'She had to buy the coffee': Stranded traveller scores ride with Canadian Olympic curling champion
The thick, soupy fog hanging over Edmonton this week has been a pain for travellers and airline staff alike, but for one B.C. woman it led to a cute story she'll never forget.
Giselle Goulet lives in Victoria and on Tuesday was trying to fly to the Alberta capital to meet up with her sister before taking off for a Mexican holiday.
But low visibility due to fog meant her flights kept getting cancelled.
"However, they did say if you go to Vancouver and then to Calgary you might have a better chance," she explained to CTV News Edmonton.
So Goulet followed the advice of airline employees and caught a flight to Calgary. The problem then became a lack of cars she could rent for the drive to Edmonton.
That's when she decided to ask a complete stranger for help.
"I go up to him and I said, 'Is it OK if I get a ride?' And he said, 'Where are you going?' I said Nisku and he said sure," she recalled.
"It turns out, this fellow is Kevin Martin. And if you don’t know who he is, he’s a gold medallist in curling."
Not just any gold medal, and not just one either.
Martin skipped teams that won the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, the 2008 world championships, four Tim Hortons Briers and two Olympic curling trials.
He has a collection of other medals too and is widely considered one of the greatest curlers who ever lived.
CTV News Edmonton met up with him in Camrose, Alta.
"Can you help me? My sister and I are flying to Mexico tomorrow out of Edmonton," Martin recalled Goulet asking him.
"Of course! Sure, whatever, let's go," he told her, telling the story with a laugh. "So we went and her name is Giselle, super nice person."
With little to no knowledge of him or all of his prior briers, Goulet said she was not only ecstatic to be headed to Mexico, but also to have met a Canadian sporting legend along the way.
"It was so wonderful to meet him and a fabulous experience and I am just so grateful he was willing to help a total stranger and give her a ride," she said.
And what did Martin get in return, besides the joy of helping a fellow traveller?
"The deal was, and it was a pretty harsh deal though, she had to buy the coffee in Red Deer. That was the deal," he said with a laugh.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's David Ewasuk
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.