By TERRY PUGH
Several of the world’s top-ranked curlers will be taking to the pebbled ice in Martensville this weekend.
The Aly Jenkins Mixed Doubles Memorial Bonspiel is slated for the Martensville Curling Club November 21-23. Proceeds from the event will go towards the Sandra Schmirler Foundation.
The tournament honours the late Aly Jenkins, who passed away at the age of 30 on October 20, 2019 of complications during childbirth. She left behind her husband and three small children. Jenkins played lead on Sherry Anderson’s rink in the Saskatchewan provincial women’s curling championships in the spring of 2019. Her team was edged 6-5 in the championship final game by the Robyn Silvernagle rink, which went on to represent Saskatchewan at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
The Aly Jenkins Mixed Doubles Memorial Bonspiel, features 18 teams from Canada, Australia, Finland, South Korea, China, Switzerland, and Poland. Many of the competitors are highly-ranked in world standings and are looking to qualify for the Olympics.
Among the marquee teams committed to the event are:
* Lotta Immonen and Markus Sipila of Finland;
* Seonyeong Kim and Yeongseok Jeong of South Korea’s national curling team;
* Nancy Martin and Steve Laycock, the #6-ranked mixed doubles team in the wold; and most recently, the Colorado Curling Cup champions. They are working to earn a berth in the 2026 Olympics for Canada;
* Tori Koana and Go Aoki, back-to-back winners of the event in 2023 and 2024, and members of the 2025 Japanese Olympic team; they are ranked #7 in mixed curling doubles in the world;
* Chiaki Matsumara and Yasumasa Tanida, also from Japan, are the #11-ranked team in the world and members of the Japanese Mixed Doubles curling team;
* Jenny Sarah Perret and Martin Rios of Switzerland are 2018 Olympic Silver Medalists;
* Adela Walczak and Andrzej Augustyniak of Poland are the #27-ranked mixed curling doubles team in the world;
* Zixuan Ye and Sen Yu of China;
* Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt of Australia are 2025 World Bronze medalists;
* Jill Springer and Garret Springer of Martensville are the 2025 Sask Tour mixed Doubles winners;
* Melissa Remeshylo of Warman and Dylan Derksen of Hague, both members of the Martensville Curling Club, represented Saskatchewan in the 2023 Canada Winter Games.
The event features a four-game round-robin format, with four pools of five teams. begins Friday, November 21 at 9 a.m., with draws every three hours. They continue on Saturday beginning at 8 a.m., and playoffs start at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday.