NZ Curling

The NZ Curling selectors named the Under-21 Men's and Women's teams at the conclusion of the National Junior Championships in Naseby at the weekend. The teams will compete in the 2010 Pacific Curling Championships in Japan early next year.

Experience was the key in the finals of both the Men's and Women's NZ Junior Curling Championships at Naseby this weekend. The teams of Kris Miller and Lucy Harris / Brittany Taylor resisted the sprited challenge of Michael Smith's Maniototo and Chelsea Farley's Aucklanders respectively to take the honours.

"Bring in the jet-boats" was the cry as curlers from the Naseby and Idaburn Curling Councils skimmed stones through rinks awash with water at Naseby yesterday.

Warm winds overnight meant the venue for the Idaburn Trophy game – the outdoor rink – began thawing rapidly and the ice was covered in up to 4cm of water in places.

Hopes for a national bonspiel on the Idaburn dam at Oturehua are melting as fast as the ice, with warm weather forecast for the next few days.

The dam has lost about 5cm of ice in the past two weeks, when snow was followed by northwest winds and mild temperatures.

The curlers of Manorburn and Poolburn Curling Clubs have swept all before them in the Idaburn Council's competitions this season.

So it was fitting – and perhaps not too much of a surprise – when they met again in the final of the Macrae Trophy at Alexandra on Monday 20 July.

Auckland Curling used the Schenkel scoring system for the first time in its 2009 Open and Mixed Doubles Tournament last night – but it wasn't needed to find a winner. Haymon Keeler and Katie Bauer took the trophy in the "traditional" manner by winning all of their games.

There was praise for the weather and the ice conditions yesterday when the one-day Wilson Cup bonspiel was held near Oturehua. Defending champions Alexandra joined the other 15 clubs of the Idaburn Curling Council in a memorable day on the frozen Idaburn Dam.

Even a bad day's curling is better than a good day at work.

So say the lads from the Poolburn Curling Club, and they received no argument yesterday as 50 curlers took part in a mini-bonspiel on the lower Manorburn dam, near Alexandra.

Twelve teams from six clubs – Poolburn, Arrow, Chatto Creek, Manorburn, Alexandra and Lowburn – vied for the Wilson Rosebowl.

The Manorburn rink of Bruce Kissel (skip), Paul Harrex, Gavin Spence and Bert Kemp have won the final of the Jerry Sanders Trophy for 2009, the Idaburn Curling Council's knockout competition.