The log cutting event of the Indigenous relay challenge at Prince Albert campus of Saskatchewan Polytechnic. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW Staff)

By Ian Gustafson

Ready Set Go

Indigenous relay challenge forms team bonding

Sep 19, 2019 | 4:41 PM

The Indigenous relay challenge is back for another year at the Prince Albert campus of Saskatchewan Polytechnic.

Sask. Polytechnic students competed in a lighthearted event split into nine teams of 10 people.

The relay race consisted of two separate heats with five teams in the first wave and four in the next. The race had nine different timed events.

The race began with a long-distance run with a baton handing to members who canoed across the river and back. They then handed it to a cyclist who then passed it to a runner carrying a heavy bag. The next leg was the log cutting portion. The final event required team members to start a fire with minimal resources and boil a can of water.

Jennifer Brockman, the organizer of the event and the coordinator of the All Nations Gathering Place Indigenous Student Centre at Sask. Polytechnic, said the event is great for team bonding.

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“It’s really exciting to see the students come together. It’s great for team building but also the education of what Indigenous peoples would have done to survive on the land,” Brockman told paNOW. “Especially with students who have maybe never have done something like this before to take the courage and the time to put together a team and also just to participate is really amazing.”

According to a media release, the event is part of the fall equinox celebration and is put on through the Indigenous Students Centre and the Indigenous Student Success Strategy.

“It’s a great team builder at the beginning of the year to do this. It creates a lot of friendships within their classmates and just teaches them about coming together, and helping each other and I think those are values that anybody can relate to,” Brockman said.

The last stage of the relay challenge is the fire starter event. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW Staff)

Deanna Speidel, the Indigenous Strategy Coordinator for Saskatchewan Polytechnic, said the event goes along in their philosophy miyo wahkohtowin of the Indigenous student success strategy.

“It builds capacity, it builds community and it involves a lot of fun and faculty,” she said. “My favourite part of the relay is the starting of the fire and boiling water.”

“It brings about awareness, so what did they use to do a long time ago without the resources? and how did they make fun? It just goes along the line of traditional games,” she added.

Miyo wahkohtowin, the success strategy at Sask Polytechnic, Speidel said helps support the education gaps of the Indigenous learners and to bring about awareness and education to everybody.

Tyrell Cherney, a participant in the relay, said his portion of the relay was running with a 22-pound bag.

“Go hard at the beginning and finish strong as well. I kind of participate in military activities so it’s something I prefer to do,” Cherney said. “We all coordinated between each other and picked our strong suits.”

“It just all happened in a flash. The guy on the bike off the east side gate of the exhibition grounds and I ran to him and grabbed that baton and I came running for the bag of flour and I just grabbed it and I left. Didn’t think of anything just grabbed and go,” he said.

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ian.gustafson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @iangustafson12