Masters curlers embracing opportunity to compete in Kamloops

The competitors, some of them top curlers in their younger years, now relish the opportunity to keep playing the game.

“It’s a nice opportunity and you make friends when you’re curling younger, and then you still see them again when you’re still able to compete,” said Laura Rampton from the Marpole Curling Club in Vancouver.

The Kamloops Curling Club is playing host to the B.C. Masters Combined Championships. There is one Kamloops team, skipped by Wayne Saboe, that’s in the 70+ division. They happen to be the defending champions and are embracing playing on their home ice this week.

“We were so looking forward to trying to win our zone, so that we could represent and play in Kamloops in front of our fans and our home club and city,” said Saboe. “It’s just such an honour to do it.”

As the defending champs, Saboe’s rink feels a definite difference as the team to beat this year.

“Last year, they were a little skeptical as to how good we really were. We had to play very solid,” he said. “But this year they’re ready for us. They know we can play fairly well, and so yes the games are much tougher.”

For the curling club, an event like this will bring in the range of $10,000, money that’s needed to keep the club going. It’s also a boost for downtown Kamloops.

“It’s a great event. It’s a big money-maker for us,” said Kamloops Curling Club general manager Rob Nordin. “The nice thing about this is we have a total of about 128 players in town. It’s great for the city. We have probably about 60 being rented in the city. The people bring their spouses, that type of thing. There’s a lot of eating out at different restaurants. As far as the club, we have our concession, so that works out really well.”

For the curlers, even into their old age, they still love to get out and play the game they’ve been playing since they were kids.

“It’s for the love of the game,” said Bob Gallaugher from the Duncan Curling Club. “We’ve got a lot of aches and pains, sore knees, I’ve got two hip replacements. But you still keep going because you love the game, you want to play it. You don’t make quite as many shots as you used to, but you make a few.”

by Chad Klassen

Masters curlers embracing opportunity to compete in Kamloops

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