We are excited to Welcome the World to Morris in a few short weeks! Dec 1-4 will see some of the top curlers from across Manitoba and beyond compete in one of the biggest events this province has to offer. Starting at 8:00am on Friday, 20 Women’s teams and 16 Men’s teams will begin the triple knockout format bonspiel. The weekend is capped off by the Championship games taking place Monday at 4:00pm. Throughout the weekend teams will compete for $60,000 up for grabs, with the winner’s of this years events will set to receive over $7,000 and $10,500 for the Men’s & Women’s events respectively.
Highlighting the Women’s include local clubs, Beth Peterson & Kristy Watling, both whom have seen plenty of success on the Manitoba Curling Tour in years past. Many of the Canadian teams have experience competing on the National stage representing their Province at a number of different Championships. Most recently Krista McCarville & Clancy Grady, along with Meghan Walter’s former third & second (Abby Ackland & Sara Oliver) made appearances at the 2023 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, with McCarville making it to the Semi Finals.
On the Men’s side, Tanner Horgan & Owen Purcell are among the notable teams travelling to the event from outside of the province. After a successful start to the year, local favorite, Ryan Wiebe (ranked 29th in the World) also looks to continue to prove that his team is capable of playing with the best teams in the world.
As always, an International flavor is back at this event with numerous teams coming from across the USA, Switzerland and South Korea to participate in the Dekalb. Interestingly, Team Ruohhonen (ranked 84th in the World) who curl out of Chaska Curling Center in Minneapolis, MN includes players with a wide range of experiences with an Olympic appearance, several World Championship appearances and even an former NFL defensive lineman in Jared Allen (inducted into the Vikings Ring of Honor).
Many thanks goes out to our incredibly supportive sponsors of this bonspiel. This year’s presenting sponsors include Dekalb – Bayer Canada, Meridian Manufacturing, Valley Fibre, the Town of Morris, PlayNow, RBC Dominion Securities, AGI – Westfield, Roadmap, the Winnipeg Free Press & Golden West Radio. We encourage you to take a look at our programs and support those businesses who have graciously supported us (page 8 & 9).