The cold temperatures didn’t put a freeze on the curlers and the fun at the annual Farmer’s Bonspiel.
A total of 28 rinks took in the competition that began at the Bashaw Curling Club on Jan. 5 and ended with the four event finals going on Jan. 11.
In the end, the championship title went to the Camrose rink of Russ Bowan, Jim Young, Vern Lecomte and Kim McMurray. The foursome wound up running away with the A-event final over the Wayne Heck rink from Forestburg by a score of 8-4, with the contest ending after seven ends.
After trading singles the first two ends, Bowan scored one in the third for a 2-1 lead.
Bowan’s rink would steal three in the fourth and, despite giving back a deuce in the fifth, the Camrose foursome would salt the game away with another three in the sixth.
Some hometown curlers combined with a skip from Rosalind to capture the B-event in the closest game of the finals.
Neil Orr along with Bashaw’s Dustin Sproule, Rod Jaffray and Leon Ramstad outlasted the Craig Lindholm rink of New Norway to win 9-6.
The Orr rink got off on the right foot, putting three on the board in the first end.
However, Lindholm got a pair back in the second before stealing four points in the next three ends to take a 6-3 lead.
That’s when it all fell apart for Lindholm, as a few missed shots left Orr with a short tap back to score four in the sixth.
More tough luck with reading the ice gave the Orr rink a steal in the seventh, while the final shot that could have tied it for Lindholm’s rink came up too short to hand Orr another steal to end the game.
In the C-event, it was a pair of cousins up against each other with Ritchie Chapman — the 2018 A-event winner — defeating Blaine Chapman 9-3 in only five ends.
The Erskine rink consisting of Ritchie, Neil Connor, Don McNeil and Gary Rider opened the contest with steals of one, three and two in the first three ends before Blaine’s rink was able to get three back. With Ritchie’s foursome taking three more the next time down the sheet, Blaine decided it was time to shake hands.
Meanwhile, the D-event was won by the rink led by Jamie Kobie as they defeated the Kevin Burkhard foursome.
Juniors win
Last weekend was also a good one for a junior rink from Bashaw School.
The foursome consisting of Jayden de Jonge, Ty Schwabb plus Isaiah and Kaitlynn Elias — with coaches Len and Sarah Kohlman — captured the B event at a bonspiel in Wetaskiwin.
