Rebecca Connop Price
Curl BC
Duncan and Enderby – Repeat winners ruled the week at the 2018 B.C. Senior Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships.
Lynne Noble added to her 2011 and 2017 provincial crowns as her team of Penny Shantz, Colleen Robson and Karen Lepine – representing the Cloverdale, Comox, Langley, Parksville and Qualicum curling clubs – went through the event undefeated at the Enderby Curling Club.
Noble – whose team is coached by seven-time B.C. men’s champion Jim Cotter of Vernon - went through the round-robin with a 7-0 mark before defeating Shiella Cowan of Royal City/Cloverdale 8-5 in the championship final, boosted by a five-ender in the fourth.
Cowan’s rink included Donna Langlands, Crystal Murray and Victoria Murphy. The winning rink featured a strong lineup with Lepine now becoming a three-time B.C. senior’s champion. Shantz helped Canada win a gold medal at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, when curling made its Games debut as a demonstration sport.
This was Robson’s second-straight seniors’ victory and Lepine is the 2015 national masters champion.
In senior men’s play, Craig Lepine’s crew - which represents Cloverdale, Langley, Penticton and Vancouver and features Stan Walker, Craig McLeod and Mike Pelech - repeated a 2017 victory by defeating Wes Craig 7-5 at his home club in Duncan.
Craig and his team of Gerald Poelman, Tony Anslow and Victor Gamble had gone through the round-robin with an 8-1 record, including a 5-4 victory over Lepine, who avenged the loss in the championship game, thanks to a four-ender in the seventh.
Lepine was 7-2 during the round-robin portion of the event, his other loss coming in a 4-3 setback to Mark Longworth of Vernon. Both the Noble and Lepine rinks will now travel to the 2018 Everest Canadian Senior Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships in Stratford, Ont., slated for March 24-29 for the 50+ age group.