Only one non-white has won the Canadian men’s curling championship. Rudy Ramcharan, who played second for Kevin Martin’s winning squad in 1997, is of Guyanese background. He disappeared from curling circles a few years later after trying to run a cash event, officially the World Open but known to many as the Rudy Spiel, with a purse of $500,000. However he was never able to secure the sponsorship, and a number of teams competed and were never fully compensated. Ramcharan became persona non grata among many of the top curlers.
Curling Quote
“There’s not too many guys who can really be entrusted with (the ice). Besides, you’d have to be nuts to do it anyway. The hours, the work, the stress, the pressure of it all and I don’t even get to curl on it. I’m the only one held responsible. It doesn’t matter if the rocks are no good, or if the weather is bad, in the end, it all reflects on me. So come on curling gods, keep taking care of me.”
—Icemaker Dave Merklinger, who made the ice for the 2007 Tim Hortons Brier in Hamilton, as told to the
Hamilton Spectator