The Red Deer Curling Classic is back for another year this weekend.
Fifty-six teams, 28 men’s and 28 women’s teams will gather for the annual bonspiel, that also serves as a stop on the World Curling Tour.
Teams from across Western Canada and around the world will participate in the triple knockout event for a $35,000 purse, with the first draw starting at 9:30 a.m. Friday at the Pidhereny Curling Centre.
“There have been different formats tried but when we came to this club, with twelve sheets, we quickly figured out we could put them together and hold one big event. So we max out at 56 teams and we usually get that,” said Pidhereny Curling Centre Manager and committee member Wade Thurber.
“It’s been that way for the last seven years. It makes it more fun, and social and just better. We like it.”
For the men, it is the 20th edition of the bonspiel, while the women’s event started back in 2004.
World champion Kevin Koe won the event back in 2016 and last year, Brendan Bottcher was the champion. Ted Appleman of Edmonton was the runner-up in each of those years. Both Bottcher and Appleman are in the field in 2018.
On the women’s side, Delia DeJong and her rink topped Satsuki Fujisawa of Japan last year to earn the title. The DeJong group is back in the fold in 2018, as well as Marla Sherrer of Lacombe and Casey Scheidegger’s team out of Lethbridge.
Thurber said the bonspiel has traditionally been competitive and this year some top up-and-coming teams will be in the mix, including Karsten Sturmay of Edmonton and Tyler Tadri of Langley, B.C.
“We get some pretty good teams and teams that are trying to get there. It’s a good stepping stone for that,” Thurber said.
“We did learn something in talking to teams over the years, we really only like to have two or three top teams. Because if we get all the top teams here, none of these other ones will come.”
While the event is a fan favourite it also helps the local curling community. The funds raised through ticket sales and sponsorships go towards junior curling.
This past year it even helped the Red Deer Curling Club establish a junior curling academy, one that Thurber hopes will keep teenage curlers more engaged in the sport.
“We now have four level two coaches and we have 28 kids that signed up immediately,” Thurber said.
“We can do video analysis, we have a speed trap and training aids to take these kids to the next level… this is the first year and it’s one of the benefits of the fundraising from the classic.
“Last year we had 114 juniors that curl here every week, this year we have 152. We need to take these kids and if you give them the skill set, they will continue to play.”
The final of the Red Deer Curling Classic is Monday at 3:30 p.m.
Email sports tips to Byron Hackett
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