Halfway through the second week of the 2017 Canada Summer Games, Inuvik swimmer Kierra McDonald had already hit a personal best on every race she raced.

鈥淚t鈥檚 gone pretty good,鈥� she said from Winnipeg last week. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been fun so far, but it鈥檚 tiring.鈥�

She feels the nerves before races, but they go away once she hits the water.

鈥淓veryone鈥檚 very competitive,鈥� said McDonald about the atmosphere. 鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty fun, but it鈥檚 also serious.鈥�

Jenna Guy, another athlete from Inuvik representing Team NWT in swimming, had also hit three personal bests when she talked to the Drum partway through the event.

鈥淚t鈥檚 very competitive,鈥� she said, adding that it鈥檚 fun to meet the other teams and talk to new people. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been trading a lot of pins, too.鈥�

Guy said she wasn鈥檛 as nervous as she expected to be, probably thanks to training for the event all summer.

Dawson Elias of Tuktoyaktuk and Cody Greenland of Inuvik were the only two athletes from the area to compete at both the North American Indigenous Games and Canada Summer Games this year.

鈥淚 think the week went pretty good,鈥� said Greenland after his final matches. 鈥淲e had lots of fun. The level of skill compared to us, there was so much of a difference. They were really, really good.鈥�

He was proud to represent Team NWT twice.

鈥�(The two events were) the same in some ways, but competition-wise it was a lot different,鈥� said Greenland. 鈥淐ompared to NAIG, it seems like these teams had been playing for a long time. They鈥檙e really good at volleyball here. The competition was way harder here than it was at NAIG.鈥�

Despite there being more fans in the stands, Greenland said he doesn鈥檛 tend to feel nervous.

In the first week of competition, Liam Larocque of Inuvik and Kolbi Bernhardt of Tuktoyaktuk competed for Team NWT in basketball and soccer.