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Bonspiel puts spotlight on curling's future stars

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Some of the best young curlers in Ontario will be at the Paris Curling Club for the CurlON under-18 championships next month.

The bonspiel, from March 9 to 13, will feature the top male and female teams competing for spots in the under-18 Canadian Curling Championships, which will be held in Sherwood Park, Alta., April 2-7.

“The athletes participating in this event are the future stars of the game,” said Neil Murray, of the club’s bonspiel organizing committee. “These are the curlers that we’ll be watching on television in a couple of years and we’re really pleased that they’ll be coming to Paris.”

Murray said that many curlers who have competed in past under-18 championship have gone on to curl with elite teams.

Rachel Holman’s rink won the under-18 national championships four times from 2003 to 2006. She went on to represent Canada at the 2008 Olympic games and is currently ranked No. 1 in the world, Murray said.

Rachelle Vink, of Woodstock, also curled in the under-18 championship. She currently plays second for Team Julie Tippin on the World Curling Tour.

Vink will be the guest speaker at this year’s event banquet, Murray said.

On the men’s side, past competitors include John Epping, who won the 2018 Ontario Men’s Tankard and represented Ontario in the 2018 Brier. He is currently ranked seventh in the world curling rankings.

Scott McDonald, who won the Ontario Men’s Tankard and will represent Ontario in the 2019 Brier, also played in the under-18 championship.

There will be eight male and eight female teams competing in a round-robin format.

The semifinals are scheduled for 1 p.m. on March 13, follwed by the finals at 5 p.m.

Teams will be coming from a wide area, including Ottawa, St. Catharines, Grimsby, Whitby, Toronto, London, Port Perry and Kitchener-Waterloo.

Murray said the club, which is celebrating its 175th anniversary, is excited to host the championships

“It’s going to be quite an event for us,” he said.

“We’re expecting to have a couple of hundred people come through the club during the event and we see it as an opportunity to showcase our club and our community.”

Plans call for spectator stands to be set up behind the glass overlooking the rinks on the upper level of the clubhouse during the event. The bottom of the clubhouse will be set aside for curlers, Murray said.

“We’re also hoping that this will serve as a springboard to host other major events,” said Murray, noting that the 2018 Nissan Classic, won by Team Glen Howard, was played at the club last December.

He noted that spectators also will get the learn more about the history of the club, which dates back to 1843.

CurlON, formerly known as the Ontario Curling Association, is the governing body of curling in southern Ontario.

Vball@postmedia.com

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