who makes the curling stones for the winter olympics
Curling Kays of Scotland has been making curling stones in Mauchline, Ayrshire, since 1851 and has the exclusive rights to the Ailsa Craig granite, granted by the Marquess of Ailsa, whose family has owned the island since 1560. According to the 1881 Census, Andrew Kay employed 30 people in his curling stone factory in Mauchline.[35] The last harvest of Ailsa Craig granite by Kays took place in 2013, after a hiatus of 11 years; 2,000 tons were harvested, sufficient to fill anticipated orders through at least 2020. Kays have been involved in providing curling stones for the Winter Olympics since Chamonix in 1924 and has been the exclusive manufacturer of curling stones for the Olympics since the 2006 Winter Olympics.[36][37]
2018 Ford World Women's Curling Championship The 2018 World Women's Curling Championship (branded as the 2018 Ford World Women's Curling Championship for sponsorship reasons) was held from March 17-25 at the North Bay Memorial Gardens in North Bay, Ontario, Canada.[2] The format of the tournament was changed this year, with 13 teams qualifying for the tournament (as opposed to 12 in previous years), and the top 6 teams from round-robin play will qualify for the playoffs (rather than 4). The playoff system were single-knockout, where the top two teams received a bye while the remaining four played the first round.