All hail the Great COVID-19 Non-Loppet

If you're looking for anything athletic to do in Yellowknife right now, your options are limited.

If you're not into skiing, you can do ... skiing.

The Yellowknife Ski Club is perhaps the only game in town right now when it comes to anything remotely resembling sporty activity and one of its big annual events happened earlier this month.

Though there were some minor changes because of you-know-what.

The annual Yellowknife Gold Loppet sponsored by Gold Terra was set to happen on April 5 but the event didn't go off as planned, much like every other sporting event in the world right now. The cancellation didn't stop skiers from heading out onto some groomed trails in the Yellowknife area for what was known as the Great COVID-19 Non-Loppet, which happened on April 5.

This year's re-named event still featured a course in the Yellowknife area but instead of having it start and finish at Vee Lake – which has served as the traditional start/finish line for several years – a 20-km groomed course was built within the city proper.

Instead of hitting checkpoints such as Walsh Lake and Banting Lake, this year's course saw skiers make their way through Back Bay, Yellowknife Bay, the Yellowknife Ski Club and around Frame Lake.

Kerry Wheler, the ski club's events co-ordinator, said the event was still planning on happening as advertised in late March but as things began to escalate, the decision was made to scrap it.

“We recognized that having the loppet this year wouldn't be appropriate considering all that's going on,” she said. “Vee Lake is our gathering point and there would have been plenty of people all in close proximity and that would have been much too many to be safe. We wanted to uphold the recommendations of the chief public health officer (Dr. Kami Kandola).”

There was no set start time for skiers to hit the course but those who wanted to keep track of how they were doing could do by using Strava, a program which primarily tracks cycling and running exercises, she added.

“I was out myself three times on that Sunday and I saw lots of people, all keeping physical distance, of course,” she said. “People were getting on at Back Bay or Yellowknife Bay or Frame Lake. People were just beaming because the conditions were so good and it was wonderful to see so many people taking advantage of it.”

The groomed course was made by a group of volunteers who helped lay tracks down for people on event day with Kevin Hodgins, Niels Konge, Dave Kellett and Ryan McCord among those helping lay down the tracks.

Konge laid down the stretch by Back Bay as well as the tracks around Frame Lake.

“I've done Vee Lake to Walsh Lake the last couple of years,” he said. “A lot of the people who lay down tracks do so with groomers behind their snow machine. I have a Snowcat I use and it lays down a classic track about 16 ft. wide with a flat track for the skate-skiers in between.”

The original plans were for everyone to finish at the ski club but without the traditional bowl of chili afterwards, which would have been served inside the club's chalet, because of physical distancing concerns.

As it stands, the club is one of the few recreational locations in the North, and in the country for that matter, which still has its main facilities open to the public. Anyone can ski on the trails free of charge until the ski season is deemed to be finished.

“Once the city closed all of its facilities, that's when we responded by making the trails free for the rest of the season,” said Wheler. “It's OK to be out skiing, so long as it's done safely, and it's good for all aspects of health, especially mental health. People are trying to cope with the changes to life and being active is one way to help people stay fully healthy so we're happy we can provide people with a way to do that.”

Konge said he's surprised with how popular the trails have become but he knows it's because things aren't normal, nor will they be once things begin to clear.

“Normal won't be what we had before all this happened,” he said. “I've read some things about the distancing and I think it's going to become a part of life now.”