A star-studded field will be hitting the ice Wednesday at the Calgary Curling Club for the opening draw of the Tim Hortons Alberta senior men's and women's curling championships.

A variety of former world senior champions is entered, but the big name is six-time Alberta women's champion and former Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion Cathy King of Edmonton, who'll be making her seniors (50 and over) provincial debut with a team that features a pair of Calgarians, Barbara McDonald and Heather Paul Scott, on the front end.

Also entered is former world senior women's champion and defending Alberta champ Diane Foster, who won the southern Alberta championship A-event title with a lineup that includes third June Campbell, second Karen Morrison and lead Glenna Rubin.

The Calgary contingent on the women's side is rounded out the Southern B-side winner skipped by 2009 Alberta champ Peg Harper (backed up by Judy Pendergast, Deb Pendergast and Sheila Heath), while Red Deer's Deb Gill completes the south contingent.

On the men's side, defending Canadian champ Mark Johnson of Edmonton will not only be seeking a return trip to the nationals (March 19 to 26 in Digby, N.S.) with Marv Wirth (a two-time world senior champ himself), Ken McLean and Millard Evans, He'll also be tuning up for the 2011 world senior championships April 15 to 24 in St. Paul, Minn.

Mickey Pendergast's Calgary foursome features Bob Genoway, Brent Syme and Gord Dewar, while Lloyd Hill has teamed up with Steve Mackey, Moe Sonier and Darrell Mustard.

Round-robin action at the seniors kicks off Wednesday at 9:30 a.m., with two draws (9:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m.) a day through Saturday. The championship games are set for Sunday at 2 p.m.