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Nanaimo’s Van Osch sisters in the mix for BC Curling Championship

Jan 17, 2017 | 9:59 AM

NANAIMO — Three local sisters are taking a run at a provincial curling title.

Skip Kesa Van Osch, Third Kalia Van Osch, and Fifth Marika Van Osch start their journey towards a 2017 Scotties BC Women’s Curling Championship Tuesday night in Duncan.

Kesa is a former winner as a skip in 2014 and she’ll be competing in her fourth straight provincial championship.

This will be the third straight trip to the Scotties for Kalia with Marika joining the Van Osch rink as an alternate.

Kalia Van Osch says the team is looking forward to the week especially with the Scotties being played so close to home at the Duncan Curling Club. 

“We’re hoping it’s a huge advantage for us. We’re really excited that our family and friends can come down and watch us play. We’re never going to say no to the extra cheering to help motivate us while we’re playing,” said Van Osch.

The Nanaimo rink qualified for the provincials at an event in Vernon Dec 2 – Dec 4 so they’ve had plenty of time to prepare for the BC championship.

Heading into the first draw Tuesday at the Scotties, Kalia says she hasn’t ever played the Julie Herndier Cloverdale rink before.

However the other half of the team (Shawna Jensen and Amy Gibson from Richmond) have.

The playoff rounds are on Saturday and Sunday, and will be broadcast on Shaw TV but Kalia says the team isn’t looking too far ahead.

“The biggest thing we’re going to find is patience and focusing on the game in front of us and one rock at a time. It’s a super long week we have seven round robin games before playoffs even come up,” said Van Osch.  

The second and third draws have some compelling story lines for the Van Osch rink as well with a match up against well known opponent Sarah Wark on Wednesday morning.

Wark is representing Chilliwack but has spent much of her career curling out of the Duncan Curling Club.

Draw three on Wednesday sees the Nanaimo rink battle Karla Thompson out of Kamloops who won the BC Scotties in 2016.

You can keep track of the results at playdowns.com or curlbc.ca.