Something remarkable has been happening this week at the Charlottetown Curling Club. The event is the Provincial Masters Curling Championship. There is only one requirement to enter. You must be 60 years of age to compete. Eighty men and women chose to compete. That’s an eight and a zero. Eighty people over 60, and some well over 60.
Beyond the news reports and the line scores of who is winning and who has been defeated, there are 80 people in friendly and sometimes fierce competition playing their hearts out and pushing their bodies just a little harder each and every game.
And for those who like to scoff at the game as not really being a sport, a few facts. Curlers on the front end of the team move up and down the ice at a brisk walk or run covering over two kilometres in an eight-end game. Half of that distance involves sweeping. Sweeping requires balance and upper body strength. Curlers expend upwards of 380 calories an hour. The game of curling also requires mental agility as well as physical balance and strength. Multiply that by two or three games a day.
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Craig Mackie of Covehead is a Masters, Seniors and Men’s competitive curler.