The excitement in their voices was evident over the phone, even from thousands of kilometres around the globe, where the Yukoners are holding fort in Korea for a couple of weeks.

Moira Lassen, who is the secretary general of the Canadian Weightlifting Federation (CWF), joined fellow Yukon resident Jenn Houtby, the managing director of the Yukon Convention Bureau (YCB), in Busan, Korea to make a special pitch to the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF).

Evidently, that pitch went very well, as the CWF and YCB have announced that the 2008 junior world weightlifting championships will be held in Whitehorse May 1-10, 2008.

'It's a really big deal, because it's the first truly international event we're going to host on the sports side,' said Houtby in an interview from Busan Monday.

Houtby also pointed out that it's the first major event scheduled for the territory post-2007, when Whitehorse will host the Canada Games, which is really important for the YCB.

'We need to be ensuring the venues continue to be used beyond the Games. We don't want to lose momentum. Hopefully, we'll be able to host one or two major events every year after (2007).'

Lassen said the idea of the Yukon hosting a world weightlifting event actually first came from the president of the IWF, who visited the territory a few years ago and loved what he saw. He originally offered the territory an event in 2006, as a test for the 2007 Games.

'But we decided, just because of the strain on the Yukon at that time, we decided, Hey, how about we host an event in 2008, and use the Canada Games as our test event',' explained Lassen.

The Yukon's bid for the junior worlds was then put together by the YCB, with the help of Lassen and two other members of the host committee Tamara Goeppel and Jim Oster. They put together theme packages for the presentation, which were centred mainly around the Gold Rush and some of which included actual Yukon gold.

Lassen said the presentation and the fact the Yukon is a truly unique destination clinched the event, as well as the right connections.

Lassen has been around the sport of weightlifting for years, since her daughter Jeane became a national and then international athlete both Jeane and fellow Yukoner Emily Quarton have competed at the junior worlds. Jeane medaled at both the 1997 and 1998 worlds while Quarton took part in 2003 and 2004.

'You start laying the groundwork just by knowing people,' said Moira.

'The key to getting all these events to come is being out there and marketing,' agreed Houtby. 'People like to do business with people they know. We're getting fairly large sporting events because of the people we know.'

Outside of the 2007 Canada Games, these worlds will be the largest sporting event ever held in the territory, with an estimated 500 athletes and an additional 200 coaches and technical officials involved, from 72 nations.

Overall, YCB projects that the 10-day event will have an estimated economic impact of approximately $1.6 million in direct spending for the territory. And that doesn't even factor in pre and post excursions that visitors may take.

'We've had discussions about taking them to Dawson City or Haines Junction at some point,' said Houtby. 'The opportunity to spread this around the territory is very real.'

Beyond economical benefits, hosting the 2008 junior worlds should also be a huge boost to the sport of weightlifting in the north, as well as across Canada the last time the junior worlds were held in Canada was in 1980, although the senior worlds were held in Vancouver in 2003.

Lassen said weightlifting is the perfect sport for the north, because it's indoors. Also, the equipment is limited so it doesn't cost much at all. The clubs or gyms provide the weights, all the athlete needs to start is a pair of shoes.

'You can train for years without actual weightlifting boots,' added Lassen. 'And weightlifting has great cross-training benefits as well.

'Donovan Bailey did power training 45 minutes before he won his gold medal.'

Because 2008 is also an Olympic year, Lassen said the event will feature top-end competition for spectators as well. A lot of the countries will be picking members for their Olympic team based on results from the junior worlds.

Lassen will get a few chances to see the junior worlds first hand before helping host it, as she was also appointed to the IWF's Scientific and Research Committee while in Korea on Sunday. The term of the position is four years.

The Scientific and Research Committee was formed in 1980 and its mandate covers a wide range of studying and developing methods for; improving weightlifting, involving youth, continuing education for coaches via coaching clinics and seminars; and distributing technical information and bulletins.

'I'm really honoured to have been appointed by the IWF Executive Committee,' said Lassen. 'The Chair, Mr. Dragomir Cioroslan, opened the meeting with the statement of Welcome to our work. It made me smile; challenges energize me and I appreciate learning how systems work.'

Lassen was also been appointed as the recording secretary of the ten-person committee, comprised of members from Greece, Chinese Taipei, China, Ukraine, Spain, USA, Australia, and Finland.

'It will certainly be interesting, since two people on the committee don't speak any English at all, and for all of them, English is their second language,' she said.

With the bid win and a new role on the international committee, it's been quite a week for Lassen, who will remain in Korea until the end of May. But as soon as she gets back, 'the real work begins,' with funding and sponsors needed in place for 2008.

'We've already been approached by barbell companies who want to supply all of the equipment,' she said.

But, as Houtby explained, there's still the need for many local and national sponsors, and the sooner companies and organizations get on board, the better.

'Now that it's established, we'll be moving very quickly,' she said. 'We'll definitely be looking for funding now.'