Breakfast at 8:30am and morning class in Alex and Cam’s room at 10am. Much hilarity ensued and congratulations conveyed to the Sheriff for doing such an excellent job throughout the duration of the tour.
We are not on the ice until 11:45am this morning but the Central team are currently playing, so we headed over a little early to lend some support.
The Central team posted a positive score in the first session this morning but West dropped a few shots in our session despite some more very close games. We had a nice buffet lunch and then the majority of us returned to the hotel to dress for the final dinner later tonight. In the meantime, the East team added some shots back into the pot.
After the strains and stresses of the last three and a half weeks, I think the last thing that most of us wanted to do was sit down to a full blown banquet dinner and accompanying speeches. However, as it turned out, each and every tourist sat wide-eyed, clapping, cheering, nodding and acknowledging as the speeches progressed through the evening and the tour captains and other Strathcona Cup dignitaries either recounted their experiences or made their reflections and observations on the event.
There were a lot of presentations, gifts and acknowledgements made – far too many to recount or remember – but there was definitely a sense that what we had experienced throughout this journey had been something very unique and very special.
I can’t speak for all of us that took part in the West Tour of the 2023 Strathcona Cup but I do know that each and every one of us has accumulated a wealth of unforgettable memories that will stay with us for the rest of our lives.
Oh, and the final result? You can find that in the details section.
For this particular diarist, curling won.
Stephen McClymont