National curling tournament to be held in Tempe this weekend

TEMPE, Ariz. (FOX 10) - Gearing up for the Golden Wrench Classic, these curling competitors have traveled to Tempe from as far as Kyto, Japan and Winnipeg, Canada.

"A lot of people come down from Minnesota, Canada, Wisconsin, New York, where it's minus 10, minus 20 and sunny in the 60s is certainly helpful," Eric Kowal said.

All for one of the biggest curling tournaments in the nation and it starts this evening.

Competing teams say they have spent countless hours training.

"I's been tough, but good," Kowal said. "A lot of people don't think of Phoenix a curling place, but we've had some pretty good teams that have come out of here."

The reigning U.S. champion curling team will also be competing in this weekend's tournament.

"My team is from Minnesota. We have one guy from Alaska, one guy from Seattle, one from Minnesota that will be competing here," Rich Ruohohen said. "When you can play good competition and come down and have the nice weather! In Minnesota, it's minus 10."

But regardless of the tough competition, these teams say the sport really just bring everyone together.

"Curling is an interesting fraternity," Colin Hodgson said. "Everybody's pretty a friendly person."