The dogs pulling the winning sled also deserve tribute

The national dog sled race Avannaata Qimussersua will be held in Qasigiannguit on Saturday, March 28, and the postal service Tusass will issue a stamp on the day, created by multi-artist Miki Jacobsen.

“The race is not only a sporting event, but also an important cultural mark that celebrates the continued role of dog sledding in Greenlandic society,” explains stamp manager Allan Pertti Frandsen.

Miki Jacobsen was born in Paamiut in 1965, but grew up in the dog sledding town of Sisimiut, where he raced with his own dogs as a child and teenager. Miki Jacobsen's watercolor on the stamp shows the iconic moment when this year's Greenlandic champion is being honored.

– Why did you choose this particular motif?

– The race is decided when the first dog sled crosses the finish line, but a strong symbol of the dog sled championship is the moment when excited spectators lift the winning sled with the driver into the air, says Miki Jacobsen to Sermitsiaq.

But no winner without dogs.

– It is the driver and the sled that are lifted into the air, but it requires close cooperation between the driver and the dogs to win the national championship. That is why I have put the dogs that pull the winning sled in the foreground. They deserve it, says Miki Jacobsen.

There has been big politics in dog sledding

Since the first championship in 1988, the race has been a national event, but at last year's championship there was big politics in dog sledding.

March 24, 2025 was a busy day at the new Atlantic Airport in Nuuk. First, two American Hercules planes with security personnel and four bulletproof cars landed, and later in the day, a Faroese passenger plane with Danish security personnel, police and police dogs landed. The massive security presence was due to the American Vice President's wife, Usha Vance, who had announced her arrival for the dog sled race in Sisimiut.

The American Consulate in Nuuk had sponsored Air Greenland's costs of transporting the driver, dogs and sleds to Sisimiut, but in return, the sender of the controversial invitation got lost in the mists. After some controversy, the Vice President's wife changed her travel plans and, together with her husband J. D. Vance, visited the American base in Pituffik.

The ballad is repeated in Qasigiannguit, where a local tour operator invited President Donald Trump's special envoy to Greenland, the governor of the state of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, to the race. Jeff Landry is not particularly popular either, considering that his job is to persuade Greenlanders to become Americans. The invitation has been withdrawn, and at the time of writing there has been a major political calm over tomorrow's race.

Warm and dry in the darkest winter months

However, it is not major political storms, but DMI's weather forecast that the organizers in Qasigiannguit are anxiously monitoring.

The Danish Meteorological Institute has measuring stations in Ilulissat and Aasiaat, but not in Qasigiannguit.

– The winter of 2025-26 began with significant heat and several temperature records along the West Coast, but during February temperatures generally fell, says climatologist Caroline Drost Jensen.

Ilulissat ended December, January and February on a par with the previous heat record from 1929 with an average temperature of minus 6.0 degrees, which is 6.3 degrees higher than normal for the three darkest winter months. Aasiaat had a winter that ended among the three warmest winters in the city: minus 5.7 degrees, which is 5.9 degrees higher than normal.

Qasigiannguit is probably somewhere in the middle of its neighboring cities.

In addition to the temperature, precipitation has also been low.

All DMI's measuring stations in Greenland measured less precipitation than normal. 200 kilometers south of Qasigiannguit, no precipitation fell in Kangerlussuaq during February - the driest February since measurements began in 1976.

And without precipitation, no snow. Nature decides

The local dog sledding association Qasigiannguani Qimmiutillit Peqatigiiffiat QQP is organizing this year's Greenland championship, and Gaba Rosbach is the contact person for the national organization Kalaallit Nunaanni Qimussertartut Katuffiat KNQK.

Qasigiannguit, like everywhere else, has lacked snow this winter, and the local association has been monitoring the condition of the route closely. The children's route is 8.5 kilometers; the adults' route is 40 kilometers.

– How has the route been affected by the warm and dry winter?

– There has been a lot of wind lately, so we need to look at how much snow is on the route. Fortunately, it looks better right now, but there is a lot of ice and some rocks on the part of the route that goes overland. If we have to go overland, there is a risk that some sleds may be damaged on the road, Gaba Rosbach tells our colleague Arnaq Nielsen ahead of Saturday's race.

– We hope that the recent snow that has fallen in Qasigiannguit will help us. Neriuppugut, but that's how it is, because nature decides, says Gaba Rosbach.

The warm winter creates such difficult ice conditions in North Greenland that it also affects the transport of dogs and sleds to the championship city. During the week, Arctic Command has provided icebreaker assistance, so that transport to Qasigiannguit despite the difficult conditions, has been carried out safely.

26 sled drivers from Nuussuaq in the north to Sisimiut in the south are set to start.

And the weather?

The DMI's weather forecast for Qasigiannguit promises minus 15 degrees, calm weather, cloudy skies and light snowfall on race day itself tomorrow.