The Cochrane Men's Bonspiel featured some close finals, great fellowship, super volunteers, generous sponsorships and 36 teams. What more can you ask for?

If they have things their way the men would like to host an even larger event next year, says Kendall Waiting, of the club. There was a full draw with a waiting list for the biggest men's bonspiel held yet at the Cochrane Curling Centre.

"Overall it went really well," says Waiting. "We've had plenty of positive feedback and lots of people had fun. There were some fantastic prizes, some laughs and some great curling action."

"The 'A' and 'C' finals came down to the final rock so you can't ask for much more than that."

UFA has donated $800 to the Cochrane Curling Club, $200 for each of its four bonspiels. From left, Pauline Hjalte, UFA Calgary Delegate, Lark Balmer, Wayne MacDonald, Lloyd Copithorne, Gord Copithorne and Kendall Waiting.

Waiting says you can never thank the volunteers and sponsors enough for their huge contribution.

"Overall we had great volunteers again and I can't thank them enough. Thanks also to all our sponsors who stepped up and helped us. The sponsorship from UFA was instrumental in helping us with merchandise and all our other sponsors were fantastic."

The Man Van, of the Prostate Cancer Centre, was brought to the Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre on Saturday and was extremely successful, says Waiting.

"Halfway through their time and I heard they had over 30 people go through already. I don't know their final figures but I know they were very happy with the turnout."

Exactly how much they hope to grow next year has yet to be determined. They believe they can accommodate more by starting on Thursday.

"Forty would be great but if we can make it bigger we'll try. We'll see what we can do," says Waiting.

In the end, it was the Greg Hill rink that won the 'A' event in the final against the Warren Kozak rink (A full list of the event winners and runners up is below).

Of note was the 'C' event-winning team of Rhett Friez. Young Nolan Duncan, 11, filled in for his dad and was a solid second for the team.

Nolan's parents and older brother are avid curlers and Gord Copithrone invited Nolan to fill his father's shoes on the team.

Copithorne says the young lad, a gymnast, has a natural aptitude for curling and suspects spending a lot of time around rinks with his family doesn't hurt either.

He definitely caught the attention of other curlers, says Copithorne.

Bonspiel Event Winners and Runners-up

'A' Event Winner: Hill Rink

Skip Greg Hill, third Chris Blackwell, second Roy Martin, lead Ed Chow

Runners-up: Kozak Rink

Skip Warren Kozak, third Dwayne Romanchuk, second Troy Fredeen, lead Parker Neufeld

'B' Event Winner: Repp Rink

Skip Mike Repp, third Warren Ferguson, second Doug Repp, lead Grand Lau

Runners-up: Weatherhog Rink

Skip Troy Weatherhog, third Richard LaPlace, second Jim Mireau, lead Perry Cavanaugh

'C' Event Winner: Friez Rink

Skip Rhett Friez, third Gord Copithorne, second Nolan Duncan, lead Andy Jones

Runners-up: Strain Rink

Skip Brian Strain, third Gary Hawkes, second Ross Carvey, lead Rod Rutherford

Team Photos below gallery courtesy of Lynda Sweet