Edinburgh International 2011: The Winners

Here's the presentation photo of the winners of the Edinburgh International. L-R: Tom Brewster, Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow.

The story of the final day, the photo of the runners-up, and the prizewinners in the Seniors Championship, can all be found in the event blog here.

Photo by Robin Copland

Edinburgh International 2011

Congratulations to Tom Brewster, Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow who won the Edinburgh International Championship at Murrayfield today, beating Sandy Reid, Moray Combe (fourth stones), Neil Macarthur, and David Soutar in the final. One down in the final end, Tom played a perfect raise takeout for the two he needed to win.

All the scores are here, and photos are on the event blog here.

This is a screenshot from the successful webcast from the event. Moray and Sandy are discussing strategy, with Greg and Tom behind.

Murrayfield Update

Robin Copland has an update on the Edinburgh International Curling Championship on the event blog here.

The results from Edinburgh can be found here.

Saturday at Murrayfield

Right, just a quick mention of the live webcast from the Edinburgh International this evening. I'm watching the Edwards - Snitil game. Bigger screen than last night, coming over smoothly, and I confess to liking Robin Copland's commentary. He paid me to say that.

Actually, Robin has the same easy way with the spoken word as he does in his Behind the Glass columns.

You can find all the results and standings on this page, and Bob Kelly has some great photos from today on the event blog here.

Top: View of the Murrayfield Rink, courtesy of Bob Kelly.

Above: Screenshot from tonight's live webcast!

Webcasting from Murrayfield

I looked in at the Murrayfield rink earlier today to see some of the play, and take some photos of the webcast crew at the Edinburgh International. I mentioned before that there is a nominal charge this year (just £3) to view the webcasts, all of them, really just so the organisers can get an estimate of the interest there is out there in the provision of moving images. Will it be in the tens, or hundreds, or thousands? What do you think?

Now I'm home and watching on my own laptop the second game to be webcast, between Jay McWilliam's team and the experienced Thomas Ulsrud side from Norway, making their first visit to the Edinburgh International, complete with their distinctive colourful trousers (of which Skip Cottage is a big fan, but you already knew that!).

Ulsrud counted four at the first, and I enjoyed (perhaps not the right word) watching how that happened. The video stream was pretty smooth, although the sound quality was not good at all to begin with, very broken up, and difficult to listen to. However, this problem was soon resolved and I was able to enjoy the wisdom of the commentary team, Robin Aitken and Trevor Dodds, without problem for the rest of the game! All in all it was a good viewing experience.

And here are the aforementioned Trevor and Robin. They had a short stint this evening as Ulsrud's team were dominant and the game was over early. I look forward to reading the McWilliam team's own thoughts on their blog in due course.

Here is the hub of the operation. Andrew Mitchell, nearest us, was helping out his brother Alex whose operation this is. That's him behind. At the back is Natalia Konopka, a student from Poland currently studying at Dundee College, who is helping out on the team.

John Good was up the gantry working the end-of-ice camera today.

I read with interest (here) how the organisers had discussed which games they wanted to webcast. They didn't ask me for my advice of course, although I would have thought they might have known. See above. THERE IS NOTHING WORSE THAN WATCHING A TEAM IN BLACK PLAYING AGAINST A TEAM IN BLACK, and that is how today's first game looked when the webcast started. I don't think that game is available yet to view on the catchup, so maybe things got better. It really is time for some of those involved in our sport - and I'll mention no names - to do things in a professional manner. (Mr Grumpy tonight, sorry.)

It was interesting to make the comparison between the Edinburgh efforts and the Laola1.tv webcast from Wetzikon (the ZO Women's Curling Champions Tour event) also on this evening. The Laola output is extremely high standard, as I've mentioned before. Nothing of course beats being at an event in person, but this season I've realised, for the first time, how important it is for many to have access to webcasts and the like if they want to enjoy their sport, and are forced to do so 'from a distance'. It certainly beats just following a line score.

For all the end by end linescores from Edinburgh, go here. Some action photos are here.

