2019 Canadian Curling Club Championships headed to Leduc, Alta.

Canadian curling’s grassroots will be celebrated alongside this country’s top stars when the 2019 Canadian Curling Club Championships are staged in Leduc, Alta., in November.

The Leduc Curling Club will play host to the 2019 Canadian Curling Club Championships. (Photo, Leduc Curling Club)

The 11th annual Canadian Curling Club Championships, which offer an elite national championship experience to Canada’s top club curlers, will take place Nov. 25-30 at the Leduc Curling Club, and will run in conjunction with the 2019 Home Hardware Canada Cup at the adjacent Sobey’s Arena — all part of the Leduc Recreation Centre. The Home Hardware Canada Cup will run Nov. 27 to Dec. 1, and will feature the top six men’s and top six women’s teams in the country.

Meanwhile, 14 men’s and 14 women’s teams from Curling Canada’s Member Associations — the 10 provinces, three territories and Northern Ontario — will contest the Canadian Curling Club Championships in Leduc.

“The Canadian Curling Club Championships are a hugely important event because they give club curlers the chance to compete on the national stage, and you can see what a thrill that is every year when these athletes are on the ice,” said Maureen Miller, Chair of Curling Canada’s Board of Governors. “Having the opportunity to showcase these curlers alongside the Home Hardware Canada Cup will make the 2019 Canadian Curling Club Championships a truly unique event and I know Leduc will do an amazing job in hosting these championships.”

The Canadian Curling Club Championships are for recreational, club-level curlers who don’t have the time or resources to compete at the high-performance level; the event gives those curlers the thrilling opportunity to represent their home province or territory on the national stage.

It will be the first time Alberta has played host to the Canadian Club Curling Championships, which began in 2009 at Toronto.

“This is an event that speaks to the passion for curling across Canada, because it goes right to the grassroots of our game — the club curlers who have the same kind of dreams as our national team players,” said Jill Richard, Executive Director of Curling Alberta. “We’re delighted to welcome the Canadian Curling Club Championships to Alberta for the first time, and we know Leduc will be ready to make these athletes and their friends and family feel right at home.”

Overall, Alberta has won three men’s titles, followed by B.C., Saskatchewan and Ontario with two apiece; Newfoundland/Labrador has won once.

On the women’s side, Manitoba teams have won four times, followed by Ontario with three titles,  Alberta with two and P.E.I. with one.

At the 2018 Championships in Miramichi, N.B., B.C.’s Vic Shimizu (Richmond) claimed the men’s gold medal, while Morgan Muise’s Alberta team from Calgary captured the women’s gold.

The Leduc Curling Club is no stranger to championship curling; in 2018, it was a co-host of the Curl 4 Canada championships, that saw four Canadian titles — the Mixed Doubles, Wheelchair, U SPORTS and Canadian Colleges Athletic Association — decided.

The club also played host to the inaugural Canadian Mixed Doubles Championship in 2013, as well as the 1994 Canadian Mixed Championship and the 1991 Canadian Junior Men’s and Women’s Championships.

“Leduc is pleased and excited to host the Canadian Curling Club Championships and the Home Hardware Canada Cup this winter,” said Leduc Mayor Bob Young. “Investing in sport is something we have always been passionate about, and it is events like these that showcase our camaraderie and community spirit. We are grateful to be the host city, and we can’t wait to welcome the events’ athletes, coaches, family and friends.”