The Lacombe Curling Club is playing host to their annual Seniors’ Open from Nov. 13th-17th.
The event feature four different round-robin divisions. Curlers will compete in either a masters division, which consists of teams with an aggregate age of 265; a push division where at least two curlers in the rink need to be using push brooms; and two mixed divisions where at least one member of the rink needs to be a member of the opposite sex.
Curlers are guaranteed at least one game per day against each of the other five teams in their division.
Chairman Ken Brown said there is excitement heading into this year’s draw.
“They are very interested in what group they will be placed in because there is quite a bit of overlap,” he said.
His wife or fellow bonspiel organizer Lynn Brown said interest in this year’s tournament began immediately following last year’s event.
“It was overfull as of the end of last year,” Lynn said. “It is highly anticipated.”
“We ask at the end of each year whether they are interested in coming back to our spiel,” Ken said. “Out of the 24 teams last year, 23 said yes. We also had three other teams say they were interested in coming in.”
Each team in the draw is eligible for cash payouts. For each win, the team will receive $20 and $160 down to $40 will be handed out depending on how teams rank in their division by Friday.
The curlers also will be part of a banquet on Wednesday, catered by Leto’s, and they will receive a daily lunch.
“There is no extra charge unless you want to bring a spouse along with you. It is an excellent meal,” Lynn said.
Ken said the bonspiel is always looking for volunteers to help everything run smoothly.
“We have a pretty good committee that help us along. We have a group that looks after lunches,” he said.
Lynn said curlers receive far more than what they pay into the tournament.
“Your entry fee is $50 but you will get back far more than that when you consider you are curling five games, attending a banquet, having a chance at door prizes and the amount of fun and entertainment you get out of it is well more than worth while,” she said.
Draws will be played at 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. daily throughout the week.