More MDs

If you follow Skip Cottage, you will know that I am a big fan of mixed doubles curling. The Braehead Open MDs was played on Tuesday and Wednesday evening, the eight sheets in the rink all still in use late on yesterday.

The big game saw Jennifer Marshall and Graham Shedden up against Hannah Fleming and Billy Morton. That's Billy giving the ice above.

Here's Jennifer. Graham and Jennifer finished second on the day! The photo of the winners is here.

Hannah and Graham.

"Now, here's the plan!"

Billy

Latvian friends Gints and Liga Caune finished runners-up in the Low Road. This is Gints.

Now, I have to admit that this is a reconstruction. Gints and Liga scored a six! I should explain for those not used to the complexities of MDs, each side only plays five stones. To count the maximum, then one of the two placed stones (the one of your colour) must count too. I'd not seen the MDs equivalent of an 'eight ender' before, so this was a highlight of the night. And no. I'm not going to say who it was who was on the receiving end!

Alasdair Schreiber, playing with Jennifer Paul, finished in fourth place.

Gary Macfarlane has threatened to have me banished from Braehead if I post another 'funny' picture of him, so here's one I like from last night! Gary was playing with Nadia Krestanovich.

Nadia is from British Columbia and over here for a year with her husband. Good player! She helped Gary to win the Low Road.

Ben and Anna Fowler.

Nicola Evans, playing with Angus Shearer, won the U-25 prize. Good to see the wheelchair curlers taking part. Apart from the lack of a buddy to brace their delivery, mixed doubles presents few obstacles. That's Aileen Neilson and Michael McCrearie behind Nicola.

Paul Webster and Angela Higson won the 'Best Braehead' side prize.

David Aitken.

Lee McCleary, watched by David and Gina Aitken. Lee was paying (or do I mean playing!) with Judith McFarlane.

Here they are sweeping together. They took the prize for third place, having lost to Hannah and Billy in the semifinal.

Body language says it all in a pic from that semi!

Alasdair and Jennifer watch behind Graham Shedden.

Fiona and Chay Telfer against John Sharp and Laura Yuill.

John Brown, who was playing with Dawn Watson.

Michael McCreadie. And an apology. In amongst all the excitement of getting back on the road last weekend, I overlooked the fact that our wheelchair curlers were competing in the Fifth Annual Rolli Trophy in Bern, Switzerland. National Coach Tony Zummack reports that the National Squad members Aileen Neilson, Angela Malone, Gill Keith, Gregor Ewan, Ian Donaldson, Jim Gault and Michael McCreadie were joined by Michael McKenzie from the Spokes program. There were seven teams competing in a full round robin with best records determining the final standings. Teams were altered during the event as illness befell one of the players for the final two games. In total the two teams won nine of eleven games against opposing nations and finished top two in the standings at the end of the competition. Well done to all!

Photos © Skip Cottage. Apologies to all those who didn't get shot last night!

Mixed Doubles at Braehead

Congratulations to Hannah Fleming and Billy Morton who won the Braehead Open Mixed Doubles yesterday, beating Graham Shedden and Jennifer Marshall in the final.

Above: Leslie Ingram-Brown, supporter of Braehead Curling and sponsor of the competition, presents the trophy to Billy and Hannah. More photos to come later today, once I've had a chance to look at everything I took yesterday evening.

On the ice this week

The qualifying competition for the Scottish Masters gets underway today (Tuesday) at the Greenacres rink in Renfrewshire. Thirty-three men's teams have entered this year, playing in five sections this week, and next, to find the qualifiers for the National Finals in March. Find the results here.

At Braehead, the Open Mixed Doubles will be played this evening and tomorrow. As last year, the organisers have sixteen teams taking part in two sections.

Braehead MDs in pictures

The challenge I face with any photography session at a curling competition is to convey a flavour of what's happening on the ice. I find it particularly difficult in pairs or mixed doubles to get photos that show more than one person of each team. Sometimes I get lucky and get a photo such as the above, with all four players in shot. Perhaps this would have been slightly better from a fashion point of view if it had not been a trailer for Men in Black! Cathryn Guthrie and Greig Smith, and John and Liz Paul are the actors.

So did this mean that the Braehead Open Mixed Doubles was a dull drab affair?

Most certainly not. Ali Guthrie was modelling the absolute latest in curling fashion, 2010!

A Polish contingent added glamour to the event, which was run over two evenings. L-R: Zuzanna Rybicka, Justyna Matusiak, Zuzanna Sliwinska, Aleksandra Majecka and Adela Walczak.

