Townsman Staff
It was a wild week at the Cranbrook Curling Centre and it very nearly had the exact ending the town was hoping for.
16 teams of athletes age 60 years and over from across the province were at the local curling club starting last Tuesday and ending on Sunday for the 2017 BC Masters Curling Championships.
The only team from Cranbrook was on the men’s side and was a rink lead by skip Gerry Kent. After back-to-back BC titles in 2014 and 2015, Kent and teammate Peter Sweetman were trying to get back to the national tournament with Elkford’s Dennis Rounsville and Ken McHargue.
Unfortunately, their bid was cut short on Sunday by Ken Watson’s side out of Chilliwack who won 4-2 in a close final game.
As a result, the Watson rink will represent BC at the Canadian Masters Curling Championship at the Guelph Curling Club in Ontario from April 3 to 9.
The Watson rink had a 6-1 record through round robin play, while Kent was 4-3 but made the finals after a 4-3 win over Kelowna’s Koffski rink and a 9-4 defeat of Trail’s Beaudry rink in the elimination stage.
On the women’s side, it was the Chilliwack/Cloverdale/Richmond Klebe rink who booked a ticket to the Canadian Championships on Sunday. Klebe had a 6-1 record in round robin play before cruising to 9-2 and 5-4 wins over the weekend.
The last victories for BC teams on the national Masters stage were in 2015 when Karen Lepine's rink won the women's tournament and 2011 when Garry Gelowitz's rink won the men's tournament.