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For the next few days and through the weekend, the sound of brooms sweeping, curling rocks knocking together and all sorts of instructions being yelled at various volumes will fill the air as the 2025 Women of the Rings tournament takes place in Pilot Mound. The curling action got underway Wednesday morning and wraps up Sunday.
Executive Director for Curl Manitoba Craig Barker says it's been a fun couple of weeks preparing for the event. "Our number one priority is to engage with an excellent host committee and we've done that in Pilot Mound. They hit the ground running. We're under way and for all intensive purposes, they made an ice skating rink look like a phenomenal curling club. There's on ice seating, a great atmosphere, a social club, it's amazing. We're so excited to be here and hosting this championship here."
By size, it's the smallest community that Curl Manitoba has held such an event but it's because of the support from the area and surrounding areas loving curling that made them want to be there. Plus for a smaller town, Pilot Mound has a great facility. "We always look for community. That's the fun thing about these events, seeing the volunteers come together to make it all happen. I love to say that we're the big show in town for a couple of days so I'm hopeful the community will come out and support it."
Curling fans are in for quite the show talent wise as rinks from all over the province are coming to compete. "We're always excited when we can show off all the talent that we have here in the province," a proud Barker explains. "These athletes are always training and getting better, which you can see on the national stage. They curl at events all over and to see their season peak for this event so they can head to the national Scotties, you can see we have talent that is second to none all across the province. We'll be bias, but I think we have the best athletes in our province."
The Semi-Final is Sunday at 9:30 am followed by the final at 2:00 pm.
Barker details what happens for the winning team. "They'll be representing the province in Thunder Bay, Ontario in a few weeks, competing on the national stage. The phrase you hear the athletes say is they want the buffalo on their back, want to be the Manitoba representatives on a massive stage. We're so happy with all the teams that are here and the ones that will go on from here."
Curling as a sport has been growing and that's perhaps the most exciting thing for Curl Manitoba to see from big cities to small rural communities. "We're seeing our clubs have growth. We're seeing the U15 bonspiel numbers grow, our U18 provincials in Morden, we have two of each gender going to nationals at that level. We're very fortunate at this time to have a growth period, not only numbers wise but a talent wise. It's great to see the numbers but it's also great to see the level on the rise."
The Viterra Men's Provincial Championships will be held in Portage in early February as Stride Place is turned into a curling venue for the 100th event. Manitoba is the first province to reach 100 years of provincial championships. That event runs from February 5th to the 9th.