High stakes curling championship concluding in Penticton this weekend

Olympic-level curlers from around the world are in Penticton this weekend, competing for the top prize of $18,000.

“These types of teams come here because of the big cash purse,” said Cathy Jones, chairperson for the 2021 Nufloors Curling Classic. “We’re number one in the world for this tier of money.”

Teams flew from as far as Sweden, Japan and Korea to compete at the Penticton Curling Club, with the final game taking place tomorrow, Oct. 17 at noon. There are 24 teams with more than 100 players registered.

Jones founded the event five years ago after noticing there was demand for a curling tournament of such high caliber. But to get the ball rolling on the first year, she had to take out a $66,000 line of credit to finance the prize purse.

With plenty of experience in event planning, her investment in the Curling Classic would prove to be a good one, largely thanks to support from the city and Travel Penticton, she said.

“I just spent a lot of time knocking on doors, building a platform that the community believes in,” she said. “We had a vision and we believe in curling. We want to foster the growth of the sport in Penticton.”

The finalists receive a cash prize of $14,000. Third and fourth place finisher win $9,000, fifth to eight is $5,000, and ninth to twelfth-placed teams get $2,500.

Both live and past games can be streamed for free at pentictoncurlingclub.ca.

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