Travelling curler hopes to set a record by curling in more than 628 clubs as of Monday

By Ken Johnston
Editor

How many curling rinks have you played in? Five? Six? A dozen? How about 628?
That is the number of rinks 81 year old Camille Villeneuve of Chicoutimi, Quebec, curled in as of Monday when he visited Rainy River.
Villeneuve started his quest to set a world record about 15 years ago when he knew he had reached 100 clubs in and around Montreal, Quebec. At that time a fellow curler asked him if he wanted to curl his 101st outside of Quebec at Hudson, Quebec. “It was then I decided to take my goal on the road.”
Since then he has travelled all over Canada, parts of the United States and just before this trip he flew to Alaska where he curled two games in Anchorage and Fairbanks. The reason he went there before embarking on the road trip to Northwestern Ontario and Manitoba, was the fact that many rural curling clubs in Manitoba do not begin making ice until mid November. “Tonight I travel to Vita, MB. to play my first ever game in a Manitoba rink,” said Villeneuve Monday morning.
At each rink he sets up a huge display of scrap books, photos and pins from all the places he has visited and played in. Then he is matched up with three curlers to play with him and four others to play against him. In Rainy River he was teamed up with RR Curling Club President Wes Blight, Cheryl Matthew and Brian Russell. Opposing them was Wallace Armstrong, Ralph Armstrong, Bill Langner and Bill Szlauko.
Unfortunately notice of Villeneuve’s visit to Rainy River was not received until just before the weekend and very few people came out to watch his team win 12-7.
As of Monday morning he has curled in 628 rinks with 3,050 different curlers. While he is not officially in the Guiness Book of World Records, he believes he is the only one to have achieved this feat and plans to focus on getting in the book when he stops his road trips to curl. He has said that he hopes to reach 700 clubs before he quits but noted there are approximately 1,155 curling clubs/rinks in Canada and possibly even more. “A friend of mine finds them on the internet or I learn about them from other people when I visit other rinks.”
Villeneuve said that while he enjoys winning, of which he says he has won about 75% of the games on this adventure, he said that being a bridge player and a curler are closely related. “You need great strategy for bridge and in curling as well. I really enjoy that part of the game!” He also said meeting people all across the country has been an amazing experience. “There are really good people right across this country!”
More than one third of his games have been played in Ontario with Rainy River being the 258th. He was in Stratton on Sunday for his 257th!
He travels every spring and fall to add to his record. On this trip he plans to hit 40 clubs. He began this journey on Nov. 15th and will be home on December 20th. Once home he will resume playing Tues., Wed., Thurs. in a Seniors league. He said he played eleven games before leaving and won them all!
Six years ago his 440th stop was in Fort Frances and his 500th was in Duluth, MN.
Turning 82 on Dec. 2nd, he hopes to keep doing this for some time, and at the very least make 700! One of those he hopes will be Emo since he has not been there as of yet!