Laurie Sokolowski now has another medal to add to growing collection.

The Dawson City resident won gold in the wheelchair team category of the 2010 Canadian Para Table Tennis Championships held at the Table Tennis Canada National Training Centre in Ottawa last weekend.

She competed with Team Ontario/Yukon with longtime mentor and friend Barry

Butler and newcomer Robert Cloutier, both from Ontario.

"It's always exciting; on any given day, anyone can win,” Sokolowski said. "You never know who's going to be there and what's going to happen, so it was exciting.”

Sokolowski and Butler competed in singles events, while Butler and Cloutier teamed up for the doubles event.

The team sailed through the opposition with three wins over both Team Ontario A and Team Ontario B.

Because women's singles competitors dropped out, the women's division amalgamated to form a mixed-gender division with all levels of disabilities.

Sokolowski missed out on a bronze medal by one match in that division after losing to the gold, silver and bronze medal winners.

The numbers for the women's division have been down over the past couple of years, she said.

"But it's looking good. It's looking like we've got more women coming out, and I'm really confident that the next event will definitely have a women's division and it'll be fairly strong,” Sokolowski said, adding that the women's open event is "getting there,” it just so happened there were issues with women pulling out this time around.

The weekend also gave her a chance to attend training sessions held by ex-national team able-body coach Marles Martin and para national coach John MacPherson.

Those coaching clinics helped her get into tournament form, she said.

"They were worth their weight in gold,” she laughed.

"Everything helps. Like they say in every sport – practise, practise, practise.”

Originally from Kemptville, Ont., Sokolowski first represented the Yukon at the 2009 Canadian Table Tennis Championships in Trois-Rivieres, Que., where she became the first disabled athlete to represent the territory at the national competition.

Not to mention: she won a gold medal and a pair of bronze medals.

In 2007, Sokolowski competed in the Pan American Games in Rio de Janerio, Brazil, the first of those games where able-bodied and disabled table tennis events were at the same venue and at the same time.

Her best result at an international competition came in 2005, when she won silver in the team event, bronze in doubles and in wheelchair singles at the Mexico Open.

Sokolowski brought her passion for competition intact from Ontario to the Yukon.

When her and her husband Dan, a filmmaker, first moved to Dawson permanently in 2007, she had already started a table tennis club in town, which grew to some 16 members and a handful of casual players.

"It started out because the community was trying to help me to train for the Pan-Am Games in 2007, and then it just caught on and it's become quite popular,” she said.

That help from the community is typical since she moved north, she said.

"It's just so special because you're there by yourself,” she said of representing the Yukon at nationals.

"Everything here that you get to do is special, because there's limited opportunities in the territory to go out and do these things.”

She even took "gifties” from the Klondike Visitors Association (KVA) that she hands out to players and umpires.

"Everyone's always thrilled to get that stuff,” she said, adding that the whole community rallied to help her prepare.

Karen Dubois put Dawson City Yukon onto her table tennis shirts; Greg Hakonson helped her customize her chair, Veronica Verkley made new cushion with Yukon logo, Gary Parker from KVA made sure she had pins and souvenirs to hand out.

Not to mention the time she gets at the table tennis club.

"Just the fact that I'm getting to play four nights a week, you'd never get that kind of time in Ontario,” she said.

"In Ontario, we would train twice a week or one night a week, depending on space availability.

"So four nights a week is pretty special.

"And just that everyone knows, everyone is so excited about anything that you do outside of the territory.”