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Rob Curling (born 8 September 1957, Kuala Lumpur, Malaya) is a British television presenter and journalist. He presents the sport for Sky News. He also fronts the tennis coverage for British Eurosport. He anchors BBC Sport’s interactive television coverage of: Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, Wimbledon, Open Golf, Six Nations Rugby, World Athletics Championships, etc. He was the host of Turnabout, a game show that aired on BBC1 for eight series in the 1990s. He presented the Halford Tour Series cycling for ITV4, and commentated on table tennis on the BBC at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

He has hosted podcasts for The Guardian, including the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

Curling appeared on cult show Banzai and TV's 100 Funniest Moments for Channel 4, Sky One's Brainiac, The Basil Brush Show (BBC1), and Through the Keyhole (BBC1 & Sky). He also starred in the last ever series of Beadle's About, where he took part in the infamous Alien Prank.

He also appears in the cinema release Children of Men (Universal Pictures), starring Clive Owen and Michael Caine.

Education[link]

Curling was educated at the independent Cranleigh School in Cranleigh, Surrey.

Life and career[link]

One of Curling's earliest jobs was in the BBC's Film Archive Library. His on-screen career began in 1987 as a newsreader and co-presenter of the BBC’s regional news programme London Plus, later to become Newsroom South East. He was a member of the BAFTA-winning team for the BBC’s prestigious series of outside broadcasts commemorating 50 years of the end of the Second World War: D-Day Remembered, VE-50 & VJ-50. He was also nominated for a BAFTA for BBC Education’s current affairs series ‘Issues’ & ‘The Geography Programme’. Curling presents numerous programmes and videos on aviation, including a history of the Spitfire for ITV. He also narrates a series of Drivers' Eye View videos for Video125 about the London Underground. As well as a broadcaster, Curling is a conference and awards host, after dinner speaker and media trainer.

External links[link]

• TV.com profile
• Rob Curling at the Internet Movie Database
• [1]

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Brendan Bottcher
Born	(1991-12-19) December 19, 1991 (age 20) Sherwood Park, Alberta
Team
Curling club	Saville SC, Edmonton
Skip	Brendan Bottcher
Third	Evan Asmussen
Second	Landon Bucholz
Lead	Bryce Bucholz
Career
Brier appearances	0
Top CCA ranking	48th (2011-12)

Brendan Bottcher (born December 19, 1991 in Sherwood Park, Alberta), nicknamed "The Bottcher Express", is a Canadian curler from Edmonton. Bottcher enjoyed a successful junior career winning the 2012 Canadian Junior Curling Championships and the 2012 World Junior Curling Championships.^[1] He was also the 2010 Alberta junior men's champion and the 2007 Alberta juvenile provincial finalist.^[2]

Career[link]

Junior career[link]

Bottcher currently skips his own team out of the Saville Sports Centre in Edmonton, consisting of third Evan Asmussen, second Landon Bucholz, lead Bryce Bucholz, and are led by their coach Bernie Panich.

In the 2009-2010 season, with Brad Thiessen at third, they had much success, winning four junior bonspiels and being a runner-up in another. In the Edmonton Men's Super-League, they posted a .500 record. In a few exhibition games throughout the season prior to the 2010 Winter Olympics, they played Olympic caliber teams such as Kevin Martin and Thomas Ulsrud. The team would then go on to win the Alberta junior provincial curling championships, beating their cross town rival Curtis Bale 6-4 in the final.^[3] This provincial junior title earned him a berth to the 2010 Canadian Junior Curling Championships in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec. At Canadian Junior Curling Championships, the team had mixed success, finishing with a 6-6 record.^[4]

Although contenders to return the following Canadian junior curling championships, the team lost the 2011 Alberta junior provincial semi-final to Scott Smith of Calgary.^[5] The end of the 2010-2011 season saw Brad Thiessen age out of junior eligibility. The team then added long time Alberta junior competitor Evan Asmussen to the lineup prior to the 2011-2012 season. After his junior curling season concluded, Bottcher skipped his University of Alberta Golden Bears men's team to a semi-final finish at the CIS curling championships.

In the 2011-2012 season, Bottcher continued his previous success at the 2012 Alberta junior provincials, finishing the round robin with a perfect record and defeating Jordan Steinke of Dawson Creek in the final to win his second provincial junior title. At the 2012 Canadian Junior Curling Championships in Napanee, Ontario the team finished the round robin with a 11-1 record, earning a bye to the Canadian final. Bottcher himself would earn first team all-star skip honors for the highest shooting percentage in the round robin. Bottcher would then defeated Wark of Northern Ontario 9-6 to win the Canadian junior championships. The team would then proceed to the 2012 World Junior Curling Championships in Östersund Sweden, where he finished the round robin with an 8-1 record, only losing to Scotland's Kyle Smith 8-4. A 1-2 page play-off 9-3 victory over Sweden gave Bottcher and his team a direct berth to the final. Sweden would defeat Norway 8-4 in the semi-final game, setting up a re-match in the final. Bottcher would score five points in the seventh end of the final for a 10-4 win and become the 2012 World Junior men's curling champion - the first world junior men's curling championship title for Canada since 2007.

