The Cochrane Curling Club will be hosting its annual Ladies Bonspiel, the first for the new facility at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre. The tournament will kick off Feb. 23 through until Feb. 25 where the finals will take place.
Organizer Shannon Caron said there will also be a special theme to celebrate a worldwide event.
“This year, we’re doing an Olympic themed tournament in honour of the Games taking place in Korea. Each team is encouraged to dress up in the colours of another country and celebrate the Winter Olympics,” Caron said.
“We’re also going to be making up gold, silver and bronze medals for the winners and we’ll also be having a homemade Olympic torch. It should be a really fun way to get people into the spirit (of the Olympics) if they aren’t already.”
There will be 24 teams competing throughout the weekend, playing in a ‘cashspiel format’ where the winner of each game will take away a bit of money after they’re victorious during their three round robin games and any matches following, leading into the tournament final.
“Our first games start at 6 p.m. on Friday evening and will run all the way until Sunday afternoon,” said Caron.
“The final two games will be held at 9 a.m. and noon, those are the B and A finals. Each team is guaranteed three games, and to continue onward into the tournament you have to win at least two of your games.”
Caron said that the games will be competitive due to money being involved, but everyone will surely have a great time.
“The tournament will be mostly made up of Cochrane teams, but there are a few from Calgary, Banff and other surrounding areas,” Caron said.
“We’ve been hosting the ladies bonspiel for many years now and they have always gotten great feedback, which is why we’ve continued to do them.”
Caron also said there is added excitement due to the fact that this will be the first time the event will be held at the new facility.
“The facility is just overall a little bit better than the old rink. It was a great little rink don’t get me wrong, but we needed to move into a new facility in order to attract more teams and be able to host more events.”
“We’ll also be hosting a banquet on Saturday night and there will be a skills competition that will begin Friday night and end before the banquet.”
Caron said there was much work that was put into making sure this event goes off without a hitch.
“There were a lot of men and women behind the scenes making sure the weekend will be a successful one. The bonspiel wouldn’t be where it is today without them or the local businesses that donated gifts and food,” said Caron.
“They are vital to our success and for that, I thank them.”
