New Zealand Curling

The NZ Curling Association was delighted with a very successful and enjoyable 125th Jubilee celebration at the end of June, and confirms the results of recent National titles.

Coming up are further National championships and the 100% Pure NZ Winter Games. All NZ curlers are also invited to participate in the Trans-Tasman challenge in Melbourne at the end of September.

NZCA 125th Jubilee – 2011

The Jubilee bonspiel was successfully held on Thursday 23 and Friday 24 June 2011 with the dinner being held in Ranfurly on Friday night.

Some late withdrawals from the Bonspiel necessitated some consequent late changes to the draw, and the lack of outdoor ice at Naseby required the Naseby games to be played indoors at the MCI, but overall the Bonspiel was enjoyed by those who participated. The overall winner was Poolburn with 6 wins and 1 draw.  The final results table is here.

NZCA Tournaments

A reminder to all proposed participants in the forthcoming NZ tournaments

• NZ Mixed Doubles Championship at Dunedin on 29 to 31 July (entries close with This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it at 4.00pm on 14th July)
• NZ Senior Fours Championships at MCI Naseby 5 to 7 August (entries close with This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it at 4.00pm on 22 July)
• NZ Secondary Schools Championships at Auckland on 10-12 October

Since the last newsletter a number of championship competitions have been completed. Respective competition winners are:

• NZ Mixed Fours Championship held at Auckland: the winning team was
  Kenny Williamson, Liz Matthews, Ian Ford and Pauline Farra.
• NZ Under 21 Championships held at Naseby; winning teams were
  U21 Men: Sam Miller, Michael Smith, Willie Miller, Liam Dowling and Tim McMillan
  U21 Women: Chelsea Farley, Tessa Farley, Thivya Jengaranjan and Jess Zinsli
• NZ Fours Championships held in Dunedin; winning teams were
  Men: Sean Becker, Scott Becker, Phil Dowling and Dan Thurlow
  Women: Brydie Donald, Marisa Jones, Natalie Campbell and Jess Zinsli.

It has been noted that in each case the level of competition continues to improve with the increasing skills of those taking part, coupled with the experience gained through continuing involvement in such championship events.

NZ Winter Games

The Winter Games curling events will be held from 19 to 28 August at the MCI rink. The competition will include men's and women's fours events and a mixed doubles event. Team entry numbers for the respective competitions are 8 men's teams, 6 women's teams and 10 mixed doubles teams. New Zealand will be represented in each of the events.

The Games will require the assistance of a large number of volunteers in a variety of roles so if you are able to assist, for part or all of the games, please contact MCI to advise them of your availability ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or phone 03 444 9878).

Trans Tasman Invitation

An invitation has been received for NZ teams to compete in a Trans Tasman competition in Melbourne in September. In the past this has been an informal competition held at Naseby while the Australian teams have been here for their national championships. This has not been an official international competition and competing local teams have been self-nominated. The following invitation has been received from Laurie Weeden of the Australian Curling Federation:

"I wanted to officially invite you and any interested New Zealand curlers to the Open/Trans Tasman competition Australia is hosting in conjunction with the Australian Junior Men and Women's, Wheelchair, Senior Men's and Women's and Mixed Doubles National events in Melbourne, Victoria at the Ice House commencing on Monday 26th September finishing on Wednesday 28th September 2011. We'll have 6 sheets of ice to run this competition and anticipate it to be quite a lot of fun with all the different events going on at the same time.  The open competition is a 'fours' competition and can be mixed men/women, Jrs, Sr, Wheelchair (any combination of the aforementioned).  Competitors from our Nationals events will be able to compete in the open competition in addition to their national competition event(s) if they so choose.

Deadline for entries (individuals or teams) is 1st August 2011.  Please send all enquires to myself at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . I hope we'll be able to host you for once!!"

Any teams or individuals should contact Laurie directly to make suitable arrangements but it would be helpful if you also advised me (NZCA Secretary) of your intentions so we can assist, if necessary, with making up teams and possibly helping to coordinate other arrangements.

High Performance Committee

A number of responses have been received following the distribution of the draft recommendations from the High Performance Committee regarding competition venues and related matters. These will be further reviewed and considered by the HP Committee and the Executive prior to any final recommendations being made. Aspects specifically relating to the NZ Fours Championship were discussed in an open forum during the recent tournament in Dunedin and the comments made there will also be taken into account for planning future events.

Curling Brooms

Since traditional corn brooms ceased to be manufactured in Canada there have been problems sourcing suitable brooms for outdoor curling. Br. Ken Gillespie has identified a possible source of brooms that may be professionally modified to replicate the traditional corn brooms. Costs and related details will be at least partially dependent on numbers ordered so if you are interested in purchasing a broom (or brooms) please contact Ken ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) to confirm your interest.

If Clubs wish to obtain further information relating to NZCA minutes, to this Newsletter or to any other matter which the NZCA is responsible for, please contact the Secretary whose details below.

Murray Petherick
Secretary