Curlers took aim at securing a national title in Central Otago at the weekend.
Three women's and six men's teams competed in the New Zealand National Curling Championships in Naesby, which was hosted by the Naseby Indoor Curling Rink over three days from Friday.
New Zealand Curling media officer Ian Ford said while the majority of competitors hailed from Central Otago, some had travelled as far away as Auckland and Wellington.
"The teams that are all playing here this weekend are all self-selected, so they put themselves together into teams,'' he said, on Saturday.
They were each aiming to claim first place in their respective categories, however there was more than just a team win up for grabs.
Selectors were also on site to create a five-man New Zealand team for the Pacific-Asia Curling Championships taking place at Korea's Gangneung Curling Centre - the Olympic Winter Games venue - in early November.
The Naseby Indoor Curling Rink was primed for competitions, ensuring competitors had some of the best conditions to play on, particularly for those preparing for overseas events.
Preparing the ice was as much of an art and science as the game itself, one passerby commented.
"The ice-makers are out there,'' Mr Ford said between games on Saturday morning.
"They are grooming the ice, which they do before the games, just to make sure that it's perfectly level as good as it can be.
"We want to play on good ice if we can because that's what we'll be playing on when we go overseas.''
