by Kimberly Tuck
STRATHROY, Ontario – As I rush around at home doing laundry and packing up the family for the weekend, hubby Wayne and co-founder Jay Allen are having a final meeting with their committee regarding the 2011 Sun Life Financial Invitational Curling Classic in Brantford, Ontario. No doubt they are hammering out some last-minute details in preparation for this year’s event, which is set to begin play tonight.
This event started four years ago as another last-minute effort; in this case to keep a dying cashspiel in Brantford alive. Now, the World Curling Tour event has grown to become the biggest event on the Ontario curling circuit and arguably the biggest event in Canada! Spectators are in for an amazing treat, and online fans won’t have to search hard to find where some of the game’s biggest stars are competing this weekend – they are all in Brantford!
The impressive list includes two-time defending men's champ Mike McEwen, Olympic men's champion Kevin Martin, Olympic women's silver medallist and curling sweetheart Cheryl Bernard, Ontario favourite Glenn Howard, reigning Canadian women's champ Amber Holland, European greats Eve Muirhead of Scotland and Niklas Edin of Sweden, and the beat goes on... Jones, Overton-Clapham, Smith-Dacey, Middaugh, Nedohin, McCarville, Scott, Lawton, Kleibrink and more on the women's side, and Koe, Jacobs, Gushue, Epping, Stjerne, Moskowy and more in men's play.
No less than 64 teams in total competing at three area curling facilities... yes, this field would rival that of any Olympic Trials or Grand Slam!
The Sun Life Financial Invitational Curling Classic has become a must-attend event for these high-profile teams due to the hospitality, good ice conditions and hard work of the organizing committee. Let’s not forget about the amazing support from the event's title sponsor, Sun Life Financial, and the group of subsidiary sponsors: without them this event would not be possible, and I hope that each sponsor can appreciate the true enormity of this event and what it brings to the local curling community.
So hats off to all involved, and on behalf of all the participants – thank you, life truly is better under the sun! (Love that tagline, you’re welcome Jay!)
Yes, I am a competitor – I play second for Team Ali Nimik – so that's how I fit into all this, and how I got this blogging job. Of course, as already mentioned, I happen to be sleeping with one of the co-convenors (is that how rumours get started?) so I am also hoping to report in between games and carousing with some unique behind-the-scenes stuff for you good fans of The Curling News.
So if you are in the area, and even if you're not, I suggest you get your butt out to one of the host clubs – Brantford Golf & Country Club, Brant Curling Club or Paris Curling Club – and buy a ticket (proceeds go back into each club’s junior programs and also to the Brant Community Health Care Systems Foundation) and catch a few games of this world-class World Curling Tour stop. And if you can’t make it out, do follow along with live scoring on the event website as well as my updates on this blog.