Hope’s oldest curling club member threw out the ceremonial first rock for the BC Mixed Doubles Championships Wednesday.
Jim Toy lined himself up and made his way down the ice toward a pathway created by players, coaches and flag bearers. One of the Hope Curling Club’s youth members, Taylor Shields, took it from there, sweeping the rock to the end, toward Mayor Peter Robb, a former curler himself.
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The club is hosting the provincials through to March 1, which will select who will represent B.C. at the national mixed doubles competition in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba.
The opening ceremony kicks off a round robin tournament that sees 16 teams face each other in two pools. Draws are at 9 a.m., noon, 3 p.m., 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. each day, beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday. The final match up is at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
In the mixed doubles format, each team has only six stones and one of those stones from each team is prepositioned on the centre line before every end of play. One player delivers the first and last stones of the end while the other player throws the second, third and fourth stones. If they choose to, the two players may swap positions from one end to the next. Both team members are also allowed to sweep.
Hope’s own duo of Debbie McKinney and Terry Foord earned their spot in the championships earlier this year.
There is no entrance fee to watch the action live at the club, next door to the Hope Recreation Centre.
Watch hopestandard.com/sports for continued coverage of the championships. To keep track online with live results from Curl BC, click here.
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