It took the last rock in the tenth to determine the outcome as Kate Cameron and her Heather team (Taylor McDonald, Allison Flaxey, Mackenzie Elias, Brianna Cullen) won the 2025 RME Women of the Rings Championship presented by Case IH.

Tied 6-6 coming home, Beth Peterson’s Assiniboine Memorial team (Kelsey Calvert, Meghan Walter, Melissa Kurz, Katherine Remillard) forced Cameron to hit with her final stone but she didn’t have to stick her shooter. Cameron made the hit for a 7-6 win.

It is a second Manitoba women’s title for Kate Cameron who was at third for Michelle Englot in 2017. Cameron and Taylor McDonald won Alberta women’s titles in 2020, 2021, and 2022 with Laura Walker. Allison Flaxey, who won the Manitoba and Canadian Mixed in 2009 with Sean Grassie, won the Ontario women’s title in 2014. It is a first women’s championship win for Mackenzie Elias and Brianna Cullen.

The Cameron team will wear the Manitoba colours at the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts February 14-23, in Thunder Bay.

To reach the Sunday afternoon final, Peterson had defeated 3-time former champion Darcy Robertson and her Assiniboine Memorial team (Rhonda Varnes, Brooklyn Meiklejohn, Kylie Lippens, Erika Campbell) in the Sunday morning semifinal.

The two finalists were both a single loss away from not playing Sunday.

Cameron finished the preliminary round of play with a 3W-2L record, to be ranked third in the Asham Pool and earn the last spot from that group in the championship round. The Heather team won all three of their championship round games for a 6W-2L record and the playoff round bye to the final game.

The Peterson team had finished the preliminary round with a 4W-1L record to advance to the championship round as the second ranked team in the Asham Ultra Force but won only one of the championship round games to finish at 5W-3L. That put her in a tiebreaker game Saturday evening needing a win over Hailey McFarlane (Neepawa) to play in the Sunday playoffs.

A pair of wins Saturday by top-seeded Kate Cameron (Heather) and 3-time champion Darcy Robertson (Assiniboine Memorial) have earned the teams first and second place, respectively, in the Sunday playoffs at the RME Women of the Rings Championship presented by Case IH.

Both had 6W-2L records after the championship round but Cameron was awarded the bye to the final game Sunday afternoon in Pilot Mound, thanks to her team’s championship round win over Robertson.

Robertson will play the Sunday morning semi-final against Beth Peterson (Assiniboine Memorial), winner of a Saturday evening tiebreaker game over Hailey McFarlane (Neepawa). The tiebreaker win was also Peterson’s second win of the day.

Peterson, McFarlane and Kristy Watling (East St. Paul) had all finished the championship round with 5W-3L records. The three had beaten each other in their championship round games so, per competition rules, the two teams which advanced to the tiebreaker game were the two with the best Last Stone Draw totals for the week (total of the 2 draws thrown before each of the 8 games to determine last stone in the game).

Cameron and her team were the only one of the six teams to win all three of their championship round games while Robertson, McFarlane, and Watling each won two of their three championship round games.

FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND STANDINGS
6W-2L   Kate Cameron (Heather)
6W-2L   Darcy Robertson (Assiniboine Memorial)
5W-3L   Beth Peterson (Assiniboine Memorial)
5W-3L   Hailey McFarlane (Neepawa)
5W-3L   Kristy Watling (East St. Paul)
4W-4L   Lisa McLeod (Pembina)

Hailey McFarlane and her team from Neepawa are alone in first place in the standings after the first round of play in the championship round of the RME Women of the Rings Championship presented by Case IH.

McFarlane’s 9-8 win over Beth Peterson Friday evening in Pilot Mound gave her a 5W-1L record, a win ahead of the other five teams who share second place in the standings with 4W-2L records. The Kate Cameron and Kristy Watling teams came into the second round of play with 3W-2L records. Cameron defeated Darcy Robertson and Watling was victorious over Lisa McLeod to create the 5-team tie.

Three teams from each of the two pools advanced from the preliminary round into the championship round where they play three cross-over games against the teams from the other pool. Three teams will advance to the Sunday playoffs.

The top teams in the Asham Pool were Lisa McLeod (Pembina) and Hailey McFarlane (Neepawa), both with 4W-1L records. McLeod was awarded the #1 ranking in the group thanks to a win over McFarlane on the opening draw of the competition Wednesday morning. Top seed Kate Cameron (Heather) missed her chance at the top ranking with an 8-7 extra end loss Friday to McLeod. 

The top teams in the Asham Ultra Force Pool were three-time former champion Darcy Robertson and #2 seed Beth Peterson (both Assiniboine Memorial) who also had 4W-1L records. Robertson got the #1 rank in the group because she beat Peterson on Wednesday evening in a game in which her team came back from four down twice. Third seed Kristy Watling (East St. Paul) finished third in the pool with a 3W-2L record. 

The teams will play two games Saturday, at 10AM and 4PM, to determine the playoff positions. If necessary, one tiebreaker game will be played Saturday evening. The playoffs are scheduled for 9:30AM and 2:00PM Sunday.

