Team France members (from left) Raphael Mathieu and brothers Jan and Richard Ducroz send a rock down the ice at the Osoyoos International Curling Club on Jan. 16 as an opponent from Osoyoos’s Team Abrey looks on. Photo by Paul Everest - Click on picture for larger image
OSOYOOS TIMES-January 20, 2010
By Laurena Weninger and Paul Everest – Osoyoos Times
Cries of “Allez!, allez!” could be heard alongside the more familiar shouts of “Hurry, hurry, hard!” at the Osoyoos International Curling Club last weekend.
France’s Olympic curling team was in Osoyoos to participate in the club’s annual Men’s Bonspiel from January 15 to 17 and despite being bound for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver next month, the foursome found some serious competition here.
Team member Thomas Dufour told the Osoyoos Times on the evening of Jan. 16 after a close match with Osoyoos’s Team Abrey that his team, which includes brothers Jan and Richard Ducroz and Raphael Mathieu, had been in the Okanagan Valley for 10 days.
He said the team has been participating in curling matches at clubs throughout the valley including Osoyoos, Penticton and Vernon in preparation for the Olympics.
They ended up at the Osoyoos bonspiel after Dave Merklinger, a renowned icemaker in Vernon, called the Osoyoos club and asked about getting the French foursome into the tournament.
The team was staying at the Spirit Ridge Vineyard and Resort while in Osoyoos, Dufour said, adding that he and his mates were impressed with the community.
“It’s a nice town,” he said.
Dufour is 37 and he said he has been curling for 20 years and he and Jan participated in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
As for whether curling is as big a sport in France as Canada, Dufour shook his head and smiled.
The first team France will face at the Olympics next month is China and Dufour said he and his teammates are confident heading into the international competition.
“We know we have a chance,” he said.
The other international team that took part in the bonspiel was New Zealand’s national curling squad, made up of members Rupert Jones, Warren Kearney and Scott Becker.
Osoyoos’s Ryan “Randy” Miller, a director with the Osoyoos curling club, rounded out the team’s roster during their stay in town.
The team had arrived in Canada at the beginning of January and was training for the upcoming 2010 Karuizawa International Bonspiel in Japan on Jan. 27.
Becker’s older brother is the team’s absent skip and he’ll meet them in Japan next week.
Like the French team, the New Zealand squad was participating in curling events throughout the Okanagan Valley and they found out about the Osoyoos bonspiel through their coach, Sharon Delver, a former provincial coach with Curl BC.
Although the New Zealanders, all aged 25, were not in contention for this year’s Olympics, they do have their sights set on 2014.
Curling is not a popular sport back home in New Zealand, Jones said.
“I think there’s more Canadians registered in curling than the entire population of New Zealand.”
The French and New Zealand teams joined 26 other foursomes, including a team from Osoyoos Secondary School, during the bonspiel.
“It was good,” said Drew Bolokowski, organizer of the bonspiel, who has been curling for about five years.
This was his first year as bonspiel organizer and he was happy with the turnout.
“Most of these bonspiels (bring out) pretty good teams,” he said.
The A event winner was the Glen Brennan team from Summerland, with teammates Steve Clement, Ron Cook and Graham Lyle.
They beat out the Gord James team from Osoyoos.
The B event winner was the Cy Gladish team from Penticton, including teammates Bob Fortune, Stan Green, and Doug Cade.
They beat out the Lee Sapach team from Osoyoos in the B final.
In the C division, Osoyoos’s Dale Abrey team won, with teammates Ron Robinson, Larry Gableman and John Katerenchuk.
They beat out Osoyoos’s John Blashko team.
And the D event winner was Doug Smith’s team from Vernon, with teammates Ross Hadfield, Glen Taylor and Doug Hackman.
They beat out Penticton’s Blaine Black team for the D title.
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