The Strathcona Cup

January 10 to February 3, 2018

Canadian men curlers tour Scotland

Celebrating 115 years of friendly men's curling competition!

Welcome to the Strathcona Cup 2018 website.  The website will introduce you to the Canadian team, enable you to follow their progress, and provide interesting information about the tour and its history.

 

The Strathcona Cup competition is the oldest international curling competition in the world.  It is contested every fifth year between Canada and Scotland with each country acting as host every tenth year.  The 2018 competition will see 40 Canadians arriving in Scotland on January 10^th for 23 days of competition, returning home on February 3^rd.  The competition is run under the auspices of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club (RCCC), and Curling Canada to whom we owe our thanks for their continued support.

 

After much debate over some 50 years, this friendly competition finally began with the first visit of a Scottish team to Canada in 1902/03.  Six years later, a Canadian team was assembled to visit Scotland in 1909.  The President of the Royal Caledonian Curling Club (RCCC) in 1909 was Lord Strathcona (Sir Donald Smith).  Smith was a Scot who immigrated to Canada in his late teens.  He earned his fortune in Canada, was a Commissioner and Governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company, President of the Bank of Montreal, and twice a Member of Parliament.  He was a good friend of Sir John A. Macdonald and was best known for financing the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, a key achievement in MacDonald’s political success.  Sir Donald Smith is famously pictured driving “the last spike” of the transcontinental railway at Craigellachie, B.C. on November 7^th, 1885.  In his later years, he returned to Scotland and in 1909, while President of the RCCC, he commissioned a trophy for competition between Canada and Scotland.  This magnificent trophy, the Strathcona Cup, has scenes etched onto it from both Canada and Scotland.

 

The Canadian Organizing Committee, after much consultation and deliberation, selected the forty members of the Canadian team.  This same Committee was largely responsible for organizing the Scottish tour to Canada in 2013 and to them I give them my heartiest thanks.  The committee was composed of members of the 2009 tour who are representative of all parts of the country.  Likewise the team has representation from each province.  I also want to thank Bill Duncan who has been my main contact in Scotland for both 2013 and 2018.  Bill is a Past President of the RCCC and a “tourist” in 2003.  Thanks also go to Denny Charlebois, the Past Chairman for his guidance.   Additionally, Bob Rondeau has quietly worked diligently in the background to provide this website.  Bob has been the Webmaster for each of the three tours represented on this site: 2009, 2013, and 2018.  

I hope that you enjoy meeting the members of the Canadian team, following their progress in Scotland, and enjoying their updates from Scotland.

 

W. Hugh McCarrel, CPA, CA

Chairman, Canadian Organizing Committee

Strathcona Cup 2013 & 2018

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                    

Hugh McCarrel was a member of the 2009 Canadian team.  He and Joan, his wife of 41 years, live in Hamilton, Ontario.  They have two daughters, Taralyn and Heather.  Hugh worked in the retail industry, most recently at Holt, Renfrew.  While retired now, he is involved in many activities including acting as Treasurer for the Villages of Glancaster, various other accounting pursuits, and he drives a school bus to put some order to his day.  He is a life member of St. George’s Golf & Country Club in Toronto and was inducted into the Governor General’s Curling Club in 2015.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A word about Bob Rondeau, our Webmaster.  Bob is now retired from a long career in education, serving 8 years as primary and high school teacher and then 27 years as a school principal in either French or English institutions in Montreal. He lives in Dorval with Sandie, his wife of 45 years. They have a son and two granddaughters (aged 2 and 4). He has been curling at Pointe Claire CC since his retirement in 2003.

Canadian Organizing Committee