The 34th Annual Trail Retiree Bonspiel is in the books, with a total of 26 teams and 12 from the Trail Curling Club competing.
The Trail teams, drawn from a hat, did very well. The teams were divided into four pools and the top two teams were awarded prizes. Trail teams took seven of the eight top spots with Trail’s Murray Walsh beating out Tom Hall for the Section 1 victory.
Beaver Valley’s Dale Stuparyk beat Alvin Caron in Section 2, with Dan Horan claiming first in Section 3 and Trail’s Bruce Noble second. Larry Kotyk won Section 4 with a win over Primo Secco.
• The teams then got back to regular Trail Retiree Curling action.
It was skips day off, time for the thirds to shine. In the fifth end of the Hall vs McKerracher tilt, Dan Ashman, McKerracher third, was facing five Hall rocks. A draw to the top of the four-foot was the only shot available to limit the damage. Under all that pressure, Dan made the shot and cut Hall to a single for a 5–5 draw.
In the game between team Kotyk and Secco that saw lots of rocks in play every end, it was team Kotyk that was up one with hammer in the eighth end. Dave Orlando playing third for team Kotyk, made a perfect hit and roll behind cover to seal the win, 7–4.
It came down to a steal of two in the seventh end for team Pasquali, skipped by Mel Johnson, to best team Alvin Caron. Team Caron was run out of rocks in the eighth, Pasquali prevailed 7–5.
Team Handley, skipped by Mario Favaro, took control of the game early against team Rakuson. Up by nine after six ends team Rakuson conceded the win.
The weekend bonspiel took its toll on team Fennell, and energized team Drinnan. Almost running out of twos on the score board, it was handshakes after six with the score 8–2 for Drinnan.
Team Burke/Menin rode a quick start to an eventual win over Team Horan. Larry Martin skipping the Horan team settled down and made it close, but it was too little too late. Make the final 8–5 Burke.