The Pughe rink from Royal City and the Skinner rink from Summerland will be representing British Columbia at the National Curling Championships in Montreal.
Hosted in Grand Forks, this year’s B.C. Masters Curling Championships went from March 1 to 4 at the Grand Forks Curling Club.
Mel Lungle, Region 1 director (Grand Forks, Trail, Naskup and Nelson) for Curl BC, stated, “It’s been very successful. We have some very, very good curlers here and some curlers who are here have an excellent resumé of what they’ve done in the past and there’s some superb curling.”
Lungle pointed out the curlers are so good that anybody can win at any time.
“I’m very happy that the community has been supporting us and there have been a number of sponsors who have come forward to assist us and it’s very important that we do work as a community,” he added.
The finals in the men’s division had two teams from Royal City Curling Club in New Westminster facing off against each other.
The Pughe rink played against the Lightbody rink in a tight match throughout the eight ends.
It was in the last end that the Pughe rink managed to pull away with two points to win the Championship 6-4.
Skip Rick Pughe will be heading to Montreal with third John Zwarych, second Jack Finnbogasson and lead Bob Byrne.
“(The tournament) was very good,” Pughe said. “The ice was very good and the hospitality was great.”
He stated the competition was pretty tough, as usual, but hopes to continue play the same way at the nationals.
“This is a great place to come and curl,” he added.
The women’s division also saw a tight match with the Kelowna Curling Club against the Summerland Curling Club.
The beginning of the match had the two teams in close contention before the Skinner rink pulled away in the last two ends.
Though the Bird rink was close, led by Skip Maureen Bird, the Skinner rink won 6-4.
Representing the women’s Masters team for British Columbia, Skip Beverly Skinner will be joined with third Wendy Archer, second Betty Raymond and lead Rosemarie Fenrich in Montreal.
“This year’s competition was absolutely wonderful,” Skinner stated. “It was a great field of girls and there was competition from the coast, and the interior, as well as the island.”
Everyone curled their hearts out and the camaraderie here was unbelievable.”
This is the first time Skinner has made it to the provincials and she is excited to continue and play in the nationals.
“I’d like to thank the Grand Forks area because we were here three weeks ago for the bonspiel and everybody’s kind of taken us under their wing,” she stated. “We felt like the hometown team and it’s been unbelievable support from Grand Forks.
“People on the streets were waving and saying ‘way to go!’ or ‘go for the gold.’ It was awesome.”
Teams participating in the BC Provincials Masters Curling came from around the province, including Comox, Kamloops, Nanaimo, Quesnel and Duncan.
