Equal pay for equal play on Kamloops sheets

Same prize money for men, women at Strauss Canada Cup

Adam Daifallah

National Post

Tuesday, January 06, 2004

It is not too often that a major curling event offers the same prize money for men and women. Usually the balance is tilted in favour of the men's side. But this afternoon one of the biggest events of the year gets underway in Kamloops, B.C. and gender equity is in effect.

The Strauss Canada Cup, an event sanctioned by the Canadian Curling Association, has a total purse of $180,000, making it one of the richest events in curling. Winners of both the men's and women's sides will take home a cool $30,000, with $20,000 going to second place finishers, $10,000 to third and $5,000 to fourth.

A win at the event also comes with a coveted berth in the 2005 Olympic trials, as well as spots in next year's Continental Cup, the international competition won by Europe over North America this year.

On the men's side, Wayne Middaugh and Manitoba's Jeff Stoughton, Nos. 2 and 3 in the world rankings at the moment, are the teams to look out for. On the women's side, Sherry Middaugh, who edged Kelley Law in the women's final, is my pick, with Winnipeg's Jennifer Jones as a dark horse.

Other teams participating include Randy Ferbey, the three-time defending Brier champion and last year's winner of this event; two-time world champion Russ Howard of Moncton; Kerry Burtnyk of Winnipeg and Calgary's John Morris. On the women's side, Colleen Jones, the five-time Scott champ, is the No. 1 seed. Also in the field are Sherry Anderson of Delisle, Sask., and Shannon Kleibrink of Calgary.

The women's final will be on CBC on Saturday at 2 pm ET, with the men's final Sunday at 1:30 pm ET.

- The first national tournament of the year gets started Saturday -- the Canadian mixed championship, being played in Timmins, Ont. Shannon Kleibrink will return as a skip representing Alberta for the second time. Last year Kleibrink became the first women to skip a mixed team at the nationals and lost in the finals to Nova Scotia's Paul Flemming.

- Kevin Martin's Edmonton rink, which hauled away $37,150 in winning last week's M&M Skins Game in Toronto, did not qualify for the Canada Cup, and are fighting for their lives in the Alberta men's playdowns. The 1998 Olympic silver medallists had lost two games and were making their way through the C event as of this writing last night, said Carter Rycroft, Martin's second. They rink was without ace third Don Walchuk, who has flown to Kamloops to spare for Kerry Burtnyk at the Canada Cup. If Martin, a two-time Brier winner, fails to make it through zones, he could still qualify for provincials through the Last Chance spiel in two weeks.

Martin only decided to enter playdowns at the last minute, having been one of the prime movers in the player-led revolt that saw top teams boycott the Brier the last three years. A footnote: Three-time defending Brier champ Randy Ferbey played in the B event final last night.

- Veterans won the day in Ontario men's regional playdowns on the weekend, with Glenn Howard, Peter Corner and 2002 Olympic silver medallist Mike Harris qualifying for provincials. On the women's side, Sherry Middaugh, Anne Merklinger, Kathy Brown and JoAnn Rizzo qualified in southern Ontario and some big names were tossed: defending women's champion Anne Dunn, former Scott winner Alison Goring and two-time world champion Marilyn Bodogh. They will have to take the Challenge Round route to the provincial finals.

- There has been a lot of talk that curling could make strides south of the border, following its inclusion as an Olympic sport and after Debbie McCormick's world championship win last year. Well, it looks like it is happening. An article in Friday's New York Times, which called curling a "curiously hypnotic sport," reported that there are now 130 clubs and 13,000 curlers in the United States, and curling is now starting to appear more regularly on television. On the weekend, Fox Sports World for the first time aired curling -- a replay of the M&M Skins Game.