A total of 17 teams (five out of town and 12 local) participated in the 60th Anniversary of the 100 Mile House Ladies’ Bonspiel, making it a huge success. There were teams from Quesnel, Clearwater, Ashcroft/Clinton and Williams Lake.
The curling was great for the spectators with both outstanding shots and some flukes. There were some very close games, such as the one between teams Ney and Grenzer, who were tied until the eighth end when Grenzer won on her last shot. Another was between Team Hefer and Team Ney. Elaine Hefer made a terrific shot in the eighth end to go into an extra end, which resulted in Ney winning the game.
There were also two large comebacks during the weekend. One was during the first game played by teams Menzer and Hadley. Menzer was down seven points after the third end and came back to win it. In the Menzer/Wenger ‘A’ semi-final game, Wenger came back from a six-point deficit after the second end.
The ice was challenging, but the out-of-town teams figured it out quickly and won all the events against local teams.
The ‘A’ Final was between Team Koster from Ashcroft and Team Wenger from Bridge Lake. Team Wenger shuffled their team up a bit this year, with Johanna Wenger skipping and playing lead rocks and Maria Hamilton (who usually skips) throwing fourth stones.
The Koster team took three in the first end and Wenger chased from that point on. Koster was making most of their shots and Wenger couldn’t get much going to get the points back. Koster was up by five at the end of the seventh and ran Wenger out of rocks. Koster’s team was made up of skip Linda Koster from Ashcroft, Trudy Folk (third) from 100 Mile, Sherr O’Brien (second) from Roe Lake and Sheryl Walch (lead) from Clinton.
The ‘B’ Final had the Hadley rink from Clearwater playing the Doddridge team from 100 Mile. The game was a struggle for most of the curlers, leaving the skips to perform until the bitter end. Doddridge was down by three going into the eighth and was able to get three in the rings. Unfortunately, the last shot was an inch short. The Doddridge team chalked the loss up to leaving all their energy on the dance floor the night before. The Clearwater rink consisted of skip Larissa Hadley, Jan Johnston (third), Sheila Colter (second) and Joan Streadwick (lead).
A 100 Mile junior girls team entered the bonspiel, skipped by Rachel Sikiric. They played very well winning their first game against the Madam X team, then lost a very close second game against Wenger which took them to the ‘C’ Event. Their third game had them playing and winning at 8 a.m. on March 3, and then they played one of their coaches, Hollis Ney, in the ‘C’ semi-final.
The 100 Mile coaches have done a bang-up job because the young girls won that game to advance to the ‘C’ final against Team Shiach from Williams Lake, consisting of skip Donna Shiach, Gale MacLellan (third), Dawn Arnold (second) and lead Buff Carnes.
It was a great game with the Sikiric being down three at the end of the sixth, at which point they got one in the seventh and stole two in the eighth to tie it up and go to an extra end. The ninth came down to Sikiric’s last stone, which needed to take out a rock on the button and roll under cover. Unfortunately, she was a bit heavy and wrecked on a guard.
The girls, who range in age from 11 to 15, played amazing all weekend and put up a good fight in the final. The Club hopes that this foursome will become a competitive under-18 team next year with the help of their coaches.
The theme was Beach Party and the 100 Mile ladies didn’t disappoint when it came to the decorating. Towels hung on the walls with books, shoes, hats and bags sewn on them, to replicate someone leaving their towels on the beach to go swimming. Large jellyfish hung from the ceiling and under the sea banners covered the trophy case.
The costumes were also exceptional. There were old-time bathing suits, crocheted bikinis, old ladies at the beach, lifeguards, Gilligan’s Island, and the winning costume had two ladies dressed as palm trees carrying a third in a hammock, with the fourth as a cabana boy complete with drinks and a fan. All the costumes were amazing, and pictures have been posted on the 100 Mile Curling Club website.
For the 60th Anniversary, a history table was filled with trophies, photo books, pins, newspaper articles and memorabilia. Much of the history was provided by Marg Folk, a long-time curler of the club as well as a pin collection in memory of Anne Halcro, provided by her daughter Millie Halcro. Throughout the weekend people stopped to take in the history of prior years. Dick Minato provided a wooden hand-made pen for a raffle. The Club has been able to raise over $400 from these pens this year.
The men of the club provided Friday night appetizers, Saturday’s (March 2) meal, bartenders, set-up and clean-up for the weekend, paying the ladies back for the men’s bonspiel held in January. The ladies would like to thank all the men for their hard work, giving them the ability to enjoy the weekend. The party was held on Saturday night with the Markabillies playing live music. The dance floor was packed the entire night and many ladies wondered if they would be able to get into the hack the next morning.
newsroom@100milefreepress.net
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.