City of Summerside – The City of Summerside has been selected as host of the prestigious Road to the Roar, Canadian Curling Pre-Trials from November 6th-12th 2017. This event occurs every four years, and serves as a selection tournament for representation at the Roar of the Rings, the final Olympic selection event. Both the winner and runner-up in the men’s and women’s divisions move on to the final selection stage and ultimately the Olympic Games, which in this case will be held in Pyongyang South Korea in 2018. Summerside’s selection was announced at the 2015 Tim Horton’s Brier in Calgary today, and was secured in part to a strong history of hosting national and international events, including high profile curling events such as this.
For residents and visitors to PEI, that means that many of the elite athletes in Canadian Curling will gather in Summerside competing for the honor of representing our country in South Korea. In addition, those moving on from the Road to the Roar will move closer to defending the Gold Medals won by both Men’s and Women’s rinks, led by Brad Jacobs and Jennifer Jones at the Olympics in Sochi, Russia in 2014.
“World class events like this are something we take an enormous amount of pride in being able to present as a community” said City Councilor Tyler Desroches . “The impact of Sport Tourism on our business community, local grass-roots sports, and civic pride cannot be overstated, this is a very important piece of our City’s tourism offering.”
When the sport of curling was granted full-medal status for the 1998 Olympic Winter Games, the Canadian Curling Association created the Canadian Curling Trials, which was first hosted in Manitoba in 1997. The Trials began to be known as “The Roar of the Rings” in 2001, and have been preceded by the Road to the Roar, as the final qualification event to allow inclusion to the final Canadian Curling Trials. Qualification for the “Road” is based on points earned during tournaments and bonspiels throughout the previous seasons at sanctioned CCA events and its importance cannot be overstated. The full Olympic qualification process and point system for this quadrennial will be announced by Curling Canada in April.
“Sport tourism is a steadying force within the economy here in Summerside. With this event projected to have an economic impact of over $2.5 million, and the TV coverage it provides, it is an exciting announcement for Summerside” added JP Desrosiers, Director of Community Services. “To play a part in helping determine who will represent Canada at the Olympics is a huge benefit to activating participation in curling throughout our community.”
Further information for the event will be released in the coming months