A new curling season will soon get underway in Vanderhoof after early registration was held Friday, Sept. 17.
After the previous season was cut short by COVID-19, resulting in an estimated $13,000 loss for the Vanderhoof Curling Club, president John Murphy said they were eager to get a feeling of how many people would be interested in the sport this year.
“I can say that it looks like we’ll have at least 10 men’s teams which is equal to last year, six women’s teams which is two more than our previous year and I think either five or six mixed teams which is five or six more than we had last time,” Murphy said.
“So we’re very optimistic.”
It takes about a month for the ice to be put in by volunteers.
Murphy said the 2021-22 curling season will likely get underway sometime in November, wrapping up at the end of March.
Last year, the club held just one night of curling before closing due to sweeping provincial health orders that went into effect as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, Murphy recalled, they were hopeful that things were not going to last as long as they had even keeping the ice in for about two-and-a-half months before deciding to turn their plant off and clean things up.
“Financially, the club took a big hit,” he said. “So now we got to try and get that back and work out different things to recoup that.”
Although proof of vaccination will be required for curlers this season, Murphy said he is looking forward to another exciting, fun year.
All of the future curlers registering early had gladly shown their passport, according to Murphy who scanned them.
“People are excited,” he said. “They’re starving for something to do, so we’re really excited about it.”
Read More: Women’s curling championship coming back to Prince George in 2022
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