For the second year in a row, Team Neighbour has won the BC Wheelchair Curling Championship.
The Richmond Curling Club team of Darryl Neighbour, Bob MacDonald, Gary Cormack and Janice Ing progressed straight to the final at Langley Curling Centre after winning both of their round robin games.
Kelowna, Langley, Marpole and Richmond’s Team Austgarden (Gerry Austgarden, Rick Robinson, Tracy Boyd, Marney Smithies) met Quesnel’s Team Duddy (Alison Duddy, Frank LaBounty Ellis Tull, Vince Miele) in the semifinal, with Team Austgarden securing their spot in the final with an 8-3 victory.
Team Neighbour got off to a quick start in the final, with a 4-0 lead after two ends. Team Austgarden got on the board with two points in the third end, but Team Neighbour maintained their lead with single points in the fourth and fifth ends. They finalized their win with three points in the seventh, finishing with a score of 9-3.
Last season, Team Neighbour went on to win bronze at the 2018 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship. While this is the second consecutive BC Championship win for the team, three of its members, Neighbour, MacDonald and Ing, also won the event in 2017 with Austgarden as their skip.
This season, Curling Canada is piloting a 14 team Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship. The 14 teams will include those from 10 member associations committed to sending a team (of which BC is one), a host team, and the top three ranked teams from 2018.
As BC won bronze at the 2018 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship, BC gets to send two teams to compete at the 2019 Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship in Boucherville, Quebec from April 26 to May 1, and therefore both Team Neighbour and Team Austgarden will be traveling to the national championship to represent BC.
