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The season is officially underway at the Penticton Curling Club – something that seemed in doubt back in summer.
Teams hit the ice this week, with men’s competitive rinks throwing their first rocks of the season Tuesday evening.
“It was great. This is my first time being out – definitely a little rusty,” said Penticton’s Matt Tolley, an organizer of the Tuesday men’s league. “Usually I’d have been curling probably once in July and August, and we normally start our competitive seasons in September. So, this is the longest I haven’t been on the ice in a long time.”
Tolley has been a part of the competitive curling scene for many years, and as a board member, was forced to understand COVID-19 protocols in order for the season to begin.
“All we can do is our best. We’re all just trying to find some sense of normalcy, keep mentally healthy, do the things we enjoy, and do it as safe as we can,” said Tolley. “The rules are in place because we need to start someplace, and might evolve as we go. It’s going to be hard to get used to for sure. Communication is going to be way more important because there’s so many more moving pieces now.”
“Membership-wise, the club’s doing pretty good. We’re not up to where we were, but people are looking for things to do.”
While curling continues with four-person teams, only one person is allowed to sweep at a time, there are set places marked out on the ice to allow curlers to physically distance as much as possible, and there is no sweeping allowed in the house by opposing skips.
Tolley will be forced to deal with some of those changes at the competitive level – and in events such as the Ashley Homestore Curling Classic, which will take place at Penticton Curling Club Nov. 13-16 despite the worldwide pandemic.
“Provided we don’t get a second wave, provided they don’t change rules, we are moving forward as planned,” confirmed Cathie Jones from PCC and Ashley’s Furniture Tuesday evening. “The difference is we will have no fans, which is going to be really tough. Also, the players will stay down here at ice level, and the sponsors will be upstairs. We can only hold 40 people in the lounge, but I will have 20 premium tickets that are going to be at a very expensive price point.”
Hosting the Ashley’s without fans will be a huge hit to the club. Both upstairs and downstairs are usually packed for most draws during the event.
“It’s hard for the club. This is a big fundraiser for the club and we’re not going to see that fundraising. But we want the momentum to stay, and it’s really important for it to stay, otherwise we’re stop-starting,” said Jones. “The teams want to come. They all wanted to come. Inter-travel with provinces is good, anything else out of Canada we’re not.
“So we still have the big names – like (Mike) McEwen, (John) Epping, (Brendan) Bottcher, (Jim) Cotter and (Matt) Dunstone,” added Jones. “Those are big names that are coming. The worst case we go down to 18 teams, but we still run it.
“Right now we’re at 24, and away we go.”
For more information on the season at Penticton Curling Club, and the Ashley Homestore Curling Classic, click here.