By Trisha Buchanan
Like many children celebrating their 10th birthdays, the Welton Beauchamp curling championship has experienced a growth spurt.
The Ottawa-based bon- spiel marks its 10th anniversary this year, and what started as a small stop on the curling circuit has turned into a prominent and highly-touted event.
This year’s tournament again offered three separate categories — the men’s, women’s and seniors’ events. Matches were held at five Ottawa curling clubs from Nov. 13 to Nov. 16
Chantel Osborne’s Gatin- eau team defeated Ottawa’s Anne Merklinger and her team 8-7.
The game came down to a measurement in a nail-biting extra end. As the crowd anxiously waited, the game was decided by one centimetre.
The win meant a $9,000 payday for Osborne and her team.
On the men’s side, Mark Olson skipped his Winnipeg squad to victory over the fellow Winnipeg team of Jeff Stoughton 7-2 to take home $15,000.
Bob Turcotte’s team from Ajax, Ont., wrapped up its fourth straight Welton senior’s title, beating Jean St. Pierre’s team 5-4.
This year’s event placed a thrilling note on the tournament’s anniversary.
According to Danny Lamoureux, an event organizer since its debut, the Welton Beauchamp was started 10 years ago to take the place of the Master’s, one of the top stops on the curling circuit in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Ten years later, the Welton is one of the biggest and richest events on the circuit.
The first year of the event saw a total of 196 curlers compete for just under $50,000 in prize money. At that time, there were only men’s and women’s events — the seniors’ event was added four years ago.
This year, 480 curlers competed for a total purse of almost $140,000.
Although there was a waiting list for all three events this year, Lamoureux remembers the days when he had to beg curlers to come out.
“We used to have to bribe some of the big names with airline tickets and stuff so that they would come,” he says. “Now we don’t have to solicit entries. People are now begging me to get them in.”
One curler who has never had to be bribed is Merklinger. She has been involved in the Welton since the beginning and sees it as one of the most popular cash tournaments in the country.
“It’s regarded as one of the best cashspiels around,” says Merklinger. “It’s always great to play at home in front of our family and friends and this is the only chance we get to play at home.”
It’s the Welton’s reputation that draws some of the best curling teams from all over Canada and from other parts of the world.
One men’s team, skipped by Warwick Smith, came all the way from Scotland to compete.
“It’s a really good tournament and it’s known for its hard competition,” says Smith. “We came to Canada to go up against some of the best.”
Curlers aren’t the only individuals who want to be involved in the event. This year, for the first time, three of the tournament’s games were televised. CTV Sportsnet televised two games regionally and the men’s final was broadcast nationally.
Lamoureux says he was originally hesitant to sign a deal with the network.
“They came to us and we said we weren’t interested,” he says. “They wanted us to do a deal based on their terms. We didn’t want to burn bridges with the local sponsors that we’ve worked hard to get.”
However, a deal was eventually worked out.
“Now we’re doing it on our terms,” says Lamoureux.
Now the question is whether the event can get any bigger. Lamoureux says he thinks it can, but it would mean adding more prize money, hiring employees rather than volunteers and possibly buying television time to sell advertisements.
Organizers will be looking into these possibilities for future editions of the bonspiel.