A bonspiel is a curling tournament, consisting of several games, often held on a weekend. Until the 20th century most bonspiels were held outdoors, on a frozen freshwater loch . Today almost all bonspiels are held indoors on specially prepared artificial ice.
17-587: The Canadian Senior Curling Championships are an annual bonspiel held to determine the national champions in senior curling for Canada. Seniors are defined as being people over the age of 50. The championship teams play at the World Senior Curling Championships the following year. The event's first committee was established in October 1964. Frank Sargent was an original member of the senior championship committee, and believed
34-519: A number accommodation options. The remnants of the Golden Progress quartz mine are located 2 km east of Oturehua on Rough Ridge. These workings are notable as they still retain an intact poppet head, the only surviving one in the Otago goldfields. The Golden Progress poppet head was constructed of Australian hardwood and erected later than most, in 1928, which explains its survival. The mine
51-516: Is one of the few in New Zealand to have conditions suitable for outdoor curling, and is also a fitting site for the sport given that Otago 's original European settlers were mainly from Scotland. Several artificial and natural lakes around the towns of Oturehua , Naseby and Patearoa provide good conditions, on average every second or third year. The national bonspiel has been held when conditions permit since 1879, with Oturehua's Idaburn Dam
68-568: The Dunedin Ice Stadium ), and in the towns of Naseby, Otago and Gore, Southland , and also further north in the country's largest city, Auckland . Open air ice rinks exist in Naseby and Alexandra . A cashspiel is a bonspiel played for money, and a carspiel is one played for the prize of an automobile. There are different types of cashspiels, some are small, with prizes in the hundreds of dollars, and others are quite sizeable, with
85-500: The Otago Central Rail Trail long-distance walking track. The population was 112 residents at last count. The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "place where the summer star stands still" for Ōturēhua . Oturehua lies beneath a Rough Ridge, a range of hills. The township was also called Rough Ridge until 1907. The area has changed little from its description in 1905 when it
102-718: The Royal Caledonian Curling Club 's own pond at Carsebreck Loch in Perth and Kinross served by the society's own private Carsbreck railway station . Dozens of bonspiels are held in European countries every year. Switzerland hosts multiple Curling Champions Tour events. Curling bonspiels are held when ice conditions permit in the Maniototo , part of Central Otago in the South Island . The region
119-510: The Ida Valley Omakau Road is used for curling bonspiels when conditions permit. It is also the site of the annual mid-winter Brass Monkey Motorcycle Rally .which was held until 2021, though many motorcyclists continue to make a pilgrimage to the site on Kings Birthday Weekend of their own volition, out of tradition The Otago Central Rail Trail runs through Oturehua, adjacent the Ida Valley Omakau Road. The settlement has
136-618: The United States are held indoors in dedicated curling facilities, but a few bonspiels are held outdoors if the weather allows it. One example of an outdoor bonspiel is the Sawtooth Outdoor Bonspiel held each January in the Sawtooth Mountain Range of Idaho. Bonspiels are popular throughout the United States during curling season, typically October through April. Some special bonspiels are held in
153-681: The event would attract former Brier competitors and give seniors a place to compete which had not existed. The inaugural Canadian Seniors Curling Championship was hosted in Port Arthur in March 1965. It used a minimum age of 55 for competitors, and had the Seagram Company as its title sponsor. Bonspiel Curling Canada , formerly known as the Canadian Curling Association, is the national governing body of
170-636: The most important cashspiels being part of the World Curling Tour (WCT). Many local curling clubs and other organizations in Canada also host casual, social bonspiels indoors, and a few are also held outdoors like the Ironman Outdoor Curling Bonspiel in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba . The United States Curling Association (USA Curling) is the national governing body of the sport in the United States. Most bonspiels in
187-530: The rewards running into the tens of thousands of dollars. Possibly from Dutch bond "league, association" + spel "game". Oturehua The township of Oturehua is in the Ida Valley of the Maniototo , in Central Otago , in the South Island of New Zealand. The settlement stands at 500 metres above sea level, some 25 kilometres from Ranfurly , to which it is connected by both road and
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#1732797264984204-788: The sport in Canada. While bonspiels originated in Scotland , the most notable competitive curling tournament in the world nowadays is the Canadian Men's Curling Championship, The Brier . For many Canadians, this tournament equals or nearly equals the importance of the Olympics and the World Curling Championship . The Canadian Women's Curling Championship is called the Scotties Tournament of Hearts . Several Cashspiels are played in Canada every year, with
221-441: The summer as well as some that are hosted by clubs that play on arena ice as there are usually fewer scheduling conflicts with other sports at the area such as hockey and figure skating. In Scotland, outdoor bonspiels are now very rare; most lochs that formerly hosted bonspiels, such as Loch Earn , rarely freeze over anymore. The Loch of Aboyne was the site of a bonspiel in 1891 and the private railway station, Aboyne Curling Pond
238-401: The twelfth century. Hayes Engineering, located immediately southwest of the township, was once the home to Ernest Hayes, a farmer and flour miller who began producing and selling farm tools from his Oturehua property. Hayes invented the internationally acclaimed wire strainer, as well as pulley blocks, cattle stops and windmills. The Idaburn Dam, located 3 km southwest of Oturehua along
255-471: The venue since 1932. The most recent national bonspiel, the 66th, was held on 13-14 July 2015. Most New Zealand curling clubs are located in Otago , Canterbury , and Southland , and owing to the difficulty of getting teams to the relatively inaccessible venue, it is rare for teams to travel from outside the southern South Island to the bonspiel. Indoor curling rinks exist in Otago's main centre, Dunedin (at
272-684: Was described as good arable land, from which large crops are successfully raised. In 1905, the township comprised a post and telegraph office, a store, a hotel near the railway station, a school, coal pits and a flour mill. Of these, only the Gilchrist's General Store and the Oturehua Tavern remain. In 1967 members of the Otago Anthropological Society surveyed a large area to the east of the town, revealing evidence of quarrying and production of flake knives done in
289-567: Was used for the event. The word spiel is sometimes used to refer to an informal curling game, as in parish spiel . The most important Cashspiels in Scotland are part of the Curling Champions Tour (CCT) The Grand Match was last held outdoors in 1979, although it was revived as an indoor tournament in 2000 and has been held every five years since. Between 1853 and 1935 twenty-five 'Grand Matches' or bonspiels were held at
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