Winning the 2016 Osoyoos Mixed Summer Bonspiel was the team led by Paul Dunkin. Pictured from the left to right are Pat Wycherley, Don Steinbart, Janet Dunkin and Paul Dunkin. (Dan Walton photo)
Curlers from around the province were called out of their summer hibernation for the 37th annual Osoyoos Mixed Summer Bonspiel.
“The neat thing is it’s 35 degrees outside, and you walk inside on the ice and ahh – for two hours, you feel lovely and cool, it feels great,” said skip Paul Dunkin, whose team won the A draw of the tournament.
There were 36 teams in this year’s tournament – the same as last summer.
Every team begins in the A draw, and the only way to stay in that top category is to win every match. Otherwise teams are siphoned down to the B, C and D draws.
For Dunkin and his team to win the tournament, it took five consecutive wins over the weekend.
Dunkin’s a longtime supporter of the event, having attended every year since 1997, and this is the second time he’s been crowned the champ.
“Both sides played really well in the final draw,” he said. “It just comes down to a shot here and a shot there.”
Dunkin travelled to Osoyoos from North Vancouver with his wife Janet to team up with a couple locals, Don Steinhart and Pat Wycherley, who’s the chair of the event (Wycherley was substituting for Betty Steinbart).
“I was supposed to be curling, but I hurt my knee,” Steinbart said.
“I wasn’t supposed to be curling this year, I was sparing for my friend,” Wycherley said. “I stepped in for her so I ended up playing in the A final – it was a really fun weekend.”
Wycherley said the curling rink staff were given a very challenging task to keep the ice surface a consistently cold temperature amid the sweltering summer heat.
“But they do a great job and people were really happy with the ice,” she said.
Aside from one final rock in the eighth end of the A draw, every stone played a crucial role in the weekend’s championship match.
Giving Dunkin’s team a run for their money was professional curler Jim Cotter from Vernon, who led his team to a silver medal at the 2014 Tim Hortons Brier tournament.
Beyond having a good excuse to curl during the offseason, competing in the Osoyoos bonspiel had much more to offer Cotter. The 41-year-old remembers his parents taking him as a toddler to the same tournament during its second or third year (1980 or 1981), and then again for another 10 years.
“As a kid it’s kind of grassroots for me,” he said. “I kind of grew up in this curling club with my mom and dad. It means a lot to come back here, and it brings back a lot of great memories from when I was a kid.”
In more competitive tournaments, Cotter is used to being the team’s skip, but last weekend he was the lead, and appointed his teenager daughter Jaelyn as the skip.
“So to come back after 30 years, to be able to play with my daughter, brother-in-law and niece, it was an awesome event.”
Rounding out Cotter’s team were Quinn Meixner and Elijah Meixner.
The team from Chilliwack skipped by Allan Vanderveen captured the B draw. Team members included Joanne Kern, Andre Englehart and Sandie Bogstie.
Finishing second in the B draw was the local team skipped by Bob Burton. Team members included Harold Cox, Sharon Burton and Audrie Cox.
The team from Okotoks, Alberta skipped by Curt Hart captured the C draw. Team members included Shane Hart, Desiree Hart and Alena Hart.
They defeated the team skipped by Tony Blashko. Other members of that team include Lil Blashko, John Blashko and Diane Tetreault.
The team skipped by Jack Lougheed captured the D draw. Other team members include Nancy Lougheed, Glen Dickson and Elaine Dickson. The team was made up of players from North Vancouver and Red Deer, Alberta.
Finishing second in the D final was the team skilled by Larry Kowal. Other team members include Dawn Walker, Garry Sutherland and Lea Sutherland.
DAN WALTON
Regional Reporter
The A draw finalists at the 37th annual Osoyoos Mixed Summer Bonspiel were Jim Cotter, Quinn Meixner, Elijah Meixner and skip Jaelyn Cotter. (Dan Walton photo)
