One of the best curlers in Saskatchewan, who hails from right here in our own backyard, will fly out on Tuesday morning to compete on the world stage.
St. Gregor's own Kirk Muyres is off to Ostersund, Sweden this week ahead of the 2018 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship. 
Muyres, and his teammate Laura Crocker who lives in Edmonton, won the Canadian Mixed Doubles title on April 1st in Leduc, Alberta and will now face 40 other teams in the week-long tournament from April 21st - 28th.
"When I got the opportunity to play I was pumped, because the mixed-doubles format is so much fun," expressed Muyres before boarding his flight. "When (Laura and I) got to the final in Leduc, and that last rock came to rest it was pretty exciting to know we'd get to wear the red-and-white in the World Curling Championship."
Muyres, who just last month announced he'd be the skip of a new four-man rink including his twin brother Dallan and fellow twin brothers Dan and Kevin Marsh, had only competed in the Mixed Doubles format once before winning the Canadian title in Leduc. Crocker was his partner that time as well, though she usually competes with Geoff Walker. But with Geoff along with Brad Gushue in Las Vegas at the time, a spot opened up for Kirk to compete. 
The Mixed Doubles format has only been a tournament at the World Championship level since 2008, with Switzerland having won six of the first ten titles. Canada has never won the format at the World's, but did claim Olympic Gold at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games in it's first inclusion at the Olympics.
"I didn't know what to think about it when the format first came about," said Muyres on Mixed Doubles Curling. "Then after I played it once, I absolutely loved it."
"It's so quick, it's exciting, there's always something going on. You're running around and it's so engaging, I love it."
Teams from around the world will be competing at the World Championships, including non-traditional curling countries like Brazil and Ghana.
Following the tournament, Muyres will finally see a whirlwind curling season come to an end after many memorable moments since the calendar flipped over to 2018.
Both Kirk and Dallan, along with Matt Dunstone and Steve Laycock, won the Provincial Tankard in Estevan this past February. That qualified Team Laycock as the Saskatchewan representative and host team at the 2018 Tim Hortons' Brier in Regina this past March. Then like other teams, Team Laycock split up following the Brier and it was announced that the Muyres twins and Marsh twins would form a new rink for the 2018/19 season.
Tue, Apr 23, 1:00 PM
Full-time, Hourly, Labour
