There is still a lot of work to be done before the 2007 Canada Winter Games get underway, but Yukon athletes went a long way toward proving their competitiveness in the Inuit and Dene Games this past weekend.

The 2006 Yukon championships, which also doubled as the trials for the winter Games, were held over two days at Elijah Smith Elementary School. Athletes between the ages of 16 and 22 were invited to show off their skills in events such as the knuckle hop, snow snake and one foot high kick.

During the Inuit Games trials Sunday, Dean Mastrangelo, the executive director of the Yukon Aboriginal Sport Circle and also the assistant vice-president of sport for the 2007 Games, was pleased with what he saw.

'We still have work to do, but I think we have a good chance in some sports for medals. I think we'll be in the medals in the one foot high kick and the kneel jump, possibly even the one hand reach after what we saw today.'

There will also be five demonstration sports during the Games the blanket toss, airplane, bench reach, toe hang, hand pull and triple jump but Mastrangelo said it's too hard to tell how the Yukon will fare in those events, since they haven't been practicing them.

While the idea of the weekend's championships was to pick a training squad for the Games, with the final team selections to take place in January, just five males and two females showed up for the Inuit Games Sunday.

Now, said Mastrangelo, organizers will be searching for more interested females, since the the Yukon will be fielding a team comprised of four males and four females at the Games in February.

'We were hoping to actually pick the team over these two weeks, but there's just not enough interest yet,' he stated, adding the athletes will be practicing two to three times per week leading up to the winter Games.

One of the females who did attend the session Sunday was Gabrielle Thorsen-Herdes, who represented the territory at the 2006 Arctic Winter Games in Kenai, Alaska. Thorsen-Herdes put in some impressive performances, particularly in the swing kick an event which the athletes had never done until they learned it that morning.

'My favourite event would have to be the swing kick,' she said. 'It's just really different and it's an interesting feeling.'

Thorsen-Herdes was introduced to Inuit Games just prior to the AWG last year, after participating in Dene Games the year before. Fellow athlete and now coach Cody Wilkinson invited her to come give it a try and she's been doing it ever since.

'I have a really good time, just with the team we have here. It's a lot of fun and it's something different.'

Thorsen-Herdes also plays both basketball and volleyball during the school year, but said Inuit Games are a lot more about flexibility and muscle building, as opposed to cardio.

'Part of the reason I like (Inuit Games) so much is I really want to work on building muscle.'

In February, the young athlete will get her first chance to show her friends and family what she can do, something she admits is nerve-wracking, but she just hopes to pull off some personal bests.

As for the rest of the team, Thorsen-Herdes said she's confident her teammates will do well, although she cautioned its hard to say just how well because no one is familiar with the competitors from the other regions.

'It's going to be tough competition.'

2007 will mark just the third time Dene and Inuit Games have been a part of the Canada Games. The last time was at the summer Games in London, Ont. in 2001 while the first time was also at a summer Games, in Kamloops in 1993. Both those instances were strictly demonstration, meaning the Whitehorse Games will mark the first time medals are handed out.

Mastrangelo said the goal is to show off the fun and uniqueness of the events to those in the crowd, as well as give more athletes a chance to get involved in sport. But the goal is not to make Inuit or Dene Games a full-time medal sport at the Canada Games, he pointed out.

'Once the southern provinces start getting involved, it sort of loses the northern aspect of it,' he said. 'We just want to show it as the three northern territories.'

If anyone is interested in getting involved in either the Inuit or Dene Games, they can contact the Yukon Aboriginal Sport Circle.

Here are the results from the Inuit Games Yukon championships:

Kneel Jump

Male

1st Tom Fulop (3 ft, 10.5 in)

2nd Jake Loos (3 ft, 1.75 in)

3rd Mike Kelly (2 ft, 6.5 in)

Female

1st Gabriel Thorsen-Herdes

(1 ft, 6.25 in)

2nd Caroline Anderson (8.5 in)

One Hand Reach

Male Only

1st Jake Loos (4 ft, 7.5 in)

2nd Mike Johnson (4 ft, 7 in)

2nd Tom Fulop (4 ft, 7 in)

Two Foot High Kick

Male

1st Tom Fulop (6 ft, 8 in)

2nd Jake Loos (6 ft)

Swing Kick

Male

1st Jake Loos (4 ft, 8 in)

Female

1st Gabriel Thorsen-Herdes

(2 ft, 11 in)

One Foot High Kick

Male

1st Jake Loos (7 ft, 6 in)

2nd Mike Kelly (7 ft, 4 in)

3rd Tom Fulop (7 ft, 2 in)

Female

1st Gabriel Thorsen-Herdes

(5 ft, 2 in)

Knuckle Hop

Male Only

1st Jake Loos (77 ft, 9 in)

2nd Tom Fulop (62 ft)

3rd Mason Fairclough (26 ft, 8 in)

Arm Pull

Female Only

1st Gabriel Thorsen-Herdes

2nd Caroline Anderson

All Around

Male

1st Jake Loos

2nd Tom Fulop

3rd Mike Kelly

Female

1st Gabriel Thorsen-Herdes

2nd Caroline Anderson

Here are the results from the Dene Games Yukon championships Saturday:

Snow Snake

Male

1st Doronn Fox (185 ft, 5 in)

2nd Blake Lepine (188 ft, 8 in)

3rd Cody Wilkinson (133 ft, 3 in)

Female

1st Charabelle Silverfox (118 ft, 3 in)

2nd Victoria Medcalf (95 ft)

3rd Myranda Charlie (62 ft)

Stick Pull

Male

1st Doronn Fox

2nd Jonah Caeser

3rd Cody Wilkinson

Female

1st Charabelle Silverfox

2nd Victoria Medcalf

3rd Myranda Charlie

Finger Pull

Male

1st Doronn Fox

2nd Blake Lepine

3rd Jonah Caeser

Female

1st Myranda Charlie

2nd Kara Lepine

3rd Victoria Medcalf

All Around

Male

1st Doronn Fox

2nd Blake Lepine

3rd Cody Wilkinson

3rd Jonah Caeser

Female

1st Charabelle Silverfox

2nd Myranda Charlie

2nd Victoria Medcalf