A local curler is heading to Victoria, BC with her team to participate in the Canadian Junior Women’s Curling Championship from Jan. 21 to 29.
Grace Holyoke, 19, of Elora, and her Ottawa curling team will be representing Ontario in the national tournament.
The winner of the event will represent Canada at the World Junior Women’s Curling Championship in Korea in February.
Holyoke started curling at the Elora Curling Club when she was eight and has been competitive in the sport ever since.
“My house is right up the road from the Elora Curling Club. it’s like a 30 second walk so it was really easy and my mom curled,” she said.
Since starting her post-secondary education at the University of Ottawa, she joined with Ottawa curlers Hailey Armstrong, Lindsay Dubue and Marcia Richardson in 2016.
The team is coached by Bill Rogers and mentored by Earle Morris.
Holyoke said the team lost in the first two qualifiers for provincials but made it in the last qualifier. She added everything wenty smoother from there.
During provincials, the team went 5-2 in round robin play,earning a bye.
In the final, Team Armstrong won 7-6 against Team Willingford from Carleton Heights Curling Club.
Holyoke said she and the skip, Armstong, have never been to a national event.
“This is our first opportunity obviously as a team because this is our first year together,” she said.
She added she’s looking forward to the competition.
“Oh my gosh, it’s a dream come true.”
Team Ontario plays its first game on Jan. 21 against Team Northern Ontario. The finals will be Jan. 29 at 9am PST (12pm EST). To follow the games visit curlinggeek.com or curling.ca/juniors. The semi-final and final will be broadcast on TSN.
