Scottish curlers line up with their Owen Sound mates before Strathcona Cup action Saturday, Jan. 14, at the Blue Water Curling Club.

Sweep! Sleep ...

Sweep! Sleep ...

That's the life of 60 determined Scottish curlers competing against 1,400 Canadians in the oldest international bonspiel for the storied Strathcona Cup, a quincuncial rotational tournament now in its 120th year.

Twenty of them were Owen Sound to help win the honours back from Canada during a four-end four-game match-up Saturday, Jan. 14, at the Blue Water Curling Club.

Arriving from their morning friendly in Mount Forest, the Hibernian hurlers were greeted by Owen Sound Mayor Ian Boddy before being piped onto the ice by Bill Millman.

The Blue Water Curling Club rolled out the welcome for the Scottish competitors.

Andrew Elder evens up the pebbling in final preparations before Strathcona Cup play.

Piper Bill Millman led the Scots and Canadians onto the Blue Water Curling Club's ice.

The friendly action is keenly followed from the members' lounge.

BWCC's four sheets of curling ice, provided by the club's new ice plant, saw lots of throwing and sweeping – as well as some heavy traffic – during the afternoon friendly.

The Strathcona Cup is in play every five years, the tournament alternating between Canada and Scotland since 1903. The 2023 edtion began January 11 and runs to February 3.

The Scottish curlers have been split into three concurrent tours of Canada – East, West and Central – before a final dinner at the Ottawa Hunt Club unites all sixty on February 2. The team is expected back in Edinburgh on February 4.

The first tour in the winter of 1903 featured 25 curlers from the Royal Caledonia Club competing against Canadian and American rinks for the Royal Caledonia Tankard. The Scottish visitors lost.

At this point Scottish curling enthusiast Donald Smith entered the fray and provided the Challenge Cup, a trophy for the second-place finishers, and so in 1909 the Scots, now on home territory, again lost, and took possession of the Challenge Cup.

Before he was donating silver cups, Donald Smith was more interested in iron. He's seen in these 1885 photographs driving the Last Spike in the Canadian Pacific railway, which he built.

 
The Challenge Cup is now known as the Strathcona Cup, because Donald Smith – Sir Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal – commissioned one heck of a beautiful trophy.

In fact, it's arguably magnitudes more beautiful than the other Cup randomly donated in 1909 by a former Crown representative to signify supremacy in Canadian sport, the Grey Cup.

The Cup is so beautiful the Scots won't let it from their sight, and they insist on keeping it safe at the Royal Caledonia Curling Club in Edinburgh.

The Strathcona Cup is a stunning piece of silverware. Insets on the base show national scenes.

The stress and strain of international curling must not be underestimated – this year's competition features two matches a day, followed by dinner and entertainment.

The 2023 Scottish curlers together will visit 85 facilities across Canada from Victoria to St. John's, playing 350 games against 1,400 Canadians. The West tour plays 27 games, Central plays 33, and East plays 29.

Back in 1912, facing an arduous schedule in Canada, the Scots again lost.

The Scottish captain, Colonel Robertson-Aikman, gave Canadian curlers high credit.

“This was a record that, I contend, after the performance of the Canadian curlers in Scotland three years ago we need not be in the least ashamed of,” he reported to the RCCC executive.

He had some complaints about format, but the colonel also observed "... the strongest man on a tour of two months must be below his best when continually travelling and banqueting.”

Unfortunately this year Scottish organizer Keith Wilson started his bonspiel with a medical emergency when he went onto the ice for his first tour game. Blown tendons in both knees resulted in a hospital visit.

The Hub joins all Canadian curlers in wishing Mr. Wilson a complete and speedy recovery.

Keith Wilson surrounded by his teammates after going onto the ice for his first tour game. He ended up in hospital waiting for surgery with a blown-out tendon in both his right and left knees.

After Saturday's games in Owen Sound the tournament
is 16 games into the 85 scheduled, standings at right.

Cup standings from 1903:

Check your boots at BWCC's door.

 – by Hub staff
David Galway

sources: ScottishCurling.org, StrathconaCup.ca, Royal Caledonian Curling Club