Team Edwards wins Brightsolid Kinross Open

David Edwards and his team of John Penny, Scott McLeod and Colin Campbell have won the Kinross Open defeating Ross McCleary's team 5-4 after an extra end.

Both David and Ross topped their respective sections to progress to the quarter finals.

David beat Lorna Vevers 6-3 before defeating Duncan Gracie 8-3 in the semi final.

Ross beat Quentin Russell 8-2 before defeating Murray Young 6-2 in the semi final.

This win now puts David Edwards in pole position 2 points ahead of Frazer Hare going into the last event in February in Aberdeen.

Any one of the below four teams can still potentially lay their hands on the first prize so expect a few twists and turns at the Petrofac Aberdeen Open.

23pts David Edwards
21pts Frazer Hare
20pts Murray Young

18pts Hannah Fleming

Brightsolid Kinross Open

The Brightsolid Kinross Open kicks off tomorrow at 10am.

This new event to the SCT consists of 4 sections of 5 teams with the top two in each section qualifying for the quarter finals on Sunday.

More information can be found at the below link

http://kinrossopen.blogspot.co.uk/

Warwick Smith wins Stirling Invitational

Warwick Smith and his team of David Smith, Alan Smith and Ross Hepburn won the Stirling Invitational by beating Grant Hardie's team of Jay McWilliam, Hamilton McMillan and Billy Morton 5-4 in a closely fought final.

Warwick topped his section unbeaten with Grant Hardie also progressing from the same section. He then defeated Hammy McMillan 5-3 in the quarters before going on to defeat David Edwards 5-1 in the semi final.

Grant Hardie defeated Tom Brewster 6-5 in his quarter final before beating SCT leader Frazer Hare 5-4 in the semi final.

Frazer Hare now has a healthy lead in the SCT but with still two events to play is still catchable.

Next event is Kinross on 14-16 December.

This was Tom Brewster, Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews, Michael Goodfellow and David Murdoch's last event before heading off to Sweden for the European Championships. We wish them all the best for this event.

Frazer Hare wins Lockerbie Superspiel

Frazer Hare and his team of Robbie Dick, Jamie Strawhorn and Don Frame defeated Graeme Black, Scott Hamilton, Colin Howden and Allan Marshall to win the Lockerbie Superspiel at the weekend.

Frazer qualified top of the section with 7 points courtesy of a 6-5 win over Graham Sheddon in his last schenkel game. At that point any one of five teams was in with a shout of the top four places and had Frazer not made his two in the last end he might not have made it through to the quarter finals.

Graeme Black qualified second out of the same section along with Neil Joss and Christine Cannon.

David Edwards topped Section A with Gavin Fleming, David Hardie and the Canadian rink Kelly Marnoch filling the other spots for the quarterfinals.

All four of the quarter finals were closely fought games with David Edward defeating Christine Cannon 5-2, Graeme Black defeating David Hardie 5-4, Gavin Fleming defeating Neil Joss 5-4 and Frazer Hare defeating Kelly Marnoch 6-5.

The semi finals pitched David Edwards against Graeme Black and with a steal of one in the 8th end Graeme edged this one 4-2.

Frazer’s team were up against SCT founder Gavin Fleming and although Gavin lost a six in the second end fought back to be tied 7-7 coming down the last. Frazer managed to hold his nerve to come through 9-7.

The final was decided by a decisive steal of three in the 6th end to give Frazer's team a 6-3 lead which was enough to secure the title.

David Edwards won the 3-4 play off game defeating Gavin Fleming 5-3.

A great weekend was had by all and a special thanks must go to all involved in making this event a success. A special thanks also to Richard Smith for being the compare for the quiz on Saturday night.

