ROYAL RINKS
Curling Athletes Every Fan Should Know
HARVEY MAZINKE CURLING TEAM In 1973, Canada held its collective breath as the Harvey Mazinke Curling Team took their final shot in a world championship match against Sweden. The rock ultimately failed to reach the rings, crowning Sweden as world champions and snapping the 10-0 record Harvey Mazinke had built during a week of competition. But regardless of that final score, Harvey Mazinke’s impact on the sport was not diminished. The team was crowned the Canadian Men’s Curling Champions in 1973, and the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame recognizes them as “ambassadors to the game.” JOYCE MCKEE CURLING TEAM Without Joyce McKee, Sylvia Fedoruk, Donna Belding, and Muriel Coben, the Canadian Ladies Curling Association Championship, now called the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, would have never become the nationally recognized organization it is today. The aforementioned women were part of the Joyce McKee rink and were the first winners of the championship in 1960. Their style, play, and knowledge propelled women’s curling into the leagues of men’s competitions, proving that women could compete at just as high of a level as their male peers. To this day, the Joyce McKee rink’s accuracy is unparalleled. If you can’t wait another two years before curling hits center stage at the Winter Olympics, check out the podcast “Curling Legends” to get your fix of curling greatness.
When a massive earthquake rocked the island nation of Haiti in 2010, a team of helicopter pilots from Florida flew in to provide humanitarian relief. Among them was Bill Gibson, and the experience he had in Haiti changed the course of his life. While he was there, Bill started working with an organization called Streethearts Haiti, which offers assistance to homeless boys and hopes to expand its operation to help girls as well. Bill was so moved by their work that when he returned home, he decided he needed to do something to further their cause — so he started the Grayton Beach Kous Kouri. “Kous kouri” means “trail run” in Haitian, and since its start, every penny raised from race fees for the 4- and 8-mile dashes has gone to Streethearts. For the last two years, our team here at Lynnpro has designed shirts for that Thanksgiving race and for a second race Bill hosts around Easter to benefit Communities of Transformation, a Florida church group that helps families who have fallen on hard times become more self- sufficient. Both races are part of what Bill calls the Run Grayt Race Series. “I believe this is my fifth race I have directed,” Bill said of the 2019 Kous Kouri. “It’s the third for the Grayton Beach Kous Kouri, and we have almost doubled participation every race. For the first race, we started off I believe with 44 total racers, last year it was about 75, and then this year we’re expecting 150. It may even grow beyond that!” THE RUN GRAYT RACE SERIES CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT: ROY THIESSEN Choosing only one devoted coach to highlight is difficult, but it must be Roy Thiessen. Roy coached championship teams — or rinks, as they are called in curling — at both provincial and national levels. His expertise led him to chair the first Saskatchewan Summer Games in 1972, the World Junior Men’s Curling Championships in 1979, and the World Ladies’ Curling Championships in 1983. Budding athletes can learn all of Roy’s secrets and the fundamentals of curling in the numerous books he wrote. Every four years, as some of the world’s best Olympic athletes battle for gold medals, the world falls in love with curling. Curling originated in 16th-century Scotland and is most popular in Canada, where many Scots immigrated. Now, 480 years after the first recorded instance of curling occurred on a frozen pond in Scotland, many devotees have left their mark on the sport’s history. These are just a few of the greats.
Bill said the Easter race is even larger, and he credits a lot of that community excitement to the race shirts Lynnpro prints each year. “It’s a lasting memory of the trials and tribulations, or the joys, or sometimes both, of your experience,” he said.
“Everyone likes the race shirt. A lot of times the race shirt will make or break whether someone signs up for the race. And it will definitely make or break whether they come back!” Our team is so proud that our designs have helped further such great causes, and we look forward to years of collaboration to come! To learn more about Bill’s races, visit the Run Grayt Race Series Facebook page at Facebook.com/RunGrayt.
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