With the Arctic Winter Games (AWG) set to begin on March 4, nearly 300 Yukon athletes are hoping to make their way onto the international podium.

They will face competition from athletes across nine contingents; Alaska, Greenland, Northern Alberta, Northwest Territories, Nunavik, Nunavut, Russia and the Sami people.

The Games boasts a unique line-up of 19 competitions, including the Dene Games and Arctic Sports, the events that separate the AWG from other winter competitions.

In the Dene Games athletes participate in five events, the finger pull, pole push, stick pull, snowsnake and hand games.

The sports intertwine with the Games mandate of embracing traditional cultural values and encouraging sportsmanship. The Dene Games is also the only event that allows participation from adult athletes, who are familiar with the traditions that accompany the sports.

More conventional sports such as hockey, skiing, curling, basketball and soccer are also an important focus of the Games.

Many of the local Whitehorse teams will be competing in these events and all of them are looking forward to seeing how they stack up against their northern counterparts.

"You never know what the competition is going to be like at the Games,” said Jay Glass, who will be coaching the midget boys hockey team.

"We could be in the running for a gold medal but we could also be fighting just to be competitive,” he said. "We've got a good team here and if we play our best hockey we'll be happy with the results.”

John MacPhail, head coach with the Yukon soccer development program, has been participating in the training of the girl's junior femae soccer team and said the AWG is the event that all the local athletes get excited.

"It's bigger than the Canada Games to them, it's bigger than the nationals,” he said.

"For some reason, the AWG is the tournament all the kids really get into.”

MacPhail believes the team has a chance to win it all.

Louis Bouchard will be coaching the junior female hockey team and he believes with the right amount of chemistry, the team could be in medal contention.

"We're strong defensively, we've got some very good goalies, but we need to work on offensive chemistry,” said Bouchard.

Fifteen athletes form the roster for Team Yukon's Dene Games team. They are lead by coaches Jonah Caeser and Shirley Dawson.

In the hand games event, one of the most unique competitions in the Games, two teams of four face each other and are given a token.

They then take turns passing the token up and down the line through a series of movements; attempting to deceive the other team to it's whereabouts.

The competition is accompanied by traditional dancing.

The hand games originated as a method of gambling, often used for furs and other supplies.

In the snowsnake event, athletes attempt to complete the longest underhand throw of a spear along a snowfield. The sport originated as a method of caribou hunting.

The finger pull may be the most painful event of the AWG.

It's just how it sounds; competitors face each other and simultaneously pull back on each other's fingers.

Originally, this was done as a way of strengthening fingers for the fishing season when fish were carried by inserting a middle finger underneath the gills.

In the stick pull event, competitors grab the ends of a greased pole and attempt to rip it from the others' grip.

For the pole push, two teams of four grasp the opposite ends of a pole and try to push their opponents out of the ring.

The other traditional competition in the AWG is the Arctic Sports event. Five Yukon athletes will be participating in the event.

Luke Londero, Foreste Martin, Anna Rivard, Duran Simon and Jesse Whalen will be led by coaches Teena Dickson and Josh Carr.

The Arctic Sports, also known as the Inuit Games, contains 11 events including the knuckle hop, head pull and sledge jump.

The Games also focuses on celebrating the artistic culture of the North.

The Host Society has developed a cultural program that will run alongside the Games' athletic events.

Their objective is to create a cultural festival that resonates with the athletes, audience, and participants.

"This festival is about living in the North. It features stories of survival, longing, joyfulness, and our attachment to the land, our attraction to new forms of artistic expression and our affection to ancient voices,” said Laurel Parry, vice president of culture and ceremonies.

The Yukon Arts Centre will be hosting evening concerts and during the day free performances by local and guest artists will be held at various venues across the city.

One of the highlights of the cultural program is the song relay, a project that was launched with the help of local musician Daniel Ashley.

The originally song was penned in Whitehorse and then sent out to the participating regions.

They were encouraged to add to the song and film video footage that encompasses the spirit of their community.

"We wanted to do something to build awareness of the Games but we wanted to do something different because there is so much geography that separates the regions,” Ashley said of the song relay.

"So we came up with an idea that would allow each region to showcase their place

in the North and also show some of our similarities.”

Whitehorse last hosted the Arctic Winter Games in 2000. This year marks the sixth time the Games have come to town.

The Opening Ceremonies will be held at the Canada Games Centre at 6 p.m. on March 4th.