Wheelchair curlers fight for accessible rinks

A New Brunswick wheelchair curling team says they hope a trip to the national championship in Ottawa next month will bring more attention to accessibility issues at local rinks.

Kayla Todd has two years of curling under her belt.

"It's great, I like it," she said.

Next month she'll take part in the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship.

The executive director of the province's curling association says the team's showing opens the sport to a new group of people.

Marg Maranda said only three of New Brunswick's 35 curling rinks are equipped to allow persons in a wheelchair to play.

"I'd like to see many more of our curling centres become wheelchair accessible, especially onto the ice shed. A lot of them are wheelchair accessible but only within the clubhouse," she said.

Curler Jonathan Alexander agrees.

"At the point right now there's no accessible one in Fredericton so we're kind of hoping we might be able to find some way of make a rink there accessible as well," he said.

The tournament starts March 24.