THUNDER BAY – A top curling event is set to return to Thunder Bay from April 19th to 21st. The Heart-to-Heart Bonspiel returns to the city and will be hosted at the Port Arthur Curling Club. This will be the 28th edition of the event, which was last held in Thunder Bay in 2007. The new charity of choice for the bonspiel is the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation and in keeping with our desire to support charites related to the heart, the money raised will go towards the cardiac care fund.
The Dominion of Canada and Thunder Bay Insurance, the local broker, are the presenting sponsors. Their support for curling in our community has been nothing short of fantastic.
“The event would not be possible without the support of our sponsors”, said bonspiel chair Rod Bosch. “Our sponsors include the Port Arthur Curling Club who provide the facility to curl for the weekend while the Prince Arthur Hotel and Suites is our hotel of choice. Westjet and Molsons, along with several local businesses have all come on board and more will continue to do so as we are working on making this event a success once again, as it was in the past”.
The website for the event, www.h2hbonspiel.ca, is where you can find information about the event and also download the registration form. There is also a Facebook page, under heart to heart charity bonspiel, where you can also print off a registration form.
Posters have been sent out to the outlying clubs and directions for obtaining registration forms are posted there, if no forms are left attached. Participation by the community is needed to make this event work.
The charity bonspiel will have twenty-four celebrity skips with tentative commitments from Hammy McMillan from Scotland, and Pal Trulsen from Norway.
Hammy’s record is nothing short of amazing. He has competed at the world’s eight times, with a silver in 86 and 92, a bronze in 97 and gold in 99. Pal’s record is even more amazing. He has represented Norway 9 times at the worlds and has won bronze in 01, silver in o2, bronze in 03 and 4th in 04 and 05. Trulsen has competed in the Olympics in 1992, winning bronze as a demo sport, in 2002, Trulsen won gold, defeating Canada’s Kevin Martin in the final. He also competed for Norway in the 2006 Olympics.
The local skips confirmed to date incude Al Hackner and Rick Lang. The celebrity skips will be posted on the website as they are confirmed. The bonspiel will kickoff Thursday, April 19, with the traditional banquet, at which time the 72 curlers will be selected to curl with the 24 skips. it is important for the 72 participants to sign up early, so their pledge sheets can be sent out as soon as possible, as the raising of funds for the charity is what we are here for.