August 29-31, 2008
Vacaville Ice Sports Arena
551 Davis Street
Vacaville, California
August is a magical time of the year in the wine growing region of California for it is the beginning of the crush. To celebrate this exciting season, WCC cordially invites curlers to join them in 2008 The Crush: Wine Country Curling Bonspiel. Register as a team or individual.
August 6, 2008
VACAVILLE, CA - Most people are introduced to the sport of curling the same way.
Sitting and watching the Winter Olympics and waiting for their favorite events like skiing or pairs figure skating when a sport comes on involving individuals sliding granite stones down the ice with rapid sweeping of the stones with brooms.
The confusion of what they are watching usually leads to one thing — intrigue.
Curling involves teams of four trying to knock an opponents 42 pound stones out of a circle and having your stones closest to the center to earn points. The sport was invented in Scotland and still is very popular there and the winter sport is starting to draw more interest in the United States.
Public Viewing of the great sport of curling will be available to the public free of charge at the Vacaville Ice Sports facility during “The Crush” Bonspiel August 29th to August 31st and is hosted by the Wine Country Curling Club. The popularity of the event last year has required the expansion of the number of teams from 16 teams to twenty-four. These teams will be coming from all points of the United States and Canada.
This year the event has a more international flavor with curlers from Scotland, England and Germany. Among the notable entrants for the bonspiel is a former Olympian, Edith Loudon, who represented Scotland at the Nagano Olympics as well as a multitude of World and European championships. Canadian teams from British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec will be competing including the winning team from the recent Pacific International Cup. A team representing the Marguerita Curling Club, a group of international curlers including a competitor from England will also be in attendance.
The Lyle Sieg team from the San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club, Silver Medalists in the 2007 U.S. Mixed Nationals competition will be one of the top Northern California teams. Danny Lamoureux from the Canadian Curling Association also has a rink entered.
Other event attractions will be the “piping on to the ice” by the Scarlet Brigade Pipe Band from Fairfield High School.
Curling has had a presence in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1958. The San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club has celebrated its 50th Anniversary this year and will have a number of top notch teams entered. The WineCountry Curling Club was started two years ago after the Torino Winter Olympics. Both are members of the Unites States Curling Association and Mountain Pacific Curling Association.
Curling has grown from that lone San Francisco Club to include other western clubs located in Scottsdale, AZ, Portland, Oregon, Ogden, Salt Lake, Park City and Logan Utah, McCall and Boise Idaho, the Hollywood Curling Club and the San Diego Curling Club.
The U.S. Curling Association (USCA) has 151 member clubs nationwide, in 42 different states. The USCA has added about 15 new clubs since the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy with a number of other clubs currently pending.
The Vacaville Ice Sports complex is set up with five sheets of curling ice for planned future open houses and bonspiels. The Club will have several USCA certified instructors on hand to teach beginners the sport. Information of open houses will be forthcoming as planning solidifies.
For more information, contact:
Northern California – Jerome Larson, (707) 374-3920; winecountrycurling.org
USA Curling—Bev Schroeder, (888) 287 5377, USACurl.org
Jerry Orlando – Vacaville Ice Sports, (707)455-0225, vacavilleicesports.com