Fort Norman (Sep 11/06) - It was another Labour Day classic as 20 teams and about 300 competitors, coaches and well-wishers converged on Tulita for the annual Deneke Nagots'eye handgames tournament.

The total purse for this year increased to $40,000 from $30,000 in 2005, said chief Frank Andrew, whose team from Tulita finished fifth.

Gameti won the event and the $15,000 first prize.

Rounding out the top five were Boniface Ayha's Tulita team in second, Bushy River, Alta., in third and Whati in fourth.

"Everything went very well this year," said Andrew.

Tulita also had a youth team -- mainly comprised of basketball players from the school - compete in the tourney as well.

Coach Neil Barry said his players did well despite having only one veteran competitor on the squad in Fred Andrew.

In their first game, the youngsters fell to the always powerful Deline team, in what proved to be one of the longest matches of the weekend at about 90 minutes.

"We had to play in the first match of the entire event," said Barry. "In the second game we were doing better at hiding but lost in the end."

The event was a good one, he said, because the youth had a chance to participate.

"We're going to start doing more handgames at the school.," he said. "The kids don't always get to play during the tournaments."

But the handgames weren't the only events going on in this Sahtu community at the confluence of the Bear and Mackenzie rivers - there was also a massive bingo complete with $20,000 in prizes.

"We had about 80 people take part in the bingo," said volunteer Helen Squirrel. "My sister Elsie Naedzo won two of the jackpots for a total of $8,000 -- she was so lucky."

While there was also dancing and a talent show over the weekend, Squirrel said the highlight for her was watching her son, Jimmy Naedzo, compete in the handgames for the first time.

"I was so proud to see him taking part," she said.