The Yukon Curling Association is pleased to be hosting the territorial senior men's and women's curling championships this week.

Action gets underway Thursday, March 2 at 3 p.m., at the Whitehorse Curling Club.

Two Yukon senior men's teams will compete against two senior men's teams from the N.W.T. in a double round-robin format, for the right to represent the territories at the national senior championships in Summerside, P.E.I. March 25-April 1.

The same format will be followed by the senior women's teams playing this weekend.

The Yukon men will be represented by team number one, the Paul Hunter rink, and team number two, the Darol Stuart rink.

Hunter, the defending champion of the senior territorial championships, is joined by Craig Tuton as third, John Yeulet as second and Pat Molloy as lead. The Hunter rink has been together since January of last year.

The Stuart rink also consists of Gord Zealand as third, Wayne McLennan as second and Howard Pickering as lead. This is their third attempt at territorials.

Whitehorse welcomes N.W.T. team number one, skipped by Al Hartman, and N.W.T. team number two, skipped by Brad Whitehead.

Hartman is joined by Jack MacKinnon, Gary Tkachuk and Jim Eicikson. Whitehead curls with Mike Borden, Daryl Green and Ron Kapicki. Both N.W.T. teams come with many years of curling experience, as well as some experience in representing the territories at the national level.

The Yukon women will be represented by team number one, the Ruth Holt rink, and team number two, the Colleen Hemsley rink.

The Holt rink, which also consists of Sheila Frank, Emma Donnessey and Dianne Amann, is from the Watson Lake Curling Club.

The Hemsley rink is from Whitehorse and also consists of Ev Pasichnyk, Kathy McKay, Bea Felker and Lorraine Stick. Some of the women from each team have senior national level experience.

Whitehorse welcomes the Sandy Penkala rink, as N.W.T. team number one, and the Lorraine Peterson rink as number two.

The Penkala, which consists of Margaret Begg, Gail Daniels, Marie Coe and coach Don MacDonald, is from the Yellowknife Curling Club. The Peterson rink is from Hay River and also consists of Doreen Scheller, ALvina Sibbeston and Candi Carleton.

Draw times are Thursday at 3 p.m., Friday at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., and Sunday at 9 a.m. The opening ceremonies are Thursday at 6 p.m.