MINDEMOYA—The Eric Ruediger rink of Gore Bay won the first event final in the annual Mindemoya Curling Club men’s bonspiel held this past weekend. The first event was played in memory of the late Lew Lanktree who recently passed away and was a true icon of curling on Manitoulin Island.
Mr. Ruediger’s rink defeated the Gord Henderson rink in the final. The Ruediger rink was skipped by Gord Loutitt, with Mr. Ruediger as lead, Barry Wall vice and Chris Meloche second. The Gord Henderson rink of Mindemoya also included Dave Henderson, Fred Henderson and Ken Leach.
“It is always a great time curling in the Mindemoya bonspiel—the people are great,” said Mr. Ruediger. “And it is a real honour to win the first event in memory of Lew Lanktree.”
Members of the Ruediger rink each received a $100 gift certificate from Williamsons Home Hardware, and each member of the team was presented with a coffee mug with two pictures of Lew Lanktree on it, one indicating the winners of the first event and the second noting the first event was in memory of him.
Winning the second event was the Dave McDermid rink of Providence Bay who defeated the Peter Bond rink of Assiginack in the final. The McDermid rink included vice Robert McDermid, second Mike Johnston and lead Spencer Johnston. The Bond rink included Harold Fox, Brad Ham and J.J. McCabe.
The third event saw the Bob Smith rink of Mindemoya win the final over the Jack White team of Providence Bay in the final. The Smith rink also included Doug King, Ian Williamson and Jamie Farquhar. The Jack White rink included Mike White, Alex Dawson and Ben Dewar.
Greg Towns, president of the Mindemoya Curling Club welcomed and thanked all participants for taking part in the bonspiel. “It is a great kickoff to the curling bonspiel schedule on Manitoulin Island. We saw some great curling this weekend,” he said, noting the many sponsors who contributed to the weekend event including Castle Building Centre which sponsored the third event, Rylan’s Clothing in the second event and D.A. Williamson and Sons Hardware the first event.
Mr. Towns also praised Laurie Beaudin who ran the kitchen, Sue Whynott who contacted all 16 teams for the event, and all the volunteers who helped out in the kitchen and maintained the ice.
Sue Whynott and Sherry Forest (daughters of Lew Lanktree) made a special presentation of the mugs in memory of their father to the first event team winners, along with $25 gift certificates from Mum’s Restaurant. “We would like to thank everyone for coming out here this weekend,” said Ms. Whynott. “And to the Mindemoya Curling Club for allowing the first event to be dedicated in memory of our dad. Everyone shared so many great stories and memories of our dad this weekend.”
Ms. Whynott said her father, “loved curling sport, the Mindemoya club and all the curlers.”
