Chilliwack curlers qualify for B.C. Mixed Doubles Championship

Chilliwack curlers qualify for B.C. Mixed Doubles Championship

Allison Bourne and Stephen Strathdee survived a Lower Mainland playdown in Abbotsford last weekend.

A Chilliwack rink has qualified for mixed curling provincials.

Allison Bourne and Stephen Strathdee competed in a Lower Mainland playdown last weekend in Delta, punching their ticket to the 2019 B.C. Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, which will take place Feb. 26 to Mar. 3 in Abbotsford.

Sixteen teams competed in the playdown.

Bourne and Strathdee were bumped out of the A event in their first match, dropping a nine-end 9-8 decision to Vancouver’s Kayla Graham and Daniel Jun.

The Chilliwackians went 1-1 in the B event, and were relegated to the C event after an 8-6 loss to Royal City’s Heather Drexel and Ryan Harbrink.

But with their backs to the wall, the locals caught fire, reeling off three straight wins.

They bombed Delta Thistle’s Heather Sinclair and Steven Lambie 12-5 in a lopsided game that was called after six ends, and gained sweet revenge on Drexel and Harbrink with a 6-1 win.

Pitted against North Delta’s Claire Hillman and Brian Cole in the C event final, Bourne and Strathdee trailed 5-3 through six ends before rallying. They put up three in the seventh and one more in the eighth to take a 7-5 victory and the last of seven provincial berths.

Another Chilliwack pair, Glen and Sheila Ford, didn’t fare as well, going 0-3.

Chilliwack Progress