Team Yukon arrived home early Monday morning from the Western Canada Summer Games in Fort McMurray with two medals from the first week of competition.

“I think the athletes were tremendous representatives of the Yukon,” Paolo Gallina, communications manager for the team, said this morning. “They played hard, and they trained hard.

“In many ways they were competing against national calibre athletes. The Yukon did well to hold their own.”

Hannah King, a 14-year-old Whitehorse athlete, won the Yukon’s first medal when she picked up a bronze in the judo event a week ago Sunday. Brody Smith, an 18-year-old Whitehorse athlete, won silver the day after in the 5,000 race walking event.

Altogether, 162 athletes, coaches and managers participated in the Games, with a contingent of 85 competing in the first week followed by a second wave of 77 Yukoners for the second week of competition.

Gallina said though no medals were won in the second week, the Summer Games still served an invaluable opportunity to provide all the athletes with exposure at another level of competition.

It goes towards the development of sport in the Yukon overall, and helps to promote a healthy lifestyle, and community relationships, as athletes from across the Yukon were involved, he said.

Gallina said the experience helps to strengthen local athletes who will go on to other competitions, such as next year’s Arctic Winter Games.

“I think it was a great stepping stone,” he said. “It was an experience that promotes sport development in the Yukon.”

Gallina pointed out the two medals are two more than the Yukon won at 2011 Games in Kamloops, B.C.

While the opening ceremonies were more a performance, a show, the closing ceremonies on Sunday were more of a party, with entertainment by the Juno awarding winning Sheep Dogs, he said.

Gallina said Fort McMurray was a great host.

“They really opened the eyes of a lot of people,” he said. “The facilities they have are world class.”

While he doesn’t think the relatively new Olympic-size swimming pool was built to accommodate the Summer Games, the Games were probably on the radar at the time, he said.

“Fort McMurray is building a community,” said Gallina. “They already have a strong community and they are looking on building on that.”

Gallina pointed out Team Yukon had several hours to kill following the closing ceremonies while waiting for their early morning departure aboard their Air North charter.

So the community opened up the leisure pool, and Suncor Energy treated the entire team to a movie, popcorn and drinks.