This past December the City of Yorkton played host to the third leg of the Grand Slam of Curling (GSOC) tour as 32 of the world’s best curling teams – 16 male and 16 female – competed at the Canadian Open from December 9-14 in the Gallagher Centre, with Newfoundland and Labrador’s Brad Gushue and Scotland’s Eve Muirhead taking home championship honours.
This coming December Gushue and Muirhead will get a chance to defend their 2014 titles on the very same ice they won them on as, according to Yorkton Curling Club board member Gerry Adam, Yorkton has once again been selected to host the Canadian Open. “They (GSOC) wanted to come back here again and the curlers were excited about it so we were kind of hoping and hoping and then I got the call to kind of pursue it and we ended up getting it,” said Adam, adding that not much will have to be changed for the December event. “It’s exactly the same event. It’ll be the same time frame, it’s the same draw and the same amount of teams.
“It’s all exactly the same so that’s good for us because we don’t have to change too much stuff.”
The event – tentatively scheduled for December 8-13 - will mark the seventh time in the history of the Grand Slam tour that a city will host back-to-back events, following in the footsteps of Sudbury, Ontario (Masters, Jan. and Dec. 2003), Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canadian Open, 2005-2007 and 2009-2010), Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia (The National, 2005-2007), St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador (Players’ Championship, 2004-2005) and Calgary, Alberta (Players’ Championship 2006-2007).
But while it has been done before, initially people within the Yorkton Curling Club weren’t so sure that hosting an event of this calibre in consecutive years was a good idea. “We had a few meetings with the curling club and we talked about it and whether it was a good idea to go back-to-back,” offered Adam before mentioning that the doubters quickly saw the benefits of once again hosting the Canadian Open. “I think we overall felt that since it (the Canadian Open) was fresh in everybody’s mind that it would be easier to come back right after it and so we hoped that they would come back to us and they came back and said that they wanted us to host it.”
Adam then suggested that the success of the event last year combined with the small town camaraderie and friendliness was the main reason Yorkton was asked to host the Canadian Open once again. “The number one reason I think was probably the fan attendance. We averaged one thousand people per draw which is probably double what any other event had and just the organization,” said Adam, continuing, “but the other reason was because the curlers loved it here. They came up to us at the end when it was all done and said how nice the people were, how they offered help for anything that they needed and when the curlers are happy everybody is happy.”
Volunteers
Those wishing to volunteer at the event can contact the Yorkton Curling Club via email ([email protected]) or phone (306)-783-4127.
