B.C.’s newest championship curling event is headed for Maple Ridge.
The Golden Ears Winter Club has been awarded the 2014 BC Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, which will take place from Jan. 16-19, 2014.
In fall 2012, Curl BC decided to establish a provincial championship in response to the Canadian Curling Association’s decision to hold a National Mixed Doubles trials to determine a Canadian champion in the discipline. The inaugural BC Mixed Doubles Championship was held at the North Shore Winter Club from Feb. 1-3, 2013.
Mike Mallett, the manager of Golden Ears Curling Club, said everyone at the club was excited to be hosting the championship in 2014.
“We had a couple of our long-time curlers go to this year’s event and the feedback that we got from them was fantastic, so we decided to go for it,” he said.
Teams are made up of one male and one female curler and the game is played over eight ends (instead of the usual 10).
“We’re going to start up a mixed doubles league on Thursdays and we hope that will generate interest in it,” said Mallett. “Sixteen teams entered last year so maybe we can get that to grow to 24.”
Mallett added that he hoped people from across the province would take an interest.
