A rink from the Duncan Curling Club finished first in the women’s pool stage, securing a strong playoff finish at the 2025 Canadian Curling Club Women’s Championship Nov. 18-23 in Winnipeg.
The team included lead Megan Montgomery, skip/second Kesa Woodward, third Marika Von Osch, fourth Carley Sandwith-Craig and alternate Kaila MacKenzie.
Sandwith-Craig sat out the majority of nationals due to her pregnancy so all five curlers were able to play.
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“We are happy with our showing. Of course we went there aiming for gold, but the spirit of the championship is to enjoy the game and have fun and we did a very good job of that on and off the ice,” said Sandwith-Craig.
“We did require a lineup change from when we won provincials to when we went to nationals due to my pregnancy, so the team had to adapt to a few new roles which we handled super well.”
Representing B.C., Woodward and company had dominated, with five wins and one loss in pool play.
They fell to Northern Ontario 6-5 to open the tournament, then beat Prince Edward Island 8-5. Up next was an 8-3 victory over Alberta before they bested Nunavut 9-2. From there B.C. beat Yukon 10-1 and Saskatchewan 8-3.
In the championship round, Woodward’s rink was beaten 6-3 by New Brunswick and then lost 10-8 to Saskatchewan in the B Event semi-finals.
Sandwith-Craig had previously served as coach at the 2025 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship in Assiniboia, Saskatchewan Nov. 2-8 where her husband, Miles Craig, of Shawnigan Lake, was the skip/fourth on their mixed team.
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She was on the team that had qualified for the mixed nationals but she was unable to play in the national event. Craig was joined on the ice instead by alternate lead Sara Loken, along with second Chris Baier, and third Steph Jackson-Baier. The team represented the Victoria Curling Club.
That rink had four wins and two losses in pool play, beating Alberta 5-3, Nova Scotia 6-5, Yukon 10-3 and Prince Edward Island 7-6 and falling to Manitoba 8-4 and New Brunswick 10-2. The team advanced to the championship pool and from there the Craig rink beat Saskatchewan 11-5 then lost to Ontario 10-5 and Quebec 5-4.
The team ended the event with a 7-4 victory over Newfoundland and Labrador.
The last time Craig’s mixed team was in the event, in 2022, they made the playoffs. This year they fell just short.
“We were one game out of the playoffs. We lost to Quebec on the last day, who was a good team, but they were already out. If we had won that game we would have made it in,” Miles said. “We’re not unhappy with how we did, but we certainty could have done better.”