Under-14 at Curl Aberdeen

It was an early start this morning for the road to Aberdeen. It was well worth it though, as I experienced a great day at the Curl Aberdeen rink. Sixteen teams lined up for the second U-14 competition in the Asham Slam, which is organised by the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. Fifteen of the teams had played in the first competition at Braehead last month.

The two teams which contested the final at Braehead met again in the final at Aberdeen, but this time it was Fraser Smith, James Craik, Ewan Maguire and Euan MacDiarmid (skip) who won through.

That's the winners above, with Judith McFarlane, the Slam organiser. L-R: James Craik (2nd), Euan MacDiarmid (skip), Ewan Maguire (3rd) and Fraser Smith (lead).

The MacDiarmid team beat Drew Thomson, Callum Kinnear, Kerr Sands and Finlay Campbell (skip) in the final, after a fifth (an extra) end.

That meant that both the MacDiarmid and Campbell teams had a win in one of the Slam events. A team draw shot challenge was made to find the Slam winners. Finlay's team players were closer to the button than Euan's.

Here then are the winners of the first Asham U-14 Slam. L-R: Finlay Campbell (skip), Kerr Sands (3rd), Callum Kinnear (2nd) and Drew Thomson (lead), with Judith who presented the team with individual trophies and new brushes courtesy of the sponsor.

A mention now of the other two teams which won their sections, but lost in the semifinals:

L-R: Emma Barr, Ewan Barr, Kirsty Barr and Adam Keron (skip).

L-R: Sorley MacDonald, Aine MacDonald, Rhys Smith and Sandy Scott (skip).

These two teams played off for third place, the game won by Sandy's team at the last stone.

Here again is organiser Judith McFarlane with the winner of the 'Draw Shot Challenge with a Difference', Harry Cormack. Good story this. Harry had played a couple of games as substitute in the Sandy Scott team above, helping them qualify for the playoffs. Not required for the knockout games, he played in the Challenge, and won it! Well done Harry.

And what was the 'Difference'? The kids played their stones wearing a blindfold! Brilliant.

What a great day. And now that I've seen the U-14s in action, I'm well convinced that this Slam will become every bit as successful as the U-17 has become.

Photos © Skip Cottage

Another Busy Weekend

Another busy weekend is in prospect. I've already mentioned the World Junior Championships in Sweden, and the marathon curling at Dumfries. Also to keep an eye on this weekend is the RCCC Rink Championship, at Forfar Indoor Sports for the first time. Twenty-four teams play in four sections. Follow the results here.

The second leg of the Asham Under-14 Slam is on Saturday at Curl Aberdeen. Sixteen teams are signed up for this event.

At Kinross, there's a wheelchair curling competition for the SWCA Friendship Trophy, see here.

And at Stranraer sixteen teams will curl for charity tomorrow in a Marie Curie Cancer Care Day.

The AGM of the Kinross Curling Trust will be held on Sunday, March 4, at 2.00 pm at the Green Hotel. There are just three nominees for the three places on the board, so there will be no elections. The nominees are Alastair Hibbert, Malcolm Strang and Bob Tait.

Catching up

Right, I need to catch up on a couple of things that happened at the weekend. Congratulations to Finlay Campbell’s team of Kerr Sands, Callum Kinnear and Drew Thomson who won the first Royal Club's Asham-sponsored U-14 Slam events at Braehead on Saturday. Euan McDiarmid, Ewan Maguire, James Craik and Frazer Smith were runners-up. There's a report on the Royal Club website here.

In all, nineteen teams took part in the competition. The next U-14 will be in Aberdeen, March 3, with sixteen teams signed up to compete.

That's the finalists in the photo above: L-R: Finlay Campbell, Kerr Sands, Callum Kinnear, Drew Thomson, Frazer Smith, James Craik, Ewan Maguire, Euan McDiarmid. Photo courtesy of Judith McFarlane.

Looking back to the Co-operative Funeralcare Scottish Championships, I omitted to mention that Katy Richardson and Cammy Smith won the sportsmanship awards.

Stewart Sutherland reports that the inaugural Welsh Curling Association's Valentine's bonspiel took place at the Dumfries Ice Bowl. Eight rinks of Welsh curlers and a few select Scots played a six x six-end game Schenkel over the two days. A mass visit to a local Indian restaurant was the Saturday night entertainment!

Stewart says, "The curling was of a consistently high standard, attracting the likes of Laura Beever, Jane and Andy Robbins, James, Richard and Simon Pougher, Lindsay McKenna amongst others ... a standard which the Scots found generally a bit too tough to cope with - as represented by their final lowly placings, though there was no disgrace in coming second against some very skilled Welsh curlers."

I gather that this weekend bonspiel is set to be repeated next season.

Winners above (L-R): Richard Pougher (2nd), James Pougher (skip), Hugh Meikle (3rd) and Lisa Peters (lead), with organiser Adrian Meikle. Photo courtesy of John McDermott.

Elsewhere in the curling world ...

Eighteen teams will take part in the first of the Asham Under-14 Slam events, at Braehead tomorrow. The Royal Club's Judith McFarlane has organised this in four sections, of short games. Play starts at 08.45, and the final is scheduled for 16.45.

Here is a list of the teams taking part.

Section A: Euan McDiarmid (Forfar), Ross Cormack (Kinross), Lucy Morton (Ayr), James Hair (Lanarkshire), Alastair Tweedle (Stirling).

Section B: Finlay Campbell (Kinross), Layla Al-Saffar (Forfar), Luke Carson (Lanarkshire), Jake Hawthorn (Waterfront), Mairi MacDonald (Lanarkshire).

Section C: Lewis Leslie (Kinross), Sandy Scott (Inverness), Jill Strang (Lanarkshire), Lisa Davie (Stirling).

Section D: Kirsty Barr (Murrayfield), Scott Lockhart (Aberdeen), Taylor Hay (Lanarkshire), Andrew Archibald (Forfar).

I think this is just a wonderful initiative, and wish I could be at Braehead tomorrow to see the youngsters enjoying themselves. Good curling to them all.

The USA touring team looked in at the Dewar's Centre this morning, on route from Inverness to Kelso. Did I mention that they have captured the Herries Maxwell trophy and have had a whale of a time along the way. Read about their exploits on their own blog here.

Well done to Galloway Ladies who had their most memorable moment ever at Stranraer Ice Rink yesterday when a rink from the club scored an eight ender in the Low Road semifinal of the Lyburn Trophy. To add to the tension there was a measure for the eighth stone!

Clockwise L-R: Joyce Maitland (2nd), Gillian Campbell (3rd), Isobel McLelland (lead) and Helen Smith (skip). The losing team remain as anonymous as ever. Except of course that they get the Rhona Martin 'Try Harder' award. This award commemorates the fact that Rhona, in the season that she won the Olympic Gold, herself lost an eight at Greenacres. So there you are - lose an eight, win an Olympic medal. Ironically, because of this award, Rhona is actually the only 'I Lost an Eight' curler, who is not anonymous. Is she happy about this? What do you think.

Thanks to The Galloway Gazette for the photo and Louise Kerr for the info.