More webcasts are scheduled for today, Saturday, see here.
Photos © Skip Cottage

Pay to View

A year or two back there was much talk about webcasting curling events in Scotland. The Royal Club even had discussions on linking up with a professional company to broadcast a number of events throughout the season. Cost was the main stumbling block to progressing this I understand.

It had been the Perth Masters organisers who had led the way. The Edinburgh International took up the baton and, aside from the BBC's webcasts during the Scottish Championships, the event at Murrayfield is the only competition providing live webcasts of some games. So this year again, you can watch the action on your computer.

At a cost!

It's only £3 for the whole weekend, and this will give access to the game archive too. The sign up procedure is straightforward, as I've just tried it out and registered, and I now have my password which will enable me to watch the games if I cannot be at Murrayfield in person. The sign up page is here.

Robin Copland describes how the decisions were made on which games to webcast. He writes, "Webcasts start at 13.45 on Friday, November 25 with the local Scottish derby game between Stranraer’s Frazer Hare and Perth’s David Smith. Both these teams will have their supporters and they should serve up an interesting game of curling on ice that is drawing a good four feet at draw weight on recently-turned stones. Frazer has Robbie Stevenson playing third, with a front end of Jamie Strawhorn and Don Frame. David has namesake Warwick at third, Craig Wilson at second and Ross Hepburn throwing lead stones.

On Friday at 19.15, we have decided to webcast young Jay McWilliams’s game versus the vastly-experienced Thomas Ulsrud side from Norway. Jay has local Murrayfield curler Colin Dick at third, Grant Hardie at second and his cousin Billy Morton at lead. Colin and Billy are reigning Scottish junior champions. Had their team not been swamped by lurgy at Perth in the world junior championships earlier this year, I think that they may very well have medalled. Thomas Ulsrud and his team of Torger Nergård, Christopher Svae and Håvard Vad Petersson need no introduction to Scottish TV fans. They have featured in many World, Olympic and European championship games in the recent past.

On Saturday, our first webcast will be at 10.45 when we will feature the game between Logan Gray and regular Edinburgh competitors, David Śik and his team from the Czech Republic. Logan has Al Guthrie, Steve Mitchell and Murrayfield’s own Sandy Gilmour, while David brings Radek Boháč, Karel Uher and Milan Polívka over from the continent.

Later on that day (and depending on how the league tables are looking), we plan to cover the Tom Brewster versus John Hamilton game on Saturday at 13.50 and the David Murdoch versus Graham Shedden tie at 19.15.

We will cover one of the semifinals on Sunday, November 27 at 11.30 and the championship final at 14.30.

All times are UK. CET is one hour ahead."

The event website is here.

Laola1.tv has set a very high standard for curling webcasts this season, and it will be interesting to see how Alex Mitchell and his team compares on the technical side, and how the commentators stand up to the challenge. It's not easy. How many will sign up? The £3 is a nominal amount, but the statistics on take up will certainly determine if a market exists for webcasting in the future. Or if it does not!

Top: Robin Copland behind the microphone at the Edinburgh International Championship last year. Photo © Skip Cottage.

Edinburgh International 2011

Robin Copland sends this preview of next weekend's Edinburgh International:

"Twenty-four teams will compete in this season’s Edinburgh International Curling Championships. The event can trace its history back to the old Worlds Championships, first competed in 1922 at the Haymarket rink. In 1975, the event changed its name to the Edinburgh International Curling Championship and thus it has remained ever since. It is the oldest curling event on the Curling Champions Tour. This year’s competition’s first games start at 08.30 on Friday, November 25, and league play continues all the way through Friday and Saturday. Sunday is given over to knock-out quarter and semifinals and culminates in the final at 2.30 pm.

There is an interesting field assembling for this year’s competition. For the first time in a number of seasons, we have three Swiss teams in the draw, skipped by Stefan Häsler, Jan Hauser and Pascal Hess. Pascal and his team of Yves Hess, Florian Meister and Stefan Meienberg are currently lying in eighth spot on the Champions Tour Men’s league.

