Mark William O'Rourke (born July 7, 1962 in

Charlottetown Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlottetown was an unincorporated town until it was incorporated as a city in ...

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...

) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

curler."Islander no stranger to nationals"
''

canoe.ca Canoe.com is an English-language Canadian portal site and website network, and is a subsidiary of Postmedia Network. The phrase Canadian Online Explorer appears in the header; the name is also evidently a play on words on canoe (or ''canoë'' i ...

'', March 5, 2009. O'Rourke has been to the

Brier Briar, Briars, Brier, or Briers may refer to: * Briar, or brier, common name for a number of unrelated thorny plants that form thicket People * Brier (surname) * Briers, a surname * Briars (surname) Places * Briar, Missouri, U.S. * Bri ...

on 13 occasions (1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2020) but has never won. He played second for Robert Campbell for all of the Briers until 2006 except 1996 (alternate for Peter MacDonald) and 2001 (second for MacDonald). In 2007 and 2008 he was second for

Peter Gallant Peter J. Gallant (born December 20, 1958) is a Canadian curler from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. He is the father of the 2017 Brier and World Champion Brett Gallant, and Christopher Gallant, a former PEI junior champion and 2014 Canadian ...

, in 2009 he played lead for

Rod MacDonald Rod MacDonald (born August 17, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, novelist, and educator. He was a "big part of the 1980s folk revival in Greenwich Village clubs", performing at the Speakeasy, The Bottom Line, Folk City, and the "Songwr ...

and in 2010 he was second for Rod. In 2020, O'Rourke joined the

Bryan Cochrane Bryan Cochrane (born October 9, 1957 in Winchester, Ontario) is a Canadian curler from Russell, Ontario. Cochrane is most notable for winning the 2019 World Senior Curling Championships for Canada, and skipping team Ontario at the 2003 Nokia B ...

rink as lead, as the only resident Islander. The team, which also included PEI-natives (but Ontario residents)

Ian MacAulay Ian MacAulay (born March 25, 1964 in Souris, Prince Edward Island) is a Canadian curler and ice technician from Ottawa, Ontario. He played second for team Ontario at the 2003 Nokia Brier. Earlier in his career, MacAulay won the 1993 Fairfield M ...

and Morgan Currie won the

2020 PEI Tankard The 2020 PEI Tankard, the provincial men's curling championship for Prince Edward Island, was held from January 8 to 12 at the Montague Curling Rink in Montague, Prince Edward Island. The winning Bryan Cochrane rink represented Prince Edward Isla ...

and will represent Prince Edward Island at the 2020 Tim Hortons Brier. Despite the lack of success at the Brier, O'Rourke has been able to win one national championship- in 1989 playing second for Robert Campbell, he won the

Canadian Mixed Curling Championship The Canadian Mixed Curling Championship is the national curling championship for mixed curling in Canada. The winners of the tournament will represent Canada at the World Mixed Curling Championship. In mixed curling, the positions on a team must a ...

Personal life

He is married to

Kathy O'Rourke Kathleen O'Rourke (born April 30, 1964) is a Canadian curler from Cumberland, Prince Edward Island. She is a six-time provincial champion and is a former Canadian Mixed Champion. She is currently the coach of the Suzanne Birt rink. Career O'Ro ...

. He is the co-owner of Beaton's Wholesale Dry Goods Limited.

References

External links

* 1962 births Curlers from Prince Edward Island Living people Sportspeople from Charlottetown Canadian male curlers Canadian mixed curling champions {{Canada-curling-bio-stub