The 100 Mile House blind curling team has qualified for the 2018 Western Blind Curling championships being held in Edmonton in March, after coming in third place in the West Coast Blind Curling Association Provincial Playdowns held in Vancouver on Jan. 11 and 12.
“We had fun,” said skip Jim Vinson. “It was a good time and the ice was really good but I had trouble figuring it out.”
The team lost their first draw 11-4 against heavyweights Kelowna, who have represented the province numerous times at the national level.
The second draw was a similar outcome, with Vancouver beating them 10-6 in dramatic fashion.
The 100 Mile House Club clawed back from a 6-3 lead from Vancouver, only for the latter to add four unanswered points.
Winning their third draw, 100 Mile House edged out Prince George to a score of 6-5 with the final rock as the determining factor.
“That game was pretty tight, back and forth,” said the team’s third, Lori Fry. “It was tied 5-5 in the eighth end. Prince George managed to bring in a rock almost equal to ours near the button. It was so close we had the officials measure it.”
Because 100 Mile House was the first team to throw, they only received one point instead of two due to the close proximity of Prince George’s throw.
Even though the team qualified for the Western Blind Curling Championship, they have declined the opportunity because of travelling reasons and personal commitments, passing on their spot to Prince George, who came in last place.
“The travel is really gruelling, within the province is not quite as bad. When we’re going to the Westerns or Nationals it’s like two days travel before and two days at the end of the trip so it adds a lot more exhaustion and costs as well,” said Fry.
Even though they are happy to turn it over to Prince George, the team is still torn about it and Lori said the team will miss the camaraderie and social aspect of the tournament.
However, 100 Mile House is hosting the Provincial Playdowns next year and the Western Blind Curling Championship is also being hosted in the province.
“We always thrive to do better so hopefully next year we will have a better end result,” said Vinson.
The rest of the 100 Mile House team was Iris Thompson (borrowed from the Vancouver Club, Marilyn Vinson and sighted guide on ice Rick Jones.