The annual Astec Safety Curling Challenge will be changing its schedule every four years to accommodate the Olympics.
Organizers are celebrating what they have created over the last few years but note that the change has become necessary to best serve the product that they have built. So, going forward, the Astec Safety Curling Challenge will take place “annually, in the first three years of a four-year quadrennial cycle, taking a break every fourth year due to the Olympic Games scheduling requirements.”
Organizers list attracting top-notch curling teams, crowning deserving champions like Team Koe in 2024 and Team Dunstone in 2025, and delivering record crowds to the local rink.
Also hosting two youth clinics, donating $60,000 to the Lloydminster Curling Club, and having a solid date in the second week of January before the first Grand Slam of Curling (GSOC) event.
The next Astec Safety Curling Challenge will be held January 6-10, 2027. This will allow scheduling times for teams heading to the Olympics from February 6-22, 2026.
In noting the importance of a well-timed date for a top-calibre fixture on a busy Curling calendar, organizers salute their corporate partners and dedicated volunteers, who have supported the effort to host a bonspiel where the world’s best curlers compete for the largest purse of $125,000, outside the GSOC schedule.
Another scheduling issue for next year is that the GSOC AMJ Player’s Championships are planned for January 6-11, 2026, in Steinbach, Manitoba. Organizers note that Curling Alberta playdowns are also re-scheduled for those dates next year, which is the same time that the next Astec Safety Challenge was planned for.
Organizers expressed the desire to once again welcome the Curling world to Lloydminster in 2027.
