As tourists streamed into the Yukon Visitor Reception Centre Thursday morning, many of them stopped to check out the press conference being held by the 2007 Canada Games Host Society, wondering what the heck the big deal was.

Heavy in weight, large in size and simple, yet eye-catching in design, the medals which will be handed out to athletes at the 2007 Games were officially unveiled to the public.

And even though most of the visitors had no idea the Games are headed to Whitehorse or what exactly the Games even are they strained to get a glimpse of the hardware. Some of them even snapped pictures of the much-anticipated medal discs, or ran their fingers along the edges. All of them seemed quite impressed.

'I really like them,' agreed Piers McDonald, president of the Games host society. 'Quite truthfully, you never really know what to expect. I was actually pleasantly surprised they're as nice as they are.

'I'm looking forward to putting them around people's necks next year.'

The medal design incorporates the ulu, a familiar symbol of the North. It includes three ulus, one for each territory, joined in a circle to represent unity.

On the blade of each ulu is a depiction of the official territorial animals: the raven for the Yukon, the polar bear for the Northwest Territories and the Canadian inuit dog for Nunavut.

The raven is placed at the top, soaring above, with the polar bear and inuit dog below, facing each other in friendship. The Canada Games logo is on the back of the medal, a standard element, to celebrate the national athletic achievement.

'The 2007 host society did a great job selecting a design,' said Sue Hylland, president and CEO of the Canada Games Council. 'We are sure the medalists will be very proud to receive this medal and to keep it, not only with the memory of having achieved a medal worthy performance at one of the most prestigious Canadian events, but also the memories of a truly unique Games hosted by the North.'

Terra Firma Art Co.'s Adam Green, Rory O'Brien and Neil Robinson submitted the winning design. The entries were reviewed by a panel of volunteers with expertise in arts, sports, marketing and aboriginal culture, as well as members of the medal committee and host society staff.

'We actually entered three designs (to the selection committee),' said Green. 'Two of them were based on the ulu and one was an abstract design. This was the one chosen. The abstract design was probably a bit too abstract.'

Green said the design team was looking for one symbol that represented a common thing for each territory, so the ulu made sense. He said they talked about the fact ulus are already presented as medals at the Arctic Winter Games, and felt that was an advantage, not a concern.

The animals, he said, were included on the medals for two reasons.

'It brings in again the indigenous part (of the territories). As well, each territory has a respective animal symbol, so it just made sense.'

All three men on the design team hail from Whitehorse, which McDonald said is important to the host society. Throughout the entire process, he said, the host society has given northern residents the opportunity to be included in nearly every aspect.

'When it comes to something as prominent as the medal design or logo, we definitely want to keep it within the North,' he said.

Green said it was an honour for he and his fellow designers to be involved.

'Of course, the business part of it is one level, and to be involved on an artist level as well.

'It's really important, I thought, that the design come from the North. There's so much talent here and knowledge. Why take it down South?

'We want to expose the North to the national stage and this is one level.'

Now that a formal design has been established, the host society will produce a tender for medal production. The 2007 Canada Winter Games will host 22 sports (including snowboarding, which is a demonstration sport), which means 1,200 medals will be awarded. The estimated cost of producing the 1,200 medals is $10,000.

Meanwhile, all other areas of the 2007 Games which are now less than nine months away seem to be coming along nicely, with volunteer numbers currently sitting at 1,145 (out of an estimated 5,000 total that will be needed).

McDonald said the host society is getting close to $1-million in terms of local sponsorship, which was the original goal, with several more key announcements still to come. And presentations to major national sponsors are going on pretty much every week.

'We won't stop until delivery day,' he stated.

Last weekend, the MASY (Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Yukon) Challenge synchronized swimming championships were held in Whitehorse as a test event for the Games the last test event in a long line that began last year and included several national championships, as well as western events.

'We're certainly much better off now (with the test events completed),' said McDonald. 'If there were any cracks, we certainly exposed them. The test events did what they were supposed to do.

'We've learned a lot and we're feeling much more confident heading into the home stretch.'