The Queensland mixed doubles team of Gerald Chick (left)
and Jenn Thomas at the Naseby International Curling Rink
last weekend. Photo supplied.
Naseby is a small rural town in the Maniototo but it now
has an international reputation for curling because its ice
rink is one of the best in the world.
This was demonstrated last weekend when the Australian
Curling Federation held its national mixed doubles
championships at the Naseby Indoor Curling Rink.
Seven teams competed for the right to represent Australia at
the world mixed doubles championships at Cortina D'Ampezzo,
Italy, next April.
The championship final was won by the Queensland pair of
Gerald Chick and Jenn Thomas who beat Hugh Milikin (New South
Wales) and Kim Forge (Victoria) 9-3.
The decision of the Australians to hold their national
championships at Naseby has pleased the manager of the Naseby
Indoor Curling Rink Fred Newman.
"It's made us very proud. Our rink is going from strength to
strength," Newman told the Otago Daily Times
yesterday.
"The Australians enjoyed playing on international quality
ice."
The Australian Curling Federation chose the Naseby rink as
its national championships venue because of the lack of
quality international curling ice available in Australia.
"We've got nothing to match this in Australia," Milikin (51)
said.
"We curl on ice hockey rinks.
But the ice is so bad that I wouldn't even bother skating on
it.
"We have nothing to match what you have here. Training and
competing on a good surface helps us to refine our game.
"You have good rocks here and the ice is superb. You should
be very proud of what you have here. You have world-class
facilities."
Milikin has been skip of the Australian curling team since it
first entered international competition at the Pacific
championships in 1991.
He started curling in Vancouver 24 years ago and emigrated to
Sydney four years later.
He was Australia' s first international skip and still holds
the top spot in the men's four.
Australia competed at the Olympic Games at Albertville,
France, in 1992, when curling was a demonstration sport and
it finished seventh of eight teams.
It is expected to be in the 10 top-ranked teams and qualify
for the Olympics at Vancouver in 2010.
Australia is ranked eighth at the moment.
The Australian men's team travelled to New Zealand three
times last year to train on the ice at Naseby and the Dunedin
Ice Stadium before the Pacific championships in Beijing.
The Australians brought a squad of 26 to Naseby last week.
The Queensland junior team and the Australian women's team
spent the time training on the ice.
A name, residential address, and (preferably residential) telephone number is required from readers who comment on ODT Online. These details will not be visible to site visitors.