A group of ten curlers in Coldwater are spending the weekend trying to sweep their way into the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest curling game – their goal is 80 hours.
“We know we’re in this for the long haul, we’re basically married to this game for the next four days, there’s going to be highs and lows but we’ll push through,” says curler Lauren Grealy.
The current record is 73 hours, six minutes and 52 seconds that was set in 2013 by a group in Scotland.
“We’re hoping to get 80 (hours) out of this and make sure that the Scots can’t get it again,” says organizer Courtney Pearce.
“It’s crazy to think we’re going to spend all this time on the ice but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now,” says Brittney Pearce.
Pearce has taken on this challenge before. In 2011, Pearce and her father were among ten curlers in Bala that set the world record at more than sixty hours. That was shattered by the Scots a year later and they’re hoping to earn their spot back in the record books.
“We had a crazy idea that we wanted to do it again, so why not?”
The group started curling just after 10:00 a.m. Friday morning and if they reach their goal they will be done just after 6:00 p.m. Monday night.
“It will be two hour rotations and then they will have a break,” adds Courtney Pearce. “They could be playing up to 40 games in the span of 80 hours.”
Volunteers are taking shifts keeping score and video cameras have been set-up throughout the rink to continuously record the curling marathon so if they reach their goal it will be sent to Guinness to be verified.
The group is also raising money for Gilda’s club, the Simcoe Muskoka Regional Cancer Centre, and the Coldwater Curling Club.
