by John Gessner
Thisweek Newspapers

Burnsville residents Paul and Darcy Ellarby work nearby at their software company in Savage. But they're commuter curlers.

Passionate about their pastime, the Ellarbys travel twice a week to the Owatonna Curling Club and once a week to the St. Paul Curling Club.

Enough, said the Ellarbys, who are launching a new club -- the Dakota Curling Club -- at the Burnsville Ice Center.

"There are lots of people in our position -- lots of people who drive between 30 minutes to an hour to get to their games,î said Darcy, 34. "We love curling and we want to curl lots, and we don't want to be driving those distances.î

The Ellarbys will begin taking registration for the nonprofit club March 1. League play will begin April 1. They're counting on a Winter Olympics buzz to generate interest.

"Nationwide, there was 10 percent growth in the number of curlers after the last Olympics,î said Paul, 49.

But the Ellarbys don't expect any trouble filling the league's 80 to 100 spots. The Twin Cities Curling Association already has a list of 250 people who want more local curling opportunities, Darcy said.

"I have no hesitancy whatsoever that our league will probably fill up fast,î she said.

Minnesota has about a fifth of the nation's curlers playing at 21 clubs, most of them in northern Minnesota, Paul said. Southern Minnesota clubs are in Mapleton, Owatonna and Mankato and St. Paul.

"By far the biggest trend is new curling clubs starting up on arena ice,î Darcy said.

Burnsville welcomes the business, said Recreation and Facilities Director Gary Harker. Rental of the city's ice sheets has trended slightly downward in recent years, he said.

"When you can find new revenue sources like this, it's nothing but a plus,î Harker said.
Crazy for curling

Curling is Scottish by origin, said Paul, who was born in England and moved to the United States in 1981 to work for Xerox.

But he didn't get the bug until 1984 while living in Rochester, N.Y.

"I equate it to golf,î Paul said. "Someone takes you to the golf course and you're just hooked. It was that way with me.î He also got his wife hooked after they married in 2001.

"I'm part of that 10 percent growth after the last Olympics,î Darcy said. "Paul said, ëCome look at this on TV -- it's really cool.' î

For those who haven't seen curling since it became a full medal Olympic sport in 1998, it's a team game played on ice with 42-pound granite stones.

Playing in teams of four, players deliver two stones apiece during each "endî (similar to an inning), trying to slide the stones as close as possible to the center of a circular target area some 120 feet away.

The stones are slid over rough, pebbled ice, and teammates use specially designed brooms to sweep the ice in front of the traveling stone, which affects its speed and direction. Players can use their stones to knock the other team's stones out of the house.

Stones are delivered with English -- a slightly curving trajectory -- because a stone with no action wanders aimlessly over the ice.

A game normally consists of eight ends and lasts two hours. Tradition calls for post-game conviviality at the winners' table, with the winners buying any drinks involved, Paul said.

"There's a strong ethic to the game,î he said.

The Dakota Curling Club plans to run a 12-week season on Saturdays this year, with six weeks of "drawsî (leagues) in the spring and six in the fall. The cost per person is $180.

For more information, call Paul Ellarby at (612) 839-2649 or visit www.dakotacurlingclub.org.

John Gessner is at burnsville.thisweek@ecm-inc.com.

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