The cash spiel is back and bigger than ever.

For the second year in a row the Whitehorse Curling Club (WCC) will host a World Curling Tour event, from November 22-25, and this year the prize money has been upped to $30,000 from $10,000.

The Skookum/WCT Yukon Cash Spiel will draw teams from across Canada, Alaska and the Yukon. In 2006, the event was won by the world champion Randy Ferbey team and second place was Yukon's Paul Hunter team.

Trevor Sellars, president of WCC, said the club hopes to build on the success of the inaugural spiel.

'It really was a great event. Sitting on the inside of the glass, looking at the number of people coming up to see Ferbey, Don Walchuk, Arnold Asham and Chris Schille ... those guys are unbelievable curlers.

'We were amazed at the number of people coming to the club. And the local teams really enjoyed curling against Ferbey.'

The sentiment was returned by the celebrity foursome, who promised to spread the good word on the tournament after three days of fun and good competition.

'I've probably curled in 1,500 curling clubs in my life and you don't see much better than this,' said Ferbey at the time. 'This might be the best I've ever curled in. The ice was unbelievably good, as good as you can play on anywhere.'

Sellars said its important to WCC that their ice continues to get rave reviews, something they also accomplished at the 2007 Canada Winter Games and the Canadian mixed nationals in 2005.

'Our ice is national-calibre,' stated Sellars. 'We heard from the Ferbey team that it's probably one of the top two or three sheets in North America, and they've been everywhere.'

While just 12 teams signed up for the event in 2006, Sellars is anticipating a large increase this time around, especially with the $30,000 prize pot.

'Skookum Asphalt has been a substantial part of local curling for years,' explained Sellars. 'Some of their own employees are very competitive curlers. They just see curling as an opportunity to be involved in the community.

'This year they asked to be considered for the title sponsorship. They committed to provide $30,000 this year, with the option to continue discussions for further years.

'We want to bring our curling club further into the national scope and this is part of it.'

Organizers have set a limit of 24 teams and invitations have gone out across the country, from British Columbia to Nova Scotia.

'This puts us right in the middle of the rest of the World Curling Tour, as far as money, so we're hoping to hit the limit,' said Sellars. 'We're hoping for up to 14 Outside teams and 10 local. We've put together hotel and airline packages.'

One of the local teams which is expected to hit the ice is the junior rink of Thomas Scoffin, Will Mahoney, Mitch Young and Nick Koltun, which represented the Yukon at the 2007 Canada Winter Games.

The four youngsters impressed everybody at last year's cash spiel with their performance, including the Ferbey rink. In fact, Asham was so impressed he provided the curlers with some high-end apparel from his company Asham Curling Supplies and also offered up $1,000 to the boys toward competing in this year's spiel.

Asham himself insisted he would be returning to Whitehorse with a team for the 2007 event. Schille, who was recruited to play with Olympic gold medallist Brad Gushue of Newfoundland last season, said he would spread the word on the east coast.

High profile national and international competitors for this year are not yet confirmed but should be in the next week or so.

'Word gets out petty quickly,' said Ferbey. 'It's only going to get better and better. This could become one of the premium stops on the tour.'

'Hopefully it will just continue growing,' added Sellars.

Meanwhile, the Board of Directors of the WCC announced this week the appointment of Jonathon Solberg as business manager for the Yukon's largest curling membership and facility.

'Jon is coming home to the Whitehorse Curling Club,' said Sellars. 'And he's bringing with him some outstanding experience in sports and event management from the Ontario market.'

Currently residing in St. Agatha, Ont., Solberg has worked as manager for the Brant Curling Club in Brantford, Ont., and the Copper Cliff Curling Club in Sudbury, Ont. He also served as president and director of the WCC from 2000 to 2002.

As a competitive curler, Solberg skipped his team to take the territorial championship in 2002, represented the Yukon/NWT in the Nokia Brier in Calgary the same year, played third on the Northern Ontario provincial rep team in 2003 and the champion team in 2005.

In the same year, Solberg curled third on the Jakubo team representing Northern Ontario at the Tim Horton's Brier in Edmonton.

'This is just great,' said Solberg. 'We are really looking forward to returning to the Whitehorse Curling Club and the incredible season of curling ahead. My wife Tanya and I have hoped to find our way back to the Yukon and now we are on our way.'

The WCC operates an eight-sheet rink out of the Mount McIntyre Recreation Centre in the Yukon capital. With over 300 members, the club operates active curling club programs, a members' lounge, and provides meeting space rentals to the public.

The club's 2007/08 curling season includes: a growing junior curling program; a new curlers' program; the 2007 Skookum Asphalt/World Curling Tour $30,000 cash spiel; other sponsored bonspiels; an international bonspiel; and a host of fundraising activities.

The Club has hosted the TSN Skins Game, the 2005 Canadian National Mixed Curling Championships, the 2006 World Curling Tour Cash Spiel that included world champion Randy Ferbey, and the Canada Winter Games men's and women's curling events.