The visitors paired up with local curlers. Here are Adela and Gary Cannell.

Justyna Matusiak played with Robbie Stewart. That's them at the back as Aleksandra Majecka watches her partner's stone.

Justyna's delivery

Aleksandra was partnered with Gary Macfarlane. Several have commented that this is a rare photo of Gary smiling! (BTW Gary's own blog is online again, if you would like to follow more of his Rwandan adventures, see here. It's a long time since I've been called 'Curly' Cowan).

Anyway, congratulations to Gary and local CDO David Horne for running a great event.

Aileen Neilson and partner Michael McCreadie took part and the wheelie pair won the 'Best Braehead' team prize.

John Sharp and Jane Clark were using the event as preparation for the English Mixed Doubles Championship.

As were brother and sister Sam and Anna Fowler, here behind Zuzanna Sliwinska who was playing with Stewart Walker. The English pair took away the fourth prize!

Scary! Karen Kennedy and Graham Shedden. Placed third.

Here are the two teams which faced off for the six-end final. L-R: Gavid Fleming and Hannah Fleming, Andrew Craigie and Anna Sloan.

What a good game it turned out to be, Andrew Craigie's colourful gear not proving to be any distraction! The teams were evenly matched and went into the last end with the score tied.

The Flemings held the last stone, but of course, in mixed doubles, it can be hard to convert that to your advantage. Hannah was playing the first and last stones, and so it fell to her to play the deciding stone of the match. It was a difficult one, a raise takeout, at an angle. She made the shot, but the shooter rolled just a fraction too far, and the money (£500) went to their opposition.

The presentation photo is here.

Pics © Skip Cottage

Braehead Open Mixed Doubles

Third stop for me yesterday was the Braehead Rink to see the second evening's play of the Open Mixed Doubles. Great fun. I'll have the story and some photos of play later today, but in the meantime here is the important pic! Gary Macfarlane presents the trophy to the winners, Andrew Craigie and Anna Sloan. The final, against Gavin and Hannah Fleming, went right down to the last stone of the sixth end.

Pic © Skip Cottage

Braehead Open Mixed Doubles

As you perhaps know, I'm a big fan of mixed doubles. It's a pity this discipline is not more popular. However, eighteen teams are entered this year for the 2nd Braehead Open Mixed Doubles, which begins this evening. Ten teams play in Section A and eight teams in Section B. The sections are played as a schenkel, and each team plays four games at least.

The competition winds up tomorrow evening. I hope to see some of the action then - if only to document the international flavour to the event. Adela Walczak, who is studying in Glasgow, has her young Polish women's team over here at present. They indicated that they would like to play in the Mixed Doubles.

That gave the organisers a problem. Could they find five Braehead curlers for the girls to play with? Turned out there was no shortage of volunteers! But would the girls want to team up with a young good-looking player, or an 'older curler' with more experience? David Horne, Braehead's CDO, tells me that two of the girls have gone with the 'older with more experience' option. I bet that's the first time that Gary Macfarlane has been described in such terms! Anyway Gary and Aleksandra Weremczuk line up in Section B. It all sounds great fun. £500 is the top prize!

Braehead Open Mixed Doubles

I've always been a big fan of mixed doubles curling, and I find it surprising that this discipline of the big game is not more popular than it is. It really is great fun to play, and to watch. So I was pleased to hear the news that the Braehead rink is organising the BRAEHEAD OPEN MIXED DOUBLES for November 16-17, with an entry fee of £80 and prize fund of £750.

The organisers are looking for twenty-four teams from all over Scotland (and beyond)! Each team will play a minimum of five games over the Tuesday and Wednesday evenings between 6pm and 11pm. There is a top prize of £500 for the winning team, with additional prizes for 2nd, 3rd and 4th places, best Braehead team, and best under 25. David Horne and Gary Macfarlane are your contacts at Braehead. (Contact details here)

The competition should be good practice for those teams which intend to compete in the Scottish Mixed Doubles at Murrayfield, December 10-12. RCCC Competitions Manager Colin Hamilton tells me that seventeen teams have entered for the national event this season, that's three more than took part last time. Indeed, the draw is up on the RCCC website here. The winners of the Scottish MDs will have the opportunity to represent Scotland at the World Championship in St Paul, Minnesota, USA, April 16-23, volcanic ash permitting of course.

The official demonstration video about mixed doubles curling is online here.

The photo above is of Graham Shedden and Claire Sloan at the Scottish MDs at Murrayfield last season © Skip Cottage.