CAMROSE, Canada – The roster for Team North America at the 2008 Continental Cup of Curling is now confirmed.

Now in its sixth edition, the Continental Cup, featuring Team World versus Team North America, will be staged December 18-21 at the 2,300-seat EnCana Arena at the Edgeworth Centre in Camrose, Alberta, Canada.

Following last month's announcement of the Team World lineup, Team North America has amassed a strong squad intent on retaining its 2007 championship. The skips representing Team North America are reigning 2008 world champions Kevin Martin and Jennifer Jones of Canada, reigning 2008 United States champions Craig Brown and Debbie McCormick, and qualifiers Kevin Koe and Stefanie Lawton of Canada.

North America holds a 3-2 edge over the "World", after winning last year's Continental Cup in Medicine Hat, Alberta. The unique event, patterned somewhat after golf's Ryder Cup, will offer a purse of $88,400, with each member of the winning team receiving $2,000, while each losing team member receiving $1,400.

Jones, a two-time Canadian champion, was a member of the winning North America side at the 2007 Cup, while Martin, a three-time Canadian champion and 2002 Olympic silver medallist, competed in the inaugural Continental Cup in Regina in 2002, when North America scored a dramatic, last rock victory over the World in the final men's skins game between Martin and Sweden's Peja Lindholm.

McCormick, the 2003 world champion, will be making her fourth Cup appearance for North America, after competing in 2003, 2006 and 2007, while Brown will be competing in his first Cup.

Russ Howard, the 2006 Olympic gold medallist and two-time world champion, will be the
captain for Team North America while Jim Waite will be the coach.

As released earlier, Team World is headlined by reigning Le Gruyère European champions Anette Norberg of Sweden and David Murdoch of Scotland.

In addition to her 2006 Olympic gold medal, Norberg won back-to-back world titles in 2005 and 2006. Her squad also competed in three previous Cups, winning in 2003 in Thunder Bay, Ontario and 2006 in Chilliwack, British Columbia.

Murdoch, who won the 2006 world men's championship and was runner-up in both 2005 and 2008, will also be making his fourth Cup appearance, winning in 2006.

Coming on the heels of remarkable international success in 2008, two teams from China will join Team World. Bingyu Wang earned a silver medal at the Ford world women's while Fengchun Wang, finished fourth at the 2008 world men's while making his country's debut in the championship.

The other World skips are Switzerland's 2002 and 2006 Olympic silver medallist and 2008 world bronze medallist Mirjam Ott, who was also a member of Team Europe when winning the 2006 Continental Cup, and Norway's Thomas
Ulsrud, bronze medallist at the 2006 and 2008 world men's and runner-up to Murdoch at the 2007 European championship.

The coach will be Sweden's three-time world champion Peja Lindholm, while 2002 Olympic gold medallist Pål Trulsen of Norway will be the World captain. Lindholm played in the first three Cups, winning in 2003, while Trulsen also participated in three Cups, winning in 2003 and 2006.

The Continental Cup is a four-day competition involving Team games (72 points), Mixed Doubles (36 points), Singles (32 points) and Skins (Men's, Women's and Mixed, worth a total of 260 points). The first side to score 201 points is declared the winner.

In 2002, Team North America edged Team World at the inaugural Continental Cup in Regina, Saskatchewan, 207-193, but Europe evened the score in 2003, winning 208-179 in Thunder Bay. In 2004, North America recaptured the title with a 228-172 tally in Medicine Hat, before a record four-day crowd of 42,317.

In 2006 in Chilliwack, Europe emerged victorious, 229-171 as all curling medallists from the 2006 Olympic Winter Games participated. Last year in Medicine Hat, North America wound up with a 290-110 advantage, clinching the competition prior to the women's and men's final Skins games were played on Sunday.

Canada's The Sports Network (TSN) will provide extensive national coverage (28 hours) of the competition.

The world's best curling athletes have competed in the Continental Cup. In addition to this year's lineup, previous participants include teams skipped by Canada's Brad Gushue, Randy Ferbey, Glenn Howard, Kelly Scott, Kelley Law
and Colleen Jones, Norway's Dordi Nordby, Sweden's Elisabet Gustafson, Scotland's Rhona Martin, Jackie Lockhart and Hammy McMillan, Germany's Andrea Schöpp and Andy Kapp and Finland's Markku Uusipaavalniemi.

The Continental Cup is a joint venture of the Canadian Curling Association, the United States Curling Association and the World Curling Federation.