- « Suburylicious, Inaugural Food Festival To Run Next Two Weeks
- Canadian Hard of Hearing Association Dream Home Draw »
By Angela Gemmill
Many of the athletes participating in the Northern Ontario Wheelchair Curling Championships hope to increase awareness and participation in the sport.
Sudbury is hosting the tournament over the next three day at the Curling Club on Howey Drive.
There are four teams from across Northern Ontario and each team has at least five members, including the coaches.
They’ll be taking up three sheets of ice.
President of the Sudbury Curling Club Bill Sloan thanked the other leagues who play at the facility since they changed their schedules to accommodate the championship.
He says they didn’t have to do very much to the building to prepare since its already wheelchair accessible.
Skip Rick Prud’homme says Team Sudbury is going up against teams it played last year when the local members were all ‘rookies’ to wheelchair curling.
Sudbury Coach Norm Gervais had the team on the ice training four-six hours a week leading up to the tournament.
The winner heads to the national championship in Thunder Bay in March.
Greater Sudbury Mayor Marianne Matichuk was on hand for the opening ceremonies and helped throw the first rock.
The Sudbury Curling Club holds Wheelchair Curling every Sunday and it’s free for anyone who wants to try it out.
Wheelchair Curling is slightly different from regular curling in that athletes throw their own rocks and there is no sweeping involved.
(Sudbury Mayor Marianne Matichuk helps throw the first stone to get the tournament underway)