The Yukon's first stellar result of 2010 came with swimmer Alexandra Gabor's performance at the Australian Under-18 Swimming Championships, in which she snagged two gold medals and one silver in the first week of January.

Gabor won her first gold in the U-16 100-metre freestyle event in 56.2 seconds, and followed it up with a gold in the women's 400-m freestyle in four minutes, 15.04 seconds.

By mid-January, biathlete Erin Oliver-Beebe traveled with the Yukon team to the Calforex Cup in Camrose, Alta., and brought back a gold medal in the senior girls 7.5-kilometre mass start race in 36:45.5 and a silver in the senior girls 6-km sprint race with a time of 25:31.9.

The Bantam A Mustangs followed Oliver-Beebe's solid performance by winning a silver medal in a tier 2 tournament in Kelowna, B.C., at higher level than the club is used to.

The Mustangs lost out 6-3 in the finals to a tough Kamloops side.

Zach Bell continued a winning trend for Yukon athletes competing Outside when he had two trips to the podium at the track cycling World Cup in Beijing.

The Watson Lake native won a gold medal in the points race and a silver in the scratch race, held at the 2008 Olympic Summer Games site.

Speedskater Troy Henry capped off a strong January for Yukon athletes by cleaning up at the third Western Canada Cup of the season, in Medicine Hat, Alta.

Henry finished first in the 1,500-m, third in the 500 and fifth in the 1,000 – good enough for third overall.

February got off to a comparatively slower start.

But it was a month filled with sport – the 2010 Yukon Quest International 1,000 Mile Sled Dog Race and the 2010 Winter Olympic Games held in Vancouver.

Whitehorse-based musher Hans Gatt shattered the Yukon Quest record with a time of nine days, one hour and 35 minutes. The previous record was set in 2009 by Sebastian Schnuelle, at nine days, 23 hours and 20 minutes.

Lifelong Yukoner Marg White took her officiating passion to the 2010 Winter Olympics for curling events.

With a lot of attention on Outside events, the Whitehorse Curling Club was saddened by the sudden passing of Suzanne Bertrand, an incredible volunteer and former coach of the year.

Among Bertrand's many contributions to the sport was her helping to bring Olympic medalists into Whitehorse schools, including Team Kevin Martin.

Whitehorse swimmer Bronwyn Pasloski ended the month off on a high with her performances at the Western Canadian Championships in Saskatoon, Sask.

Pasloski earned a silver in the 200-m breastroke and a bronze in both the 50 and 100 breastrokes. Not to mention two personal best times and a previous Whitehorse Glacier Bears Swim Club record in the 50 m backstroke in 29.47.

With March came the Arctic Winter Games (AWG), the 21st edition of which was hosted by Grande Prairie, Alta., with biathlete Oliver-Beebe chosen to be Team Yukon's flag bearer.

The territory won 16 medals after the first day of competition, good enough for fourth in the overall medal count, with seven gold medals, five silver and four bronze.

Team Yukon continued to add to their medal count throughout the AWG and finished with 101 medals, good enough for fourth place overall.

As the Arctic Games ended, Whitehorse hosted the 2010 Haywood Ski Nationals – which welcomed some 400 athletes – and started opening day with three gold medals.

Sprint racing teams Knute Johnsgaard and Jeff Wood and Darhia Beatty and Janelle Greer toped the podium, as did Steffan Lloyd.

A sad day for Yukon's cross-country team followed as Greer was put out of the nationals after a horrible crash which fractured one of her fingers at the base and bruised her entire hand and the left side of her body.

But with Greer's help in her gold-medal winning performance on day one the Whitehorse Cross Country Ski Club jumped from fourth place in the overall standings to third by the week's end.

Johnsgaard followed up his performances at nationals with gold medal wins at the Buckwheat Ski Classic at Log Cabin, B.C., ahead of fellow Yukoner Graham Nishikawa's, who returned to the territory after a stint on the World Cup circuit in

Europe.

Those medals were only a couple of the Whitehorse skiers who dominated nearly every division of the event.

