Curling Tournament for Lupus Celebrates Fifth-Year Anniversary

Lupus Spiel USA is in its 5th year, and some pretty amazing curlers will be coming out to play.

Lupus Spiel USA is a professional/amateur curling tournament (or “bonspiel”) where Olympic and national champion curlers are paired with curlers who play at an amateur level. It will be held May 4-6 at the Four Seasons Curling Club at Fogerty Arena, the U.S. Olympic Training Site for curling.

Many Olympians from the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games will participate, including three members of the U.S. women’s team: skip Nina Roth, lead Becca Hamilton and third Tabitha Peterson. Becca Hamilton also competed for the U.S. at the PyeongChang Olympics in mixed doubles curling with her brother, Matt Hamilton, Olympic Gold Medalist with Team Shuster.

Two-time Olympic medalist Kevin Martin of Canada returns for the second year in a row as a celebrity skip. Martin, who retired from a 30-year competitive career in 2014, is considered by many as the greatest curler of all time. He is an Olympic gold and silver medalist, Canadian and world champion, and winner of 18 Grand Slam titles including a record eight Player's Championship titles. His teams have won over $2 million on the World Curling Tour. He was recently inducted into the World Curling Hall of Fame.

Martin is offering curling camps to curlers of any level prior to the Lupus Spiel. These camps will be in St. Paul at the St. Paul Curling Club (May 2nd), Chaska at the Chaska Curling Center (May 2nd) and the Four Seasons Curling Club at Fogerty Arena in Blaine (May 3rd). The camp is open to the public and signup is available at www.letscurelupus.org.

Lupus Spiel organizer Regan Birr noted the diversity of the event. “Don’t let the word ‘amateur’ fool you,’’ she said. “Many of these curlers have 40-plus years of experience and are going to be quite competitive! On the other side of the spectrum, some curlers may have 0-2 years of experience. All levels are included.”

Regan has lupus, so she and her husband, 2007 world bronze medalist Todd Birr, created the Lupus Research Foundation, a 501(c)(3) that hosts the ‘spiel. Proceeds go towards funding research for a cure to end lupus in nine years. That target, Regan Birr said, comes from researchers who are “the best in the world. They’ve given us this number and we stand behind them.”

Lupus Spiel USA also provides an opportunity to hear about the latest findings. One of the leading researchers in lupus, Dr. Timothy Niewold, will be speaking at the event on Saturday, May 5 at 7 p.m. Banquet tickets are $50 each and can be purchased at www.letscurelupus.org. Other very special guests include Katie Gundlach, lupus patient and advocate, who will share her experience with lupus and how research is making a big difference in her life.

Spectators are welcome to watch Lupus Spiel USA at no charge. Fogerty Arena is located at 9250 Lincoln St. NE in Blaine. For more information about the spiel and the Lupus Research Foundation, call Regan at 720 470 8049, send an email to [email protected], and visit www.letscurelupus.org.