On my recent trip to The Peak in Stirling, I caught up with two of the members of the GB wheelchair curling squad, Jim Sellar and Rosemary Lenton, on the ice practising. Both are in the team which will represent GB in the international event at Taarnby, Copenhagen, this weekend.The GB team lineup for the Danish event is Tom Killin, Angie Malone, Jim Sellar, Rosemary Lenton and Gregor Ewan, with coach Tom Pendreigh. They will compete against teams from Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, the Czech Republic, two teams from Norway, two from Finland and two teams from the host nation, Denmark.
There doesn't seem to be a website for the event, but if I find one, or learn the results I'll post them here. I'll also be keeping my eye on wheelchaircurling.com where Eric Eales is usually on the pulse of this branch of the sport. There is a list of international wheelchair curling events here.
(Added later: The draw and results can be found here.)
I note that Scottish Wheelchair Curling Association had a training weekend at Curl Aberdeen last weekend. Some eighteen wheelchair curlers took part.
Scotland's wheelchair curling clubs are listed here.
It is good to see Angie Malone back on the ice, having battled back from serious illness. Angie is a member of the GB Paralympic Squad, alongside Tom Killin, Rosemary Lenton, Michael McCreadie, Aileen Neilson and Jim Sellar. This training squad has yet to be reduced to five members in a similar process to the GB able-bodied teams.
Final selection of the team for the Vancouver Paralympics, March 12-21, will take place in December, subject to ratification by the British Paralympic Association.
And last but not least, many congratulations to Jim Taylor whose fundraising efforts I trailed here. By all accounts the challenge match against David Murdoch was a great success, see here. And more than double the original target has been raised, the money going towards the Glasgow Hospice Big Build appeal. You can still contribute here.
Top photo: Rosemary Lenton is delivering with Jim Sellar as her 'buddy'. © Skip Cottage
