Family team spans several generations at Sweetheart Bonspiel

Written By BRIAN LOCKHART

The Shelburne Curling Club hosted its annual Sweetheart Bonspiel on Saturday, February 8.

If there is an example of how curling is a sport for all ages, this might be it.

One of the teams entered had an age range of 11 to 94 years.

Wallace Elgie, the most experienced member of his team has been curling since 1962. At age 94, he is still out on the ice sheets and for this tournament he brought some family members to compete.

Granddaughter Briana Conner-Bennington, her husband Dan Bennington, and his great granddaughters, Adelyn, age 11, and Olivia, age 12, formed a team to compete with other club teams that arrived from around the region to take part in the bonspiel.

“I have two great grandchildren and my granddaughter here with me today,” Mr. Elgie said. “I've been curling since 1962 at the Shelburne Curling Club. It's a lot of good fellowship,” he said of why he continues to play the sport.

The sport has now become a family tradition as each new generation is taking up the sport.

“My grandma, she was curling for a while then my mom followed in her footsteps,” said great granddaughter Olivia. “My dad fills in sometimes. It now just passed down through the generations.”

The Bonspiel brought teams from around the region for the one day event.

“It's just a fun day,” said Club volunteer Gail Brown. “They come from all over. They come from Markdale, Brampton, Mount Forest, and it's just a fun spiel. With Mr. Elgie, his kids curled, his grandkids curled, and now his great grandkids are curling.”

The bonspiel featured 16 teams with eight teams on two different draws. That's total of 64 curlers with a couple of alternates playing as well.

Each team has three games for the day.

The bonspiel showed that curling is one of those sports you can do for a lifetime if you keep active and maintain your skills on the ice.