Organizers of the B.C. Curling Championships were celebrating a successful week as the event wound down Sunday with the final men's and women's games.
In the finals, the Corryn Brown team from Kamloops defeated the Kayla MacMillan rink from Victoria 10-7 to win the women's championship Sunday morning, and that afternoon, the men's championship saw the Cameron de Jong four from Victoria defeat the Glenn Venance team from Penticton 10-8
Loriann McGowan, co-chair of the organizing committee, told Black Press the event drew hundreds to the converted George Preston arena in Langley to watch the best curlers in the province compete to represent B.C. at the Brier and Scotties.
"It has been an amazing turnout," McGowan enthused.
"We've had people come who have never watched curling before in their entire lives."
BC curling championships wrapped up Sunday at George Preston in Langley with the men's and women's gold games pic.twitter.com/MNr6pMbotC
— Langley Advance Times (@LangleyTimes) January 26, 2025
Held to mark 50 years of the Langley curling cub, the event had to be held a year after the actual anniversary because the arena's resident hockey teams had to adjust their schedules to be on the road while the ice was transformed into multiple curling rinks for the championships.
"They were more than amenable to do that," McGowan said of the hockey players.
It was a disappointing experience for Langley curler Nick Meister, who played on the Jared Kolomaya team from Kamloops, which won every qualifying game only to suffer two narrow semi-final losses to end up out of medal contention.
Meister described it as "definitely frustrating and a little bit upsetting, because of how close the games were, and how it turned out, and obviously, to [have it happen] in Langley."
Still, it was an "awesome" experience to play in the provincials on home territory, commented Meister, who thanked the many volunteers from the club and around the community who made it happen.
"A lot of people came out to help out with everything that it takes to put on an event like this, with the ice crew, and the setup, and everything," Meister remarked.
"All we had to do was show up and play some games, but it took a lot of work to put it on."
Scotties Tournament of Hearts runs Feb. 14-23 in Thunder Bay, Ont., followed by the Montana's Brier, Feb. 28 to March 9, in Kelowna.