Stirling Invitational Draw

The draw for the Stirling Invitational has been made and is detailed below

 

Group A                                 Group C

A1 Tom Brewster               C1 Daryl Russel

A2 Hammy McMillan          C2 Glen Muirhead

A3 David Hay                     C3 Stuart Taylor

A4 Adrian Meikle                C4 Mark Neeleman

A5 Keith Wilson                  C5 Ewan MacDonald

A6 Alan Hannah                 C6 Kyle Smith

Group B                                 Group D

B1 Murray Young               D1 Warwick Smith

B2 Graham Shedden         D2 Bruce Mouat

B3 Frazer Hare                  D3 Kelly Marnoch

B4 David Edwards             D4 Graeme Black

B5 Logan Gray                  D5 Mathias Genner

B6 Alan Mitchell                 D6 Grant Hardie

Friday 30 November 

 

Start Finish   Sheet 1   Sheet 2  Sheet 3   Sheet 4  Sheet 5  Sheet 6

09:00 11:10   C1-C6   C2-C5   C3-C4   D1-D6   D2-D5   D3–D4

11:30 13:40   A1-A6   A2-A5   A3-A4   B1-B6   B2-B5   B3–B4

14:30 16:40   D5-D1   D6-D4   D2-D3   C5-C1   C4-C6   C2-C3

17:00 19:10   B5-B1   B6-B4   B2-B3   A5-A1   A4-A6   A2-A3

19:30 21:40   C2-C4   C1-C3   C5-C6   D2-D4   D1-D3   D5-D6

Saturday 1 December 

08:00 10:10   A2-A4   A1-A3   A5-A6   B2-B4   B1-B3   B5-B6

10:30 12:40   D3-D5  D6-D2   D1-D4   C3-C5   C6-C2   C1-C4

13:30 15:40   B3-B5   B6-B2   B1-B4   A3-A5   A6-A2   A1-A4

16:00 18:10   C6-C3   C5-C4   C2-C1   D6-D3   D5-D4   D2-D1

18:30 20:40   A6-A3   A5-A4   A2-A1   B6-B3   B5-B4   B2-B1

Sunday 2 December

08:30 10:30   A1-D2   C1-B2   B1-C2   D1-A2

11:30 13:30   W1-W2                 W3-W4

14:30 16:30                    W-W

Lockerbie Superspiel Draw

The draw has been made for the Lockerbie Superspiel from 23-25 November and will be played in 2 sections of 8 teams with top 4 in each qualifying for the quarter finals.

                         Section A

Andrew Maitland  v    Gus van Imhoff
David Jones         v    David Edwards
Duncan Gracie     v    David Hardie
Gavin Fleming     v    Kelly Marnoch


                         Section B

James Pougher     v   Graeme Prentice
Alan Mitchell         v    Christine Cannon
Graeme Black      v    Frazer Hare
Neil Joss              v    Graham Shedden

Team MacDonald wins the Skins

Ewan MacDonald and his team of Duncan Fernie, Ally Fraser and Euan Byers defeated Alexander Christie, Ali Asher, Ross Cope and Robbie Cope to win the Inverness Skins at the weekend.

After topping their section Ewan's team defeated Iain Fraser in the quarter final before edging a close one against Grant Hardie (deputising for Murray Young) in the semi final.

Sandy Christie defeated Neil MacArthur and Kerry Barr to progress to the final.

At the half way stage the overall leaderboard now has Murray Young up level with Hannah Fleming on 15 points with a host of teams now breathing down their necks.

Next stop is Lockerbie in 2 weeks time where I believe there are still a couple of spaces left.

Inverness Skins

The Inverness Skins kicks off at 10.30am on Friday this week.

There are some interesting match ups with Iain Watt's Perth team taking on Kerry Barr's ladies team fresh from their good showing at Forfar.

There is also a first outing in the SCT for Ewan MacDonald's team of Duncan Fernie, Ally Fraser and Euan Byers. They will be serious contenders for the Scottish Championships and should have a good showing here at Inverness. They kick off with Stuart Stark in their first game.

It will also be good to see Sarah Macintyre back on her home ice as she takes on Reginald Weibe in her first game.

Results will appear over the course of the weekend.

