THE CHOICE OF Olympic medal junior curling OLYMPIC GOLD medalist Linda Moore and her 1985 Warld Ladies Championship rink of Lindsay Sparkes, Debbie Jones and Laurie Carney will of- ficially open the Canadian Pepsi Junior Men's and Junior Women’s Curling Championships March 26. Held at the North Shore Winter Club March 26 to April 2, the championships will feature top young curlers from Canada’s provinces and territories. Representing British Columbia in the women's competition are skip Colleen Hannah, third Melissa Soligo, second Lori Atkins and lead Tracy But. On the men’s rink trying to win the national title for British Columbia are Mike Wood, Mike Bradley, Todd Troyer, Greg Hawkes and coach Gordon Hooey. The last North Shore skip to head to the junior championships was Debbie Lanzo, who in 1983 com- peted for the North Shore Winter Club in Calgary. Junior men — this year curlers under 19 years old prior to July 1, 1987 -- have been competing at the provincial high school playdowns since 1950, while the junior women started competing in 1972 with a Western Canadian final. The Western Canadian championship developed in- to the junior women’s Canadian in 1974, World levels followed — with the junior men in 1975 and then the junior women in 1988 — all sponsored by soft drink giant Pepsi. Winners of the 1988 national championship in North Vancouver will go on to compete in the worlds in Markham, Ont., next year with other nations’ champs. “PEPSI COLA” and ‘“PEPSI"’ are registered trademarks of PEPS! COLA INC. and PEPS! COLA CANADA LTD. 7 Wednesday, March 23, 1988 - North Shore News ists to open championships After a waning of interest, the number of junior curlers in British Columbia is on the rise, with about 600 provincially and approximately 100 locally. “Since | was competing ] would say the quality (of curling) has gone up,’ said Moore, a former Winter Club junior curler and 1988 Olympic gold medalist. “With the coaching programs available now there's a chance to develop very quickly at a young age."’ she said. ‘You'll find that no matter what province you're from there's the opportunity for top training and coaching.’ With such wide-spread availability of training pro- grams, the quality of the rinks — or teams — is more equal, thereby leading to closer competition. “It’s really interesting the combination of events with the boys and girls together,” Moore said of the first joint national championships. “ITU's very exciting — I think you can learn a lot from cach other." Opening ceremonies are slated for 12:30 p.m. March 26 with the White Spot Band piping the color party on to the ice at the North Shore Winter Club. Draw times are 1 p.m. March 26 and 8:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. March 28 to 31; tie-breakers are at various times April 1, with semi-finals follow- ing. Finals start at 10 a.m. for the junior women and at noon for the junior men. For those unanble to attend in person, live CBC TV coverage Starts at 1] a.m. For more information on the junior championships call the club at 985-4135.