The 100 Mile House Blind Curling team is heading to Kamloops to participate in the 2019 Western Blind Çurling Championship from March 20 to 23, after their third-place finish in the 2018 West Coast Blind Curling Association Provincial Playdowns in January.
“It’s always a good time,” said Jim Vinson, who will be skipping the team. “You always think your team is going to do pretty good. We should do well, we got some pretty good curlers on the team.”
The team will be without some of its usual members, with Vinson’s sister, Marilyn, out on vacation and Lori Fry organizing the event.
Instead, Bill Mah will return as the team’s lead. Fraser Hiltz from Vancouver and Frank Costello from Kelowna will also be joining the team. Rick Jones, from 100 Mile House, will continue to be the team on-ice sighted guide.
Hiltz skips for the Vancouver Club, while Costello generally plays as a third but occasionally plays skip.
“It’s going to be quite different. They have both been curling forever,” said Vinson about the two and what they add to the 100 Mile team. “Hopefully we will all get along. Having three skips on the same team, some people say “that you guys will never agree on anything,” but I think we’ll be okay.”
The team representing 100 Mile House will be known in the tournament as British Columbia 2, due to their qualification. Their first game will be against their B.C. counterpart on opening day at 7 p.m. On March 21, they will play two games. The first is against Manitoba 1 at 9 a.m. and Saskatchewan 2 at 1:30 p.m. Again, they will be playing two games on March 22, first lining up against Alberta 1 at 9 a.m., and then Alberta 2 at 1:30 p.m. On March 23, they will face Saskatchewan 1 at 8:30 a.m. and afterwards will take on Manitoba 2 on at 1 p.m.
“[The] community is always great,” said Vinson. “They’re always supportive. Without the support we get, it would be hard to do this.”