[ritchiebaby]

To add to the Sports being curtailed due to the outbreak, the forthcoming World Championships have been cancelled without any news of re-arranged dates:-

Women's this coming week in Canada
Men's in week commencing 28 March in Scotland
Seniors and Mixed Doubles in week commencing 18 April in Canada

[ritchiebaby]

A year further on and plans are being made for the necessary qualification events for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

Preparations are underway for the LGT World Women’s Curling Championship 2021 to take place in Schaffhausen, Switzerland from 20–28 March 2021, as originally planned. While the World Men’s Curling Championship 2021 will now be held in Calgary, Alberta in the Curling Canada Hub City from 3–11 April 2021.

The World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2021 is scheduled to take place from 24 April – 1 May 2021 and discussions with a potential host for this championship are underway.

World Curling Federation President, Kate Caithness said, “While we are disappointed that we have had to cancel and postpone more of our championships in this difficult season, we must prioritise the championships that will result in qualification for Beijing 2022.

At a much lower level, my curling now starts on 12 January, ending on 25 March with very strict regulations in force. Most club curlers are in the over-60 age group and accordingly a high percentage of those have decided not to curl this season, leading to a very short season.

My ice rink was commandeered early on as a potential morgue by the local council, as nobody knew how bad the pandemic might turn out. All of us (ice rinks and curlers) have to plan for the half-season left with every chance it will all have to be abandoned at short notice depending on future restrictions.

[Lord Snooty]

Well I'm glad you didn't need the temporary morgue. A good bit of forward planning though.

Have a good season, Ritchie.

[ritchiebaby]

And my curling season is now over before it's begun. Understandably my local ice rink has decided to pull the plug for this season because of the current uncertainty and probable inevitability of future national lockdowns, Roll on next September and the chance to get rid of a lot of Covid Kilos.