GRANDE PRAIRIE, ALTA - The gymnastics foursome of Isabella Bruce, Lisa Dunkerley, Tera Yarema and Rachel Tutanuak finished the team competition at the Arctic Winter Games on March 9 and even though the team came in last, everyone was still in an upbeat mood.

Isabella Bruce of Rankin Inlet gets ready to perform a flip on the vault during the Arctic Winter Games gymnastics team competition at the Grande Prairie Gymnastics Club. - James McCarthy/NNSL photo

Yarema, who went to the 2008 Games in Yellowknife, said she was just happy to be there.

"It's so much fun," she said. "It's exciting to be able to represent our territory in this sport because no one else is doing it except for us and it makes us all proud."

There is only one other club in the territory in Iqaluit, but head coach Lisa Kresky said they are strictly recreational, while the club in Rankin Inlet is the only one with competitive gymnasts.

"We're just honoured that Sport Nunavut would fund us and let us compete here," she said.

The selection process was simple. Kresky said whoever worked the hardest at the gym got the chance to come.

The meet was a big one for Tutanuak. Not only was she representing Nunavut for the first time, it was the first time she had been involved in a competition. She said there was just one thing to do when she was told she was going to Grande Prairie.

"Telling my parents," she said. Both Yarema and Dunkerley were part of the team that took part two years ago. The one thing Yarema said is different this time is the improvement.

"We're a lot better than we were last time," she said.

Kresky said part of that improvement is because of the facilities in Grande Prairie.

"They are just world-class," she said. "I wish we could have just a fraction of this in Rankin. They are unbelievable."

The teammates competed in individual events on March 11, where their scores counted for themselves as opposed to the team as a whole.

Yarema said she wasn't putting pressure on herself or her teammates to win medals.

"It was mostly come here, do my best, work as hard as I can and hopefully have fun because this is what it's all about," she said.