Roll of Honour at Braehead

Kieran Gallagher, representing sponsor Cardwell Garden Centre, presents the trophy to the winning team of the Cardwell Garden Centre Braehead Open today. Results here. The final saw two Royal Club Academy GOLD teams (see here) contest the final game of the second of the Scottish Curling Tour events. Above L-R: Kerr Drummond, Kyle Waddell, Thomas Muirhead and Kyle Smith (skip).

Runners-up were (L-R) Tom Pendreigh, Ruaridh Greenwood, David Reid and Ally Fraser (skip).

Paul Stevenson (skip), Ruaraidh Whyte, Fraser Watt and Tim Stevenson beat Jennifer Dodds (skip), Becca Kesley, Vicky Wright and Mhairi Baird (another Royal Club Academy GOLD team) in the 3-4 playoff. Back L-R: Mhairi, Vicky, Becca, Jennifer. Front: Tim, Paul, Ruaraidh and Fraser.

Other winners included Lee McCleary, James Stark, Neil Joss and Gavin Fleming who won the Middle Road.

The top Braehead team was skipped by Chris Macfarlane with Stuart Walker, Alisdair Schreiber and Jennifer Paul.

Gary Cannell, Jamie Fraser, Daryl Russell and Fraser Thomson were the best U-25 team.

Gina Aitken, Katy Richardson, Rowena Kerr and Rachel Hannen collected the Top Ladies Team prize.

Gary Macfarlane, Douglas Ratcliffe, Don Rutherford and Stewart Philp were the Best Seniors.

The top 'non-Scottish' team were from Finland: Toni Sepperi (skip), Markus Sipila, Jula Paajarvi and Janne Ojanpera.

Apologies for the total lack of action pix. Hopefully normal service will be restored pretty soon!

Saturday at Braehead

I haven't yet mastered the ability of being in two places at once, or even overcoming the weaknesses of the body when one gets struck down by malady, as I've been this week, just when I wanted to be fully fit. That's when you need friends, and it was two of these - Christine and Hugh Stewart - who looked in at Braehead today to bring a flavour of the Cardwell Garden Centre Braehead Open to the blog!

Christine writes, "On Saturday the Braehead Open was in full swing at Braehead. Thirty-two teams were competing for a total of £2,000 in prize money. Teams would play a minimum of four games, but if you want to be in the money you're facing seven!"

The results should be found here.

Christine also sends a story about Sergey Korelenko (above) and his Russian team which was truly international! There were three Russians ....

.... but the fourth player was Brian Hudson. Brian is in his second season at Braehead, where he plays regularly with Carmunnock and Rutherglen CC. He's Canadian, and working in Glasgow for a couple of years. When he goes back to Canada he'll have an international curling CV!

The field features a lot of well known Scottish teams, but it has also attracted a team from Finland skipped by Toni Sepperi.

England's John Sharp.

Old and young were on the ice together. That's the great thing about the Open format! Gary Cannell delivers.

Blair Fraser.

I still consider them young! Ken Horton has his Scottish Senior Champions at Braehead this weekend. Ken delivers with Angus Storrie and Eddie Binks at station.

And it looks as if Team Graham Shedden's new team trousers have arrived!

Photos © Hugh Stewart

Cardwell Garden Centre Braehead Open

The organisers of the Cardwell Garden Centre Braehead Open are attempting to stream the event, and also to provide online results. Unfortunately the Braehead website is down, so they have established a blog which will provide both of the above.

Go here to see the first efforts.

There is a short advert and then the curling appears.

The week ahead

I've already mentioned that the Swiss Cup Basel begins tomorrow in Arlesheim. The Scottish teams taking part are skipped by David Murdoch, Tom Brewster and Logan Gray. The matchup for the first games in the thirty-two team triple knockout is here. It looks as if there will again be webcasts from Laola1.tv, see here.

Nearer home, the second of the Scottish Curling Tour events, the Cardwell Garden Centre Braehead Open, begins tomorrow evening. The draw is on this page. Thirty-two teams are taking part - and they are a real cross section of Scottish curling! In addition teams from Russia, Finland, Netherlands, Ireland and Wales are taking part.

After three preliminary rounds, the teams ranked 1-8 in each section will progress to the High Road Knockout. This will be played on Saturday evening, with quarterfinals, semis and finals on Sunday. There will be a 3rd-4th playoff in the High Road.

Teams ranked 9-14 in each section, twelve teams in total, progress to the Middle Road Schenkel, carrying forward their first three game results. They will play two further games – making five in total, except the 11th and 12th ranked teams after the fourth game, who will be eliminated.

Teams ranked 15 and 16 in each division will progress to the Low Road semifinal, which will be played on Sunday morning at 8.30am, with the final at 2pm on the Sunday. There's certainly something for everyone at the Braehead Open.

At Stranraer the Ladies' Branch Unders and Overs Competition is at the North West Castle rink on Saturday and Sunday. Twelve teams are in the draw for this, see here.

At the Taarnby Curling Club in Denmark, David Edwards, Kerry Barr, Scott Macleod and Louise Edwards will carry Scotland's colours in the European Mixed Championship. On Saturday, the Scots play Austria in their first game in the Red Section which has nine teams, including Russia, Sweden, Spain, Norway, Netherlands, Wales and Romania, as well as Austria, already mentioned. Eight countries compete in each of the other two sections. The website for the event is here if you want to follow how our team does in the week ahead.

Although the competition does not involve Scotland, the European Championship C Group Qualifiers will be played alongside the Euro Mixed.

L-R: Louise Edwards, Scott Macleod, Kerry Barr and David Edwards, Scotland's representatives at the European Mixed Championship in Taarnby. Photo © Skip Cottage.