Comeback man Markku Uusipaavalniemi, who famously drew the button against David Murdoch in the Olympic semifinal in Pinerolo five years ago and went on to win a Silver Medal in those Games, brings a new team from his native Finland. Toni Antilla, Kasper Hakunti and Joni Ikonen make up his foursome. Currently they are in ninth position in the league. His brother, Jussi, plays third in another team from Finland skipped by Toni Rantamäki.

Norway’s European Champion team, skipped by Thomas Ulsrud, is competing in Edinburgh for the first time. Torger Negård throws third stones, Christopher Svae is his hard-hitting second and Håvard Vad Peterson is the team’s lead. Thomas and company bring an incredible level of consistency with them to Edinburgh. In all the World and European Championships in which they have competed since the 2007 European Championships in Füssen, as well as 2010 the Olympic Games in Vancouver, they have never finished lower than fourth. They have competed in eight championships and medalled in seven of them – just a remarkable record of consistent performance in fields of the highest class. Methinks that the winner of the 2011 Edinburgh International may very well have to get past the Norwegians before they get their hands on the cup!

Italian teams skipped by Marco Pascale and Joel Retornaz return, as do Jiri Snitil and regular visitors David Śik from the Czech Republic.

The Scottish challenge is headed by Scotland’s champion rink of skip Tom Brewster, third Greg Drummond, second Scott Andrews and lead Michael Goodfellow. These chaps are having a great season on the European Curling Champions Tour circuit and currently sit proudly at the top of the league table.

Sadly for them, they are not going to represent Scotland at the European Championships. David Murdoch’s new-look team of Glen Muirhead, Ross Paterson and Richard Woods take Scotland’s hopes to Moscow after beating Tom in a best of three final at Perth last month. David won the Edinburgh International Championship two seasons ago when he skipped Ewan MacDonald, Pete Smith and Euan Byers to victory in 2009.

Last season’s champion rink returns minus substitute Kerr Drummond. Graham Shaw skips Brian Binnie, David Hay and Robin Niven in what they hope will be a successful defence of their title. Most of the top Scottish teams join Graham, David and Tom in what looks like an exciting competition. Expect strong Scottish challenges from the likes of David Smith, Sandy Reid, David Edwards, Logan Gray, Graham Shedden, Frazer Hare, Lee McCleary, Graeme Black and Murrayfield’s own Paul Stevenson and John Hamilton.

Jay McWilliam skips the only junior team in this season’s competition. He has two Scottish Junior Champions in his rink, Murrayfield’s Colin Dick and Billy Morton from Ayr. Grant Hardie, second in the team, played much of his school curling at Murrayfield and knows the ice well. I give them special mention because they have come off a couple of very special weekends, winning a junior competition in Canada and following that up with a magnificent win – against a strong field – in the inaugural Stirling Invitational on November 13. Could they be the team to fly Scotland’s flag in Edinburgh?"

For details of the draw and the webcast, go to the event website here.

Edinburgh International 2011

When I think back to the Edinburgh International last season, it is the weather that comes to mind as the city disappeared under all the snow. Organiser Robin Copland, who found himself stranded in the wilds of Balerno (!) on the Sunday, has been in touch with news of the 2011 competition.

He writes, "Entries for the championships are coming in now from all over Europe and eight teams, including Joel Retornaz’s Italian team and Markku Uusipaavalniemi, the former Olympic Silver medallist, have already signed up for the event. They will join Scottish teams skipped by the likes of Scottish runner-up, Sandy Reid, Logan Gray and Stranraer’s Frazer Hare. All the top finishers in last season’s Scottish Championships were invited and have a deadline of July 8 to reply. Teams that are knocking on the door, like former Scottish Junior Champion Ally Fraser, Blair Fraser and Graham Shedden, have also applied and are keen to play in the event in the event of spaces being available.

This year’s competition will run from November 25-27. We will continue to webcast the event live from Murrayfield and plan to have some cameras situated in the ice hall this year. Hopefully, quality will be further improved for the armchair viewer.

