The Whitehorse Curling Club welcomed teams from all over the Yukon and Alaska to the 58th International Bonspiel this past weekend, to mark the end of the curling season.

The bonspiel saw both of Whitehorse's top youth teams make it to the A final match-up, with Sarah Koltun going on to win for the women, and Thomas Scoffin skipping his team to second place in the A division.

"We have two well accomplished junior teams right now,” said Jon Solberg, manager of the Whitehorse Curling Club.

Both teams earned a birth in the final after a long season of intense practice and Outside bonspiels.

"They do an awful lot of extensive training throughout the year,” Solberg said.

The two teams curled in the Skookum Super League on Tuesday nights this season, a cash league made up of the top competitive curling teams in Whitehorse.

Team Koltun is made up of Koltun, Chelsea Duncan, Jenna Duncan and Linea Eby. Team Scoffin is rounded out by Will Mahoney and Mitch Young. The team was without a fourth player for this past weekend's bonspiel.

Solberg said this past weekend's bonspiel is all about splitting up the usual teams to get other people out to play.

The tournament welcomes teams from the communities, who do not have access to competitive bonspiels or similar facilities to Whitehorse. Most of them don't get to

participate competitively throughout the winter.

"Which is tremendous,” Solberg said, of their participation.

The bonspiel is a little less competitive, allowing the teams to sit back and have a great weekend on the ice.

"A lot of the communities don't have the competitive edge,” Solberg said.

The bonspiel is also aimed at celebrating the entire curling season.

"In International Bonspiel is geared towards inviting all our neighbours in to participate,” Solberg said.

And that is something the Whitehorse Curling Club has been working towards all year,” Solberg said.

The club has been looking towards bringing in more people to enjoy curling at the Whitehorse facility.

"We're trying to bring people in to our curling club,” Solberg said.

One of the best things about the club, Solberg said, is the social aspect that members get to take part in. The club is encouraging current and new members to enjoy the off-ice

activities as well.

Solberg said they have done well with their goal, but aren't ready to quit recruiting quite yet.

"It certainly was a success,” he said. "We're not going to stop there.”

The curling club is beginning to shut down for the season. The ice plant has already been shut off, and the ice is expected to be out by Thursday.

All of the club's league nights have finished up for the season as well.

Solberg said the season was great for the club. They welcomed Team Kevin Martin in November for the Skookum Cash Spiel, on his quest for an Olympic birth. He went on to not only earn a place in the Olympics, but to win a long-awaited gold medal. The club welcomed 24 top-calibre curling teams in total for the event.

"The season was, I would consider it, a success,” Solberg said.

The club also received positive reports on this past weekend's bonspiel.

"We had tremendous feedback on the International Bonspiel,” Solberg said.

The club will work to bring back past members and encourage new members to continue with the club.

The 2010/2011 curling season will start in September with a membership drive.

Leading the International Bonspiel this weekend, was Team Sarah Koltun and Team Bob Smallwood, who earned first place in the Women's and men's A final, respectively.

The B final was won by Team Helen Strong for the women and Team Wade Kopan for the men.

The C division went to Clancy Barber and Nicole Baldwin's rinks, and the D division was won by Team Robb Andison and Team Darlene Hutton.