Tomorrow is the first day of the Pomeroy Inn and Suites Prairie Showdown. Curling teams from around the world and right here at home will be competing for various cash prizes over the next four days. Local Curler Renee Sonnenberg, who is involved in organizing the event, says the men’s and women’s competitions will play out a little differently.
“So on the women’s side we have a 16 team triple knockout until you’re down to your best 8, and they play the playoffs on Sunday. For the men, we have two pools of 6, and then the top six advance to the playoffs, which actually begin Saturday night.”
Sonnenberg says this cash spiel is a really unique opportunity for the local teams taking part.
“There’s not a lot of local curlers that do a ton of travelling on the world curling tour, and they probably wouldn’t face a Niklas Edin or a Jeff Stoughton regularly, or Eve Muirhead and Heather Nedohin for that matter. So to get a chance to play someone that’s an Olympic medalist or has won world championships before is a real neat idea.”
Both tournaments get started at 1 pm tomorrow at the Grande Prairie Curling Club. Tickets are $5 per draw, $10 per day, or $25 for the full event.