The popular seniors event is now over-subscribed and late entries will be put on the reserve list. Again, there is a strong field, headed up by three-time Scottish Senior Champion and former World Champion Keith Prentice. Murrayfield’s own Colin Hamilton will want put down an early marker for the season’s Scottish Senior Championships. The draw for the event will be published presently. Round-robin games will take place on November 23 and 24 with the semifinals and finals coinciding with the Edinburgh International on Sunday, November 27.

It promises to be a great week of curling and hopefully this year we will not be afflicted by the weather in the way that we were last season!"

Robin Copland, having walked and ridden public transport to get to Murrayfield through the snow, was behind the microphone in the commentary booth for the Edinburgh International Final 2010. Photo © Skip Cottage.

That was the weekend

You may already have seen the results of my weekend at Edinburgh. If not, go here. Congratulations to Graham Shaw and his team of David Hay, Robin Niven and Kerr Drummond, the Edinburgh International Curling Champions 2010.

And a 'well done' Eve Muirhead, Kelly Wood, Jackie Lockhart and Annie Laird who reached the semifinal of the International ZO Tournament in Wetzikon, losing to the eventual winners Mirjam Ott, in an extra end.

I'm away from my computer until Monday evening. Look out for Kay Adams' weekend roundup on the Royal Club website here.

Edinburgh International

The blog for the Edinburgh International is here.

Behind another lens

I'm not the only photographer at the Edinburgh International Curling Championships today (see the EI blog here). Calder Benzies has been shooting the curlers too. I rather liked this one of the David Murdoch team in action!

Ross Hepburn is saying, "Where has the stone gone?"

Photo © Calder Benzies

Curling IS an old man's game

I'm blogging here. (Click to link to the Edinburgh International blog)

Keith Prentice, Lockhart Steele, Robin Aitken and Tommy Fleming, Scottish Senior Champions, struck a blow for silver sliders everywhere this morning with a comprehensive victory over David Murdoch, Warwick Smith, Glen Muirhead and Ross Hepburn this morning at the Edinburgh International!

The results and standings are all here. Don't forget there's a webcast from the event here.

Curlwatching this weekend

There's lots of curling to keep your eyes on this weekend. Sarah Reid (above) takes her team of Kerry Barr, Kay Adams and Barbara McFarlane to the Curling Champions Tour event in Wetzikon this weekend. Kay, in her role as the Royal Club's Web Content Officer, has posted the details of where to find all the results from Switzerland in her weekend preview here. Eve Muirhead and Anna Sloan also have teams at the ZO International.

Kay's weekend preview also has detail of the third leg of the CCT Junior Tour in Thun, where Hannah Fleming, John Penny and Kyle Smith are the Scots teams in action, and of the Under-17 Slam at Greenacres for the Baljaffray trophy.

I'll be at Murrayfield with my camera this weekend for the Edinburgh International Championship, and blogging here.

In the meantime, if you want a little nostalgia, I've posted a clip from the 1986 Edinburgh International here. Just as they are this weekend, Hammy McMillan and David Smith were together twenty-four years ago, although David was the skip back then. Bob Martin's English side had difficulty buying a shot in this game! Commentary is from Brian Alderman and Gordon Muirhead. I have to apologise for the small size of the YouTube clip. What is different this time is that the ripped footage comes, not indirectly from an original VHS tape, but from a DVD which had already been converted professionally from a tape. I suspect that the resolution on this DVD is different from that on the DVDs I make myself. Anyway, thanks to Ken Horton for lending me this, and other DVDs from his own collection. Note that you can expand the YouTube clip using the button on the bottom right of the screen.

Sarah's photo is from last weekend in Aberdeen and is © Skip Cottage

Eye on Murrayfield

My focus will be on the Murrayfield Rink from tomorrow when the Edinburgh Seniors International Championship gets underway there. The seniors play Wednesday and Thursday, and the Curling Champions Tour event begins on Friday. The finals of both events will be on Sunday.

You can find info about the webcast of the International on the event blog here.

The website for the draws and results is here.

Edinburgh, 1984

We're back in 1984 for this week's rescued clip from the curling archives. So if I say, "All ice is equal but some ice is more equal than others," what is the connection? Answer below*.

