Curling in his own backyard, Wes Craig skipped his way to his second provincial championship of the year when his rink won the B.C. mixed title at Duncan's Glen Harper Curling Centre last weekend.
Craig calls Shawnigan Lake home and his rink was representing the Kerry Park Curling Club, but the Duncan club still holds a lot of meaning for him.
"My son [Miles], who was playing with me, and my wife [Roz] learned to curl there," said Wes, who grew up in Winnipeg. "We always have a lot of support in Duncan."
Rounding out the Craig foursome were Duncan's Sarah Wark and Victoria's Michelle Allen, while Roz helped out from the sidelines. With the exception of Allen, the rink was identical to the one that finished second at provincials two years ago. "My wife has played with us the last couple of years, but her knees were bad this year, so she ended up coaching," Craig explained.
Wes and Roz Craig were part of the rink that won the mixed title in 2001 as well.
"It was nice to win it again," he said. "It took a lot of years to get back there."
The Craig rink defeated the Steve Kopf rink from New Westminster's Royal City Curling club in the final. Kopf had won two of three meetings with Craig in the round robin and eliminated the Kerry Park team in the A event. The Craig rink bounced back to win the B event then got through the page playoff to reach the final.
Mixed nationals will take place in North Bay, Ont., on Nov. 8-15. Craig won't have to wait that long for his other national championship, as he is off to Yellowknife this weekend for the senior nationals with his Victoria rink that includes Blair Cusack, Tony Anslow and Kevin Britt.
This is Craig's first trip to senior nationals since 2011, and he has some unfinished business to deal with.
"Last time we didn't make the playoffs, so we'll hope we make the playoffs and go from there," he said.