Up and coming curlers enjoyed a traditional opening ceremony with a number of special guests, including elite women's curler Chelsea Carey, at the Curlers Corner Bantam Championship hosted in Cochrane, Mar. 9-10.

Young piper Cade Legg lead in the 16 rinks, each with placards bearing their team's name, followed by brief presentations and Carey throwing the first rock, swept by Mayor Jeff Genung and Adrian Sakundiak, acting CEO of the SLS Family Sports Centre.

"The event was a huge success," says Morgan Muise, curling bookings and programs coordinator at the Cochrane Curling Centre. "It was amazing to see so many talented young curlers competing at our facility. The future of curling is very bright in Alberta, and we hope to host Curling Alberta events at our facility in the future."

Cochrane bantam curlers were among the winner at the bantam championship. Ky Macaulay was a member of the Raniseth Rink that won gold and Max Cinnamon was a bronze medallist with the Molnar Rink. The Wyatt Wright won the silver medal.

The Curlers Corner championship has its roots with the Bantam Southern Alberta Championship.

"It used to be just Southern and now that we’re amalgamated teams can come from across the province so we continue the tradition in the south but we invited teams from across Alberta," explains Josephine MacGillivray, Curling Alberta board member, who spoke at the opening, 

It was especially a feather in the cap for organizers to have Casey participating in the opening. for the event. Her team is currently representing Canada at the women's world championship in Silkeborg, Denmark after winning the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in February.

U18 Provincial Championship underway

In other curling news, Cochrane U18 curlers are competing in the Optimists U18 Provincial Championships being hosted in Medicine Hat, Mar. 14-17.

Julianna MacKenzie is the lead for Team Bakos that comes into the tournament seeded second. They won their first two draws against the Molberg and Bakker rinks and are back on the ice today at 3 p,m. to face Airdrie's Jessica Wytrychowski and her team in the 'A' qualifier.

Also at 3 p.m., Cochrane's Cinnamon Rink faces the Molberg Rink in a 'C' qualifier after losing their first two games.

Group shot of the winning teams from the Curlers Corner Bantam Curling Championship. Individual team shots in the gallery. (Courtesy of Morgan Muise)