Breakfast and morning classes at the hotel and on the road for 8:30am. Arrive at Le Duc around 9:30am. It’s a massive 309,000 sq ft facility, with an 8 sheet curling arena, an aquatic centre, a performance arena, 3 ice hockey rinks, a skating rink, climbing walls and 2 field houses that can be separated into 5 separate spaces to accommodate basketball, volleyball, soccer, field hockey and lacrosse all at the same time. That’s just the ground floor. There are two more floors in this building with multiple gyms and fitness studios, indoor play centres, as well as a four lane running track on the 3rd floor. There are 3,622 solar panels on the roof making the entire facility almost 100% energy self-sufficient. It’s mind-blowing.
Decent performance this morning – plus 5 shots. Bus to Sylvan Lake was about 90 minutes. Most took the opportunity for a quick snooze. We drove down the lake shore road and saw hundreds of fishing huts, pick ups and caravans sitting out on the ice.
No changing facilities at ice rink, so check into hotel, quick change and straight out again. We had to draft in one of the locals to play for us as this was a 5 game draw. By all accounts, he curled well at lead for Rab Clark’s rink and received a reward of a curling jacket for his efforts. He seemed mighty pleased with that. A good afternoon’s curling for the West – plus 13 shots We are back in positive territory.
A nice casual dinner tonight with a few prizes given out. Eddie Binks won a lakeside barbecue unit that looked as if it was bigger than him, which was redrawn. Brian Yeats won a very cool signed Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling jacket. It was Tim’s birthday today and we all sang Happy Birthday. Travel and rest day tomorrow – much needed!!
Stephen McClymont