The town of Altona is getting some solid coverage on a variety of media platforms across the country thanks to the success of Mackenzie Zacharias and her team of third Karlee Burgess, second Emily Zacharias and lead Lauren Lenentine.

Zacharias, who curls out of the Altona Curling Club, captured the 2020 Canadian Junior Women’s Championship Sunday in Langley, B.C.

Mayor Al Friesen says bringing home a national title like that generates a lot of positive attention for the community.

"It's great for our community. The phrase 'you can't buy that kind of advertising' might be overstating it a bit, but we're really pleased with the success of the Zacharias team who played exceptionally well...it was a really good celebration and excellent for the community."

Friesen notes he received social media comments from people as far away as Mexico, Florida and Arizona who were watching the game and cheering on the Altona team.

He says Altona has grown a reputation for hosting a number of successful provincial and regional sports events over the past number of years and the success the Mackenzie Zacharias rink is enjoying only builds on that.

"We've proven that we can host excellent baseball and curling events and other events too, but those are two in which we've hosted provincial championships and done them well and hockey as well. But, I would also say that this is the first time an Altona based team was successful on the national stage. I may not be entirely correct, but I think this is the first time we've experienced that kind of success."

The spotlight will continue to shine on Altona as the Mackenzie Zacharias rink heads over to Russia next month to represent Canada at the World Junior Curling Championships.