By Jason Ramey
Ottawa’s premier curling event will feature competition on the ice, but it will also be in an “off-ice” competition of its own.
The Eighth Annual Welton Beauchamp Classic has been forced to go head-to-head with the Second Annual Flexi-coil Curling Classic in Saskatoon.
They are Canada’s two biggest cashspiels, but both are being held Nov. 7-10.
The Flexi-coil offers a $180,000 total purse compared to the $116,500 total purse offered by the Welton.
“They’ve certainly taken away some of the big names and there is nothing I can do about it,” says Welton organizer Danny Lamoureux.
Lamoureux says he expects attendance to be down as top Canadian curlers like Ed “The Wrench” Werenich and Wayne Middaugh will be at the Flexi-coil cashspiel.
“They were lured away by the big cash and I don’t blame them. My first prize (on the men’s side) is $15,000 and Flexi-coil’s is $60,000, that’s worth going out there for,” concedes Lamoureux.
But Lamoureux says he’s not happy with the World Curling Tour, which is responsible for the scheduling of cashspiels.
“It’s too bad because there was room for both of us. It was a very stupid error on somebody’s part. Not on ours and not on Flexi-coil’s, but somebody else’s.”
According to Lamoureux, Flexi-coil organizers were told by the World Curling Tour it was an “open-weekend,” so they booked their arena. He says Flexi-coil is not intentionally conflicting with the Welton schedule.
Al Clouston, Flexi-coil organizer, has said he doesn’t like stepping on anyone’s toes or vice-versa, but he had no choice. He says there are only certain dates open in an arena.
Lamoureux says he doesn’t want to see the same thing happen again.
“We’ve straightened it out for the next three years though, as we have non-conflicting weekends. They’ll go first, and we’ll go second in November,” says Lamoureux. “But nothing can be done about this year.”
However, all is not lost for local curling fans.
There are still some big names at the Welton. On the men’s side, Canadian Olympic trial qualifiers Mike Harris of Toronto and Dave Smith of Winnipeg will be in action.
On the women’s side there is Thunder Bay’s Heather Houston and local star Anne Merklinger, of the Rideau Curling Club, will curl for cash.
“We stayed because the Welton is a great competition. It’s held at a home club where people in the community have been really supportive of the team,” says Merklinger. “We want to stay home and support the ‘spiel and ensure that it remains strong.
“I know for some teams it was a tough choice, but it was an easy choice for our team,” adds Merklinger, who is tuning up for the Canadian Olympic trials held in Brandon, Manitoba at the end of November.
Five curling clubs, including the Ottawa and Rideau, both in Centretown, will be venues for the Welton.
The Welton is the world’s largest cashspiel in terms of participants, with 104 teams in three divisions; men’s, women’s, and senior’s.
Play gets under way today and the finals are scheduled for Monday night at 7 p.m. at the Rideau Curling Club.