It took just over 3,300 stones and 200 ends of play for Kyle Beauchamp and his nine determined friends to accomplish their goals over the Remembrance day weekend, raising funds and awareness for the Coaldale Granite Curling Club by attempting to break the world record for longest curling game played.
Just after 12:02 a.m. Sunday, over 60 friends, family members, club members, volunteers and community supporters gathered around numerous time clocks with excitement, watching the young group of friends between the ages of 17-23 etch their name into the Guinness Book of World Record Books by curling in the longest game ever at 54 hours and two minutes.
“I’m happy it’s finally come to fruition and it’s here and we’ve done it,” says Kyle Beauchamp, an 11-year member of the Coaldale Granite curling club, who came up with the initial idea back in August.
“I saw the idea on Facebook and just kind of ran with it,” says Beauchamp, who was the main driving force behind the event after getting approval from the curling club.
“The concept of the game was not only to raise some funds but raise awareness of our curling club in Coaldale and southern Alberta,” says Larry Taylor, manager of the Coaldale Granite Curling Club
“We need to promote our sport and just make more curlers. It’s a great sport and we need to get that message out and this is just one way of doing that. We need to sort of step forward and promote the game for the values of the game and believe me these 10 people tonight have shown the spirit of the game and not only the skill but the entire thing they’re good representatives of the game.”
The curling game was played over a four-day span starting just after noon on Nov. 11 and ended just after 3 a.m. on Nov. 14. There were two teams of five who participated in the event but only four members from each team played at one time, as each team was allowed to have a substitute for two hours every eight hours of the game.
Adam Pittman, who was a last minute substitute for team Technical Foul, found it interesting to see how the participants responded throughout the event.
“After the first eight hours everyone started to break down, but everyone was able to maintain themselves,” said Pittman.
With about six hours left to go, he felt like everyone got their second wind as the players were more alert as they approached their milestone.
During the whole entire event each team member only got about six hours in breaks for the full duration of the event.
“It was neat to be apart of,” says Darren Moulding the curling club’s ice maintenance worker.
“What blew me away was how determined and tough the curlers were and the people that were volunteering. No one complained and every one was sure that we were going to break the record.”
The final score for the event ended with team Rough Cookie winning over Team Technical Foul after 208 ends of play by a score of 178-172.
Proceeds of all the funds raised will go to the operation and maintenance of the curling club.