The Whitehorse Atom Junior Mustangs ended March in style with a second-place finish at the Alberta Tournament of Champions, losing 6-4 in the finals to Wild Rose Country's seventh ranked team, Calgary's Spring Bank Outlaws, in the tier 2 division.

And then the month of April fools.

Team Sarah Koltun, 2009's Sport Yukon team of the year, capped off their curling season with a gold medal at the U-18 Optimist International Bonspiel held in Regina, Sask.

Koltun and company beat out Team Nova Scotia in only six ends in the final, revenge over the province that pushed the Yukoners to a silver medal the previous year.

Partway through the month, Whitehorse was visited by the Holy Grail of hockey – the Stanley Cup.

Mount Sima reported a strong year at the end of the ski season, after having sold 13,000 tickets and 300 season passes for 17,000 total skiers and riders on the hill that winter.

Quiet a jump from the previous season, which saw 13,000 tickets sold.

The long and winding road to the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax, N.S., started near the end of April with the Team Yukon female hockey ID camp.

Five cadets out of 69 total were selected to represent the Yukon at the National Marksmanship Competition in Edmonton the following month after Whitehorse hosted the Regional Marksmanship Competition at the Canada Games Centre.

To end April, Yukoner Mary Anne Myers was golden after setting three Canadian records in the 55-59 age category at the B.C. Provincial Age Group Swimming Championship in Vancouver.

Myers set records in the 400-m freestyle (5:22.36), the 800 (11:04.52) and the 1,500 freestyle (20:45.38).

To kick off May, the city hosted players from 13 different countries in the Whitehorse Invitational 35-and-over Men's Indoor Soccer Tournament. Two local teams – the Barber Shoppe Blue Beards and the Real Food Green Giants – reached the finals, with the Giants taking top spot in the final 3-1.

Ted Stephens became the first born-and-raised Yukoner to reach the Memorial Cup after winning the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League title as a member of the Moncton Wildcats.

The only previous Yukon resident to make it into the tournament was Jarrett Deuling, a Vernon, B.C. native who in 1992 and 1994 hoisted the trophy with the Kamloops Blazers.

Mid-month, Yukoners Dahria Beatty, Knute Johnsgaard and Janelle Greer were named as members of the Canadian National Cross Country Junior Ski Team by Cross Country Canada.

The three skiers joined a team of 14 Canadian athletes – a totally unprecedented move for any club, let alone the Yukon.

Yukon's own Julien Revel over threw visiting squash champ Josh Ginou in the men's open A final of the Yukon Open Squash Thaw Tournament.

Revel had had success at the national squash championships himself, but it was one of the rare times he had been paired with an equal opponent in a tournament at home.

Softball Yukon announced that Whitehorse would welcome the U.S. and Canadian women's fastball teams for two exhibition games in mid-July.

The games were part of building the excitement to the International Softball Federation XIII Women's World Championship that will take place in Whitehorse in 2012.

For the second time in six months, Alexandra Gabor started the month making headlines with her results at an international swim meet.

The Whitehorse Glacier Bear took top 10 finishes in all five of her categories at the 2010 Mel Zajack Jr. International Swim Meet at the UBC Aquatic Centre in Vancouver, where swimmers from across the U.S., China and Australia competed.

Gabor's best finish came in the 200-m freestyle event, in which she finished third in the A final with a time of 2:02.52.

Orienteers in Whitehorse got a new permanent course to practice on at Miles Canyon, which follows the canyon orienteering map with 30 controls set up.

Whitehorse Glacier Bear Nadia Petriw earned five gold medals and two silver medals at the B.C. AA Long Course Championships in Surrey.

Petriw, one of five from her club at the event, scored golds in the 100-m freestyle, 200-m freestyle, 400-m freestyle, 200-m individual medley and 200-m backstroke, along with a silver in the 50-m freestyle and 800-m freestyle.

July began with the 12th annual Yukon River Quest, with new and veteran paddlers leaving Whitehorse all smiles, despite a rainy start.