Last Few Spots Remain

The Lockerbie Superspiel (23-25 Nov) and the Kinross Open (14-16 Dec) are both new events this year on the SCT. Both are almost full but have openings for late entrant teams - so contact the organisers today to secure your spot.

 

Lockerbie - Pat Strawhorn	icerink@btconnect.com
Kinross - David Jones	david@royalcaledoniancurlingclub.org

Expect the events to be fun, social tournaments with a good mix of local, national and international teams.

With the tour now half way through it is all still to play for with no team dominating so far. A couple of good results in the remaining tournaments could still see anyone lift the trophy together with a share of the £3,500 prize fund!

The Latvians are coming

Martins Truksans mens curling team from Latvia ranked number 4 in their country are coming to Scotland in December for the SCT Kinross Open.

They are using this for preparation for their national championship, however will have free time from 9th - 13th December.

In these 5 days they would like to arrange several training games against good/strong opposition.

They will be staying in Glasgow. This means that best rinks for games are Breahead and Greenacres, but we can go anywhere.

They currently have games lined up against Neil Joss and Graham Shedden.

If you would like to play against the Latvians then please contact martins.truksans@gmail.com

Team Muirhead wins at Forfar

The Forfar Open took place this weekend and much fun was had by all who attended with Mike, Jill and the rest of the staff at Forfar Indoor Sports doing their upmost to ensure everyone was looked after.

After some keenly contested round robin games Kerry Barr and Katie Murray progressed from Section A, David Edwards and Graham Shedden from Section B, Glen Muirhead and Robin Brydone from Section C and Kyle Smith and Murray Young from Section D.

Onto the quarter finals where

Kyle Smith defeated Graham Shedden 8-4 with a big 4 ender in the 3rd end.
The young team of Robin Brydone defeated the experienced team of David Edwards 7-5.
Glen Muirhead squeezed past Murray Young 6-5 taking a 2 in the last end for the win.
Kerry Barr defeated Katie Murray 8-1 with the youngsters losing a 5 in a disastrous first end.

The semi finals were both won by the scoreline of 7-3 with Glen Muirhead defeating Kerry Barr and Kyle Smith defeating Robin Brydone.

Onto the final where a great draw by Kyle Smith in the 8th end tied the scores up at 4-4 thus forcing an extra end. Glen Muirhead's team having the hammer and successfully keeping the front clear left Glen with a nose hit for the win which he duly dispatched.

Congratulations go to Glen Muirhead, Dave Reid, Greg Drummond and Kerr Drummond on their victory.

Trophy presented to Glen by Ian Young, President of Forfar Indoor Sports.

 

Photo © Tom Brydone

And on to Forfar

This weekend we look forward to the Goldline SCT Forfar Open.
 

In addition to the curling itself the organisers intend to make the weekend as much fun as possible therefore in order that you can best plan your weekend here is a brief summary of the programme of events.

 

On Friday they will be showing the Wales v Scotland live on the TV screens together with a race night with a difference. On Saturday night they will be hosting a free players buffet followed by a bowling competition in their bowling hall. Throughout the weekend there will be various raffles, quizzes, etc. to keep you entertained.

 
 

They offer full catering services all very reasonably priced and breakfast rolls will be available on arrival Friday, Saturday & Sunday.

 
 

Their minibus will be running over the weekend to help with transport arrangements for those staying in the area.

Draw can be found on their website
 

http://www.forfarindoorsports.co.uk

 

Results will appear here during the weekend.

Cardwell Garden Centre Braehead Open

The Braehead Open sponsored by Cardwell Garden Centre was held 5^th to 7^th October.

Part of the Scottish Goldline Tour, and due to the success of previous years, the competition drew 32 teams playing out a highly competitive weekends curling , all vying for one of the thirteen prizes on offer as well as qualifying for tour points and the coveted Braehead Open trophy.

Many of the Scottish performance squad teams were in evidence as well a whole host of medal winners at national and international level competing against teams from The Netherlands, Russia and Norway and even a team made up from Braehead’s Virtual Club who acquitted themselves well against top class opposition.

