FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 6, 2006                                                            

TO: All Media Outlets
FROM: Yukon Convention Bureau

CANADA TO HOST 2008 Junior Men’s World Softball Championships!

WHITEHORSE, YUKON –Yukon Convention Bureau together with Softball Yukon are pleased to announce the 2008 Junior Men’s Softball Championships will be held in Whitehorse, Yukon June 21 - 28, 2008!

This will be the third time the Junior Championships have been hosted in Canada, including 1997 in St. John’s, NFLD, 2005 in Summerside, PEI.  Canada achieved the bronze medal in each of these championships.

“We are so pleased to have been able to help secure this event for Yukon.  For the Yukon to be increasingly successful as a sport & event destination, Yukon ambassadors such as Softball Yukon are critical to our success as they are out promoting Yukon as a place to meet and play,” said Jenn Houtby, Managing Director, Yukon Convention Bureau.

Not only has Yukon been awarded the 2008 Championships – Yukon will also play host to the 2007 Softball Canada AGM in November 2007.

“We are delighted to have been awarded these Championships again” stated Softball Canada C.E.O. Hugh Mitchener. “ Kevin Quinn, President of Softball Canada, Mark Smith, Head Coach of our Senior Men’s team and myself visited Whitehorse earlier this year and were very impressed with Softball Yukon’s plan for hosting the event and with the Pepsi Softball Centre, where the games will be played.”

The Yukon has had its own successes in hosting successful softball championships including 8 National Championships, 23 Western Canadian Championships since 1983.  Most recently Softball Yukon hosted the Western Canadian Masters Men’s Fastpitch Championships held in August 2006.

Yukon can expect to play host to an estimated 220 athletes in 2008.  Overall, the Yukon Convention Bureau projects that this five day event will have an estimated economic impact of approximately $260,000 dollars in direct spending for the territory.  Winning this bid was a direct result of a working partnership with Softball Yukon and our marketing efforts within the sport market.

“The 2007 Canada Winter Games is only the beginning of what will prove to be a very busy couple of years, with a number of city-wide events,” comments Jenn Houtby, Managing Director – Yukon Convention Bureau.   2008 will kick off with the Junior World Weightlifting Championships and will include the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists, “Operation Sleepover” and the Canadian Fire Chiefs Association Annual Meeting.

The Yukon Convention Bureau is charged with positioning the Yukon as a favorable destination for meetings and events, generating an estimated $4 million dollars annually in direct spending in the Territory.

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