Bottcher returned to Canada to lead his University of Alberta curling team to its first Canadian Interuniversity Sport championship, his third championship in five weeks.^[6]

Accomplishments[link]

• 2006 Alberta Winter Games Participant^[7]
• 2007 Alberta Juvenile Provincial Finalist
• 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Alberta Junior Provincial Participant
• 2010 Alberta Junior Provincial Champion
• 2011 CIS Nationals Semifinalist
• 2012 Alberta Junior Provincial Champion
• 2012 M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors Champion
• 2012 M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors First All-Star Team
• 2012 CIS 2nd Team All-Canadian
• 2012 World Junior Champion

References[link]

Rob Lobel (born June 2, 1966 in Montreal) is a Canadian curler from Thornhill, Ontario.

Lobel played second for Steve Hartley at the 1982 Junior Provincial Curling Championship, in which the team won, earning them the right to represent Ontario at the 1983 Canadian Junior Curling Championships.

Lobel skipped his men's team to a fourth place finish at the 2008 provincial championship, losing to Mike Harris in the 3-4 game. The following season, his team made it to the 2009 TSC Stores Tankard and placed sixth with a 4-5 record.

Team mates[link]

• Steve Lobel (third)
• Steve Small (second)
• Norm McGlaughlin (lead)

External links[link]

• Ontario Curling Tour Profile

Clarence W. "Shorty" Jenkins (born 1935 in Hanna, Alberta) is a famous ice technician in the sport of curling. He is known for his trademarked pink cowboy hat, pink leather jacket and pink cowboy boots.

Raised in an orphanage in Victoria, British Columbia, Jenkins served in the Canadian Air Force from the age of 17. He would be posted in Germany and in Canada to do various military jobs. He eventually left the military to work with Sunoco. That wouldn't last, and Shorty convinced the curling club in Trenton, Ontario to take him on as ice maker. He wanted to be an ice maker after noting how terrible the ice was at the 1974 provincial championships he was competing in.

One trend Shorty started in curling was that of timing rocks. He used his idea to judge how good the ice was. Shorty claims he is the only person who can "choose and match rocks for major championships". He refuses to do the ice of a tournament without choosing the rocks for it. Jenkins keeps video tapes of the tournaments he has done to see what the television announcers are saying about his ice.

In the late 1990s Jenkins starred in his own commercial for the Tim Hortons donut chain, celebrating "true Tim Hortons stories".

Presently, the Shorty Jenkins Classic curling bonspiel is held in his name. It occurs annually in Brockville, Ontario in the month of September.

Source[link]

• Who is Shorty Jenkins?

Joseph "Joe" Frans (born July 1, 1975 in Grimsby, Ontario) is a Canadian curler from Erin, Ontario. Frans is most notable for being a two-time provincial champion and for being suspended from competitive curling for cocaine usage.

Frans obtained fame as a curler in 1991, when he won the provincial school boys championship and the provincial junior mixed championship while curling in Smiths Falls, Ontario. In 1993, Frans won the provincial junior championship while playing in St. Catharines, Ontario. At the 1993 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, his team would finish with a 6-5 record. In 1994, Frans would win a second straight provincial championship, this time with Bradford, Ontario. At the 1994 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, he skipped the Ontario team to a 4th place finish (7-4 record), just out of the playoffs.

Frans later joined up with another provincial junior champion, John Morris, playing as his vice. The team played in the 2001 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, finishing with a 5-4 record. The following year, they won a provincial men's championship. At the 2002 Nokia Brier, the team lost in the final to Randy Ferbey's Alberta rink. The following year, the team lost to Ferbey once again in the Canada Cup final. Morris left Ontario following that season, and Frans joined up with Wayne Middaugh, playing as his second. The team won the 2005 provincial championship, qualifying them for the 2005 Tim Hortons Brier. It was at the 2005 Brier, that Frans was randomly selected to have his urine tested. After the Brier, it was announced that Frans had tested positive for cocaine, which Frans denies using. Nonetheless, Frans was banned from competitive curling for two years. [1] It was the first positive drug test in curling history. [2] At the 2005 Brier, the team finished with a 6-5 record. Frans curled 81%, fourth among seconds.

Frans would return in 2007, skipping his own team. The 2007 John Shea Insurance Canada Cup Qualifier being one of his first major events.

In 2009, Frans qualified for the 2009 provincial championship, where he and his rink lost in the semi-final to Peter Corner. He qualified again in 2010 and finished with a 6-4 record. In 2011, he joined the Corner rink and played second.

For the 2012-13 curling season, Frans will return to skipping. He'll being replacing Dale Matchett, who skipped the team of Ryan Werenich (son of the legendary Ed Werenich), Jeff Gorda and Shawn Kaufman since the fall of 2005. Matchett is retiring from competitive play.

External links[link]

• Ontario Curling Tour Profile

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