Oakbank family builds official-size curling rink to sweep away pandemic blues By: Rosanna Hempel
OAKBANK A local family is sure to be the envy of Manitoba’s curling community.
OAKBANK A local family is sure to be the envy of Manitoba’s curling community.
On Sunday night, they threw their first rocks across the homemade curling sheet they built inside a repurposed storage barn on Van Ryssel Farms.
When CurlManitoba postponed 18-year-old skip Aaron Van Ryssel’s under-18 provincial qualifier bonspiel in the face of code-red restrictions last month, his parents, Faith and Jeff, hatched a plan to keep him sliding and sweeping.
Regina / 980 CJME
Dec 10, 2020 3:19 PM
The Sutherland Curling Club is one of many clubs in the province looking to reduce operating costs during a normally busy time of year. (Sutherland Curling Club/Facebook)
Curling clubs in Saskatoon have been left wondering about the future of curling during a sports pause that’s expected to continue into the new year.
The province restricted sports and recreation to groups of eight or fewer for people aged 18 and under on Nov. 27. Those restrictions will be reviewed on Dec. 17, but with new daily COVID-19 cases remaining the same or increasing compared to the period prior to the restrictions, clubs aren’t expecting to welcome curlers back anytime soon.