A curling team of four members of the Stettler Rotary Club will compete in the 20th Rotary World Curling Championships in Scotland set for March 28 to April 2.
Stettler colours will be worn by skip Neil Connor, third Rene Bernard, second Trevor Leinweber and lead Brian Sribney at the championships in Perth at Dewar’s Rink.
Eight sheets of ice will feature 10 teams in the main competition and 10 in the Friendship event.
“Winning the A event final would be the icing on the cake, but for our first time in an international competition, we are just honored to represent our Rotary club and our community in such an event,” said Connor.
Established in 1972, this bi-annual event is now a fixture in the Rotary world sports calendar where country compete for the coveted Jack MacKimmie Silver Bell Trophy and the title as world Rotary curling champions.
Having qualified by winning a district competition in Lacombe in February 2009, Stettler rink will participate in the championship to face teams from Berwick, England; Leith, Scotland; Lockerbie; Scotland, Madison, Wisconsin, United States USA, Midland, USA; Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, Perth, Scotland; Peterborough, Ontario, Canada and Rice Lake, USA.
All members of the team have curled for a number of years but have only curled together as a team in four events, all Rotary bonspiels, the first being in Calgary, 2007 where they won the A event; Grande Prairie, 2008 winning the B event; Lacombe, 2009 winning the A event and Athabasca, 2010 runner-up in the A event.
The inaugural World Curling Championships were held in Lachute, Quebec – Canada on November 3, 1972, where teams representing Canada, Scotland and the USA competed for the now treasured Silver Bell Trophy. Since that time the event has been held bi-annually with hosting of the event alternating between North America and the United Kingdom.