The Arctic X Games have been cancelled.

The Yukon government announced early this afternoon that the six-sport event set to occur in Whitehorse from March 6 to 12, 2016, will not be happening.

The decision was made after two of the five participating jurisdictions withdrew.

While officials didn’t say today which jurisdictions dropped out, at a city council meeting earlier this year, Sport Yukon’s George Arcand said there were some budgetary issues for Northern Alberta and Alaska due to low oil prices at the time.

The event had been set as an alternate multi-sporting competition for the six sports that had been left out of next year’s Arctic Winter Games being held in Greenland due to a lack of facilities.

Between 420 and 475 athletes in hockey, gymnastics, figure skating, speed skating, dog mushing and curling had been expected to compete at the event.

“Events like the Arctic X Games are important to the development of our young athletes, and it is particularly vital that they have the opportunity to compete against their northern peers,” Community Services Minister Currie Dixon said in a statement.

“We are disappointed in the cancellation of the Arctic X Games, but we are committed to helping the affected athletes participate in other competitions by providing them with funding support.”

The $100,000 the Yukon government had committed to the Games will be reallocated to help athletes who are impacted find other competitions that contribute athletic development.

As examples, it was noted the Yukon Gymnastics Association and Arctic Edge Skating Club may use the funding to travel to training camps or competitions Outside.

“We would like to thank all of our partners who worked together to develop the Arctic X Games,” Sport Yukon president George Arcand said

“While we are certainly disappointed that the Arctic X Games were cancelled, we are pleased that the Government of Yukon has reallocated this funding to provide other opportunities to the affected athletes.”

The city had been set to provide facility rentals for the events, which had been valued at about $50,000. Other organizations were also expected to provide facility use for the competition.