Due to the value of the Strathcona Cup, the 110-year-old trophy never leaves Scotland. However, the title of ownership has been Canada’s 11 times compared to just nine for the Scots.
The two countries take turns every five years hosting the event which consists of a curling tour by 60 participants in 427 games with the winner declared by posting the highest aggregate score.
The Scots were split up into the East, Central and West tours which included Powell River as the seventh stop on the schedule. All four local teams played well but Felix Massullo’s last shot of the final game gave him a 10-6 victory and allowed this city to become the first to defeat the Scots in the West.
Unfortunately for Canada, the same couldn’t be said for the other two tours.
Tied going into the last day of competition, the West came through to win 862-852, but Central lost 1,002-913 while the East were hammered 1,022-845.
Scotland reclaimed the Strathcona Cup with the final tally of 2,876-2,620.
The cup, however, is about more than winning and losing. The very essence of it is to ensure that curlers from Scotland and Canada have the opportunity to meet every five years on one side of the Atlantic Ocean or the other to further the friendship between curlers of the two countries and to uphold the traditions of the “roarin’ game.”
Certainly after the 2013 tour the tradition remains intact and testimony to that are diary and blog comments recorded by the Scottish curlers and Canadian media. The cheekiness and obvious bonding among the “tourists” is well worth a read.
From comical entries such as “Jonny’s word of the day ‘Reeking’ as in: yon soaks are reeking. Translation: your foot attire are somewhat smelly,” to more serious ones like Troon’s Andrew Kerr, who suffered a heart attack. He wrote: “Very disappointed at leaving the guys to win the cup without me, but I can’t speak highly enough of the support from the Halifax curlers. It was going to be a trip of a lifetime. Just hadn’t planned to spend eight days of it in hospital.”
The Strathcona Cup website carries many stories, pictures and anecdotes that paint a clear picture of why curling is such a great sport that is a perfect blend of camaraderie and competition.
