The first day of the BC Curling Championships sustained a disruption of play on one of the sheets due to a leak in the roof of Western Financial Place.
A parent of one of the competing athletes, who asked to remain anonymous, contacted the Townsman, saying that water was also dripping in the locker rooms.
On Tuesday, the first day of the six-day major curling event, the dripping water compromised the integrity of the ice on sheet E — consistent ice is critical to proper gameplay. A bucket was first set on the ice to catch the dripping water, which was quickly removed and replaced as sweepers went past.
READ: Entire Western Financial Place roof project estimated at $5.6M
The game on Sheet E — Joanisse vs. Longworth — was put on hold altogether until the Tardi vs. Thompson game on Sheet D concluded and the Sheet E teams moved over to finish their game.
On Wednesday morning it appears as play has resumed on Sheet E, with players competing under a temporary plastic sluice, diverting drip water away from the ice.
Rebecca Connop Price, communications and marketing manager with Curl BC said that the Cranbrook Curling Club has done an excellent job mitigating this issue.
Paul Heywood, events and marketing manager with the City of Cranbrook, told the Townsman that they had to “create an ad hoc solution” due to the warm weather causing so much melt water on the roof.
“There are seams in the roof that still leak because we haven’t completed that part of the roof yet,” he said. However, he added that the city has spoken with people from Curl BC, the Curling Club and even some of the players, and they all think that the tarp system mitigated the problem adequately.
He added that “everyone is saying the ice is top notch and everyone is just enjoying being in Cranbrook.”
