Brown rink homes in on green at Crown

Sydney Fraser (left), Erin Pincott, Corryn Brown and Samantha Fisher have won plenty of gold before, but they have never cashed any big cheques. That could change if they find their stride this weekend at the Valley First Crown of Curling in Kamloops.

KTW file photo

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Corryn Brown and her rinkmates might be curling with dollar signs in their eyes at the Valley First Crown of Curling, held from Friday, Oct. 19, to Monday, Oct. 22, at the Kamloops Curling Club.

“It’s our first big cashspiel,” said Brown, the 17-year-old skip who led her rink — third Erin Pincott, second Samantha Fisher and lead Sydney Fraser, all 17 — to Canada Winter Games gold in 2011.

The most coin ever won by the Brown quartet at a bonspiel is $500, which it earned after bowing out in the semifinal round of the 2011 Rick Cotter Memorial junior cashspiel.

“That went into the team bank account,” said Brown, a South Kamloops secondary Grade 12 student.

There will be $75,000 in prize money on the line at the Crown — $37,500 in the 24-team women’s division and $34,500 in the 21-team men’s bracket.

First place on the women’s side is good for about $8,000, most of which would likely end up in the team trust fund, if Brown were to win.

“My mom and Erin’s mom deal with all the money,” Brown said.

“We don’t deal with any of that. I don’t know if they trust us.”

Brown, who wants to be a chartered accountant, was not quite sure the rink is ready to handle its own finances.

“If it was us, we would probably buy team shirts and team jackets,” she joked.

Competition at the Crown will again be fierce.

The women’s field includes entries from six countries — Japan, Korea, Russia, Denmark and China will square off with Canadian curlers from Alberta, Manitoba, the Yukon and B.C.

The men’s bracket is headlined by top-tier Canadian competition from B.C. and Alberta, along with curlers from the U.S. and Korea.

There are seven Kamloops-based rinks competing at the Crown, skipped by Mike Smith, Brent Yamada and Scott DeCap on the men’s side and Brown, along with Brandi Tinkler, Allison MacInnes and Lori Olsen on the women’s side.

Andrew Bilesky, curling out of New Westminster, won the men’s title in 2011, while Michele Jaeggi of Switzerland won the women’s championship.

The first draws in the triple-knockout format tournament are scheduled for 8 a.m. on Friday and the action will run throughout the weekend, with the playoffs slated for Monday.

Valley First employees will be at KCC for the duration of the tournament, collecting food and monetary donations for the Kamloops Food Bank.