BY ZACHARY CORMIER
Lacombe Express
One of Lacombe’s most popular bonspiels of the year is set to hit the Lacombe Curling Club ice next week.
The Lacombe Curling Club Senior’s Open is set to get underway on the curling club rink on Nov. 14th and run until Nov. 18th as 24 teams come together for a fun and competitive week of curling.
“It’s really unique in that we divide it into four divisions with six teams in each division. Over the course of the week they play a round-robin among their division,” said Lacombe Curling Club Manager Lynn Brown.
Those four divisions are the masters category, in which each team must have an aggregate age of 265, Stick, each team must have a minimum of two players using a stick, and two mixed groups, where at least one player on each team must be a member of the opposite gender.
Brown said the community support from sponsors this year has been overwhelming which has allowed the bonspiel committee to put together another great event this year.
“We have phenomenal sponsorship from the community. We also make a cash payout for everyone within the division and that ranges from $160 down to $40, so even if you haven’t won a game you’re going to get a $40 payout at the end of the week.”
The event has become so popular, in fact, that most of the time teams will register for the next year’s bonspiel immediately after the conclusion of the current years.
“We have teams that commit to it annually. They walk off the ice on Friday and inform us that they want to be registered for next year,” Brown said, adding that out of the 24 teams that can play in the bonspiel, 17 of them have been playing in it for the past three consecutive years.
“We never have trouble filling it.”
Brown also noted the registration list stays at 24 teams every year because that is the greatest number the Club can accommodate for the bonspiel.
“The maximum that we can put on and run it this way is 24 teams.”
In addition to each team getting to play a draw every day, the Curling Club also puts on a banquet for participants with door prizes.
“The community has made phenomenal, fantastic support for us. Someone from every team will receive a door prize. Sometimes they’re a team prize such as rounds of golf,” Brown explained, adding the Curling Club always gets great feedback from teams who come from out of town to play in the annual shindig.
“We get people from out of town that say this is the best spiel in the area and that’s pretty complimentary.”
The Lacombe Curling Club Senior’s Open runs from Monday through Friday next week with draws at 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. daily. There is no admission fee and spectators are welcome.
zcormier@lacombeexpress.com