The Bob Picken Open Masters Bonspiel presented by Access Credit Union, the season-opener Masters bonspiel, will move to a new host club for the 2025 bonspiel. The event has awarded $9,000 in Junior Development grants to Manitoba curling club junior programs over the last six years.
The event will be hosted by the East St. Paul Curling Club and will once again be played in the late September (Sept. 23-26, 2025).
“We are hopeful to start the season again at the Bob Picken Open Masters,” says 2025 Canadian Masters champion skip Randy Neufeld. “It was a great way to start the season a year ago. It gave us five competitive games but a relaxed schedule to get started.”
Neufeld says he is always excited by the start of a new curling season. The Picken Open Masters provides an early start and an early opportunity to renew friendships and rivalries along with the added benefit of raising funds to support junior curling development.
The bonspiel will once again offer a CurlManitoba Masters Men’s championship entry for the Manitoba’s Credit Unions Masters to be played in Brandon in February of 2026. While they are planning to participate in the bonspiel, Neufeld’s Manitoba/Canadian champions will not be competing for the provincial berth as they have an automatic entry in Brandon as the 2025 champions.
The bonspiel format will be unchanged from 2025, featuring:
- A maximum of 24 Men’s, Women’s or Mixed teams, with stick curlers welcome
- Four team pools with a three-game round-robin
- One game a day for the round-robin with a choice of playing on the morning OR afternoon draw (tentatively 9:30AM and 1:30PM)
- A championship playoff with two games (for finalists) to be played on the Friday.
- A separate four-team women’s playoff if there are minimum of four women’s team entries.
Entries will open about mid-August, 2025.
A successful 2024 bonspiel, with the support of CurlManitoba and Access Credit Union, allowed the committee to make six $500 Bob Picken Junior Legacy grants to support junior curling programs across Manitoba. The recipient clubs included Altona, East St. Paul, Ste. Anne, St. Vital and Teulon. The sixth successful application was coordinated by the Swan River Curling Club on behalf of the Sliding Stars North junior program.
Beginning in 2019, the bonspiel made $1,500 in junior grants annually (with 2020 missed due to the pandemic). Recipient clubs included:
2023: Winkler, Elmwood, Portage
2022: Carman, Swan River, Westman Development League (Virden)
2021: Interlake Junior Inter-Club League (East St. Paul, Selkirk, Stonewall), Bob Picken Inter-Club Youth League (Pembina, Elmwood, La Salle, Fort Garry, Assiniboine Memorial)
2019: Oakville, Riverview, Thistle
The organizing committee expresses sincere appreciation to the Granite Curling Club for its support and sponsorship of the Picken Open Masters Bonspiel in the years after the bonspiel had to move from Bob Picken’s home club at Valour Road/Thistle.
The committee is delighted by the move of the one and only BOBSPIEL to CURL ESP, home of one of the most vibrant Masters curling programs in the province, and looks forward to continuing the Bob Picken Junior Legacy grants program. Clubs will be informed of application procedures when next curling season begins.
