Teams from Victoria and Salmon Arm will represent the province at the nationals after winning the 2015 Tim Hortons BC Senior Curling Championships.
Victoria’s Wes Craig retained the title he claimed last year, whilst Sandra Jenkins, who won the Women’s event as a third in 2014, skipped her team to success at Alberni Valley Curling Club.
The two teams topped their round-robin group and qualified automatically for the final but it was an extremely close Championships. In both the Men’s and Women’s event there was a four-way tie at the top of the group so playoff places were decided by the cumulative results of the last stone draws throughout the week.
Team Craig, which is rounded out by Scott MacDonald at third, Tony Anslow as second and Lindsay Cheetham at lead, and coached by Roz Craig, defeated Team Greig of Richmond 8-3 to take the Men’s title. The Islanders got off to a strong start in the final with a single and then a steal of three which Greig was unable to come back from.
Skip Sandy Greig, and his team of third Don Wakefield, second Wayne Hogaboam and lead Mike Freeman, had beaten Team Dunkin 9-4 earlier in the day to secure their place in the final.
The Salmon Arm rink of Jenkins, third Kate Horne, second Wendy Cseke and lead Carol Murray, and coach Darryl Horne, punched their ticket to nationals when they beat Team Noble 5-4. After a close opening five ends in which each team took two singles, Jenkins jumped into the lead with a three ender in the sixth and, despite a deuce by Noble in the seventh, took the title.
The Qualicum rink of Lynne Noble, third Donna Langlands, second Crystal Murray, lead Shirley Wong and fifth Lorraine Jeffries, had beaten Team Smiley earlier in the day to book their berth in the final.
The bronze medal in the Men’s event was awarded to Team Dunkin, from North Shore Winter Club, with Paul Dunkin as skip, Mickey Bishop at third, Rob Gardner at second and Jurgen Wolter at lead, and the Women’s bronze medallists were Team Smiley, from Royal City Curling Club, with Kathy Smiley as skip, Kerri Miller as third, Debbie Pulak as second and Laurie Shimizu at lead.
To see the results of all the draws at Alberni Valley Curling Club, visit http://playdowns.com/curlbc/.
The 2015 Canadian Senior Curling Championships take place at the Thistle Curling Club in Edmonton from March 21-28, 2015