Local teams made a clean sweep of last weekend’s 52nd Annual 100 Mile Curling Club Men’s Bonspiel, as winners of the A, B and C events all came from the South Cariboo.
Thirteen teams competed in the Jan. 14-16 tournament, including visitors from Clinton, Williams Lake, Quesnel and Forest Grove.
Dustin Leduc team, with Chris Betuzzi, Ty Lytton and Wayne Venos, won the A event.
Winning the B event was a real family effort by Bill Todhunter and his sons, Bill Todhunter Jr. and Sheldon Todhunter, with help from friend Mel Dodge.
Bill Jr. travelled from Wisconsin in the United States to play in the
bonspiel. He is the
current coach of the U.S. women’s national curling team and was once a member of the U.S. national men’s team. Sheldon came from Abbotsford to pitch in.
Dodge, who is also president of the curling club, says that all three of the men are skilled curlers, but they made him feel comfortable.
“The first couple of ends were intimidating, but they were very supportive.”
Last year, in 2010, they were joined by a third brother, Owen, from Newfoundland, and together they scooped the “B” division.
The C division was won by Harvey Knapp, with Nick Goshorn, Kelly Powell and Lorne Folk.
Winners in their own right, was the Vic Leblanc rink from Quesnel, as the members were awarded the D event trophy for the best performance off the ice.
“It’s a fun trophy and you could say they were an inspiration of sorts,” says Dodge.
Games on both Saturday and Sunday went on until 11 p.m.,
with a break on Saturday evening for a banquet dinner hosted by female members of the club. Finals were held on Sunday.
Dodge says it was a fun weekend for everyone involved and it added to increasingly positive club morale.
Dodge points to growth within the club as the main reason for the
optimism, citing the
recent formation of a blind curling division, hosting of a couple of major bonspiels and formation of a junior competitive team as a few of the main contributors.
“We also have new people moving into the area who are expressing an interest in joining the club.”
Women in the club have their bonspiel slated for March 4-6, which will be organized by the male members of the club.
