A five-year gap between competitions did not stop Maniototo siblings Sean and Bridget Becker succeeding in last weekend's national mixed doubles curling championships.
The duo won the title in an ``outstanding final'' at the end of the three-day event at the Naseby Indoor Curling Rink, New Zealand Curling Association media officer Ian Ford said.
``They were on fire. Nobody would have stopped them.''
It was the fifth time the pair had won the national mixed doubles event in its 11-year history.
Bridget Becker said she and her brother were thrilled with their latest success, not least because they had not curled together for about five years. She and another brother, Scott Becker, had been curling together during that time, and had competed in the world championships for the past two years, she said.
``We just went into the competition to get the passion of curling back ... It paid off.''
As winners of the 2017 national mixed doubles championships Bridget and Sean Becker now have the first option of representing New Zealand in the world mixed doubles championship in Sweden in April next year.
Bridget Becker said they were still to decide if they would attend the international event but were grateful for all the support they had received from their family, friends and community.
Second placegetters in the national mixed doubles were Courtney Smith and Anton Hood, both 17-year-old pupils at Maniototo Area School. Third were Eleanor Adviento and Brett Sargon, of Auckland.
Mr Ford said two other sets of siblings competed at the Naseby event - Maniototo Area School pupil Ben Smith (17) and his sister Jessica (19), a nursing student; and Grace (15) and Jayden (14) Bishop, who are in year 11 and 10 respectively at Kavanagh College in Dunedin.
