Sunday at Lockerbie

Here are a few more photos from the playoff stages at the Lockerbie U-17 competition yesterday. Just to explain, there were six sections of four. The top team in each section then made a group of six. These were ranked, the best two got a bye to the High Road semifinals. The other four played quarterfinals, the winners progressing to meet the teams that got the bye.

A similar process with the six teams which finished second in each section sorted out the Low Road. I've already posted pix of the High and Low Road winners here.

Although Bruce Mouat and Thomas Muirhead won their sections, they were not in the two ranked 1 and 2. They met in the quarterfinals, with Thomas's team proving stronger on the day - just. Bruce came up short with a draw for a second shot in the last end, which would have won him the game, then lost in the extra.

Here is the Mouat team in action. Thomas Halder and Angus Dowell work on Calum Greenwood's stone.

Gregor Cannon got past Cameron Bryce in the quarterfinals, thanks to a big four in the fifth end. All the results are on this page.

Lesley Young, Louise Joiner, Hailey Duff and Beth Dandie won the High Road 3-4 playoff...

... over Ross Whyte, Zack Stewart, Fraser Kingan and Christopher Howat.

Beth and Hailey wait for the X74 bus!

Ross Whyte

Ross again

Brad Askew and Matt Murdoch watch the games. Here Rachel Hannen delivers with Lauren McIntyre and Alison Fyfe in attendance.

Rachel has been selected to play for GB in the Winter Youth Olympic Games next year.

Thomas Muirhead will be her teammate, along with Duncan Menzies and Angharad Ward (see here).

Rachel, with Rachael Halliday, Lauren and Alison, lost out to Katie Murray, Sophie Jackson, Gayle Allan and Calum Wright (substituting for Kirsty Morton yesterday) in the Low Road 3-4 game.

Katie's delivery.

Here are the two teams in the Low Road final. Back L-R: Mhairi Paul, Kirsty Sloan, Lynn Paul, Niall Goldie (Lockerbie). Front: Andrew Neilson, John Ballantyne, Graeme Allan, Mark Guthrie (Lanarkshire). The boys were the stronger on the day.

Here are some photos of the two teams which contested the final:

Mark Munro, Bobbie Lammie and Connor Ballantye sweeping hard.

Thomas Muirhead watches his opposition in the final.

Gregor watches his stone, with John Fraser behind.

John and Kerr Waddell ready on their skip's stone. Young Kerr was substitute at lead this weekend for the Muirhead team.

Here's Thomas again.

Kerr delivers in the final, with sweepers John Fraser and Craig Waddell ready for action.

Connor delivers, with Mark and Bobbie his sweepers.

Did I mention there was a singles competition yesterday too? This was won by Andrew Neilson who beat Bruce Mouat in the final. Sue Stevenson presented Andrew with his prize.

Sue's new curling shoes are available from British Curling Supplies!

I think a special mention has to go to all the parents/drivers/supporters who are such an integral part of the U17 competitions. All in all, a great weekend. Super to see such enthusiasm on and off the ice. And the curling was good too!

Photos © Skip Cottage

Oslo, Saskatoon and Lockerbie

Norway is experiencing something of a Scottish invasion this week as six of our teams from the Podium and Performance squads (see here) are in Oslo for the Radisson Blu Oslo Cup, a Curling Champions Tour event. Four teams skipped by Tom Brewster, Logan Gray, David Edwards and Jay McWilliam will compete in the men's competition which involves twenty-five teams in five sections. First games begin at 10.50 today (Thursday).

Eve Muirhead's and Sarah Reid's teams will play in the women's event in Oslo, again with twenty-five teams in five sections.

The social highlight of the Oslo Cup is of course Rudolph's Party this evening. The organisers state, "Lapplandish reindeer, accompanied with genuine Norwegian Aquavit, will be served to players and guests from 18.30 hrs until we run out."

The event is being webcast by Laola1.tv, see here, and mirrored on Curlingkanalen, here, the Swedish site also providing a results service.

David Murdoch's team are on the second leg of their Canadian visit, as they participate in the 2011 Point Optical Curling Classic in Saskatoon, an Asham World Curling Tour event. See here for the first round draw. This is a thirty-two team triple knockout.

Me? I'll be showing my support for the Under 17 competition at Lockerbie. It's good news that all the U17 competitions are full to overflowing this season, with twenty-four teams in each. I look forward to seeing who stars at the Lockerbie rink this weekend. The draw can be downloaded from this page. There are six sections with four teams in each. First games are not until Saturday morning.

Good to see that the Royal Caledonian Curling Club's new website is up and running. Kay Adams usually provides comprehensive previews and roundups of each weekend's action there.

Lockerbie U-17

This was the Lockerbie rink today, recently opened for the new season. I made it there to see the final games in the Lockerbie Under-17 competition, the second of the RCCC's Slam series for these young curlers. Bruce Mouat and Kyle Waddell (above) had skipped their teams to the High Road final. You can find all the results on the Royal Club website here.

Bruce Mouat is having a good season. His junior men's team won the Greenacres Masters last weekend, and his mixed U17 team was on form this weekend. Bruce with Derrick Sloan, Rowena Kerr and Elspeth Lean had won the first Slam event at the end of last season at Perth.

