Scottish expat to play for New Zealand

I was tickled to read the news this morning that a friend and well kent former Greenacres curler Kenny Thomson, now living in Auckland, has been selected as one of the five man squad to represent New Zealand at the Pacific Curling Championships in South Korea in November.

The NZ selections for the 2010-11 season were confirmed at a special meeting of the NZ Curling Association's Executive on July 16, see here. The other members of the national men's team are Sean Becker, Warren Kearney, Kris Miller and Warren Dobson.

Kenny is certainly one of the sport's 'characters'! More importantly he is a member of my own club, Reform CC, and I'm sure all the members will be cheering the news today.

The pic of Kenny, wearing his Reform CC fleece, was taken on a Reform Touring Club expedition to Prague a couple of years back. © Skip Cottage.

New Zealand's Grand Match

The Idaburn Dam in the South Island of New Zealand has 12cm of ice, and the call has gone out to hold that country's national outdoor bonspiel, which has been held three times in the past fourteen years, see here.

"It's a beautiful bit of ice," said curling association ice master Stewart McKnight, of Ranfurly, according to this report.

The event is being held over two days, today (Wednesday July 7) and tomorrow. More than sixty teams are taking part.

There are further news reports and videos here and here.

And there's video of previous New Zealand bonspiels here.