Brown’s Major League of Cookstown will have bragging rights until the next curling season, after winning the recent Major League Challenge.

The three top curling leagues in Simcoe County meet each year for regional supremacy. The Penetang-based Atlas Block Curling League sent down four former world champions as part of its contigent: Glen Howard, Brent Laing, Tim Belcourt and Kent Carstairs.

The Microworks Curling League of Barrie brought its top four challengers to the final week of competition, hosted by Brown’s Major League.

In the first set of games earlier in the month, Cookstown went out to an early lead, with three wins, against two for Barrie and two for Penetang. Barrie did rise to the challenge in the second week of competitions, winning three of its four games, but that only gave them five wins, behind Brown’s  six overall wins.

“It could have gone much differently if the Barrie teams finished off their games,” said Ken Leach, one of the organizers of the challenge.

“We lost three of our games on last stone, so we could have been out in front if we had won any of those matches. The Cookstown teams played very well. Knowing the ice helped, but it’s the start of a great rivalry, and we’re looking forward to next year.”