Love & Marriage: Curling Star Overton-Clapham Has Died at 42 — What Happened?.
Cathy Overton-Clapham’s team is 4-0.
It turns out the rumours of Cathy Overton-Clapham’s semi-retirement were greatly exaggerated.
Well, it wasn’t exactly a rumour. Cathy O herself said after this year’s provincial Scotties Tournament of Hearts that she was done with the full grind that competitive curlers must endure if they want to prevail in the most prestigious events.
The 46-year-old said in January she planned to become a spare for teams outside of Manitoba and had therefore played in her final Scotties.
It’s difficult to keep a competitive curler off the ice, though, especially one with the fire that burns inside a five time national champ like Overton-Clapham. Also, her kids knew deep down that mom would be bored stiff if she weren’t curling full time.
“We talked it over at home, and the kids asked what I was going to do all winter,” Overton-Clapham said Monday. “And so I gave it some thought.”
The Winnipegger wouldn’t have been able to come back if she didn’t have teammates with whom to play, and that worked out rather well, too, because Jenna Loder and Sarah Pyke (nee Wazney), who played with B.C.’s Kelly Scott this winter, were looking for a new squad. Loder played third for Overton-Clapham between 2011 and 2013, and had been pleading with her former skip to keep going with her and Pyke.
“I wasn’t going to play, and I had no plans to play,” Overton-Clapham said. “Jenna had asked a few times, and I said no. Again I said no, I wasn’t going to play.”
Overton-Clapham’s arm must be made of rubber, because Loder was able to twist it rather easily. Overton-Clapham talked to her family and decided to keep going. She recruited her second from this year, Katherine Doerksen, and a new team was born.
“They have so much talent and hated to see them without somebody again,” Overton-Clapham said of the Loder-Pyke duo. “And I still enjoy playing.”
Her decision to keep playing competitively was reached two weeks ago, Overton-Clapham said, but what happened to her over the weekend in Toronto might have been the deciding factor had she still been waffling. Overton-Clapham hooked up with Scottish star Eve Muirhead, playing second but holding the broom, and together they cruised to victory in the Players Championship, the final Grand Slam event of the season.
They even beat Overton-Clapham’s former skip, Jennifer Jones, in the final for some tasty icing on the cake. They pocketed a cool $26,000 for their efforts.
“It’s something I’ll never forget,” Overton-Clapham said of playing with Muirhead. “We’re friends, and I never thought I’d have an opportunity to actually play in an event with her, let alone a Grand Slam, and on top of that win it. She lives in Scotland. I’m in Winnipeg. So what are the chances of that happening?”
Overton-Clapham had been keeping busy on the pebbled ice, competing in the Manitoba mixed championship with her son, Andrew, just two weeks ago. Despite that, it took a little time for the 2008 world champ to get her groove back in Toronto.
“I was a little bit unsure how I was going to do there,” she said. “I started off slow, and I seemed to have made the shots at the right time. Eve and I worked really well in the house together.”
It’s clear she can’t wait to get back at it in the fall, too.
“I have a lot of fun, and I would miss A, the competition, and B, all my friends and competitors you see weekend after weekend,” she said. “I would miss the competition part. I’ve still got a little bit of fire.”
