A broken ice plant wasn’t enough to dampen the spirits at the Barrhead Curling rink over the weekend when more than 100 curlers and curling fans descended on Barrhead for the ladies bonspiel.
The bonspiel was originally planned to run Friday evening and all day Saturday, but the final two rounds were postponed until Sunday afternoon after the ice plant broke down at around 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
The curlers managed to get in two draws after the ice plant stopped working, finally suspending play when the ice deteriorated to the point it was unplayable.
That meant all that was left to play on Sunday were the semifinals and finals. In the ‘A’ final, Marge Jones from Barrhead took on Athabasca’s Cathie Creaser. The game lasted only six ends when Creaser conceded defeat after falling behind 10-2, handing the ‘A’ championship to Jones and her rink of Sandy Holowaychuk, Kelsey McCracken and Kim Luciuk.
In the ‘D’ final, also held on Sunday, Charlene Luberda from Stony Plain emerged victorious.
Thanks to the ice plant breaking down, the ‘B’ and ‘C’ championships were not contested on the ice. In both cases, at least one team had prior commitments for Sunday, and so those winners were determined via playing cards.
Thanks to their prowess at the table, Bev Topola’s rink from Athabasca won the ‘B’ division, while Barrhead’s Jennifer Kalmbach took home the ‘C’ division championship.
Yell for yellow was the motto of Barrhead swim fans last weekend.
For two days yellow became the favourite colour of every local parent, grandparent, aunt and uncle at the town’s swimming pool.
Cries of “go, go, go,” “kick, kick, kick,” “keep pushing,” “good job” and “go Barrhead, go” regularly filled the Kinsmen Aquatic Centre on Saturday and Sunday whenever the yellow swim cap of a Barrhead competitor bobbed above the surface.
The encouragement paid off with many notable performances among the 31 Barrhead Swim Club members.
Speed skater Tyler Chapman is so fast that by the time you finish reading this sentence he will be halfway through a 111-metre race.
At the Special Olympics Canada Winter Games on Feb. 29, he timed 14.64 seconds in the 111m final. There was barely the width of a skate blade to separate him at the finish from nearest rival, Quebec’s Philip Ste-Marie.
Chapman was unsure whether he had won. Also uncertain were his biggest supporters at St. Albert’s Servus Place arena – parents Bill and Donna, sister Lauren and her daughter Jordis.
After a wait that seemed like an age, the 27-year-old from Barrhead could celebrate … he had won gold.
The dream season is over. The Barrhead Midget ‘AA’ Steelers are not league champions after they dropped game four of their Northern Alberta Midget AA Hockey League championship series 8-3 to the Fort Saskatchewan Rangers on the road on April 1.
The loss meant the Steelers lost the best-of-five series three games to one, with two of the losses coming on home ice on March 22 and 27.
The growling could be heard from afar. It reverberated through woodland and a nearby golf course. Every so often it seemed to intensify, as if some powerful beast was summoning up an extra lung-bursting spurt of energy.
Yes, this was the 2012 Henry Battenfelder ATV Quad Rodeo in all its rowdy, muddy glory.
Bright May sunshine brought crowds to the picturesque Henry’s Hideaway/Batt Traps golf course and recreational area near Camp Creek on Saturday and Sunday.
Seventeen teams of four riders took part in a series of different events: drag races, chuck wagon/chariot races and obstacle courses. They competed for points, with Iron Horse coming out on top.
Grade eights were great and grade nines were fine … and the girls in grade seven were in athletic heaven!
McKenna Dievert, Morgan McKain and Jill Starman were Grade 7 stars as Barrhead’s track and field impressed during Tuesday’s Divisionals at Barrhead Composite High School.
Seventy-five junior high Barrhead students took part in the meet, which also featured R. F. Staples, St. Mary’s, Clyde, Fawcett, Fort Assiniboine and Jarvie.
By the time the last discus was thrown, the last javelin thrown, the last jump completed, the last relay run, 25 Barrhead students had qualified for the Zones in St. Albert.
Her pink golf ball has “BELIEVE” written on it.
However, 13-year-old Topanga Kosterbok could scarcely believe what happened at the fifth hole at Paddle River Golf &Country Club last Thursday.
After swinging her 9 iron, she felt she had hit a good tee shot – but not so good as to go straight in the hole. Yet that is what happened.
