One had to feel sympathy for the two teams representing Aberdeen Young Curlers at the Division 3 Challenge at Dumfries. In the Challenge, each junior club is represented by two teams. Two points are awarded for a win, and one for a draw.Aberdeen set the pace all weekend, and were three points ahead of both Forfar and Kinross, going into the last round of games this afternoon. Aberdeen were against Kinross then, needing only one draw from either game for them to be in the top two clubs and assured of promotion to Division 2.
All the results, and the final standings, are here.
That's Maggie Wilson above who skipped Ryan Craik, Claire Dagen and Kirsten Brown.
Maggie was against Hamish Geyer (above) who had Fraser Thomson, Grant Barr and Finlay Campbell (with alternate Kathyn Spain). Kinross won this one.
James Hay (above front) was with Fiona Spain, Alison Wood and Kirsty Paterson against Aberdeen's Graeme Penny, Kenneth Macgregor, Nicol Craik and Rebecca Morrison. Again, the Aberdeen team came second in the game, and hence the club stays in Division 3 next season. So near yet so far!
Here's more of James.Elsewhere on the Ice Bowl lanes, the two Forfar teams were against Ayr.
Rachel Ireland, skipping the Ayr 2 team, nearly made herself the most popular girl in Aberdeen, as she pulled her team back from 0-4 down against Forfar's Criag Joiner. Had Ayr beaten the Forfar side, then Aberdeen would have been in the top two. But that's not the way it turned out. Craig Joiner, Hailey Duff, Euan MacDiarmid, Craig Paterson (and Ewan Maguire, alternate) finished 6-3 in front.
Ayr's Shaun Rennie also lost out to Forfar's Ben Bremner, with Adam Flint, Craig Cameron and Beth Dandy (with Layla Al-Saffar as alternate).When the dust had settled, the two Forfar teams had finished on top of Division 3, just one end ahead of Kinross.
Photos © Skip Cottage. Let me know if I have any names wrong.
