Busch Light Curling competition comes to Prairie du Chien
Submitted by admin on Thu, 02/06/2025 - 14:55
The winners of the first PdC Busch Light Curling event was the team of Tyler Kozelka (left), Noah White (middle) and Taylor Siberg (right). (Submitted Photo/Nick Crary)
Chad Abram (middle) watches his throw travel down the lane towards the scoring circle during Saturday’s Busch Light Curling competition on St. Feriole Island. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
The curling rink on St. Feriole Island prior to the start of competition. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
A group of competitors watch a throw early on in the tournament. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Jaaren Riebe watches his throw move down the lane. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
Finishing in second place was the team of Steve Rickleff (left), Tim Deluhery (middle) and Mike Steiner (right). (Submitted Photo/Nick Crary)
Placing third was the team of Mark Steffen (left), Aaron Winter (middle) and Mark Friedenman (right). (Submitted Photo/Nick Crary)
A post featuring local sponsors of the event. (Derick Kelly/Courier Press)
By Derick Kelly
Starting in 2018, in Lansing, Iowa, as an attempt to take part in a winter sports activity for those who may not participate in existing activities such as ice fishing, the Busch Light Curling series made its debut in Prairie du Chien this past Saturday during the 75th Prairie du Chien Fisheree.
The event featured 19 teams with three players per team on a pond built across the road from the Fireman’s Shelter on St. Feriole Island.
The sport normally consists of large circular stones thrown down the frozen lane while sweepers use brooms to help maintain a path for the stone as close to a painted bullseye located at the bottom of the lane. The closest comparison of the sport would be shuffleboard on ice.
The Busch Light Curling series puts their own twist on the sport as they use 30-pack cases of Busch Light as the throwing stone as well as normal push brooms. While it may appear to be just a reason for people to drink outside in the winter, the organizers do indeed take the event seriously.
When it comes to the BLC series, In order to win, a team must score the most points after three rounds. Each player from each team competes in one round each during the match with each round consisting of three throws (slides) of the stone (or as known here, a 30-pack of Busch Light beer).
According to the scoring rules for the event, “There are three circles of each curling lane, a scratch/throw line and side lane boundaries. When the cases are thrown towards the circles, the case closest to the small (center) circle will be given three points even if they are not touching the circle or any of the circles. If the case touches the small circle and other cases touch the circle as well, each case will be awarded three points. The middle (second largest) circle is worth two points while the largest (outside) circle is worth one point.
Despite the warm temperatures in the days preceding the tournament, the event was still able to go on as planned thanks to much lower temperatures on Saturday, including blistering cold wind chill temperatures.
There are plans for the event to return to Prairie du Chien next year as part of the festivities for the annual PdC Ice Fisheree.
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