Many curling rinks from throughout the province will compete at the Weyburn Curling Club for two provincial curling championships.
The Curling Club will host the Travelers Insurance provincial men’s and women’s championships from Friday to Monday, March 18 to 21.
The Travelers is a competition for non-elite teams, which are curlers who have not competed in a provincial or national juniors, women’s, men’s, or seniors’ competition in the past four years. It is a relatively new event, having begun in 2008, at which time it was known as the Dominion Curling Club Championship.
Glenn Tollefson, manager of the Weyburn Curling Club, said that this is the first time for the Weyburn Club to host the Travelers. “While the competitors may not be recognized as ‘elite’, we expect some excellent competition out on the ice.”
There will be 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams competing during the weekend, each representing their home clubs or regions from across Saskatchewan. The winner of each division will represent Saskatchewan at the national Travelers Curling Club Championship in Kelowna in November.
Weyburn Curling Club will be represented by two teams. The women’s team, skipped by Danette Tracey, includes Charla Moore, Jade Ivan and Lianne Cretin. Tracey won the provincial Travelers championship in 2012 and represented Saskatchewan at the Travelers Canadian Championship in Scarborough, Ont. There the team managed a three-and-three record in the round robin, finishing out of the playoffs.
On the men’s side will be Ryan Skjerdal, Clare Johnson, Schenley Borys and Jared Nimegeers.
Former Weyburn curlers, Sheldon and Jason Obst and Brad Hannan, now curling out of the Tartan Club in Regina, will also be competing.
The first draw is at 3 p.m. on Friday, March 18. The opening ceremony start 7 p.m., followed by curling action at 8 p.m. Curling concludes on Monday, Mar. 21 with the women’s final at 12:30 p.m. and the men’s final at 3 p.m. Admission is free and the curling club concession will be open.
Further information about teams and draw times is available on the CurlSask website.
