News release from the Fort Wayne Curling Club:
Fort Wayne is site of the last stop of World Record Breaking Curling Tour
(October 25, 2016) – The Fort Wayne Curling Club is proud to announce that it has been selected as the final stop on a world record breaking curling tour that is currently underway.
Canadian Curler Rob Swan has embarked on a curling tour that will see him playing 14 curling games in 12 days in 10 countries. His 14th and final game in this curling tour will be in a Monday Night Men’s League game at the Fort Wayne Curling Club.
While Curling is experiencing huge growth in the United States due to the novelty of the game and the Olympic coverage over the last 18 years, in Canada the story is quite different. Curling has been entrenched in Canada for well over 100 years and in many small towns, especially in the prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the curling club is the social center of the town. Although the game was invented in Scotland, Canada boasts over 50% of the curlers in the world. However, these are troubling times for curling in Canada as many clubs are closing or are in serious disrepair.
Rob Swan curls out of the Harvey Curling Club in Harvey Station, New Brunswick, Canada. Two years ago, Rob took on the task of playing 100 games in 100 different curling clubs in Canada in order to raise awareness about the sport of curling and to raise some much needed renovation funds for his home club. Rob believes that curling is the greatest sport that there is and is fighting to help grow the sport of curling in his home country. Rob’s work in British Columbia has him on the job 3 weeks at a time and then 2 weeks off. During his 2 weeks off, you are most likely to find Rob curling and making new friends at one club or another somewhere in the world.
Below are the dates and locations for each of the curling games in which Rob Swan will participate:
October 20 – Baden-Baden, Germany
October 21 – Füssen, Germany
October 22 – Cembra, Italy
October 23 – Kitzbühel, Austria
October 24 – Vaduz, Liechtenstein
St. Gallen, Switzerland
October 25 – Baden, Switzerland
October 26 – Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
October 27 – Tilburg, Netherlands
October 28 – Zoetermeer (2), Netherlands
October 29 – Ghent, Belgium
October 30 – Halifax, Canada
October 31 – Fort Wayne, USARob will be playing in a 6:00 pm match at the Fort Wayne Curling Club located at 3674 N. Wells Street. The match will continue through roughly 8:15 pm.
About the Fort Wayne Curling Club
The Fort Wayne Curling Club was re-established in 2010 after many years of dormancy. The Fort Wayne Curling Club originally curled in the 1880s through the 1920s on Bass Lake (now Mirror Lake on the campus of Saint Francis University) and at the old Caledonia Curling Rink at the State Street and Spy Run Avenue. After its re-establishment in 2010, the club curled at the Parkview Icehouse and hosted numerous large curling bonspiels (tournaments), some of which included elite curlers and Olympians including the 2006, 2010, & 2014 U.S. Women’s Olympic Teams, the 2014 Olympic Team from Great Britain (who won the Bronze Medal), 2014 Women’s Olympic team from China and members of the 2010 U.S. Men’s Olympic Team. In 2014, the Fort Wayne Curling Club opened its own dedicated curling facility at 3674 N. Wells Street, the old site of the Nickle’s Bakery Thrift Shop. Since its inception, the Fort Wayne Curling Club has taught hundreds of Fort Wayne residents the sport of curling and now holds leagues Sunday nights through Thursday nights September through April. The club also hosts a large number of tournaments, challenge cups, learn to curls and corporate events. The Fort Wayne Curling Club is a 501(c)(3) organization that is member-funded and volunteer-run.