Nearly 1,000 athletes descended on Whitehorse in September of 2004, as the Yukon capital played host to the Canada Senior Games.

The Yukon was praised for all of the hospitality and organization surrounding the games, and the host athletes impressed everyone with their performances as well, finishing the week with 87 medals 29 gold, 37 silver and 21 bronze.

It was such a success that nearly 100 local seniors have decided to give it another go, as they get set to compete in the 2006 Canada Senior Games, which will be held in Portage La Prairie, Man. next week.

Portage La Prairie has 1,400 participants confirmed for their Games, hailing from 10 provinces and territories. More than 400 volunteers and 12 committees have helped put the 2006 event together, meeting for the past two and a half years.

The athletes will compete in 22 sports and an arts and crafts display will also be part of the event.

'We're pretty excited,' said Cookie Morgan, a Chef de Mission for Team Yukon, along with Sue Meikle. 'For a lot of (the team members), it will be their first time in a Games, so they're really gung-ho to go. They've been practicing whatever they could.'

Yukon will send a slo-pitch team, 16 ice curlers, nine golfers, eight bowlers, eight cribbage players, eight whist players, eight swimmers, two people in track and field, and one 8-ball player.

Morgan said there are several athletes from communities outside of Whitehorse who will be making the trip as part of Team Yukon.

'We have some curlers from Watson Lake and bowlers from Tagish. There's a lady from Mayo (in floor curling). She's been coming into Whitehorse pretty much every week to practice. That's a pretty long way.'

At the 2004 Games, Yukoners broke records in cycling, swimming and track and field.

Some local highlights of 2004 included hearing-impaired swimmer Roddy Dale picking up five medals, four gold and one silver. Yukon swimmers picked up nearly 20 medals in total.

The cyclists also had a strong week, collecting 12 medals. Yukon curlers also brought home gold at the Games, as well as two silver medals.

Twenty-seven of the Yukon's medals that year were won in the track and field events while six table tennis athletes picked up seven medals between them.

A lot of the participants from 2004, however, will not be competing in this year's Games.

Asked if Team Yukon is hoping to match that success in Manitoba, Morgan said 'of course we'd like to, but I don't know if we can, because not every sport is represented this year. It's not just about the medals though, for sure.'

Several spouses and friends of the athletes on Team Yukon will also make the trip south, to cheer everyone on.

'We've pretty well booked one hotel there,' said Morgan. 'There are people staying in campgrounds as well, being billeted or staying in B&Bs (bed and breakfasts).'

This will be Morgan's third time at the Canada Senior Games. In 2002, in P.E.I., she competed in cribbage and in 2004, she competed in swimming. This year, her Chef de Mission duties kept her busy enough.

'We have lots of pins and we're going to take a bit of touristy stuff as will, to entice people to come visit the Yukon,' she said. 'Everybody's still raving about the hospitality here (in 2004).

'A lot of them stayed and did some touring after the Games in 2004. We'll be doing a bit of touring down there as well.'

The kick-off day parade is Wednesday, Aug. 30 at 10 a.m. The parade will start from Heritage Square and end at the Grandstand at Island Park, with the opening ceremonies. Cribbage participant Stan Fuller will be Yukon's flag bearer in the opening ceremonies.

Over the three days of the Games, coffee houses, a dance, barbecue, closing banquet and opening/closing ceremonies featuring local talent are all popular with the participants.

The Canada Senior Games is a nation-wide program to sponsor wellness that is, the spiritual, mental and physical well being among Canadians 55 years of age and older. Provincial programs are staged annually in different provinces and territories.

Morgan said the senior Games board is actually trying to extend the age limit for future Games, because there are people above the age of 80 who have shown interest in attending. Right now, the competition is divided into 55+, 60+, 65+, 70+ and 75+ age classes. The hope is to add a 80+ class in several events.

The first national Games were held in Regina, Sask. in 1996, the second in Medicine Hat, Alta. in 1998, followed by the P.E.I. Games in 2002.

The events bring together amateur competitors who participate for the sheer joy of competition, for the opportunity to visit other parts of Canada, and for the camaraderie and social interaction that are an integral and essential part of the Games.

'If we could get all the collective wisdom of all these seniors, bottle it up and send it to Ottawa, what a great country we would have,' then-Yukon Commissioner Jack Cable remarked at the opening ceremonies for the 2004 Games.�

Today almost all provinces and territories in Canada, as well as many states of the U.S., conduct senior games. The U.S. now also has national senior Games, which were held this year in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.