We’re now approximately one month into the local curling season. The Nanaimo Curling Centre on Wall Street is busy with league action most days of the week and October featured the first two bonspiels of the year.
The first of those was the Berwick on the Lake Nanaimo Stick Bonspiel held Oct. 20-22. Open to senior men and women as well as wheelchair curlers, a total of 20 two-person teams took part. Following seeding games, entries were split into five events on the final day, and my thanks to organizer Bob Davies for sending word of results.
Winners of A event were Dennis Cassidy and Ron Schwartz from Parksville, with runners-up being Cliff King and Brian Scorer of Nanaimo. Parksville’s Alan Thomas and Geoff Leney took third place. In B event, top team was that of Gene Wakaruk and Bill Layman from Parksville. Nanaimo’s Jim Forrester and Larry Oleskiw were second and Fred Withy and Bob Franklin third. Local curlers Ken Hall and Joan Hall captured C event. Second and third were Parksville teams of Greg Rehill and Lola Denesyk and Ken Calthorpe and Richard Miller. The Doc Leather entry from Parksville won D event, ahead of three local entries. Merv Osler and Gord Borbandy were second and Bob Larsen and Marg Fensky took third. In the consolation event, the winning team was Nanaimo’s Bill Boyko and Chris Price.
This past weekend, the Nanaimo club hosted its annual Halloween Open Spiel, with 24 teams competing in regular curling format. In addition to action on the ice, those participating enjoyed a Saturday night banquet and of course a costume competition. As for the actual curling, finals in the bonspiel’s three events were held on Sunday afternoon, followed by presentation of cash prizes to the top four teams in each event.
The competition’s A event was sponsored by Christensen Collision and featured a pair of out-of-town teams in the final. Duncan skip Wes Craig teamed with Gerald Poelman, Victor Gamble and Shannon Harris to post a 6-2 victory over the Qualicum foursome of Lynne Noble, Penny Shantz, Colleen Robson and Hazel Watson. Third place went to the local team of Al Jensen, Jessica Pyett, Darren Horton, Kelsey Price and Shannon Frith.
In the bonspiel’s Tectonica Management B event, all three top teams were local entries. Taking first place was the foursome of Natalka Strilesky, Linda Torgerson, Sharon Luttrell and Carol Tromans. In the final, the Strilesky foursome scored an 8-6 win over skip Steve Anderson and his teammates Genya Stevens, Bert Grzesiczek and Mandi Boettcher. Third place went to Dwain Black and his team of Mary Ellen Konyer, Paul Konyer and Lorna Black.
Competition in the bonspiel’s C event was sponsored by the Tegart family. In an all-Nanaimo final, the team of Leslie Shearer, Doug Shearer, Sherrie Tomayer and Darrin Angell prevailed 5-4 over skip Nicole Backe and her team of Shannon Ward, Janelle Erwin and Marla Guldbranson. The Ladysmith/Duncan entry of Dean Meikle, Kelly Meikle, Alina Abbott and Rick Callander took third place.
Congratulations also go to bonspiel chair Kelsey Price for her work in organizing a very successful event and my thanks to Kellie Rice and Jessie Whittam for passing along results.
Whatever your sport, a reminder in closing to play your hardest, play fair, and show good sportsmanship.
