has become a more reliable tradition than the actual running of the sled dog race in recent years, organizers of the Hudson Bay Quest announced on their Facebook page Feb. 8 that the event is being cancelled.
It is the fourth year in a row of the race being called off.
Scheduled to have been held in March, the sled dog race between Gillam and Churchill was cancelled due to a low number of entries and logistical problems.
“The Organizing Committee will be taking a step back to review continuing logistical problems and retooling the race to bring a more consistent and informative platform to our mushers and sponsors in the future,” said a press release.
The committee hopes that the race will be held again in 2024.
Prior to this year, the previous three editions were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertainty arising from it.
The race was last held in 2019. The year before that, it was cancelled due to low registration and in 2017 it was cancelled as a result of a massive blizzard that blew through Northern Manitoba in the first week of March.
The race has now been cancelled as many times — six — as it has been held since becoming a race between Gillam and Churchill in 2012. Prior to that, the Hudson Bay Quest had been run between Churchill and Arviat, Nunavut, since its founding in 2004.
