World class curling returning to Swift Current
The Swift Current Curling Club will host a trio of elite curling events over the next few weeks.
The S3 Group Stadium Series takes place at the Swift Current Curling Club on October 1315, featuring 16 teams competing for a $12,000 purse.
Among the men’s teams in action will be the defending champion rink of Steve Laycock, which features Cabri’s Shaun Meachem and Swift Current’s Chris Haichert.
The women’s event will also feature 16 teams and a $15,000 purse.
Swift Current’s Kelly Schafer is a member of the Robyn Silvernagel rink. Germany’s Emira Abbes and Japan’s Asuka
Kanai will give the event an international flavour.
Swift Current will also host the 2023 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship on Nov. 5-11, featuring 14 teams from across the country, including three Swift Current curlers on Team Saskatchewan.
Saskatchewan is comprised of skip Colton Flasch, third Kelly Schafer, second Chris Haichert, and lead Teejay Haichert.
“It’s very exciting to have local representation being part of this event. When we put the bid forward we didn’t know who’d be representing our province, but to have somebody local to represent the province and has been successful in capturing previous provincial mixed championships this is pretty exciting. We’re looking forward to having a lot of people come out and support them,” said Ken Garinger, Vice President of the Swift Current Curling Club and member of the host committee.
“One of the things we’re looking forward to is having some schools around the Southwest and have them be able to come and take part in daily draws so they can see the event live and really promote the game,” he said.
The whole event is free for spectators.
“It’s the curling club’s way of giving back to the city of Swift Current and the Southwest… We are wanting this to be an open opportunity for people to come and go as they please and take advantage of seeing some excellent curling at the highest level in the world.”
Garinger mentioned that having a top-notch ice maker in Swift Current and the Curling Stadium streaming platform already operational helped the club secure the hosting rights.
“Because of the success of our Western Showdowns and various other events that we’ve had in our club Curling Canada right now is like ‘Swift Current you guys are a hotspot for hosting events.’ So when we put in a request to host the Canadian Mixed Championships we were almost a shoe in for it.”
“It is no surprise that Saskatchewan is passionate about curling. That is one of the reasons why it makes sense to bring the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship back to the province for the second year in a row. Swift Current excels in hosting curling events - from local grassroots bonspiels to world-calibre championships - and the host committee in place for 2023 will make it a memorable experience for the 14 teams competing for the national title,” said Curling Canada CEO Katherine Henderson.
It will be the second time Swift Current has played host to the Canadian Mixed. In 1993, Nova Scotia won the mixed crown led by skip Scott Saunders and sixtime Scotties.
“The city of Swift Current and the Southwest are so great at supporting any of the events that we have at our venue,” said Garringer. “We’re probably looking at about 50 volunteers, that’s everything from on-ice timers to people to sell 50-50s or whatever it might be. It’s a fair undertaking, there’s no questions, but we fully expect the city of Swift Current and the entire Southwest will be able to step up and support and we’re already seeing that. We have a number of people who have volunteered without doing a whole lot of outreach.”
Colleen Jones will be the most notable participant as a two-time world champion skip and sixtime Tournament of Hearts champion. Also in action will be Jamie Koe, who has represented the Northwest Territories at the Brier on 14 occasions.
The 2023 Canadian Mixed Championship winner will represent Canada at the 2024 World Mixed Curling Championship.