The Men’s Masters Curling Playdowns sweep into Trail this weekend.
Four teams of age 60-plus curlers will compete for a berth in the BC Masters Curling Championships starting Friday at 7 p.m. at the Trail Curling Club.
Trail’s Ken Fines rink with third Larry Kotyk, second Rob Babiarz, and lead Marlin Fredericks goes head-to-head with Grand Forks’ Don Bedard foursome with third Cyril Gladfish, Wesley Megre second, and lead Russ Beauchamp of Trail.
On the other sheet, it will be the Norm Fahselt team from Creston, with Terry O’Connor third, second Terry Bambrick, and lead Randy Grahn, taking on the Doug Smith foursome with Brian Lemoel third, Garry Beaudry second, and lead Bill King.
The two winners and two losers of the opening matches will play against each other at 10 a.m. on Saturday, with the third draw going at 3 p.m. The final is scheduled for 10 a.m. Sunday, with a fifth draw at 3 p.m. if necessary.
Last year two teams from Greater Trail competed at the BC Masters championship in Creston, with skip Garry Beaudry, third Brian LeMoel, second Harry Davidson and lead Richard Faunt representing Nelson and Trail, while Beaver Valley’s Bill King skipped third Don Bedard, second Al Bressanutti and lead Murray Walsh.
The last Kootenay teams to win the Masters were the Ralph Will rinks, who won it with third Gerald Kent in 2014 and ‘15. The Neil Dickson foursome with Trail’s Cal McKerracher won the 2003 Masters, Alan Tholl and his Creston rink won it in 1999, and a Nelson team skipped by George Beaudry, with Red Koehle, John Bowles and Bill Hollander captured the 1987 title.
Langley’s Craig Lepine rink won the BC Masters last year, as well as the BC Senior Men’s championship.
This year’s Kootenay Playdown winner earns a berth to the BC Masters Curling championships in Nanaimo Mar. 5 to 10.