The secret to Team Yukon’s success at the Canada 55+ Games is simple, team members say.

Entering the national tournament in Strathcona County, Alta., as a unified squad propelled the territory to a third-place medal finish – and the coveted “Spirit of the Games” award.

The 150-member team made up of 132 senior athletes earned 64.5 medals – the half medal coming via a tie – at the biannual national event.

Final standings saw the Yukon win 24 gold, 22.5 silver and 18 bronze medallions.

Host Alberta finished atop the standings, with their 731 athletes collecting a whopping 334 medals.

Meanwhile, Saskatchewan’s 295 athletes earned 124 medals, while Ontario’s team of 212 finished in sixth place with 47.5 top-three finishes.

Northwest Territories, a team of 64 seniors, finished eighth with 15 medals.

“I think one thing that’s different from any of the other contingents that go is we go as a group and we all support each other,” co-chef de mission Linda Stratis told the Star yesterday.

“Not very many teams do that. I think a lot of it is that there’s just good support.

“And we were competitive in everything. We put on a pretty good show.”

The “Spirit of the Games” award win marked the fourth time the territory has received the honour, which has only been handed out eight times.

The team spirit was easy to spot, as team members could often be found belting out local musician Hank Karr’s team anthem, uniquely penned for the 2014 event.

The track and field contingent led the way for the territory, earning 35 of the overall medals, including 11 golds and 16 silvers.

Three Watson Lake athletes – John Hall, Naomi Hall and Dave Kalles – earned 10 medals between them.

Whitehorse runner Brenda Dion earned four gold medals – in the 50- and 100-metre sprints as well as javelin and discus. She ran the 100 in 15.34.

It was the second Canada 55+ Games event for the 57-year-old, as she also attended the 2012 event in Sydney, N.S.

There, she also earned four gold medals.

“That year, I did shot put instead of discus,” Dion explained.

Participation varies by activity at the Canada 55+ Games.

“The 50 and the 100 were tough competitions,” Dion said. “But the javelin and the discus – there were probably only three other competitors with me.”

In fact, it took a thorough examination of a spectator’s photo of the 50-m sprint finish to award the silver medal in the event.

Dion said the track and field group owed special thanks to local athletic coach Don White, who marked out a temporary track on the grass field behind F.H. Collins Secondary School in Riverdale after the standard track was turned into a construction zone this summer.

“He was great,” she said. “He even put lines to make it look like a track. It was wonderful.”

The Yukon’s cycling team won seven medals, including five golds.

Mike McCann, 67, beat out four rivals en route to two golds in the men’s 65+ 40-km time trial and the 60-km road race.

“You’re competing against those who show up,” McCann said.

“From what I understand, the competition level has been rising over the last few years.

“What was very impressive is the ElderActive Association and the Yukon government had taken this somewhat seriously ... It was very well organized on our end.”

In the pool, Linda Augustine’s three gold medals helped pace the swim team to a haul of 16 medals.

Nesta Leduc and Steven Duncan also earned two gold medals each.

“I think everybody was happy with their results,” Duncan said.

“There was a lot of age categories, so sometimes your competition was pretty minimal – sometimes one or two.”

The 60-year-old lined up against two others when he earned his two freestyle race wins.

“Per capita, we probably have the most people at the Games,” he said. “I thought we did very good.”

Full medal results were published in Tuesday’s Star.