A deciding match was required in the best-of-three finals of the 2010 Pub Charity NZ Mixed Doubles Championship, decided at Naseby 17-19 September.

Defending champions Sean and Bridget Becker came back from one down to defeat the tough challenge of Dan Mustapic and Brydie Donald. The contest was a genuine nail-biter from start to finish – the first two games of the finals were single-point margins, and the decider came down to the last stone.

West Coast Curling Club break for lunch at Lake Browning, high in the Southern Alps

31 Aug 2010 – The West Coast Curling Club has taken our game to new heights with heli-curling this year.

In what is believed to be a world first, they hire helicopters and fly up to frozen tarns high in the Southern Alps to play.

They have the choppers arranged, have identified a couple of ideal lakes but have just one problem – a lack of curling stones!

The club is looking to beg, buy or borrow any stones that might be sitting unused in a shed somewhere.

The World Curling Federation has just released the 2010 WCF Rule Book.

To assist all curlers, there is also a version showing the differences between the 2008 and 2010 Rule Books.

Alpine's top run of form this season continued today when they won the 2010 Macrae Trophy at Alexandra's Ice-In-Line rink.

The club's Number 2 team beat the other 7 finallists to win the the Idaburn Curling Council's major competition, and so added this trophy to the Snuff Box won earlier in the month when Alpine Curling Club won their first-ever National Bonspiel.

The New Zealand Open and Senior Men's and Women's curling teams for the 2010/11 season were confirmed at a Special Meeting of the NZ Curling Association's Executive on Friday 16 July.

NZCA Chairman Robert Rutherford advised that the Executive supported and endorsed the decisions of the Selectors. The Convenor of National Selectors, Darren Carson, then announced the following teams:

Photo © Otago Daily Times

13 Jul 2010 – Smiles stayed on the faces of curlers yesterday as competition heated up for a silver cup believed to be one of the country's oldest sporting trophies.

Thirteen clubs from within the Naseby Curling Council vied for the Baxter Cup on natural ice at Naseby's Centennial Ponds, opposite the indoor rink.

The "home club", Otago Central, took home the silverware.

History of the Baxter Cup

Read the full Otago Daily Times article

The final ends are played out at the close of the 2010 Bonspiel on Idaburn Dam at Oturehua

8 Jul 2010 – Alpine Curling Club are the proud holders of the Snuff Box trophy after winning their first National Bonspiel since the club was founded 115 years ago, at nearby St Bathans in 1895. They recorded a perfect 8 wins from their 8 games to finish clear winners.

Second were 9-time winners Blackstone Hill CC, celebrating their 125th year, with 6 wins and 170 points scored. Just behind them were 2001 winners Dunedin Country CC with 6 wins and 168 points.

Photo © Otago Daily Times

5 Jul 2010 – Almost – but not quite.

It may not have been a bonspiel but the Styx Valley hosted the first significant outdoor curling match of this year's Central Otago winter sporting calendar last Friday.

Otago Central won the Naseby Curling Council's President's Trophy, the first time it had been played in three years.

See the Otago Daily Times article and photo gallery here.

Defending champions Sean Becker and Bridget Becker retained their stranglehold on the New Zealand Curling Championship titles when their teams won their respective Men's and Women's titles in Naseby this weekend.

Sean has now skipped the Men's champions every year since 2007, and Bridget's winning sequence has continued unbroken since the first separate Women's championship in 2005.