Come Sunday afternoon and the final took place between teams led by Hannah Fleming and Murray Young with Hannah triumphing 8 shots to 4 in a tight final that went to the wire.

Prizes were handed to all the successful teams by Bruce Harley, Leisure Manager at Braehead and the trophy presented to Hannah and her team of Abi Brown, Lauren Gray and Jennifer Dodds by Cardwell Garden Centre Director Eric Gallagher. 

Now in its eighth year the Braehead Open has become a firm fixture in the curling calendar and teams already have their entries in for next year and so it was to the delight of the watching crowd that Mr Gallagher announced the continued sponsorship of Cardwell Garden Centre.

Photo © Gary MacFarlane

Team Fleming Wins at Braehead

World Junior Champions Hannah Fleming have won the Braehead Open defeating Murray Young 8-4 in a closely fought final with a steal of 3 in the last end giving the ladies the title.

Hannah Fleming, Lauren Gray, Jennifer Dodds and Abi Brown are now leading the SCT with 15 points after 2 events.

Live Streaming

The Braehead Open sponsored by Cardwell Garden Centre kick's off at 6pm tonight.

The games to watch this evening include a rematch for Alan Hannah having been narrowly put out of the Ice Bowl Open by Hannah Fleming's World Junior Champions as well as an exciting match up between Ken Horton's very experienced local rink and the 2002 World Women's Champion Jackie Lockhart.

Scores will be updated over the weekend and can be found on the results page above.

Braehead will also be covering the semi and the final on Sunday via a live web-streaming feed, with commentary, that can be found by following this link:

www.curlbraehead.co.uk/live/streaming

Braehead Open Draw

Preliminary Rounds Draw:-

Fri 5th - 6pm Section A			Fri 5th – 8.30pm Section B
R McLeary Team NYP D Howie L Vevers A Shearer G Aitken B Mouat A Hannah	V V V V V V V V	A Mitchell S Taylor K Murray A Neilson M Wilson S Korolenko L Baxter H Fleming	V Dorp A Wood R Danielson J Summers G Macfarlane K Horton M Young C Clark	V V V V V V V V	G Shedden P Wilson D Jones F Hare A Kerr J Lockhart B Henderson E Semple
Sat 6th Oct – 8.30am Section A			Sat 6th Oct – 10.50am Section B
K Murray B Mouat A Shearer S Taylor S Korolenko A Neilson D Howie M Wilson	V V V V V V V V	L Baxter A Mitchell Team NYP A Hannah H Fleming G Aitken R McLeary L Vevers	R Danielson J Summers K Horton J Lockhart G Macfarlane A Kerr B Henderson M Young	V V V V V V V V	E Semple P Wilson A Wood G Shedden D Jones F Hare Van Dorp C Clark

 The third preliminary round game will depend on league ranked position. No team will play another team twice in the preliminary rounds.

Inverness Skins Accomodation Information

Details are now available for the Mercure Hotel to secure the discounted rate.

 

The rooms are now held on the following basis:

2nd & 3rd November 2012

30 Twin Rooms

£30 per person per night sharing

£50 in Single per night

Both rates are B&B

All rooms that are un sold will release 28 days prior to arrival

All guest will pay own account

To book the following procedure must be followed:

Call 0844 815 9006

Choose option 1

Quote : BRIT021113

Kinross Open

Being no stranger to prestigious events, Kinross Curling Rink has now added its first Goldline Scottish Curling Tour event (the Kinross Open) to a 2012/13 calendar that already features successful events such as the RCCC Adult Camp, Junior Classic, Wheelchair International Invitational, and more. This event will take place from 14th-16th December.

Ice Manager Steven Kerr, and his dedicated ice staff, will make sure that you experience one of the best playing surfaces in the country; while the Green Hotel Golf & Leisure Resort will do what it can to keep you fed, watered, and entertained.

Teams looking to stay for the weekend have a vast range of local accommodation options to chose from, while teams looking to travel to/from the rink each day are in luck too: Kinross Curling Rink is located 2 minutes off the M90, and its central location is quickly & easily accessed from all directions - Perth & Stirling are 30 minutes away, while Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dundee are within an hours drive.

