The PEI Masters Curling Championships, for curlers age 60 and over, wrapped up this afternoon at the Maple Leaf Curling Club in O’Leary. Nine men’s teams and four women’s rinks took part in the event.

The Jeanne Duffenais rink from the Silver Fox Curling and Yacht Club beat Cornwall’s Diane MacKay rink 7-1 in the women’s final, stealing the first four ends to capture her sixth straight Masters title. In this afternoon’s game, Duffenais stole a single in the first end when MacKay made a hit on the second stone, but left the shot rock. MacKay was short on a hit and roll in end two, to give up a deuce. MacKay was left with a difficult angle raise double in the third, and gave up another point. A heavy eight-foot draw by MacKay in the fourth gave Duffenais another point. MacKay drew for a deuce in the fifth, but came up short, to trail 5-1. MacKay conceded in the sixth after Duffenais picked up two. Both Duffenais, and her team of Marg Nowlan, Georgie Coulson and Pat Barret, and runner-up MacKay, whose teammates include Evelyn Rogerson, Eileen Blanchard, and Marilyn Diamond, now advance to the Maritime Masters, March 1-5 at the Halifax Mayflower Curling Club.

MacKay and Duffenais both finished the round robin with 2-1 records, but MacKay won first place honours and the bye to the final by virture of beating Duffenais in their round robin encounter. In this morning’s semi-final, Duffenais blanked third-place Wanda Collings of the Western Community Club in Alberton by an 8-0 score. Collings and Cornwall’s Myrna Sanderson both had 1-2 round robin records, and faced off in a tiebreaker on Tuesday, with Collings winning by a 6-3 score.

In the men’s division, John Holmes and his Silver Fox team of Steve Bent, Des Arsenault, and George Power beat their clubmates the Bob Maynard foursome, which includes Harry Williams, Bruce Montgomery, and Spike Martin, by a 7-4 score to take this afternoon’s B final and the championship. Since Holmes had already won the A final of this double-knockout competition on Tuesday, edging out defending champion Bob MacWilliams, and his Cornwall Curling Club team of Roy Coffin, Vern Chowan, and Geoff Scutt, by a 9-8 score, a championship game was not needed, and the title was decided today. Maynard defeated MacWilliams this morning in the B section playdown, by an 8-4 score, while Holmes beat the Lou Nowlan rink from Summerside by a 7-3 score to setup this afternoon’s contest.

In the final, Holmes had a chance for three with hammer in the opening end, but came up short and had to settle for the deuce. Maynard got on the board with a second end measure for one, and stole another in the third when Holmes was heavy on a tap-back. Another tap-back attempt in the fourth overcurled, giving Holmes a single and a 3-2 lead at the halfway point of the eight-end game. Holmes stole one in the fifth, capitalizing on a miss by Maynard, who made up for it with a draw for two in the sixth to tie the game at four points. A heavy draw by Maynard in the seventh gave Holmes a triple. Maynard ran out of rocks in the eighth, giving the 2009 Masters title to Holmes. Both the winning John Holmes rink and the runner-up Bob Maynard foursome have earned the right to compete in the 2009 Maritime Masters, March 1-5 at the Mayflower Curling Club in Halifax.