By Dan Boyd
The Windsor Curling Club hosted the River Hebert, Cumberland County curling club in a duel for the McLellan Cup, considered the oldest championship curling trophyin Canadian Curling History.
The two clubs battled for an entire afternoon on Wednesday March 10 before tieing after 42 ends of curling with a score of 34-34. Each club had three teams of four curlers on the ice, playing 14 ends against the other. The Merril Beach foursome of Windsor deadlocked with their Cumberland County opponent at 13 , Rae Winklera of Windsor lost 11-9 and Greg Gollan from Windsor defeated his River Hebert opponent 12-10 for the 34-34 final.
Rules stipulate that unless there is a clear and concise winner, the cup returns to the home of the defending champion to compete for the following season.
The McLellan Cup was first competed for in 1887 in Moncton in an Inter-Provincial Bonspiel and stayed that way until 1906 when it was agreed the cup would become a challenge trophy with any club from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick or Prince Edward Island able to compete. The trophy was a gift of the Hon. David McLellan, a St. John, NB sportsman, whose father was a shipbuilder from Dumfries, Scotland.
