Cross Country Yukon's Canada Winter Games squad is packed with experience.

Seven cross-country skiers recently named to the team will be heading to their second Canada Winter Games.

"That in itself is amazing,” Team Yukon head coach Allain Masson said. "We also have so many older skiers, something we don't see often with smaller provinces.”

But that's just a fraction of experience the team boasts.

Emily Nishikawa, Janelle Greer, Heidi Brook, David Greer, Colin Abbott, John Parry and Ray Sabo each competed in the 2007 Games in Whitehorse and will join Dahria Beatty, Knute Johnsgaard and Kendra Murray in Halifax next month.

"Overall, we have 10 really competitive skiers,” Masson said.

Beatty, Johnsgaard and Janelle Greer are all members of Cross Country Canada's junior national team. Nishikawa trains at the Alberta World Cup Academy in

Canmore and David Greer trains at the Pierre Harvey National Development Centre in Quebec. Abbott skis for XC Ottawa at Carleton University. And Parry, Sabo and Brook each ski at University of Alaska Fairbanks.

"There's probably added expectations from themselves, they want to do better than they did last time, because they have all that experience. But at the same time, they also know that the competition is much stiffer than it's ever been for a Canada Games.”

Alternates will be Katie Peters and Holly Bull for the female side and Jeff Wood and Lee Hawkings for the men.

Cross Country Yukon pre-selected six skiers – Abbott, Greer, Johnsgaard for the men and Greer, Nishikawa and Beatty for the women – based on results from last season and status on the national team.

Trial races to select the remaining four spots (two male, two female) were originally scheduled for December but were cancelled due to conditions plummeting below minus -20 Celsius.

Women Brook and Murray and men Parry and Sabo earned spots on the team based on their results at the Haywood NorAm World Junior/U23 Trials at the Lappe Nordic Ski Centre in Thunder Bay, Ont., last week, and the U.S. Cross Country Championships.

"Realistically, we have maybe one or two individuals who have a chance to be close to the podium in the individual races,” Masson said. "Emily Nishikawa, she should have expectations to be fighting for a podium position. David Greer is another one who, if he's racing well, should have a chance to get on the podium.

"But for the other skiers, top 10 results are probably more realistic for them, based on their performance and where they're ranked nationally.”

In the 2007 Games, the female relay team won bronze, Masson added.

"Our best chance of being competitive will be as a team; we're definitely going to be fighting for top position as a team in the relay, in both the male and the female.”

New to the Canada Winter Games this year is a disabled competition. John Paul Austring and Ramesh Ferris will be representing the territory in the sit-ski category.

Team Yukon's coaching staff includes Masson, who will be assisted by Amanda

Deuling, Carolyn Coombs, Veronique Theriault, Scott Puskas and Nick Stratis.

The Canada Winter Games will pit the best skiers in the country aged 23 and under against each other in four days of racing.

Racing will be more intense than in previous Canada Games as the competition has now been opened up to any skier who has not won a medal at World Cup or Olympic levels. Previously, athletes who had been part of the National Cross Country Team were ineligible to compete.