Ross Tarlton Bonspiel

 The Ross Tarlton is an invitational men’s competition pitting teams from the Ontario Curling Association (CurlON) against those from the Grand National Curling Club (GNCC) of the US of A. This is a yearly event which alternates between curling clubs in the United States and Ontario, usually held in early November. 

 Some history on the Ross Tarlton - the first event was held in 1967 at the Board of Trade Country Club in Woodbridge Ontario with four teams from each organization competing, over time it has grown significantly. 

Hearing of this event, Jimmy Jones, a past LCC President initiated the process to have Lakefield join this event in the 1990’s, in the early 2000’s through attrition the application was accepted – a few years after that Lakefield co-hosted this event with the Ennismore Curling Club. 

 Last year the event was held in Utica NY, this year was Niagara Falls ON. The competition now consists of 32 teams, (16 from CurlON and 16 from the GNCC), with each team playing four games against an opposing organization – an aggregate scoring system is used to determine the overall winning organization.

 The tallied scoring was closely guarded and revealed at the closing banquet. The collective CurlON Team aggregate score was 426, whilst the GNCC Teams amassed 329, an overall point difference of 97. Over 64 games that works out to a differential of 1.5 per game – a very close competition indeed!

How did our team from Lakefield do? - Over 4 games, they finished with a cumulative score of 25 for and 16 against. All competitors come to play to win, however the true intent of the Ross Tarlton bonspiel is to promote friendship and camaraderie between nations through the love of the great game. 

Thank you and congratulations to Ken Seim, Nick Avlonitis, Joe Kapron and John Davis who proudly represented CurlON and the Lakefield Curling Club at this International event. 

The Niagara Falls Curling Club 

Nov 9 – Game 1 .vs GNCC Executive Team – Lakefield Team looks on to see the US Teams already have a sizable lead - US Teams play yellow rocks the entire Bonspiel 

Lakefield holds their own, score another point in the 8th to win 7-5 – Note US Teams winning on adjacent sheets 

Nov. 10 - Game 2 .vs Buffalo 

Lakefield steals another 2 in the 8th to take the victory 9-4 

Team Buffalo with Lakefield together for a group picture. 

Nov 11(am) - Game 3 .vs Rochester NY 

Lakefield steals another 2 in the 8th, make the final 7-2 

Team Lakefield with Team Rochester 

Nov 11 (pm) - Game 4 .vs Albany NY (last games of the day begin at 4pm) 

Lakefield with Albany Team – Albany wins 5-2 in a shortened 6 end match 

The Ross Tarlton Shield – the Ontario Curling Association (CurlON) Teams retain bragging rights and the trophy until 2024