Update from Taarnby

Congratulations to Italy whose junior men and junior women's sides won their competitions at the European Junior Challenge in Taarnby, and will now compete in the World Juniors in Oestersund, Sweden, in March. The story is here, with photos of the winning teams.

A 'well done' to Anna Fowler and her English team who made it to the top three in the girls' event, before losing out to Denmark in the 'semifinal'.

European Junior Challenge

The European Junior Challenge begins today at the Taarnby Rink in Copenhagen. Fifteen junior men's teams will play in two sections to find ONE team which will go forward to the World Junior Championships, in Oestersund, Sweden, March 3-11. Nine junior ladies' teams will fight it out, again for just one qualifier.

Scotland is not involved in the Taarnby qualifiers, having finished fifth in the men's and first in the women's at the World Junior Championships at Perth last season. The standard of the European junior B teams (if I can call them that) gets better every year, and the competitions in Taarnby will be hard fought. I'll be following the fortunes of the two English squads who I met recently at Lockerbie, see here.

Find the draw on this website, and the results should be here.

Anna Fowler skips the English junior ladies' team. Here she is in action at Lockerbie last month. Naomi Robinson is the sweeper. Photo © Skip Cottage.

The English are coming

Last weekend Fenton's Rink hosted a playdown to find the English Junior Champions who will represent their country in the European Junior Challenge at the Tårnby Curling Club, Copenhagen, Denmark, Jan 3-8. This competition is the qualifier for the World Junior Championships for those countries not already prequalified.

James Hustler was the Chief Umpire for the event and supplies the information below. I met some of these youngsters when I visited Fenton's for the Four Nations last season, so I was pleased to learn more on how they are getting on, and to share this on the blog.

All the results are here. The winners of the junior men's event was Ben Fowler's team above. L-R: Ben Alexander, Oliver Kendall, Ben Fowler, Harry Mallows.

Team Fowler defeated Jake Barker's team, above. Back: Miles Partridge, James Skidmore, Cormac Barry. Front: Jake Barker, Renz Bunag.

Jake's team is a product of the schools curling programme fostered at Fentons Rink with some of the local schools. This is their first season together as a unit and they're still getting a feel for the team dynamic. However with an age range of 14-16 and their current enthusiasm for the game there is potential for continuity as Ben's team ages and rolls out of junior curling.

Anna Fowler's team (above) won the girls' challenge. L-R: Naomi Robinson, Lauren Pearce, Angharad Ward, Anna Fowler, Hetty Garnier

Anna's team will go on to the European Junior Challenge in Tårnby in January. However it will be without Angharad who will be preparing for the Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck.

Lucy Spark's team are all still at secondary school and under 16. Back: Sarah Decoine, Rebecca Watts, Lucy Sparks. Front: Niamh Fenton, Louisa Partridge. Lucy's team is a product of the Sunday junior academy which has been run by Forbes Fenton for the last three years at Fenton's Rink. This was their first ever competition so it was very much a steep learning curve for them. They certainly held their own in the second match against Anna, losing 6-5.

James says, "I don't think we're ready for the cry of 'The English are coming!' but the future is looking promising if we can nurture the talent and enthusiasm."

Photos are all © Rosaleen Boardman.

Final news from Prague

John Brown reports in his Toothy Tales (here) that it is the Czech Junior Men and Norwegian Junior Women who will be competing at the World Junior Curling Championships here at the Dewar's Centre, Perth, March 5-13. Click on the link in the bar on the right to find what happened.

Thanks to John for these reports!

It's all happening in Prague

John Brown has an update from Prague, and an apology, here. Or click on the link on the right.

Prague update

John Brown reports from the European Junior Curling Challenge in Prague here, or click on the Toothy Tales link on the right.

More from Prague

John Brown has sent another update on what's happening at the European Junior Challenge in Prague. If you would like to read this, and if you are wondering if they really would cancel the final banquet, go here, or click on the Toothy Tales link in the sidebar.

Notes from Prague

John Brown has been in touch from Prague where the European Junior Curling Challenge is ongoing. His notes are in his Toothy Tales here, or click on the link on the right.

All the scores from this event can be found here.

Only one team from the Junior Men's competition and one from the Junior Women's event qualify for the World Junior Curling Championship in Perth, March 5-13. Just sixty days to go to the opening ceremony! If you are planning to come to the Dewar's Centre to support this competition, note that the Early Bird offer for cut price tickets has been extended to the end of this month. Book now to get the best seats! The website is here.

International Matches

Given the interest in the Four Nations, and efforts to ensure that Scotland is represented at Fenton's Rink, January 21-23, David B Smith has written a piece on how it all started back in 1895 on the Curling History blog here.

However, in the 21st century, the European Junior Curling Challenge begins today in Prague. Nine junior women's teams and thirteen junior men's teams will fight it out for places at the World Junior Championships at Perth, where Scotland, as host nation, has guaranteed places. Had the Junior Worlds been set to be held elsewhere, Scotland's women would be in this qualifier at Prague this time. All the results from this week can be found here.

European Junior Challenge

The European Junior Curling Challenge got underway yesterday in Prague, and runs through to Friday. Ten junior women's teams are taking part (including England), and thirteen junior men's teams, to find one further European qualifier for each division of the World Junior Curling Championships, to be held this year in Flims, Switzerland, March 6-14.

Follow the results here. There's a photo gallery here, and Josef Podrábský has already posted one of his videos here. Enjoy!

It hardly seems a year ago that Glen Muirhead's team secured a place for Scotland's junior men at the 2009 World Junior Championships in Vancouver, see here. But this season, both Scotland's junior men and women already have their places at Flims, so we can watch the outcome in Prague somewhat dispassionately!