A banquet on Tuesday evening at the APM Centre in Cornwall kicked off activities at The Dominion Curling Club Championship, Canada’s first ever championship for club curlers. Round robin play gets underway Wednesday morning at 10 at both the Charlottetown and Cornwall curling clubs. There is no admission charge, but proceeds from daily 50X50 draws, raffles, and other fundraising activities will go to benefit the Canadian Paraplegic Association (CPA).
Master of ceremonies for the banquet was Robbie Doherty, second on the Robert Campbell rink, which won the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship on Saturday. Robbie kicked off the evening by introducing Premier Robert Ghiz, who welcomed the 28 men’s and women’s curling teams, from all provinces and territories to the Island. Other speakers included Tourism minister Robert Vessey, Danny Lamoureux, Director, Championship Services and Curling Club Development at the Canadian Curling Association, Paul Cudmore, Executive Director of the PEI Branch of the CPA, George Cooke, President and CEO of The Dominion General Insurance Company, Leigh Armstrong, Branding Coordinator for The Dominion, returning curler from last year’s inaugural event Kristy Frampton from Nunavut, and Jim Mann, host chair for next year’s event in Richmond BC.
Photo: Sonja Gaudet
The highlight of the evening was an inspiring speech and slideshow from two-time wheelchair curling Paralympic gold medallist Sonja Gaudet, from Vernon BC, who spoke about how she managed to bring sports back into her life after her spinal cord injury, and what it means to compete as an athlete at events such as the Paralympics. She also invited curling clubs to integrate wheel chair curling into their programs.
The opening ceremonies for The Dominion will take place Wednesday evening at 7:30 pm at the Cornwall Curling Club, with round robin play wrapping up on Saturday, and the men’s and women’s finals going Sunday at 2 pm at the Charlottetown Curling Club.
Complete details and results available at www.thedominioncurls.ca.