It was the final bonspiel of the season for the Whitehorse Curling Club featuring international flare and the chance to compete in a different format.

The 66th annual International Bonspiel hosted a total of 32 teams in three divisions for the four-day event. Living up to its name, the bonspiel hosted four teams from Alaska and two other teams who came from Ottawa for the event.

Curling club draw master Tyler Williams said this is the club’s longest running bonspiel and a great way to close out the season each year.

Following the end of the competition, the ice was taken out at the club Monday officially signalling the end of the season.

“The Alaska teams will typically come over and they have a bonspiel next weekend that is international and typically one or two teams go from here,” Williams said.

The Alaskan teams also added an extra bit of excitement by dressing up for the occassion. One team sported a take on the classic Norwegian team uniforms with bright multi-coloured yellow and black pants.

Williams said one player wore a completely white suit for the event.

“There’s a few guys who have some fun out there and that’s what it’s about,” Williams said.

For the 2017 edition of the event, there were so many great impromptu costumes that Williams said they had to create a best costume honour.

“Last year we had to make an award for that because we realized there was one team that stepped up their game so well. We might have to do that again,” he said.

The tournament also added an extra doubles event on Saturday evening separate from the bonspiel.

Williams said the doubles format, which was introduced in the Olympics this year, has been becoming increasingly popular so they wanted to give players an opportunity to play in a fun setting.

“We’ve been trying to get it sort of going as league night up here so this is a way just to let people try and see what it’s all about,” said Williams, noting that teams were also decided at random so the participants may not have even known who their partner was for the competition. “It’s a lot of fun, I love the format. Hopefully it kick starts a little bit.”

In the 12-team men’s division, it was Williams and his team who took the final bonspiel trophy. On the women’s side, the Yukon Stone Outfitters team won the eight-team tournament.

In the mixed division, the team skipped by Alex Peech went on to win the tournament after dropping a draw in the round robin to the Ottawa mixed team.

With the season now complete, Williams said it was a good year for the club, especially with the opportunity to represent on the national stage at the Brier and Scotties events – the first time the territory had full representation in the main draws.

“It was a good year for the club,” Williams said. “We had a little bit of increased membership this year for the club and it was certainly awesome to see the teams that got to go the Brier and Scotties this year in the full thing.”

The club also recognized the two young Arctic Winter Games teams at the close of the event. The junior male team came home with the bronze ulu beating Nunavut 8-6 in a tight game. The junior female team finished in fourth spot.