P.G. Has the Hammer!!! P.G. Hosting Curling Event Official

Friday, March 14, 2008 11:29 AM

Prince George, B.C. - The Canadian Curling Association’s worst kept secret has finally been officially confirmed. Prince George will host the pre-Olympic Trials event in November of 2009.

The announcement was made moments ago at the Tim Horton’s Brier in Winnipeg. Murray Kutyn, of the Prince George bid committee ( and arguably one of the best curling ice makers in the world) was on hand for the announcement.

As Opinion 250 reported early Monday morning , the event will see twelve mens’ and twelve womens’ teams coming to Prince George to compete November 10-15 at the 6,000-seat CN Centre. This event will be a triple knockout format involving 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams, whereby the A and B winners and C finalists will qualify for the Trials in Edmonton in December.

“I am very pleased that Prince George has been awarded this Olympic qualifying event,” says Mayor Colin Kinsley. “Our community has worked extremely hard to capture benefits from the Province and Canada hosting the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games. We can now further leverage our position as being the place to train for the upcoming games.”

"The Canadian Curling Association is thrilled to have Prince George host the 2009 Pre-Trials," says Greg Stremlaw, CEO of the Canadian Curling Association, "the demonstrated community dedication and city leadership has provided us with every confidence that Prince George will host an exceptional event. This is a very unique opportunity that plays a significant role in our sport as we move towards Vancouver 2010. We genuinely look forward to working with the entire community."

The field of athletes will include top national curling names that have competed at the Brier, Scott Tournament of Hearts and other competitions.

2009 Canadian Curling Pre-Trials Chair, Neil King adds, "Prince George is happy to have been selected to host this event which will have top Canadian Ladies and Men’s Curlers competing for an ultimate spot to represent Canada at the 2010 Olympics. We know our community and volunteers will lend their support for this new and exciting curling show.”

The combined total of visitor, capital and operational spending as a result of hosting these pre-qualifying trials is an estimated $1.3 million.

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Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008 11:29 AM in Sports by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Palopu on March 15 2008 7:31 PM

I doubt if we will see anything near $1.3 Million. These numbers are pulled from a hat and are never substansiated. Firstly we were the only City to make a qualified bid. Winnipeg only expressed an interest in this event but did not tender a bid.

Prince George got the games by default, and in addition paid $300,000.00 for this dubious honor. Which will pay for lodging etc; for the curlers. This means that the $1.3 Million wuld come from other sources, I somehow dont see this happening. We will however get some coverage from TNN which might be worth a dollar or two if they avoid the downtown, and disregard the pollution.