Carter Johnson set a solo kayak record in the River Quest, arriving in Dawson City in 42 hours, 49 minutes.

Ingrid Wilcox followed the next morning. The 62 year old tossed her paddle in the air to the delight of the crowd and raised her arms in celebration.

Shortly after the River Quest, Special Olympics Yukon sent its largest contingent – 18 athletes – to the Special Olympics Canada Summer Games in London, Ont.

After touching down in Whitehorse, the United States and Canadian women's softball teams square off at the Pepsi Softball Centre.

Despite a strong comeback late in the game, Canada fell to the U.S. 5-4 in the first exhibition game of the series.

The Canadian women got revenge with a big 5-1 win over the U.S., ending the six-game exhibition series played between the two teams in Whitehorse and Surrey, B.C.

Mount Sima opened its chair lift and three runs for mountain biking through the summer, a move area manager Guillaume Rochet called "historic.”

Also in mid-July, the second annual running of the world's longest canoe and kayak race, the Yukon 1000, leftWhitehorse.

Nine teams left Rotary Park, following the route all the way to the Alaska Pipeline Bridge on the Dalton Highway

Team Yukon racked up 12 medals and numerous personal bests at the Special Olympics Canada Summer Games in London, Ont.

The 2010 Yukon 1000 canoe and kayak race belonged to Ausy Toms, Steve Pizzey and Tom Simmat, two solo kayaks from Australia who finished the trip in seven days, one hour, 27 minutes and 27 seconds.

August began with Alexandra Gabor being named to Swimming Canada's Pan Pacific team after her senior summer national results in Victoria.

The 17 year old finished fifth in the 200-m free and seventh in the 100 free.

Cross Country Canada honoured Whitehorse volunteers Claude Chabot and Joan Stanton with the Volunteers of the Year award for their contribution to the 2010 Haywood Ski Nationals held in the Yukon's capital earlier in the year.

The Yukon Orienteering Association sent its athletes to the Canadian Orienteering Championships in Ottawa and returned with an association-record 27 medals over three races.

The YOA blew their medal haul the previous year – 18 – away.

Yukon swimmer MacKenzie Downing was picked up by Swim Canada to compete in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, after finishing seventh in the 200-m butterfly at the Pan-Pacific Games in Irvine, Calif.

Zach Bell dominated the 2010 Track Cycling Canadian Championships at the National Cycling Centre, where he picked up four gold medals and one silver.

September began with an announcement that still has the city buzzing: Whitehorse, as the host of Hockey Day in Canada in February, will also host a Western Hockey League regular season game between the Vancouver Giants and Kamloops Blazers.

A quality league with two quality teams: the Giants won the Memorial Cup in 1992, 1994 and 1995, and the Giants captured the cup in 2007.

Yukoner Denise McHale smashed the past Klondike Trail of '98 International Road Relay ultra category record with a time of 5:28.00.

The previous record was held by friend and running partner Keith Thaxter, who ran the 72-km course in 5:45.13 in 2009.

Whitehorse mixed-martial arts fighter Ryan Leef welcomed in October by being named to the fight card for Armageddon Fighting Championship 4 at Victoria's Bear Mountain Arena.

The 36-year-old had previously competed in AFC 2, having missed the following edition due to injury.

Nearly 80 Yukoners registered to run in the Royal Victoria Marathon, a number up 17 from 2009, when 63 Yukoners took to the B.C. race.

Over-35 soccer club Yukon Brewing FC traveled down to B.C. for the 2010 Penticton Soccer Club Oldtimer's Thanksgiving Tournament mid-month.

The Whitehorse club picked up gold after beating the host club in a shootout after playing to a 1-1 stalemate in regular time.

Former Montreal Canadiens coach turned senator Jacques Demers visited Whitehorse to support Special Olympics Yukon.

While in the city, Demers took in a Special Olympics soccer game at the Canada Games Centre and met with local coaches at Takhini Arena to talk hockey.

Gabor couldn't stay out of sports news in 2010.

Near the end of October, the Whitehorse native was chosen by Swimming Canada to compete in the 2010 World Aquatic SC Championships in Dubai in December.

