Quebec Challenge Cup Comes to ACC

Editor: Wendy Bouwman
Date: 2026-02-03

Quebec Challenge Cup Comes to ACC

Hey, you want to curl this Sunday? At the club?

No, near Montreal. Oh, how many games? 

Just one. Are you crazy? 

What if I told you it’s for the oldest, continually-contested trophy in North America? Really.

And the opportunity only comes around every 7 years? What the hell, I’m in!

On a sunny February 1st, the eight ACCers who said “what the hell” drove 3 hours to the Otterburn Legion and Curling Club to take home the Challenge Cup by the narrowest of margins.

Team Dewar (Jamie Dewar, Keith Bulchotz, Thomas O'Connor, and Andrew Shalla) and Team Armitage (Don Armitage, Adam Braun, Dan DeChamp, and Ted Wannell) edged their Otterburn counterparts by an aggregate score of 19-18. Skip Dewar sealed the winning point with a hit-and-stick through a narrow port.

The Cup was first contested in 1876 and challenges must occur every two weeks during curling season. ACC’s winning challenge was the 1043rd. 

The next challenge must be completed by February 15. The designated challenger is the North Grenville Curling Club.

This venerable competition has well-established traditions. Most importantly for the ACC is the requirement of the host club to provide all the food and beverage for the challengers. So don’t be surprised to see some fund raising activities in the next couple of weeks.

On the lighter side, tradition dictates the four leads toast each other before the game and down a shot of whisky. After the game, the Cup is filled with scotch and Drambuie then passed among the participants. There is an award for the person who drains the final mouthful. It’s rumoured that the ACC also took this contest but memories are foggy on the circumstances.

The Cup is awarded by the Canadian Branch of the Royal Caledonia Curling Club (Scotland), which consists of the Ottawa Valley Curling Association and Curling Quebec. Some 50 clubs in the Branch participate in Cup Challenges. With approximately seven challenges a year, each club gets a shot at the Cup every seven years. 

It will be hard to match the great hospitality the team enjoyed at the Otterburn LCC but, what the hell, we’ll give it a shot.