The Six Mile 'spiel

I just got home after the inaugural "Frost in July" Bonspiel.

The short version: our club is new, formally organized on my birthday last year.  The Rinks had planned on closing for the holiday weekend, and our club jumped on the opportunity.

The entire event went from idea to execution in a month, which is definitely a short time frame -- with the event on July 2nd -- right between Canada Day and U.S. Independence Day.

We wanted one-day 16 team 'spiel, but we ended up with 8 teams.  With a 3 game minimum, and three draws, that meant three games in a row.

Since an 8 end curling match is roughly two miles (for the front-end), it's a six-mile spiel.

Our first game was against a team from San Diego, and we played well, they just played a tiny bit better.

That put us into the "B" event, against another Orange County team.  We did well early, they caught up, and were counting one at the end of the last end.  That one would get them into a tie breaker.  We had the hammer in the last end, and our Skip managed to draw inside for the point, and the win.

... and our third game was against the the team we beat on the first night of our new league.  They scored 4 in each of the first three ends, and while we nearly caught them, nearly is still a loss.

The club had dinner catered and as the organizer said "we have the best volunteer-stocked bar I've ever seen."

All of that said, I hurt.  My teammates hurt.  Another member of the board commented that he played 3 ten-end games back to back when he was in his teens.  I was a teenager 35 years ago.

I don't want to do that again for at least a couple of weeks.