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Grand Slam of Curling coming to the Battlefords

Feb 17, 2016 | 6:00 AM

The spotlight will be on North Battleford in January next year, when the Grand Slam of Curling comes to town.

The city has been selected over seven others, in Western Canada, as the host community for the Canadian Open at the Civic Centre.

Russ Brown is one of the event’s local co-chairs and in a phone interview said the idea to host began two years ago, when a local member of the Twin Rivers Curling Club was chatting with one of the ice makers working with the Grand Slam of Curling. Brown said last summer is when the idea really got traction and talks soon began with Rogers, later in December they had their first face to face meeting in Yorkton.

According to Brown, the organizers from Sportsnet see the North Battleford event as having the potential to be a huge success.

“They see North Battleford as being an excellent market area. They like the size of our facility even though it’s older; it can have the type of atmosphere they want to deliver these types of events, and it’s a regional centre with capacity for significant drawing power,” Brown said.

Brown said they expect to see curling fans from Lloydminster, Kindersley, Meadow Lake and Saskatoon drive to the city for the festivities.

The Civic Centre was chosen as the host location as it not only has the seating needed for an event of this scale, but also has the ability to host the crew and equipment needed to produce and broadcast an event nationally on Sportsnet.

According to Brown the boards will not need to be removed from around the Civic Centre ice surface, however the glass and stanchion will be removed in order to avoid disturbing TV site lines.

Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling is an elite level event which is part of the World Curling tour. The Grand Slam is a series of events across the country featuring top international and national curlers between October and April.

The event is being brought to the community through a partnership between the Twin Rivers Curling Club and Rogers Media.

 

cstockwell@jpbg.ca