Winning never grows old, and capturing a second Senior Ladies World Championship, “is pretty special,” Parksville’s Cheryl Noble confirmed Sunday.
Noble, a member of the Parksville Curling Club, and her husband Gene, just got back from the World Senior and Mixed Doubles Curling Championships last Friday.
“It’s always good to be home, but it was a great trip,” the good natured Noble, who plays third, said.
“It was quite something. It was just a great week with lots of good shots, lots of good games ... we made the right shots at the right time.”
Noble and her teammates — skip Christine Jurgenson from Vancouver, second Pat Sanders from Victoria, and lead Roselyn Craig from Shawnigan Lake — have been competing together for five years. Good friends on and off the ice, Noble has been playing with Pat for about 14 years and Roeslyn for 12.
While this is the same team that won the same title in 2009 in New Zealand, worth noting is that all the players except Noble changed positions in 2010.
“It has been mentioned to us that no other team has done this ... by changing three out of the four positions played, to go on and win,” said Noble, adding, “to accomplish what our team has done in the last five years has been very special in so many ways.”
Noble was an alternate on the Kelly Law rink that won the Ladies World Championships in Scotland in 2000, and with the team when they won a bronze medal at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. She’s also been to the Canadian Mixed championships twice.
The team chose not to defend their title in 2010, opting to stay home and help out at the ladies’ Scotties held in Victoria, and as such had to re-qualify for this year’s World Championships by winning the 2010 B.C.’s.
In action at the World Senior and Mixed Doubles Curling Championships played out in St. Paul, Minnesota, April 16-23, Cheryl and her pals ran the table and finished 13-0.
The ladies rolled through round robin play at 10-0 to put them first overall heading into the playoffs, then edged Switzerland 6-5 in the semifinal.
“We had to score two in the eighth (and final) end to win that game,” said Noble, adding, “that was our closest game.”
Sweden (7-3 in round robin), trimmed the U.S.A. (8-2), in their semifinal to advance to the gold medal game.
Against Sweden in the final, the B.C. ladies scored three in the first end, followed by a blank in the second and steal of four in the third. Sweden came back with singles in the fourth and fifth ends, but the Canucks iced the win with two in the sixth for a 9-2 final.
The exact date and location of next year’s world championships has not been finalized, but they will likely be held in Europe in April.
Asked what the plan is now, Cheryl said, “for myself, I mentioned to my team after that I won’t be playing competitively any more.
“I just feel like to win two worlds is something pretty special.
“I’ve been spending a lot of time over the last 20-plus years playing competitively, and I just feel it’s time to step aside and just enjoy playing recreationally in beautiful downtown Parksville.”
The team was awarded gold medals as well as a small keepsake curling stone made from the actual granite from Scotland used to make all curling rocks.
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