A lot has happened in the curling life of Graeme Black since I took this photo of him last year on his way to winning the Scottish Junior Championship, with his team of Ally Fraser, Steven Mitchell and Thomas Sloan. It's fair to say that they were surprise winners last time, and their first appearance on the world stage did not go according to plan. The team split up thereafter and Black this season has been competing with John Penny, Colin Howden and Dean Clark. With success, too. For example, Black's four are through to the top ten of the Bruadar Scottish Championships, as indeed is Glen Muirhead, the 2008 Scottish Junior Champion, who is playing this season with Greg Drummond, Thomas Sloan and Michael Goodfellow.Seventeen junior teams are looking for the eight places in the finals. They will play in three sections, two with six teams and one with five. Three teams will go forward from each section of six, and two from the section of five. The draw is here and the results will be here. First games are at 10.00 tomorrow (Friday).
There are only junior men's games at Ayr. There were eleven entries in the junior women's competition this season and all will play in the finals at Aberdeen.
Photo is by Bob