Judging by the smiles and excitement on Wednesday, you'd never know that it had been around five years since the NWT Track and Field Championships had last been held.
But it's true, and it was obvious the meet was missed by a lot of people.
Day one of the return of the largest sporting event in the NWT saw dozens of athletes competing in long-distance running, high jump, javelin and discus, among others.
One of the big winners on the first day was Jayden Hwata of William McDonald School, who won the U13 boys high jump with a winning leap of 1.30 metre.
Once he got the win, Hwata said that was good enough for him.
"That was definitely it," he said.
As tradition goes, high jump winners have the option to keep going for as long as they don't fail a height. The record for that particular division is held by Luke Dizon of Yellowknife, who leaped 1.57 metres in 2017.
"I thought about it, but I knew I wouldn't get it," said Hwata.
The return of the championships was a welcome sight for Kenzie McDonald, president of Athletics NWT. He said getting back out there was a mixture of happiness and relief.
"It's great to be back and the buzz is definitely there," he said. "I was quite impressed when I heard the number of athletes (close to 900) and it's great to see kids who are still interested in it."
McDonald, the coach for East Three Secondary in Inuvik, said he can see the excitement in his young athletes.
"My group especially had no idea about the sport except for two who went to NAIG (North American Indigenous Games) last summer," he said. "I think as it goes on, they'll become less afraid. Talking to other coaches, almost every kid they brought was new and they had no idea what it was. It's all about getting them trained up to the bare minimum and we can work with that moving forward."
And some of those athletes who marched in were rather excited to do so. One of them was Scarlett Robillard of Princess Alexandra School in Hay River. This was her first crack at the championships and she said there were absolutely no nerves.
"With the fires, the flood and Covid, I never thought I would never get to do this," she said. "I'm excited to do it."