The Yukon Brewing Lead Dawgs rang in November with a bronze medal at the 2010 World Broomball Championships in Innsbruck, Austria.

Not bad for the territory's second ever appearance at the world championships.

Mixed-martial arts fighter Ryan Leef lasted two rounds against Cory Gower at Armageddon Fighting Champions 4.

He was KO'd in the second.

Even still, Leef looks forward to his next bout.

Figure skater Rachel Pettitt started her season off flying.

The 11-year-old Arctic Edge skater won gold in the juvenile ladies event at the BMO BC/YT Sectional Championships in Kelowna, B.C. with a score of 32.74 – topping her nearest competitor by a mere 0.44 points – and was also awarded the

Anderson Memorial Artistic Award.

After breaking the ultra record at the Trail of '98 International Road Relay in September, distance runner Denise McHale took her speed to the IAU World Championships in Gibraltar, where she broke the 100-km Canadian women's record with a time of 7:56.41

The Whitehorse Curling Club hosted the 2010 Skookum World Curing Tour Cash Spiel, which attracted world champions Kevin Koe and company, who beat out former world champion Greg McAulay's rink in four ends.

Winnings: $12,000.

Gabor took full swimming scholarship at Stanford University after attracting interest from top U.S. universities.

Sport Yukon awarded long-time basketball coach Tim Brady with an induction into the Hall of Fame during its annual

awards ceremony.

December was a good month for cyclist Bell, who won a silver medal in the omnium event in Melbourne, Australia, to

open the Track Cycling World Cup season.

Sport Yukon opened its doors to sell tickets to the Western Hockey League game between the Vancouver Giants and Kamloops Blazers coming to Takhini Arena on Feb. 12 for Scotiabank's Hockey Day in Canada.

An hour and 45 minutes later, the tickets were sold out.

Yukon cross-country skiers hit the ground running at the Haywood NorAm and Teck Sprint Series held at Sovereign Lake, B.C.

Seven Yukon skiers managed top six results in the classic sprint event, including Greer and Dahria Beatty, who finished first and second in their age category.

Nishikawa also reached the podium, picking up a silver medal in the open men's race.

Whitehorse biathletes Erin Oliver-Beebe and Jennifer Curtis were on target at the Calforax Cup in Canmore, Alta., where Oliver-Beebe finished second in the senior girls six-kilometre sprint in 24:18.7 and first in the senior girls 7.5-km pursuit in

39:05.4. Meanwhile, Curtis placed fourth in the six-kilometre sprint in 26:01.5 and second in the pursuit in 39:34.8.

The Petitcodiac-Salisbury Bantam A Flyers won the Scotiabank Big Save contest.

The spoils: airplane tickets to Vancouver to hop a charter flight with the WHL teams the Vancouver Giants and the Kamloops Blazers; have their arrival filmed by CBC; meet NHL alumni; playoff against the Whitehorse Bantam ‘B' Mustangs; accommodations; meals; and transportation.

Whitehorse Glacier Bears' Erin McArthur was chosen by SwimBC to represent the province at the Pacific Coast All Star meet in Portland, Ore., in January, after clocking a time of 1:18.07 in the 100-metre breaststroke in the 2010 PCS Christmas Cracker SC Invitational meet in Victoria.

McArthur followed in the footsteps of fellow Glacier Bear Haley Braga, who had qualified for that event in 2009.

The two Glacier Bears also clinched their qualifying times for a spot at the Western Canadian Championships in Kamloops, B.C., in February.

Darryl Belfry, who currently works in skill development with the NHL's Los Angeles Kings, visited Whitehorse to work with local players, from atom to junior, including the Canada Winter Games hockey teams heading to the Games in Halifax, N.S., in February.

Bell won his second UCI Track Cycling World Cup medal in two weeks after winning the omnium in Cali, Colombia.

The bronze put Bell in second place in the UCI World Cup overall standings with 18 points, two points shy of reigning World Champion Edward Clancy of Great Britain.