The Port Hawkesbury Reporter
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The Port Hawkesbury Reporter
Several enthusiastic athletes of all ages and backgrounds took part in the 5/10K Fun Run that was held Sunday morning as part of the 2008 Festival of the Strait.
World Tour moves on from Civic Centre
by Adam Cooke
The Reporter
PORT HAWKESBURY - Goodbye for now, but not forever.
That’s the outlook of organizers for the Capital One Grand Slam of Curling, as the international event pulls up stakes from the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre and heads to Quebec City after three Strait area stops in a 25-month span.
Since its first visit in November 2005, the curling tour event known as The National brought curlers from across Canada and around the world to the Civic Centre, turning a profit and filling local hotels, restaurants and businesses in each of its three appearances. However, Grand Slam organizers were motivated by the desire to move the event around the country and give other curling fans a taste of the excitement that descended on Port Hawkesbury.
“It’s never been written that Port Hawkesbury is going to host The National every year - no city or town can lay claim to that at all,” explained Eric Michalko, the communications manager for Toronto-based Insight Sports.
“Port Hawkesbury is no different from places like Saskatoon, Winnipeg or Waterloo, or any other place that has hosted a Capital One Grand Slam event for a year or two years in a row, and then have gone on hiatus for a little bit, only to return.”
However, Michalko was quick to praise local organizers for their work on past installments of The National, and suggested that other host towns and cities can look to the Civic Centre as a model for potential future Grand Slam venues.
“The organizing committee and the venue were all first-class,” he declared.
“I had the pleasure of coming down there last year, and it was unbelievable how much the community gets behind the event, how much they support the event and they look after the players. I know, from talking to the players, that Port Hawkesbury always ranks near the top, if not Number One, with the curlers. They love going there because they’re treated so well. So a lot of that serves as a benchmark for what we try to duplicate with other Capital One Grand Slam curling events.”
Despite a drop in ticket sales between the second and third appearances of The National in Port Hawkesbury, organizers are already looking ahead to a future return to the town.
“We certainly have made a commitment to come back to Port Hawkesbury in the future,” Michalko told The Reporter.
“The last three events were outstanding in Port Hawkesbury, and we look forward to returning to Port Hawkesbury. But for every city that’s on the Capital One Grand Slam of Curling circuit, there comes a time where you just need to take a bit of a break and you look forward to even bigger returns in the coming years.”
In the meantime, Grand Slam organizers are hesitant to draw comparisons between the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre and Le Colisee in Quebec City, which will host The National this coming December.
“Every city always brings something new and something different, so I don’t think it’s necessarily fair to compare Quebec City to Port Hawkesbury - each has their own strengths,” Michalko commented.
“We were in Quebec City last year for the first leg of the Capital One Grand Slam of Curling, for the men’s series, the BDO Classic Canadian Open, and it was a big success there. It was the first time we had ever hosted a Capital One Grand Slam of Curling event in Quebec City, and it went extremely well. The community was certainly passionate about curling, and there were a lot of curling fans in Quebec City, so we thought that it was a natural fit to return to Quebec City for 2008-09.”
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The Port Hawkesbury Reporter
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