Once in a decade event for Fair City
Dewars prepares for Strathcona return
Following on from the Mercure City of Perth Masters, Strathcona Cup curling will be returning to the Fair City this weekend for the first time in a decade.
The tournament, which started in 1903, will welcome 10 Canadian curling teams, five from the north and five from the south of the country, to Perth’s Dewars Centre.
And for those looking for the inside scoop on the game, organisers are hosting a question and answer session on Monday night after the second day’s curling with six former world champions.
Taking place over Sunday, January 14, and Monday, January 15, the Royal Caledonian Curling Club is delighted to be hosting the event back in Perth.
The tournament alternates between Scotland and Canada, and it was a team compromising Greig Henderson, Mike Ferguson, Willie Nicoll and local captain Bill Duncan which represented Scotland in the Canadian tour five years ago.
Kicking off at 2.15pm on Sunday and 9.15am on Monday, the tournament is guaranteed to entertain and secretary and curler George Delgaty is proud to see such a high profile event coming back to Perth.
He told the PA: “The event comes to Scotland once every 10 years and is returning to Perth after we hosted it in 2008.
“The event has been running for 115 years now and really is the pinnacle of club curling. Just to be selected for one of the teams means a lot.
“Usually, if you’ve been part of the outgoing tour, you’ll make it in a hosting team, so it’s reciprocated. You can only go over the pond on an outgoing tour once though.
“This year, there are some really good Canadian teams coming over. The Hay brothers are real standouts, as they more or less run the main ice rink in Winnipeg. The
George Delgaty city of Winnipeg alone has more curling clubs than the whole of Scotland, which says a lot.
“When I started curling in the 1980s, I would never have thought I’d get the chance to compete in the Strathcona Cup.
“The Canadian curlers arrived on Thursday morning and played at Glasgow and Hamilton before making their way to Perth.
“The question and answer session on Monday will be fantastic, and we’ve managed to get Graeme Connal, Warwick Smith, Pete Smith, Pete Loudon, Gordon Muirhead and Dave Hay all to agree to come along which is fantastic.”
Anyone who would like a ticket for the ceilidh on Sunday, January 14, or Scots Curling Legends Q&A at the Mercure Hotel on Monday should email George at gdelgaty@uwclub. net
Bill Duncan (second from right) captained Scotland in the 2013 Canadian tour