A former product of the 100 Mile House Curling Club junior program, Hannah Lindner, will be representing British Columbia in the U18 Canadian Championships as part of Team Buchy (representing the Kimberley Curling Club).
“It feels pretty amazing after competing in these provincials for quite a number of years, and to finally win one - it’s a very amazing thing to experience,” said Lindner.
Lindner, the second on Team Buchy, started curling in 100 Mile House when she was seven years old, before moving to Fort St. John. As part of Team Buchy, she won the U18 BC Provincials in Juan de Fuca on March 12.
“My mom was always big on us having a summer sport and winter sport just to keep us active as kids. I ended up choosing curling over hockey. I think my grandparents influenced that quite a bit. I really started to really enjoy it and kept with it,” said Lindner.
She said she was with the 100 Mile club for about seven years before she moved to Fort St. John in 2015. She had several coaches while at the 100 Mile club, from Bill and Maxine Todhunter, Ed and Hollis May and Jim Mitchell.
“She took to curling like a duck to water,” said Maxine Todhunter. “She’s very keen and spent as much time as she could at the rink practising and practising. It’s not a surprise to us at all. She’s a wonderful little curler and just so keen. She loves the game. It makes us feel very proud.”
Lindner said all the coaches were amazing and very supportive and did a very good job in teaching her everything she needed to know.
Her biggest influence though has been her parents.
“They have been so supportive with me. They have gotten me to places like like curling in Prince George for the longest time and coming out of Fort St. John, it’s a big commitment,” said Lindner. “I’m very grateful for that.”
She still lives in Fort St. John, but after her teammates on her Prince George-based team aged out of under 18 play, Lindner was approached by a member of Team Buchy.
“We played against each other for a couple of years and I understand she enjoyed playing against us, so they approached me and asked if I wanted to curl with them in U18 this year and I was very happy to get the chance to curl in my last U18 provincials with them.”
The year’s provincial tournament has been her seventh, five of them being with an U18 team. The other two were a high school tournament and a junior tournament (U21).
This was her last year as an U18 curler and will be her final chance to win a Canadian Championship at the U18 level.
“I still have a couple of years of junior and I’m hoping to play those last couple of year,” she said. “I have a team lined up for next year based out of Vancouver because I’m going to university at SFU (Simon Fraser University)… If I continue to curl after that, which I really hope I will, I hope to amount to the Scotties one day, maybe.”