The host committee for the 2011 World Financial Group Continental Cup of Curling is ahead of the game with volunteer support.
“We haven’t even put out a call yet for volunteers, so we’re ecstatic to have 150 people or more already signed up,” said Mike Howes, the committee chair for the Jan. 13 to 16 international event at Servus Credit Union Place.
Members of the St. Albert Curling Club have led the volunteer charge. The Edmonton and area curling fraternity is also well represented, as well as non-rock throwers. The majority of volunteers have assisted at major curling events like the Roar of the Rings Olympic trials and the last world men’s championship and the Brier in Edmonton.
“They’re all very good people,” Howes said. “The curling enthusiasts are the first ones that have signed up so far and there are people that I’ve recruited also. On the board of directors there are quite a few that are not even curlers.”
Approximately 250 volunteers are required to help out in several areas like security, bartending, driving, construction and serving/hosting in the various lounges. Starting on Sunday, the committee is going public with its volunteer drive. People can register by completing the online application form on the event’s website at seasonofchampions.ca
“Security, bartenders and drivers are the three big areas that we need to fill,” Howes said.
For more volunteer information, contact the event office at 780-460-2255 or email at [email protected]. Additional assistance is available at the St. Albert Curling Club at 780-459-7007.
The seventh annual Continental Cup will be staged at Performance Arena, which will be transformed into a three-sheet curling venue. The four-day event is billed as the Ryder Cup of curling, featuring 12 of the best rinks in the world, with six representing Team World and six representing Team North America. Each team is made up of three men’s rinks and three women’s rinks. Team North America is comprised of two men’s and two women’s rinks from Canada and one men’s and one women’s rink from the United States. The Olympic gold-medal winning Kevin Martin rink, featuring St. Albert’s Marc Kennedy at second, as well as the world and Brier champion Kevin Koe rink, with third Blake MacDonald and spare Jamie King of St. Albert in the line-up, have qualified for the unique curling spectacle.
Players will compete in team games, mixed doubles, singles, mixed skins and regular skins games. Points are awarded for wins or ties. The first side to reach 201 points wins. The series is tied at three wins apiece.
“It’s going to be a fun time,” Howes said. “When I sent out my little email blast to a bunch of people saying it was off and running, I said when tickets go on sale we’re going to sell you the whole seat but you’re only going to need the edge.”
TSN will provide live coverage of every minute of the Continental Cup as part of the Canadian Curling Association’s (CCA) Season of Champions.
It will also signal the start of the City of St. Albert’s 150th birthday celebrations, almost to the day it was founded, on Jan. 14, 1861.
There was no Continental Cup last season because of the Olympic trials. The previous six instalments were all hosted in Canada, starting in 2002 in Regina. The last event was in 2008 in Camrose.
The total cumulative attendance is expected to surpass 22,000, with more than 1,000 out-of-town visitors projected. The economic impact has been pegged at several million dollars.
“Everything is going great so far,” Howes said. “The only unknown is the ticket sales. They go on sale Oct. 15 to the general public and apparently everybody that has ever bought a ticket before to a CCA event in Alberta will get a flyer, or a notification, on Oct. 1 before they go on sale to the general public.
“We’ll re-evaluate by the end of October what we need to do for a push on for some ticket sales. There is only about 2,000 seats in the barn and 400 or 500 of those are filled by sponsors and that type of thing, so with about 1,500 tickets for sale I don’t think it’s going to take too long to sell out.”
Howes was happy to report the committee is on the verge of exceeding its sponsorship target.
“The last count, we had 98 per cent of our sponsors were in place so the community has really come behind this event,” he said. “The way they’ve come out with sponsorships, if they do that same thing with ticket sales then we’re golden.”
