FORT McMURRAY, Alta. Strength and dedication are two words often used when discussing Yukon athlete Melissa Howell.

Howell, who has also represented the Yukon in junior weightlifting for the past year, is competing in Arctic sports at the 2004 Arctic Winter Games in Fort McMurray, Alta. On Sunday, she won a bronze ulu in the arm pull during her first day of competition.

'I don't practice it (the arm pull),' said a smiling Howell after her victory. 'I think I did pretty good for not training - I trained about four times.

'I'd rather have gold, but that Russian girl is impossible to beat. She's like a super trainer.'

Howell also competed in the kneel jump competition earlier in the afternoon, where she placed seventh.

'I could have done better,' she said about leaping from a kneeling position. 'The way I was practicing was not correct (her form), so I was kind of upset. The first two jumps were farther than everyone else's but they didn't count them.'

The third time, Howell said, she was a little too cautious trying to make a jump stick and ended up a few inches short of a medal.

Seven other Yukoners also competed in the kneel jump.

Also in the junior female category, Briann Gagnon placed eighth while coach Chris Nash was ninth in the open male category. Jacob Loos was 13th in the open male event while Cedric Schilder finished 16th, Cody Wilkinson came in 19th, Tyler Cusick was 21st and Robert Sparrow was 23rd.

Howell is looking forward to the rest of the events this week. She's entered in all of them except the two foot high kick, and at press time her coaches were trying to convince her to enter that event as well. But Howell doesn't want to over-exert herself before the triple jump this afternoon, which is her favorite.

'I plan on beating the record for the triple jump,' she stated.

Not a bad goal for an athlete who only began training in Arctic sports two months ago.

'A lot of people were encouraging me to enter and I thought, Why not?,'' she said. 'It couldn't hurt.

'I like it because it's really different and it has a good cultural background to it.'

Howell also tried out for the Arctic Winter Games soccer team and made it on as an alternate. She decided to travel as part of the Arctic sports team because she wanted something individual.

'I didn't want to rely on other people,' she said. 'And this team needed junior girls really badly.'

Howell, who also competed in and now coaches gymnastics, likes the pressure of being an individual athlete. She wouldn't say which of the three sports she prefers, because 'they're too different.'

She did say Arctic sports are more mental and physical, while weightlifting is mostly about technique. But she believes she can succeed at both, which she said comes naturally.

Her biggest role model is her aunt, Leisa Hlusko, because 'she's good at everything.'

'It kind of runs in my family,' said Howell, smiling.

She also admires her teammates, especially Gagnon.

'I admire Briann because she's really supportive and she's really positive,' said Howell. 'It helps a lot.'

The Yukon athlete said one of her goals at AWG is to be more outgoing and supportive like Gagnon and to 'communicate with others.'

'Usually I stay by myself and don't really talk with everyone, but I've started talking to a few people already,' she said.

In fact, Howell is having a great time at the games and said she might be back again in a couple of years competing in Arctic sports, or in weightlifting if it's added.

'It's really, really organized,' she said. 'The food is awesome and the dorms are OK besides the fact I'm sleeping on a table. But that's OK'

The next Arctic sports event is the two foot high kick, which takes place today.