With all the talk about the next Winter Olympic Games being in Russia, athletes and organizations around the winter sports world won't be long in starting the preparations for those games.

Curlers will get a preview experience as soon as April this year. The first-ever world curling championship event to be held in Russia will include the World Senior Men's and Women's as well as the World Mixed Doubles. The three events will be played at the same time in Chelyanbinsk. In very rough geography, it is about a thousand miles east of Moscow.

And a pair of western Manitoba teams could earn that once in a lifetime opportunity. The newly crowned Manitoba senior champion teams of Linda Van Daele and Rob Ramage will compete for the Canadian titles and the Canadian entries in that event in Russia.

Obviously, that's another step down the road. To use the expressions you always hear from teams, they'll be “concentrating on one game at a time”. Their objective will be “to make the playoffs”.

No, I'm not making fun of anyone with those comments. They are exactly the way any team has to approach a weeklong, multi-game event like the Canadian Seniors championships. Still you couldn't blame someone for pausing just a moment in the excitement of winning the Manitoba championship to consider the possibilities of that very long-range and long-distance trip.

At the same time, the teams who won the Manitoba Seniors might also be forgiven for pausing just a moment to pat themselves on the back at the accomplishment of winning very tough competitions last week at the provincial Seniors.

Linda Van Daele and Betty Couling won the championship in 2005 and have been very close the last four years. They lost the final a year ago when Lois Fowler made one of the great shots of the season with her last shot of the game. This year they won the re-match twice, first in the Page 1-1 Playoff game and again with a draw to the button on an extra end in the final.

Sharon Shannon joined the team this year and adds a Senior Women's title to a Scotties and a Mixed championship collection. Liliane Fargey wins her first Manitoba title.

On the men's side, Rob Ramage championship is a memorable first for him, Laurie Stewart and Dave Boutet. Shawn McCutcheon won a Manitoba Mixed title in the early '90's.

Both teams have the potential to be contenders at the Canadian championship in Ottawa and that's really all you can ask going in – that you have a real chance of winning each time you go on the ice for that “one game at a time”.

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Congratulations to the volunteers at the Brandon Curling Club on a very successful championship weekend. There are many reasons for hosting a championship event and certainly profit is one of them. Without any official word, I'd have to guess the weekend was successful from that perspective as the club was full all weekend.

That's really the main accomplishment of an event like the Manitoba Seniors Championships. Bringing people into the club and maintaining their interest in the sport is always important. Equally important is creating the opportunity for club members to be active in support of their club.

The Brandon Curling Club was successful in all three of those objectives. It was one of the most enjoyable curling event weekends I have had for some time. “Good to be home” is the expression which comes to mind.

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There was another success story at the Senior curling championships. Brent Strachan and his team had started a fund-raising campaign for ALS Research by pledging $50 per win for each game they won. The pledges came in from their competitors and friends and local curling fans. By the end of the weekend, the tally had grown to a total-raised of a out $6,000 – wonderful. Anyone who might still want to contribute is invited to send me an email at resby@mts.net.

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Beginning March 11 at the Fort Rouge Curling Club, the Credit Unions Masters Men's championship features Lory Saban's Brandon team, defending Canadian Champion Ray Orr (Minnedosa) and Tom Mowbray of Cartwright are the three western Manitoba representatives.

For complete coverage of this event visit my website – www.thecurler-.com. But this time, you'll have to forgive me if I'm a little slow or my coverage is a little slanted. For the first time, I get the chance to write about an event I am competing in (with Norm Magnusson's Fort Rouge team) and it could be an interesting juggling act.