Anyway, enough of the literary conundrums. The YouTube video, here, or click on the screenshot above, is from an early round game in the Skol Edinburgh International Championship, originally broadcast by Scottish Television. Graeme Adam's team is up against Canada's Mike Riley. I've edited the whole of the seventh end, plus a couple of shots from the ninth. If it seems a bit jumpy, I apologise, as I've removed all the stone replays, and in so doing I've got rid of my own commentary, leaving Brian Alderman to carry the description of what's happening. You're not missing anything, I can assure you. Enjoy this ten minute look back at the past.

If this video shows anything, it illustrates just what an improvement there has been in ice conditions over the years!

Look closely at the people watching the action behind the head. Recognise a very young looking Robin Copland? I'm sure he didn't realise then that one day he would be on the organising committee for the Edinburgh International. Indeed, he has just written a piece about this season's event on the EI blog here, and also about the Seniors' draw here. The draws for the events can be downloaded from the main event website here.

* The connection is George Orwell who wrote both 1984 and Animal Farm (from whence comes the quote 'All animals are equal but some are more equal than others').

Gowsell at Murrayfield, 1985

I was talking about the 2010 Edinburgh International Curling Championship just recently, see here.

It's a competition with a long history. In August I showed some old footage from the 1984 event (here) and I wondered if I had more. Yes, is the answer.

So this week's archive footage, from an STV broadcast, shows Canada's Paul Gowsell in action from the 1985 competition. Here's nine minutes from an early round game, the Canadian side against Peter Wilson's Stranraer team. There's a couple of classic Gowsell shots which I think you will enjoy! Brian Alderman and Iain Baxter are the commentators.

Click on the image, or here, to watch. It's only twenty-five years ago!

EIC blog online again

The Edinburgh International Curling Championship blog is back online, see here. There's a fund-raising dinner next weekend. The competition dates this season are November 26-28, 2010.

Murrayfield, 1984

We're back to 1984 today, to the SKOL Edinburgh International Curling Championship at Murrayfield. Scottish Television was the broadcaster then. I've rescued this clip from a VHS tape recorded at the time.

Actually, I hear Willie Jamieson has entered the Scottish Seniors this year, with Gordie Kennedy, David McGaan and David Kelly (or possibly his stunt double). Can't wait. I've joined the team's fan club already. Anyway, here's Willie in action way back in 1984, against Peter Wilson.

You might recognise other well kent curlers on the ice. I mentioned recently to the RCCC webmaster Lindsay Scotland (currently working hard on the governing body's new website) that I had this piece of video. However, his monetary offer for me NOT to show it was insufficient. So here it is, most of one end of the game. Click on either of the images to go to the video, or follow this link.

The top photo is of manager Ronnie Malcolm when the Murrayfield rink was flooded by the Water of Leith not long before the Edinburgh International was due to take place. All credit to the staff that the rink was ready for the Championships! The photo was used to introduce the STV broadcast (this is a still from the video), and the original still hangs in the entrance foyer of the Murrayfield Rink.

The Edinburgh International

David Murdoch, Ewan MacDonald, Peter Smith and Euan Byers won the Edinburgh International Championship today, beating Peter Loudon's side at the last stone of the final.

Well done to the Murdoch team! You can find the whole story, and lots of photos, on the event blog here. And all the results, including those from the Seniors competition, are here.

I really enjoyed my involvement with the competition for the past five days. It was the first time that I had set up an 'away blog' for an event, with the encouragement of my friend and former teammate Robin Copland. I think too it's the first time that a Curling Champions Tour event has had its own blog. It was fun. I know that many regular visitors to Skip Cottage Curling jumped across to see what I was up to in Edinburgh. I hope you enjoy(ed) it all. I did!

It's going to happen again soon. The event blog for the Le Gruyere European Curling Championships is already ticking over (go here for a look), and later this week I'll be bringing you lots from Aberdeen, with the help of several blogallies - Tansy Whitebits, Richard Gray, and Coo, to name but three.

Edinburgh International

Just a reminder that for the next few days I'm blogging here.