The Nishikawa family continued their domination in cross-country skiing this past weekend at the Western Canadian championships in Hinton, Alberta.

While her older brother Graham continues to compete on the circuit in Europe, Emily Nishikawa showed that she will be a force to reckon with in upcoming years, picking up two gold medals at the championships in the classic and skating events.

'She had two solid races,' said Yukon head coach Alain Masson in an interview. 'It's hard to tell just how good she did because we haven't seen Ontario and Quebec (athletes) yet in that age group. But certainly, in Western Canada, Emily is one of the top skiers in her group.'

Masson said while Emily had really good results two years ago when she was a midget skier, this year she has come into her own and posted some excellent results. When asked what is so special about the Nishikawa family, the coach attributed most of it to attitude.

'Their personalities are just so good, generally their outlook on racing in general is pretty good. And obviously there is some physical talent. Those are good qualities to have as a competitor. People who just enjoy what they do usually end up a lot better.'

Masson added it's common in cross-country skiing to have strong families competing the Yukon also boasts the Greer squad, with daughter Brittany competing at the University of Alaska Anchorage and a son and daughter competing on Team Yukon.

'As a minimum, you need the support from your family in order to do well, so it makes it much easier when your whole family is taking part.'

David Greer also made the trip to Westerns, as did eight other skiers from the territory Heather Enders, Bryn Knight, Sarah Murray, Daniel Sessford, John Parry, Nansen Murray and Colin Abbott. While Nishikawa led the team in terms of medals, there were other impressive results in Hinton.

In the skating race, Sabo collected a bronze medal after having led half the race. Masson said Sabo probably faced the toughest competition in his category, as the two men battling for gold at Westerns were both previous national champions.

'So the results look very good for him, in terms of heading to nationals next month.'

Sabo finished fourth in the classic race. Knight and Sessford also finished fourth in their respective categories in the classic. Greer was the first Yukoners in his category, picking up a fifth-place finish in both the classic and skating races.

The final event for everyone, the knockout sprints, were cancelled due to the cold weather.

'We felt really good about the results,' Masson stated. 'The attendance at the championships was probably the best we've seen in the last 10 years. And despite that, some of them did very well.'

The Westerns was their final Outside race for the athletes who qualified for nationals, which will take place the first week in March 10 skiers in total qualified. They will use events such as this weekend's Marsh Lake Loppet and the Mount Lorne Classic later this month to make their final adjustments.

'The competition is obviously a lot stronger at nationals,' said Masson. 'I expect a few of our skiers to be fighting for top ten, but we know when we go from Westerns to nationals, it's a big jump. You can win gold at Westerns and not place even top ten at nationals.

'I would expect Brittany (Greer, who will join the team at nationals) to do good in sprints. Last year, she won a medal in sprints. And in classic, she should also be quite competitive. We know for sure the skiers from Quebec and Ontario will be the strongest, and a few from Alberta.'

Meanwhile, 13 Yukon midget and mini-midget skiers were in Fairbanks on the weekend, competing in the last race of Alaska's Besh Cup series. The event included a classic race on Saturday and a skate race on Sunday. Like their older counterparts in Hinton, the younger skiers were very successful on the trails at Birch Hill.

This was the first time the Yukon sent such a large number of skiers Outside the territory.

'We had planned for them to compete in B.C. at the midget championships,' explained Masson. 'But because of the format, last year midgets weren't included in the event. That would have cut about seven of the skiers. So, we decided to send them to the Besh Cup instead.'

The trip to Fairbanks didn't involve any selection criteria, which meant anyone who wanted to go could go. The coach said it was mainly used as a experience builder, as there are no Arctic Winter Games this year and the coaching staff likes to see the younger skiers get Outside at least once a year.

The results at the Besh Cup are a good indication of the talent pool in the midget and mini-midget categories, as the athletes brought back 13 medals between them six of them gold.

Masson said he expected the skiers who also competed at the Besh Cup in December, such as Logan Potter and Janelle Greer, to post good results.

Both Potter and Greer picked up double gold in their midget categories while Dahria Beatty grabbed two gold medals in the mini-midget girls group.

Heidi Brooks, Brittany Smith, Kendra Murray and Fabian Brooks also brought back some hardware. Heidi claimed a silver medal in the midget girls classic and a bronze in the skating event while Smith, who was also competing in the midget girls category, collected a bronze in the classic and a silver in the skate. Murray picked up a silver medal in the mini-midget girls classic and finished fourth in the skating race.

Fabian faced off in the mini-midget boys group and ended up winning two silver medals.

Other skiers who competed at the event were: Michael Abbott, fifth in classic and seventh in skate; Jeff Wood, 10th in classic and sixth in skate; Knute Johnsgaard, seventh in classic and 11th in skate; Lee Hawkings, eighth in classic and ninth in skate; Stephen Dynes, 11th in classic and 13th in skate; and Spencer Sumanik, 12th in both races.

The younger skiers will also be competing at Marsh Lake this weekend, and most of them (a couple qualified for nationals) will focus on the Northwestel Loppet in March rather than nationals.

The Yukon championships, which will wrap up on March 12 since the last race was cancelled due to the cold weather in January, will be the final big competition of the season for the ski team, although there will be several local races after that.

'With all this snow, maybe we'll ski until June,' laughed Masson, adding the territory is very lucky compared to the rest of Western Canada in terms of the white powder.

'When we drive to Hinton, it was brown everywhere. There was no snow really, only on the trails. Thankfully, we got some more snow the second day.'

Whitehorse will be hosting the Western Canadian championships next year, as a test event for the 2007 Canada Games, so Masson said everyone is hoping for a repeat of this season, in terms of snow.