January

This year was a big one for sports in the Yukon. Athletes travelled abroad to compete at the highest levels of competition in their sports.

Others were introduced to their active loves for the first time.

This week we’ll be taking a look back at the year in sports for Yukoners.

Today we begin with the first three months: January, February and March.

Carcross couple Denise and Greg McHale come out of adventure racing retirement to join Team Tecnu Adventure Racing and take another run at the world championships.

Yukon teams bring home gold and silver from the Don Hather basketball tournament in Skagway. The Arctic Winter Games boys squad beat Kake 51-47 in the final to claim gold, while th F.H. Collins Warriors girls team picked up silver.

The Skookum Asphalt atom hockey team beat out seven other teams for the Yukon hockey championships for nine and 10-year-olds.

Carolin Leipert wins Mount Lorne’s 30-mile Carbon Hill sled dog race in two hours, 12 minutes and 12 seconds.

Bryn Hoffman partnered with Alberta’s Bryce Chudak to skate to a silver pairs medal at the 2016 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships in Halifax. Rachel Pettitt, in her first year as a junior, finished sixth in the women’s competition.

A Yukon women’s hockey team bested Surrey to win the Pacific Cup final in the Vic Pub Co division in Victoria. The team, sponsored by Hvactech Systems and Yukon Brewing, beat the Surrey Hornets 3-2.

The Rogers Hometown Hockey tour stopped in Whitehorse and featured Chase Blodgett, a transgender man who plays in the Whitehorse Women’s Hockey League.

“It’s a really special league,” Blodgett said of the WWHA. “There’s 100 women in it and we’re like a family.... You know everybody and it’s just this great sense of community. It’s such an honour to be included in it.”

Brayden Klassen’s Yukon rink (Will Klassen, Tryg Jensen, Spencer Wallace) finished with a 1-8 record at the curling Canadian juniors in Stratford, Ont. Alyssa Meger’s rink (Zaria Netro, Peyton L’Henaff and Emily Matthews) finished 2-7.

February

The Peewee Mustangs hockey team staged a comeback after being down 2-0 to win the bantam final against Castle Rock.

Table tennis staples Kevin Murphy and Les Johns are inducted into the Sport Yukon Hall of Fame.

Biathlete Nadia Moser impresses at the Biathlon Youth World Championships in Romania with 19th- and 24th-place finishes.

The Arctic Ultra brought athletes from around the world to Whitehorse. David Eikelboom was first across the line on foot in the 42-kilometre race, while Italian Michele Graglia won the 100-mile race on foot.

Nicole Baldwin’s Yukon rink is shut out of the main draw of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, to finish the curling event with a 1-2 record.

Hugh Neff crosses the Yukon Quest finish line in Whitehorse to win his second title.

The Vanier Crusaders senior boys basketball team captured their Yukon champs title, while the F.H. Warriors senior girls did the same.

March

William Kleedehn crashed twice, but was still able to win the Cinnamon Run dog sled race. The Dog Powered Sports Association’s middle distance race skijor was won by Magnus Kaltenborn.

Three Canadians took on the Iditarod dog sled race this year. Michelle Phillips was the top finisher in 25th; Rob Cooke was 67th; and Hans Gatt scratched and did not finish.

Boxer Brittni Waddington won her first fight by knockout en route to a silver medal at an Alberta Boxing Gold Gloves event in Stony Plain. David Quesnel also won silver at the event.

Yukon Special Olympics athletes set a new territorial record for medals won at the national-level Winter Games, held in Cornerbrook, N.L this year. The team of five won eight medals: Darby McIntyre (gold, silver), Owen Munroe (gold, bronze), Ernest Chua (gold, silver), Tijana McCarthy (gold), and Michael Sumner (gold).

The Bob Smallwood rink was eliminated from the Tim Hortons Brier qualifying rounds with a 1-2 record.

H&R Block wins the Whitehorse Women’s Hockey Association championships with a 4-3 victory over Hvachtech Systems.

More than 240 Yukon athletes suited up to represent the territory at the Arctic Winter Games in Nuuk, Greenland. The Yukon finished second on the medal table after first-place Alaska, scoring 100 medals, including 23 gold, 41 silver and 36 bronze.

A day into her 22nd year, Dahria Beatty raced to a career-best 15th place finish at the Ski Tour Canada in Canmore, Alta., a stop on the World Cup Tour.

The Yukon River Quest hit 100 registered teams in March for the first time in its 18-year history. The race had opened the field provisionally to standup paddleboards.

The Yukon Bantam Mustangs were looking to defend their B.C. provincial Tier 3 bantam title, but lost 3-2 to Vanderhoof in overtime to settle for silver.

Bryn Hoffman and pairs partner Bryce Chudak skated to eighth place at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Hungary.

Denise and Greg McHale of Carcross set course records at New Zealand’s Surf2Bush Marathon, as Greg finished the course in five hours, five minutes and 30 seconds, beating the record by 29 minutes, while Denise finished in 5:52:58, beating the previous record by 31 minutes.

The Yukon Peewee Mustangs won silver at the B.C. provincial championships, losing the final to Merritt, 4-1.

Thomas Scoffin of the University of Alberta Golden Bears was unable to defend his CIS curling title, dropping the final to the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks 7-4.

Yukon cross-country skiers had a homecoming at the 2016 Haywood nationals in Whitehorse this year.

Beatty continued her breakout year alongside Emily Nishikawa, splitting the senior women’s race wins between them.

The Yukon finished with 12 medals.