British Curling’s Paralympic squad has made it’s first trip across the Atlantic this season to compete in the Ontario Wheelchair Open in Toronto which gets underway tomorrow (25-27 November), playing in two teams.
England’s Stewart Pimblett, who graduated from the transition squad into the Paralympic squad this season will skip Meggan Dawson Farrell and two new Talent Programme players, Martin Sutherland as well as Gary Logan, who was previously on the programme and was the fifth player for Scotland when they won world silver on home ice back in 2019. 
Three time Paralympian Gregor Ewan will skip a second GB line-up comprising Hugh Nibloe, Charlotte McKenna and Jo Butterfield (MBE), who was selected to the programme at the start of this season after making the switch from athletics to curling through the UK Sport Transfer programme and this event represents her first overseas international debut in curling.
The trip provides all eight players with an opportunity to make a mark at the start of a new four-year cycle building towards the Paralympics in Milan-Cortina which will, for the first time, feature two wheelchair curling disciplines with the introduction of mixed doubles and the sense of anticipation was expressed by Butterfield.
“Excited, scared and nervous a bit of everything but overall I am really looking forward to it” she said of her international debut.
“It is good to get some experience against some quality curlers and I have not competed very much at all so the more competition I can get the better.
“Every time I am on ice it is a huge learning curve and I am looking forward to experiencing more of that.
“We have a really strong line-up and I feel really confident about that. There are people there with experience that can really support me and help and teach me, as I am like a sponge at the moment trying to soak everything up, so I am pleased to be in that team and I think we can make a real impact in the competitions. 
“As for our other GB team it is nice to have fresh blood and new people coming through. I have not worked with Gary (Logan) or Martin (Sutherland) before so it will be interesting to spend more time with them on this trip and we can learn from each other.”
Their excitement is enhanced by being in the country that promotes curling like no other.
“Everyone talks about Scotland being the home of Scotland and I am quite proud of that but at the same time Canada is obviously a huge force in curling,” said Butterfield.
“Even just being around the curling arena yesterday was quite exciting and there were a lot of people there who are very passionate about the game, so to get in the mix with that and be part of it is going to be good fun.”
Her mood was echoed by experienced two-time Paralympian Nibloe.
“It’s really good being back in Canada,” said vice-skip Hugh Nibloe, who knows that the strength and depth of curling talent combined with the sport’s popularity among Canadians provides both great competition opportunities as well as challenges.
“Canada is special for all curlers and we are all really looking forward to this competition as we know the standard is going to be really high. Even the Canadian club teams are really strong and as good as many international teams, so from that point of view it is going to be great.
“Then next week we head to the US Open for the first time since we won it in 2017, so it will be good to get back there and see what we can do this time around. We will get some training with the US squad before we go up against them in Portage.”
As part of the team building process, the players took the opportunity to go and see one of the wonders of the modern world together, but they are now ready to place their full focus on competition.
“We have had time to acclimatise and managed a visit to Niagara Falls which is something I guess you would always try to do in this part of the world, so we have settled in and are now really looking forward to having two successful events,” said Nibloe. 
“The line-ups have been decided for the first event, so we will go into this looking to build on the success we had winning the Stirling International, though we were not happy with our performance from a technical point of view so we will be looking to really improve on that and try and convert good technical performances into wins.
“That is what we are aiming for, something that we can come back home with. We know it is going to be really strong competition and we have had some practice on the ice and we just can’t wait to get competing again.”
Link to Results
| British Curling Team 1 | British Curling Team 2 |
| Gregor Ewan | Stewart Pimblett |
| Hugh Nibloe | Gary Logan |
| Charlotte McKenna | Martin Sutherland |
| Jo Butterfield | Meggan Dawson Farrell |
Results:
November 25 – Draw 1
Great Britain 2 - Toronto Team Green 5-3
Great Britain 1 - Bax 9-5
Draw 2
Great Britain 1 - Reynen 10-3
Great Britain 2 - National Programme Team White 4-7
November 26 – Draw 3
Great Britain 1 – Great Britain 2 7-1
Draw 4
Great Britain 2 – Gale 8-1
Great Britain 1 – National Team Red 5-6
Draw 5
Great Britain 1 – Toronto Team Black 12-0
Great Britain 2 – Family 1st Medical 6-3
November 27 - Draw 6
Great Britain 2 - Reynen 1-6
Great Britain 1 – National Programme Team White 3-4
Draw 7
B Final
Great Britain 1 – Bax 9-2
C Final
Great Britain 2 – Toronto Team Black 9-3
Images: PPA Graeme Hart
