“It is way too much fun,” said Sue, who brought home three gold medals in 1986. “I would highly recommend it to anyone that can go. It’s just like a mini Olympics.”

Medals are only part of the excitement. Mostly, Sue said, it is the event itself — the opening and closing ceremonies, attending the daily award ceremonies to see how other athletes have done and being recognized as an athlete.

There is the cultural exchange among athletes, and for the Strutz family there also has been the opportunity to visit other parts of the world. Held every two years since the Games began in 1970, they rotate among participating arctic countries. In 36 years, they have been held in the Canadian provinces of Quebec, Alberta, Yukon Territory, Northwest Territories and Nunavut; in Alaska; and in Greenland.

“Heather had quite a choice,” Sue said of opportunities her daughter faced in 2002, the year the Games were divided between Nuuk, Greenland and Iqualuit, Nunavut. “They were held during spring break and we were going to Mexico. She thought she’d get to Mexico again someday, but probably never get to Greenland.”

Another part of the fun of the Arctic Winter Games is exchanging items, such as pins, with athletes from other countries.

“The pin trading is out of this world,” said Sue of the highly valued pins that denote the athletes’ areas of origin. “Before we went, we wrote to legislators and went to the city of Homer for pins to trade. … My husband and kids and I put them on a nice (piece of) velveteen that we hung on the wall.”

Clothing also is a popular item to swap with other athletes.

“But I heard that the coaches get pretty angry if you trade before closing ceremonies, so there’s always a scramble to get (the clothing) back before the closing,” Sue said.

Equally important are the lasting memories created at the Games, such as the ones Sue shares with Doug Schwiesow of Homer, her ski biathlon teammate in 1986.

“She was the ‘studette’ of the team, actually won all three gold medals and beat me in a couple of races,” Doug said. “We had a great time. It was a fabulous experience. The camaraderie. All the people. Mixing it up with a lot of different cultures. It really wasn’t about winning the medals.”

Races were held around the state in order to qualify for the team, Doug recalled. Among the athletes he met during that time was Dave Michaels of Kasilof, who was on the U.S. cross country ski team at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. Michaels now teaches at Tustumena Elementary School.

“He schooled me pretty good,” Doug said, laughing.

Doug’s wife, Lois Bettini, was on Alaska’s snowshoe team in the 1998 Arctic Winter Games in Yellowknife, NWT, and came home with a bronze medal of which she is “pretty dang proud.”

“And my team elected me for the ‘Good Sportsmanship Award.’ That was a nice honor on the part of my team members,” Lois said.

Of the reception at Yellowknife, Lois said, “It was so cool to be warmly welcomed by a smaller community that really had an appreciation of northern sports. It made me feel like a true — for lack of a better word — Olympian. You felt that kind of emotion. … The public was really enthusiastic and cheered wildly. It didn’t matter who you were.”

Memories that have stayed with Lois include daily award ceremonies, visiting with other competitors and the cultural programs.

“It was such a rich, groovy experience that also had a really neat community participation and feel,” Lois said. “I loved every minute of it. I wish everyone could have that experience. … It takes your participation (in sports) to an entirely different level.”

Deb Lowney of Homer has a different perspective from her experience as an Arctic Winter Games coach. This is the fourth AWG for which she is coaching the Alaska girls’ basketball team.

“The recruiting process is a challenge, most definitely,” Deb said. “I try to get kids that represent the whole state, but for me to be able to see them play and give the kids a good shot at making the team is difficult. I have to rely a lot on them being able to get me a tape and the coaches’ recommendations.”

In addition to distance, Deb helps educate coaches about the games and faces scheduling conflicts.

“The Games always seem to hit at the end of (basketball) season, so trying to find athletes that are available and skilled enough to be able to compete at that level is a challenge,” she said. “Villages and small schools need every athlete they have, and that’s unfortunate because it makes it difficult for village kids to compete (in the Games). We end up taking a lot of eighth graders.”

She echoed the former AWG athletes’ comments about benefits of the Games.

“Oh, my gosh, the cultural experience is tremendous,” Deb said. “The interaction with all the different cultural groups, seeing a variety of events, and the opening ceremony has a real impact in terms of magnitude. When you see the athletes walking into the arena representing all the countries it’s pretty overwhelming. You really feel like you’re at an Olympic event.”

Thinking of the 2006 Arctic Winter Games athletes, Lois said, “I wish you the same emotions and feelings and spirit that I had. … Enjoy it to the most.”

“Just go have a wonderful time and enjoy all the interesting, different cultures that you’ll see,” Doug said. “It’s about camaraderie and the northern latitude games that only can happen up here and the fact that a lot of people live in little tiny remote villages with very little support and you have to do so much of it on your own.”

Speaking for a family that has years of Arctic Winter Games participation, Sue Strutz offered some all-encompassing advice.

“Totally soak up the whole experience,” she said.