Alpine wins bonspiel

St Bathans curling club Alpine won its first bonspiel yesterday.

After the two-day event, held on the Idaburn dam at Oturehua, it had eight wins and 182 points. Runner-up was Blackstone Hill with six wins and 170 points, followed by Dunedin Country with six wins and 168 points.

New Zealand Curling Association life member and Idaburn Curling Council secretary Stewart McKnight said this year's bonspiel was a thoroughly enjoyable event and compared well with previous years.

Having attended every bonspiel since 1952, Mr McKnight, of Ranfurly, is in a good position to comment.

He said this year's event, which attracted 264 curlers from 33 clubs, was one of the biggest ever staged. The last bonspiel, held in 2007, was slightly larger, with more than 270 curlers on the ice.

Mr Stewart said bonspiels were held more regularly in the 1950s, although they were not as big as they are today.

"When I first started curling there weren't so many clubs so we didn't need quite so much area."

He said even clubs that struggled to organise ordinary games come out of the woodwork for a bonspiel.

David Weyer jun of Ranfurly, who played for the Balmoral club, said he had a couple of great days out on the ice.

"It's a fantastic social event. It's really good to play against guys from other councils."

Dunedin curler Edwin Harley, who has been attending bonspiels since 1955, was another who enjoyed himself.

"It was a pleasure to play on such good ice. People are saying what a great time they've been having."

Rakaia's Murray Mellish, of the Windwhistle Curling Club, said every bonspiel he had attended was good fun and this year's was no different.

"It was quite odd to see the sun though."