Senior athletics are being represented well in Merritt as members of the Merritt Curling Club finished fourth place at the BC 55+ Senior Games. 

Four members of the Merritt Curling Club represented the region for the 55+ BC Senior Games in Victoria, B.C. the week of September 13. Lorna Latremouille, Monika Tenisch, Susan Newton, and Debbie Phillips all competed very well at the games despite having little to no time for practice. 

“Considering this is the first time we have played together as a team and we went in cold turkey,” said Susan Newton, president of the MCC.

“With no practices before hand, we played well and hoping we can do this again next year.” 

The opportunity to join the tournament arose when the MCC learned that the tournament was short on teams because of competitors electing not to attend due to lingering concerns about COVID-19.

“Normally you would have to win in your region but nobody in our region wanted to go,” she explained. “We decided to put together this team and see if we would be accepted to go.” 

Newton said their region was very large and includes places like Merritt, Kamloops and Revelstoke. An application was made to enter in the tournament earlier in March and it was quickly accepted. The team had gotten in the tournament however were set back because of the lack of opportunities to train.

“To prep for it was pretty tough because we didn’t have any ice in Merritt at that time to practice,” Newton explained. 

“We had went down to Kamloops to see if we could still throw a rock and swing it off because it had been four and a half months since we last curled. It’s hard to get back into that motion again.”

The ladies competed against six other teams, playing a total of four games. Their performance had earned them a chance to win bronze however, they would fall short against a Langley team losing by one point. 

“They (Langley) had already played in a couple of bonspiels so they’d had lots of practice but we still did very well, giving them a run for their money,” said Newton.  

Overall, Newton and the team were very happy with their performance and with the outcome of the tournament.

“It was great competition and it was a great chance to meet a lot of wonderful ladies from different clubs and the organizers and volunteers did a splendid job.”

Back in August, current and former members of the MCC had also entered in the 55+ Canada Senior Games. Deb Stowell, Shelly Sanders, Lorna Latremouille, and Lynn Newhouse all headed to Kamloops and competed in the 65+ age division. 

“This was truly an amazing experience to represent BC at the Canada Senior games,” said Sanders. “We had a lot of fun playing teams from across the country, which included Nova Scotia, PEI, NWT and Alberta.” 

After competing in the tournaments, the Merritt Curling Club now gets ready for a new season, with registrations opening next week. 

“It’s a life long sport,” said Newton. “It’s fun to play, you meet new people and have a lot of fun.”  

For more information on the Merritt Curling Club, please visit www.merrittcurling.ca.