Topanga’s hole-in-one was recorded on a board outside the clubhouse. She was also presented with a special plaque which contained her scorecard, pink ball, and a small plate inscribed with the date of her achievement.
The Barrhead Bantam Yankees won the tier V title Sunday, Aug. 5 in Lac La Biche after a hard-fought weekend.
The first game was Friday night against home team Kikino Saints, which was a rude awakening for the boys from Barrhead. The team lost 10-8 before a very partisan crowd.
Barrhead took the win 14-4 over Leduc at their early game Saturday, with a five-inning mercy rule domination.
The Yankees had their most exciting game of the year on Saturday night against Drayton Valley Storm, pulling a dramatic comeback to take a hard earned win.
Down 10-0 after and one and a half innings, Barrhead had a lot of catching up to do if they were to stay in the game. By the end of the sixth the game was tied, but Drayton scored one run in the top of the seventh to take the lead back 16-15.
When Barrhead came to bat at the bottom of the inning, Jory Proft walked. Lee Worobec soon followed after he was hit by a pitch, putting men on first and second with no outs. In stepped Troy Starman to the plate, and following a wild pitch where both runners had advanced, Troy lined a single to score both runners in a walk off victory.
Barrhead took the win 17-16. This victory secured first place in the pool for Barrhead and home team advantage in the final. As Sunday rolled around, Barrhead faced off against Drayton Valley once again in the championship game. Coming out victorious for the second time, the Yankees won 7-5.
His arms raised in triumph, 13-year-old Kagen Schmidt celebrated his coronation on Sunday as a Wildrose rodeo king.
As a large agrena crowd applauded, the first to congratulate him was Bryce West – the friend he had just edged out in a junior steer riding tie-breaker.
It was a memorable moment of sportsmanship that helped define the 32nd Wildrose Rodeo Finals held on Sept 13-16.
“It’s really cool to have won,” said Kagen, who also received a buckle for being the season leader in the steer riding standings.
Meanwhile, in the team roping, Kagen’s dad, David, and older brother, Cole, had to concede the championship to the Clyde pairing of Murdock Keith and Kody Potts.
Barrhead couple Bert and Mary Dube, and Lac La Nonne couple Stan and Faye Schultz all have something in common: they are the proud champions of the 70 Plus 4 Western Provinces curling tournament.
The tournament, hosted this year by the South East Edmonton Seniors Association and sponsored by the Alberta Floor Curling Association, was held Sept. 14-15.
For Bert and Mary this victory named them five-time champions in the tournament, three of these wins being with Stan and Faye. Though some may tire of such an accomplishment after a few years, for Bert and Mary this is not the case.
What’s more exciting is the state teammate Faye found herself in by the time the tournament came around. After an unfortunate incident in July this year, the dedicated curler competed in September with a broken leg.
This year marks the third and fourth year consecutively that the junior girls and boys respectively have won the North Central Zone Championships. Once again a newly harvested crop of signed banners will soon be hoisted onto the walls of the BCHS main gym as an indication that the future of high school volleyball in Barrhead at the senior level will be in good hands.
“Impose your will,” has been the mantra that the BCHS Junior Girls Gryphons volleyball team has lived by throughout the course of the season and that is exactly what they did at the North Central Zone Volleyball Championships held at Morinville Community High School on Saturday, November 3.
The gold medal match saw BCHS pitted against Westlock Thunderbirds with the outcome being a hard fought straight set 25-21 and 25-19 victory. The Junior Gryphon boys started the day off playing Parkland Composite high school in the round robin part of the tournament.
In the finals the Gryphons played the Parkland Pacers again.
The Barrhead Figure Skating Club showed off their skills to proud family and friends during their Christmas Gala Dec. 13.
Emma Albers kicked off a show of 20 performances, skating to a Christmas classic: Jingle Bells. Other festive routines dazzled the crowd, including Deanna Klein skating to Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, Hannah Raju dancing on ice to Carol of the Bells, and an adorable performance by Janaya and Jayleana Baron, who wore pigtails and pajamas.
The Junior Development group also showed their ever-improving skill. Frosty the Snowman sung through the arena as Amber Properzi took to the ice and soon afterwards Darby Rau gave a solid performance to Christmas/Sarajevo.
Jocelyn Smith skated to Run Rudolph Run, Kaylyn Koropczak glided across the ice to Deck the Halls, and Rachel Solem closed the skating performance with Tell Me the Story of Christmas.
