Yukon cross-country skier Janelle Greer hasn't had to look too far for a role model in her sport.

In fact, you could say it's in her blood. Greer has been raised in a family full of avid skiers, including her parents Bill and Lorrie, who can regularly be seen on the trails at Mount McIntyre.

Her older sister Brittany won a total of eight gold ulus in her tenure at the Arctic Winter Games, in 2000 and 2004, and is currently touring the NCAA circuit as a member of the University of Alaska ski team. Her older brother David has also had his share of success, with impressive placings on the territorial and national level.

And Janelle is no slouch herself.

Those who watched her at the 2004 AWG certainly saw her potential, as she picked up four ulus skiing in the midget category as a mini-midget. On Monday, she proved that she is indeed ready to step into her sister's shoes and lead the Yukon team at this year's AWG in the Kenai Peninsula.

Greer was the first Yukon athlete to claim a gold ulu at the Games, with a convincing win in the midget female three-km classic race. She took first place by more than a minute over fellow Yukoner Dahria Beatty, with a time of 13:19.05. Beatty posted a time of 14:29.00.

'It was really good,' a modest Greer said in an interview from Alaska Monday. 'I started off the race close to last, so I had a lot of people I could push myself to catch up with. I had no idea what to expect, so I just went out and skied my hardest.

'Now, for the next races, I know what to expect from the competition, and I'll still try just as hard.'

Greer, who also won gold in the three-km classic in 2004, said the classic technique races are her favourite, since, 'I kind of like the longer ones.' But she's also confident in her abilities for the sprint races, which she will compete in today, and the free technique events, which go Thursday. The relay events run Friday.

In 2004, she won silver in the five-km free, bronze in the 750-m sprint and silver in the midget female relay.

Greer said she hasn't really though of a specific goal in terms of ulus, but she's enjoying the trails in Alaska, which she said are really flat and have lots of fresh snow much more than the trails in Whitehorse.

'I just want to meet a lot of new people and have fun,' she stated.

Greer wasn't the only Yukon athlete to strike gold on Day 1 at the AWG. Competing in the junior male 500-m speed skating event, Troy Henry set a blistering pace of 47.68 seconds to take top spot. At the 2004 AWG, Henry won gold in all four of his events and also set three new records.

Also in speed skating Monday, Brett Elliot won the bronze in the junior male event with a time of 48.66. And in the junior female 500-m race, Tara MacKinnon grabbed silver.

Trevor Twardochleb, the chef de mission for Team Yukon, said he was actually able to catch Henry and Elliot racing on TV. He said the Anchorage NBC station has had very good coverage of the AWG so far.

'(The 500-m race) was a tight battle,' Twardochleb remarked.

The Yukon's third gold ulu of this year's Games came in the Dene Games juvenile female snow snake event, where Charabelle Silverfox came out on top. Teammate Kara Lepine collected the silver. Twardochleb said the Yukon almost swept the category, but there was a bit of a protest over who has won the silver.

'They were running two lanes of throwing and they got some of the numbers mixed up, which was unfortunate,' said Twardochleb. 'Nobody saw (Kecia Kassi's throw).'

The remaining ulus for the Yukon came in cross-country skiing, Inuit Games and snowshoe biathlon.

Heading into Day 2, there were several events where the Yukon was expected to add to their ulu total, including the sprint races in cross-country skiing, the 777-m and 1,000-m events in speed skating, Dene Games stick pull, four and six-dog races in dog mushing, the bordercross in snowboarding and the slalom in alpine skiing.

Also on Day 2, the male and female basketball teams will take on Nunavut, the male curling team faces Alaska and Alberta while the female rink is up against the N.W.T. In figure skating, athletes will take to the ice for the short program, while the bantam and female hockey teams are in action against Alaska. The midgets have the day off.

In soccer, the intermediate females play their first game of the tournament against the N.W.T., the junior females and junior males take on the N.W.T. as well, and the juvenile males and females both face Alaska.

The Yukon table tennis athletes compete in doubles today, after the preliminaries in singles on Monday. In the junior female category, Zara Bachli won two of her matches 3-0 and lost one 3-0 while Karlie Knight lost two of her matches 3-0 and lost one 3-2.

In junior male action, Ben Barrett-Forrest lost one match 3-1 and two matches 3-0 while Logan Gray dropped one match 3-1 and the other two 3-0.

Malkolm Boothroyd was successful in the juvenile male category, winning two matches 3-1 and 3-2 and dropping two, both 3-0. Ryan Bachli lost his three matches by 3-0 scores.

And in juvenile female action, Claire Abbott won a match 3-0 and lost two by 3-1 and 3-0 scores. Jada Powell lost one of her matches 3-1 and the other three 3-0.

Meanwhile, not all of the Yukoners at the AWG are competing for medals.

Yesterday morning at the AWG daily press conference, Yukon's cultural contingent, the Leaping Feets dance group, performed a freestyle dance routine to an audience of international media.

Leaping Feets were invited to perform at the press conference on behalf of the AWG, who are planning to present interesting stories from each of the teams attending the Games.

From handstands to back flips, the group of 10 maneuvered rhythmically through eight minutes of hip hop dance music.

'These kids are like family', said Andrea Fowler-Simpson, the coach of Team Yukon's cultural contingent. 'They spend a lot of time together, from snowboarding to training to leading community outreach programs for the youth of Yukon.'

Media representatives from Greenland, Russia, Alaska, Alberta, the N.W.T., Nunavut, Quebec and Yukon were on hand to take in the show. Some questions posed to the group included, what type of training they do, where they get their inspiration from, how they were enjoying their time at the Games and when they would be performing next.

Tracey Bilsky, Team Yukon's cultural mission staff member said, 'I am so proud of this group, every time they perform people are blown away. This was a great experience and will surely energize them for the many performances they have over the next five days.'