CurlManitoba has announced that the 2026 RME Women of the Rings presented by Case IH will be played in the Riverdale Community Centre, in the western Manitoba community of Rivers, during the week of January 6-11, 2025

The 2026 RME Women of the Rings will be the second Manitoba Women’s Championship played in the arena in Rivers. Previously, when the event was still called the Scotties, Gimli’s Kerri Einarson and her team (Val Sweeting, Shannon Birchard, Briane Harris) won the 2020 Women’s championship and went on to win the first of their four consecutive Canadian championships.

The Rivers Host committee will be co-chaired by Justin Gerrard and Les Wedderburn. 

“We look forward to a return to Rivers,” says CurlManitoba Executive Director Craig Baker. “They presented a very ambitious plan to host our junior provincials in the Riverdale Community Centre a few years ago and created a memorable and successful event.”

The Riverdale Community Centre hosted CurlManitoba’s 2016 Junior Women’s and Junior Men’s championships. The 2016 championship is believed to have been the first junior championship event in Canada, and likely the world, to have been played in an arena setting. Prior to that, Rivers had hosted the 2007 Manitoba Junior Men’s in their old curling club.

The 2016 Junior Women’s event was won by Abby Ackland, Robyn Njegovan, Melissa Gordon, and Sara Oliver with Jack Gordon as coach.  That Rivers event was also a stepping stone to success for the Junior Men’s champions that year: Matt Dunstone, Colton Lott, Kyle Doering, and Rob Gordon. They were coached by Calvin Edie.

Co-chair Les Wedderburn, who chaired the 2016 Junior Championship committee, knows there is a real possibility that many of the competitors that week will be among the players who return to compete in the Manitoba Women’s championship.

“Really, it will be exciting to see how many of those young women return to compete in a women’s championship, nine years after they played here as juniors. We know they enjoyed their week here then and we promise them an equally memorable week next year,” says Wedderburn

Co-chair Justin Gerard sees the potential for another great champion to come out of the Riverdale Community Centre event. “We’ve been watching the CurlManitoba livestream this week and we can see there is great Manitoba talent just waiting to break through. Maybe Kerri Einarson’s first win in Rivers, and her subsequent great success, can be an inspiration,” Gerrard says.

While there is no guarantee a year out who will be competing in Rivers, the co-chairs do offer one absolute guarantee – they promise there will be great hospitality at next year’s RME Championship. That starts with continuation of a tradition that began at earlier championship events – the coffee is always on and it is always free at a curling championship event in Rivers.

There are no unbeaten teams left in the 12-team RME Women of the Rings presented by Case IH, the Manitoba Women’s Curling Championship underway in Pilot Mound.

The last unbeaten, Kristy Watling (East St. Paul) lost 7-4 on the late draw Thursday to Darcy Robertson (Assiniboine Memorial) to finish day two with a 3W-1L record. Robertson, who had lost earlier in the day, improved to an identical 3W-1L record with the win.

With two wins Thursday, Beth Peterson also ends day two with a 3W-1L record in the Asham Ultra Force pool.

Alyssa Calvert (Carberry), who also won two on Thursday, has a 2W-2L record and still has a chance to advance.

Top seeded Kate Cameron (Heather) and #4 seed Lisa McLeod (Pembina) both lost their first game of the day Thursday but bounced back with later victories. Cameron, McLeod, and Hailey McFarlane, who handed Cameron that first lost, all sit atop the Asham Pool with 3W-1L records.

Sarah-Jane Sass (Granite), who lost to McLeod in their second game of the day, split on the day to stay close to the leader group with a 2W-2L record.

Final standings in both pools will be determined by the results of Friday’s 9am and 1pm DRAWS. The top three teams in each pool will advance to the championship round where they will play the three teams from the other pool – with the first round records carrying forward. Three teams will advance from that group of six into Sunday’s playoffs.

Three of the top four seeds at CurlManitoba’s 2025 Women’s Championship, the RME Women of the Rings presented by Case IH, completed the opening day of the championship in Pilot Mound with a pair of victories.

#1 seed, Kate Cameron (Heather), put nine on the scoreboard in both of her team’s victories on opening day at the championship in Pilot Mound, winning 9-5 over Cheyenne Ehnes (Manitou) and 9-2 over Sarah-Jane Sass (Granite)

#2 seed, Beth Peterson (Assiniboine Memorial), started the day Wednesday with a 5-4 win over Alyssa Calvert (Carberry) but gave up a steal coming home to lose 10-9 to three-time former champion Darcy Robertson on the late draw. Twice in the game, Robertson trailed by four but both times came back to tie, setting up the final end steal. Robertson also ended Day One with a pair of victories.

#3 seed, Kristy Watling (East St. Paul), needed an extra end to win her opener, a 7-6 extra end win over Cassidy Dundas (Heather) but then had a seven-end win over Alyssa Calvert on the late draw.

#4 seed Lisa McLeod (Pembina), with wins over Hailey McFarlane (Neepawa) and Cheyenne Ehnes (Manitou) also ended the opening day with a pair of victories.

Sarah-Jane Sass (Granite) and Hailey McFarlane (Neepawa), in the Asham Pool, and Peterson and Cassidy Dundas (Heather), in the Asham Ultra Force Pool, ended the day with 1W-1L records.

The RME Women of the Rings presented by Case IH will continue Thursday in Pilot Mound with draws scheduled for 8:30AM, 12:15PM, 4:00PM, and 7:45PM. One game on each draw will be livestreamed on the CurlManitoba YouTube channel.