Elspeth Lean delivers, with Rowena Kerr and Derrick Sloan ready to sweep. They got off to a good start in the final, everything went right for them today, and they ran out well on top of their opposition this time.

 Kyle Waddell, always intense!

Alison Fyfe delivers, with Rachel Hannen and Craig Waddell at the ready. A good second place, and of course more points in the bag.

Here are the High Road winners with Gordon Dinwoodie who presented the Stevenson trophy. L-R: Elspeth Lean (lead), Derrick Sloan (3rd), Bruce Mouat (skip) and Rowena Kerr (2nd).

Duncan Menzies with Stuart Taylor, Robert Fawns and Angus Dowell finished third, edging Andrew Neilson, John Ballantyne, Graeme Allan and Mark Guthrie into fourth place.

Gina Aitken (above) skipped her all girls team to beat Thomas Muirhead's rink of Ross Fraser, Cammy Smith and John Fraser in the Low Road Final.

And here are the girls with Zoe Roberts, President of Lockerbie and District Rotary Club, with the Rotary Shield. L-R: Rachael Halliday (lead), Vicky Wright (3rd), Gina Aitken (skip) and Katy Richardson (2nd).

Stuart Marshall, James Carswell, Euan Dagen and Angus Bennie beat Ross Whyte, Zack Stewart, Gregor McMillan and Christopher Howat in the Low Road 3-4 playoff, at the last stone of an extra end.

Thomas Muirhead won the singles competition, with Ross Fraser the runner-up.

Photos © Skip Cottage

No pressure then

Let's imagine the situation. You are playing your first competition as a skip. You've brought your team through to the 3rd-4th playoff of the High Road. But there's four lying against you in the first end as you go to play your last.

I should mention that you are eleven years old and your name is Ross Whyte.

This is what you do. You take the skip's shot out of your back pocket and play it, a nice little hit and roll in, perfectly. No pressure. It's why you are the skip!

Thanks to Alan Donaldson for the clip below. The YouTube link is here if you want to watch it in a larger frame. It's from the Lockerbie U-17 on Sunday. I doubt if World Champ David Murdoch could have played it better, or if his team could have looked after it any better than did Zack Stewart, Paul Donaldson and Chris Howat.



Did I mention that Team Whyte went on to win the game? Let's hear it for these Dumfries Young Curlers! Their photo is in this post.

More from Lockerbie

Thomas Sloan was throwing them well at Lockerbie this weekend, as he skipped his team to victory in the U-17 competition, see here for the presentation pic.

Although third player Scott Fraser doesn't seem so sure in this pic from the final, with Stuart Taylor and Duncan Menzies watching behind.

Thomas Muirhead threw second stones.

Kyle Smith was lead. It's all in the tongue!

Go here for more action photos from the weekend. You can browse the individual pics, or run the slideshow.

Low Road winners L-R Craig Waddell (2nd), Kyle Waddell (3rd), Gavin Reid (skip) and Adrew Muir (lead).

Kyle Waddell (on right) beat his skip Gavin Reid in the final of the singles competition.

Ross Whyte (front left) with his team Paul Donaldson (2nd), Zack Stewart (3rd) and Chris Howat (lead).

(As noted above, more pics are in the Picasa album here. Not intended to be a comprehensive selection of everyone on the ice - apologies if your photo is not here. Please let me know if I have captioned any incorrectly. Email address is in my Profile. Thanks. Bob)

Pics © Skip Cottage

Sloan repeats at Lockerbie U-17

Sue Stevenson presents the Stevenson Trophy to (L-R) Kyle Smith (lead), Scott Fraser (3rd), Thomas Sloan (skip) and Thomas Muirhead (second). The Sloan team beat Duncan Menzies, Stuart Taylor, Robert Fawns and Angus Dowell in the final of the Lockerbie U-17 event, the second in the RCCC Slam series. All the linescores are on the website here.

I'm a big fan of the U-17 events, and this one was great. There were sixteen teams, playing in four sections, with six-end games the rule on the Saturday. The top team in each section would qualify for the High Road. Team Sloan were the favourites - they are a strong team. Thomas himself is Scottish Junior Champion and has already bags of experience. He skipped the winning team at the Lockerbie U-17 last season. This year his team beat Jennifer Paul, Fraser Davidson, Erica McGeoch and Andi Lock in the eight-end semi.

Surprise of the weekend - and very much the 'team of the event' - was Ross Whyte's debut as skip in the U-17 event series. He directed Zack Stewart, Paul Donaldson and Chris Howatt to three points from his three section games, and was an end better than the three other teams in his section, all of who finished with the same points, to qualify for the High Road. In the semi, the Dumfries young curlers came second in their game against the Menzies side, but they bounced back to beat Jen Paul's team in the 3-4 playoff.

Did I mention that Ross is just eleven?

Gavin Reid, Kyle Waddell, Craig Waddell and Andrew Muir won the the Lockerbie and District Rotary Shield, defeating Mhairi Baird, Gina Aitken, Katy Richardson and Rachael Halliday in the Low Road Final.

There was a lot of talent on the ice at Lockerbie this weekend. I enjoyed the event thoroughly. I've taken lots of photos and I'll have some of these up to view tomorrow, all being well.