It was the perfect ending to an outstanding week of competition for Team Yukon at the North American Indigenous Games.

Saturday marked the final day of competition at bi-annual games, which were held this year in the Cowichan Valley in B.C. from Aug. 3 to 10.

Team Yukon saved some its best performances for last, winning an impressive six medals in both swimming and badminton. The six medals brought the Yukon's total to 49, which is an all-time record for the territory at the competition.

"We did amazingly well," said Charly Kelly, the acting chef de mission for Team Yukon. "It was well spread out throughout the whole week. Saturday was just a nice ending to a long week."

Team Yukon has competed at the North American Indigenous Games since 1990 when they were held in Edmonton, Alberta.

This year's group is comprised of 130 athletes, coaches, mission staff, cultural performers and chaperones.

The Yukon athletes will compete in eight events, including archery, athletics, swimming, rifle shooting, badminton, female volleyball, golf, male soccer and female soccer.

Other participating teams at this years games include Alberta, B.C., Eastern Door and the North, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.

It didn't take long for Team Yukon to get on the medal board at the 2008 North American Indigenous Games, which began last Monday.

In the first day of competition, runner Robin Chambers showcased her skills on the track in the 400-m distance event. Chambers' time of 1:13:14 placed her third overall and earned the Yukon its first medal of the competition.

After being shutout of the medals on Tuesday, the Team stormed back to a solid performance on Wednesday.

Among Wednesday's highlights were the juvenile female volleyball team beating powerhouse Ontario by a score of two sets to one. The Yukon dominated the first set 25-6 before dropping the second 27-25. The team wasn't fazed at all by the split and went onto to win the final game 19-17 to take the match.

In golf, Riley Tobin finished with the best Yukon score in the juvenile boys category, shooting an 89.

Tyler Genier scored a 95 and Tyler Joe finished with a 96.

Chambers came close to equally her bronze medal performance on Monday, placing fourth in the 800-m senior female category.

Team Yukon's shooting group were right on the mark Wednesday, winning an incredible seven medals. In the rifle shooting bantam girls category, Kylie Marcotte finished with a gold medal. James Magun also had an amazing showing to finish first overall in the boy's category, while Yukoner Matthew Keaton wasn't too far behind, winning the silver medal in the bantam division.

Danielle Marcotte, who competed in the midget girls category, added to her many accomplishments in the sport by finishing first overall, while teammate Kara Lepine took home the silver medal. In the boy's category, Travis Sturko claimed top honours and Jamie Tetlichi finished in seventh.

Justine Benjamin placed in the top 10 in the juvenile girls division, finishing in seventh, while Cody Magun won the bronze medal and Jordan Lord placed fifth.

Thursday's competition also saw plenty of solid performances from Yukon athletes, including Bantam Male 50m Free Joshua Kelly winning the bantam male 50-m freestyle category with a time of 27.21. Michael Skookum came close to winning a medal of his own, finishing in seventh place.

Kelly also had an outstanding performance in the bantam male 50-m breaststroke event, while Skookum placed fifth.

Skookum wouldn't be denied in the bantam boys 100-m backstroke, winning the bronze medal.

Once again the rifle shooting competition proved to be one of Team Yukon's strengths.

In a repeat performance Kylie Marcotte finished with the gold, while in the boy's group James Magun also won the gold medal. Matthew Keaton placed second overall.

In the midget girls division, Danielle Marcotte finished with the best score, while once again Kara Lepine won the silver medal. Travis Sturko finished in an impressive fashion, winning a gold medal, while Jamie Tetlichi came in sixth.

There were numerous great results in the archery competition for Team Yukon. In the bantam male category, Riley Jonathon placed third in the traditional bow event.

Aaron Workman, who competed in the midget male division, placed second with the traditional bow. Another silver medal was won by Yukoner Jenna Mills in the bow hunter fingers competition for the midget female division. Shelley Inkster won a silver medal using the traditional bow.

In the juvenile female category, Kristen VanBibber finished with the best score in the bow hunter fingers event, while Charabelle Silverfox a bronze in the bow hunter open event.

Victoria Medcalfe performed well in the juvenile female category, winning a silver medal in the traditional bow category.

In the final golf standings, Tobin finished with the top Yukon score. Tobin's combined score was 255 and he saved his best round for last, shooting a very solid 82. Joe also did very well, placing 19th overall with a score of 299, while Genier had to pull out due to injury.

Yukon swimmers also showcased their skills.

Friday's swimming results included Skookum winning a bronze medal with a time of 42.27 in the bantam male 50-m backstroke event.

Savannah Scott, competing in the 50-m bantam female backstroke event placed third overall with a time of 38.81.

Kelly finished with the best time in the 200-m breast stroke event. His gold medal time was 2:53.23, while Patricia Wallingham won a silver a medal in the midget female 200-m breast stroke competition.

Kelly added to his gold medal total in the bantam male 100-m freestyle, finishing with an overall time of 1:01.43.

In the bantam females rifle contest, Kylie Marcotte placed second overall, brining her medal total to three.

In the male division, James Magun claimed the gold medal, while Matthew Keaton finished with the silver medal.

Danielle Marcotte added another gold medal to her collection in the midget female category, while Kara Lepine placed second overall.

Travis Sturko finished first, while Jamie Tetlichi claimed the bronze medal.

In the juvenile males category, Cody Magun finished in third.

The overall rifle titles were, included Kylie Marcotte placing second in the bantam female category.

James Magun bested all competition in the bantam male category, while Matthew Keaton finished in second.

The midget female group was won by Danielle Marcotte, while Kara Lepine was a close runner. Travis Sturko placed first, while in the juvenile male category, Cody Magun finished in third place.

Saturday's saw Andrew Talyor and Bradley Keaton win a bronze medal in the midget boys badminton doubles competition, while Chase Everitt and Gregory Jim also won a bronze medal for the territory in doubles. Charlie-Rae Sydney won bronze in the female bantam doubles category.

Swimming also saw some great results for the Yukon with Joshua Kelly winning a pair of gold medals. Kelly won gold in the 100-m breast stroke and the 200-m freestyle.

Michael Skookum finished the Games with a bronze medal showing in the 50-m.

With 50 medals in total, Team Yukon finished with an all-time best at the North American Indigenous Games. The contingent placed seventh out of 24.

With 243 medals, Team Saskatchewan finished in first place. The contingent won 94 gold, 81 silver and 68 bronze, which earned them a total of 1536 points.

The Yukon finished with 21 gold medals, 15 silver medals and 14 bronze medals.

The Northwest Territories finished in 10th place with seven gold medals, 16 silver medals and 20 bronze medals.

Kelly said the team exceeded all expectations at the Games.

"This is just shows the level of athletes we are developing," she said. "We are competitive, we are not at all far from any non-competitive streak. Absolutely everyone played with heart. I didn't see one match one Yukon match where somebody didn't give it their all, which as a chef de mission is all you can hope for: that you take the kids and they participate at a high level."