Ladies of the ring

They gathered at the Quesnel Curling Club for a weekend of ladies only fun and a shot at bragging

rights as the champions of the 51st Annual Quesnel Ladies Wheel and ‘Spiel bonspiel.

Teams from across the Cariboo took to the sheets at the curling club Friday afternoon and when all the sweeping was done, skip Carol Thatcher and her

crew of Wendy Needham at third, Karen Van Essen at second and Jackie Aldred at lead, outcurled everyone to take the A-Event championship.

Thatcher, who has been curling for 31 years and making her 30th appearance at the Ladies Wheel and ‘Spiel bonspiel, took the A-Event final 6-5 over Crystal Haller.

Skips Linda Woods and Lori Wawryk finished third and fourth, respectively, in the A-Event.

In the B-Event final Brenda Ernst swept passed Terry Shpak. Lori Freeman outcurled Cindy Brady of Williams Lake to take the C-Event final.

The A event final was a nail biter from beginning to end, with Thatcher down by just two, with the hammer, going into the final end.

The turning point, Thatcher said, came with the last three rocks.

“We had to score two to force an extra end, or get three to win,” she said.

“My third [Wendy Needham] got in for the first point and I had to make my last two draws to win the game.”

Haller, who has been curling for 25 years, was making her third appearance at the ladies bonspiel and had Debbie Mackenzie at third and Brenda Philpott and Taya Silver of Vanderhoof throwing second and lead stones, respectively.

Like Hatcher, Haller pointed to the eighth end as the turning point in the A-Event final.

“The game was extremely close for seven ends,” Haller said.

“I missed a key shot in

the eighth end and that allowed Carol to draw for the win.”

Despite the close loss, Haller indicated the weekend was not a loss as all participants had a great time and a big part of that was due to the time and effort put in by the organizing committee.