The Peak at Stirling opened in 2009, and this weekend the inaugural invitation curling competition brings some of Europe’s best to Stirling. This Scottish Curling Tour event has a £2600 first prize.
Competitors include reigning Scottish men’s champion Tom Brewster and women’s World silver medallist and four-time World Junior Champion, Eve Muirhead. Unusually, both teams will face each other in the group stages as it is an Open competition. Eve's team competes as one of only two women’s teams taking on twenty male sides in the competition.
David Murdoch, who recently qualified with his team to represent Scotland in the European Championships in Moscow in December, and Sweden's Oskar Eriksson, whose team won the gold medals at the World Junior Curling Championships in Perth earlier this year, are both in the mix. Play is in four sections, with the top two in each progressing to Sunday's quarterfinals.
The official press release has a quote from Andrew Bain, Chief Executive of Active Stirling, who said, “We are delighted to welcome such an excellent standard of competitors to The Peak, not to mention our pride in holding the first elite curling event to touch the ice in Stirling. This is definitely the standard of competition we hope to continue to attract to Stirling Sports Village.”
Indeed, I note that The Peak's multi-use sporting facility has already attracted major international teams preparing for both the London Olympics and Glasgow Commonwealth Games in a variety of sports.
The curling starts at 09.00 on Friday, and everyone is invited to enjoy some of the action all day then and on Saturday, with quarterfinals beginning at 08.30 on Sunday.