Your teams’ entry fee of £200 will guarantee you at least 3 games; plus buffet food on the Saturday night subject to competition sponsorship and a full compliment of teams.

A top prize of £600 will be awarded to the winners, with lower prizes for all teams reaching the semi-finals.

For all the relevant information about the event, please visit the official blog:

www.KinrossOpen.blogspot.com

And to be kept up to date with the latest news, please “like” the official facebook page:

www.facebook.com/KinrossOpen

Any other enquires should be directed towards the Event Manager, David Jones:

mob: 07878 821005

e-mail: david@royalcaledoniancurlingclub.org

Gray Wins

Experience conquered youth in this afternoon's final. A steal of three at the 5th end gave Logan a strong lead that the Dumfries and Galloway juniors were unable to overturn.

Winners: Ross Paterson, Richard Woods, Ali Guthrie and Logan Gray.

Runners Up: Neil Topping, Bobby Lammie, Ross Whyte and Euan Kyle.

Gray vs Whyte Final

Logan Gray needed to draw against three with his final stone to beat Hannah Fleming. Solid sweeping by Ross Paterson and Richard Woods brought home Logan’s shot putting the team into this year’s final. Meanwhile the young Ross Whyte team added another scalp to their tally taking down last year’s runner up Sloan. Gray and Whyte met in the group stage, Whyte the victor in that game, but can the youngsters do it again in the final?

Ross calling the line to his sweepers.

 

Graham Sloan delivers in the 8th.

 

 

Ali Guthrie takes aim.

 

Semi Finalists at Dumfries

The final four at the Ice Bowl Open will be:

Hannah Fleming vs Logan Gray
Ross Whyte vs Graham Sloan

The game of the quarter finals was between Frazer Hare and Graham Sloan, a rematch of last year's final. A tight game throughout it was Sloan who held the hammer going into the 8th. With a number of stones in play and a centre guard to avoid Graham calmly drew the 4ft with his last to take his place in the semis and to put the reigning Open champions out of the tournament.

Quarter Final Line-up

Section 1 saw local teams finishing well with Graham Sloan, Fraser Kingan and Ross Whyte all grabbing places in the quarters. Graham needed to take his last end against Logan Gray to pip Team Maitland into 4^th spot. Logan Gray finished top of the section.

Team Gray, sponsored by Loudmouth, brightening up the ice hall.

Section 2 gave spectators an exciting finish. Fraser Hare had already qualified in top spot and took a big early 6 against Team David Jones to then hold out for the win. However, Team Jones could just be thrown a lifeline if Hannah Fleming was to beat Alan Hannah. Fleming also not yet assured of her place in the quarters was two shots down with three to play but took a three and then stole the last two to see her through along with a relieved Jones team. The final place was filled by team Gavin Fleming who recovered from a poor performance on Friday to snatch a qualifying spot following three wins on the Saturday.

Quarter Final match-ups:

Whyte vs G Fleming

Gray vs Jones

Hare vs Sloan

H Fleming vs Kingan

Dumfries Underway

The first event on the 2012/13 Scottish Curling Tour is now underway in Dumfries. The event is in its second year and has increased in size to twenty teams all competing for the title of Ice Bowl Open Champion. This year’s field includes a number of top national sides plus visitors from the Netherlands, Latvia and Wales.

The format of the tournament is two ten team sections, each with five games of play under the Schenkel system. The top four teams from each section on Saturday night will progress to the quarter finals.

Leading the way in Section 1 Team Latvia are tied at the top with Team Logan Gray. These two teams having shared the points with a closely fought tie in their second game of Friday’s session.

In Section 2, current holders Team Frazer Hare continue their dominance in Dumfries winning three games out of three as of Saturday morning. The gathering group on two wins consists of Alan Hannah, Graham Shedden, David Jones and Hannah Fleming.

Team Latvia.

