Preston's curling centre "could produce future Olympians", according to man on international mission to promote the sport

On Thursday, Canadian Rob Swan completed his 329th game at the Flower Bowl at Barton Grange.

The 53-year-old started off on a ‘Curling across the Nation’ adventure, but it quickly turned into ‘Curling across the World, with 10 countries already visited.

His aim is to get involved with as many curling centres as possible in order to spread awareness about this community sport.

The New Brunswick native said: “I’ve never been to a place like the Flower Bowl, it’s amazing.

“To put curling in an entertainment facility like that has never been done. There’s close to 1,500 curling centres in Canada, and nothing like that has been done.”

Rob’s adventure originally started out as a fundraiser for his hometown’s curling centre but now he is on the fifth season of his tour. Over this time he has beat curling world records, such as curling just one game in 10 countries in 11 days.

He has also been able to share the love of this sport with people of all ages and from different walks of life, curling alongside men, women, visually impaired, deaf, small children, wheelchair users, LGBT leagues, mixed, Olympians and even a 96-year-old woman.

He said: “There is no other sport that allows so many people to play, there really is no reason not to.

“To say it’s expensive is ridiculous. For £100 you can get everything you need, and it’s not like hockey, if you look after your equipment, it will last years.

“In fact, everything is there for you at the Flower Bowl, you don’t have to buy it.”

He added: “In Canada it’s absolutely normal for schools to take pupils to the local rink, and I really hope this can now happen in Preston.

“If this happens, and more people go down and get involved, I really hope that it can lead to a whole raft of good new players, and maybe even Olympians.

“Not everybody wants to play football, and this is something you can do at the Flower Bowl all year round.

“It’s a really sociable sport too, where you can have a lot of fun.”

Rob’s visit to Preston came after he decided to visit the UK, and asked to drop-in at the Flower Bowl as well as clubs in Scotland.

Next March, he will be completing another Curling tour, his goal is to visit 28 countries in 14 days.

Keep in touch with Rob's journey by visiting his Facebook page: http://https://www.facebook.com/Curlingacrossthenation/