Inside Curling – the most popular and engaging weekly podcast each curling season – will be spreading its wings in a big way next April. It was announced today that Inside Curling, hosted byWorld Curling hall-of famers, Kevin Martin and Warren Hansen, have joined forces, with the University of Alberta, to run four elite events at the Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton.
Yesterday World Curling announced that this same partnership will host the inaugural World JuniorMixed Doubles Championship from May 6 – 11, 2025. Correspondingly, we added a whole lot ofexcitement today with the announcement of three additional events that will be added to the package, under the banner of Showdown at the Saville, from April 23 to May 11, 2025.
“We’re really excited to be partnering with the University of Alberta on the Showdown at the Saville, and to benefit from their incredible track record of hosting major curling events,” said Martin. “We’ll all be working together to promote several new curling disciplines that will grow thegame into the future”.
The University of Alberta’s Associate Director of Campus and Community Recreation, Greg Lembke, added “Kevin and Warren bring unparalleled experience and credibility to the table. Whenyou add that to the hosting and programming expertise of the Saville Community Sports Centre andGolden Bears and Pandas Curling, we’re confident that the Showdown at the Saville will be atremendous success.”
“Our goal is to present curling differently, said Hansen. “We’re talking about Mixed Doubles, we’retalking about Stick Curling and we’re talking about Triples.’ Showdown at the Saville will kick off on April 23, 2005 with Saville Stix, our World Open Stick Curling event. Stick Curling is a unique, fast paced six-end/six-rock format that has been primarily played by seniors, but has the potential for tremendous growth, even at the entry level. Saville Stix will be open to players of all ages aswell as wheelchair curlers.
Next up, from April 26-28, will be the World Open Triples, which showcases another
exciting new curling discipline. Triples is also six-end/six-rock format, but with another unique twist. The game is divided into three sets of two ends, with players rotating between the lead, middle, and skip positions from one set to the next. World Open
Triples will be open to any combination of male and/or female curlers.
The third event in the Showdown at the Saville series will use the popular Mixed Doubles format, but with a specific focus – to help grow this exciting discipline among players who are under the age of 25. World Open U25 Mixed Doubles will run from May 1-4 and will be open to players from around the world.
All of the above will serve as a precursor to the main event – the first ever Mixed Doubles world championship for elite junior players. “Anyone who listens to our podcast knows that we believe strongly in the need for the sport to grow and expand”, Martin added. “If the inaugural Showdown at the Saville results in more curlers from around the world competing in alternative disciplines, we will consider that to be the beginning of a successful mission”.
Information related to call for entries and prize pool for each event will be published early this fall.
For further information, contact:
Warren Hansen (604)329-9850
insidecurling@gmail.com