 

Petrofac Aberdeen City Open

The 2013 Petrofac Aberdeen City Open will be the final event on this season's tour.

The event will be held from 1st-3rd February 2013. Games will begin at 12.30pm Friday 1st February. 24 teams can be accommodated split into two sections of 12. The final will be held at 3pm on Sunday 3rd February. All teams will be guaranteed four games under the Schenkel System.

A separate Hot Shots competition will be held on Sunday 3rd February for eliminated teams with cash prizes.

www.aberdeencityopen.blogspot.co.uk

There are just a few spaces left so please get your entries in via the competition blogsite or by contacting Laura at development@curl-aberdeen.co.uk.

Profile of Team Fleming

Current Junior World Champion Hannah Fleming has a change to her line up this season with Jennifer Dodds coming in at second to replace Alice Spence who has now aged out of the juniors. Lauren Gray and Abi Brown remain at third and lead. Debbie Knox will be their support coach.

Their main ambition for this season is to successfully defend the Scottish and World Junior titles won last year. They also wish to make their mark on the ladies circuit and being previous runners up in the ladies who would bet against them achieving their goals.

Hannah stated that all the competing teams at the juniors will pose a threat to them. Teams are likely to raise their game against them so she is expecting to have to play at their best at all times.

Team Fleming are competing in 3 SCT events (Dumfries, Braehead and Kinross). They are also playing in 2 ladies competitions overseas in Basel and Bern along with going back to Ottowa for the Junior Superspiel. They will also be at the Lockerbie Junior Invitational and the Aberdeen Ladies Open, along with the Scottish Juniors and Scottish Ladies Championships. This certainly seems like a very busy schedule for the girls.

Hannah felt that the SCT event they enjoyed the most last season was the Dumfries Ice Bowl Open as it was great fun and allowed her team to get into the swing of the new season early against some challenging opposition.

We look forward to seeing Hannah and her team at Dumfries in mid September and wish them all the best for their busy season ahead.

Photo © Leslie Ingram-Brown

Ice Bowl Open Draw

The draw has been made for the first SCT event and is detailed below:


                                             SECTION 1

1               K Murray                     v                     6   Ireland- Mitchell
2               G.Sloan                        v                   7   R Whyte
3               F Morton                      v                   8   Maitland
4               Latvia                           v                   9    J  Russell
5               F Kingan                      v                   10  L Gray


GAME TIMES

          GAME 1 – Friday 14th 10.30am– 12.30pm

          GAME 2  – Friday 14th 3.30pm– 5.30pm
         
          GAME 3  – Friday 14th 8.30pm– 10.30pm

          GAME 4 – Saturday 15th 11.30am– 13.30pm

          GAME 5 – Saturday 15th 3.30pm– 5.30pm


                                               SECTION 2

1              F Hare                              v                  6     H Fleming
2              Wales – Pougher              v                 7     G Fleming
3              I Dyer                               v                   8    Holland -Villian
4              D Jones                             v                 9    S Reid
5              G Sheddon                        v               10   A Hannah

GAME TIMES

          GAME 1 –  Friday 14th 1pm– 3pm

          GAME 2 –  Friday 14th 6pm– 8pm

          GAME 3 –  Saturday 15th 9am– 11am

          GAME 4 –  Saturday 15th 2pm– 4pm

          GAME 5 –  Saturday 15th 6pm– 8pm          

TOP 4 TEAMS WILL QUALIFY FOR ¼FINALS

Quarter Finals Sunday 9am– 11am
Semi Final Sunday 12noon – 2pm
Finals Sunday 3pm – 5pm

Ice Bowl Open

Only 3 weeks until the first event of the season at Dumfries and still a couple of places left so make sure you get your entry in.

Draw I believe will be made next week and will be posted here.

Your entry fee will give you free entry to the Ice Hockey match on the Saturday between Solway Sharks and the Trafford Metros.

Profile of Team Shedden

The Shedden team which finished 5th on the SCT leaderboard last season is very much looking forward to the season ahead and hope to participate in 6 of the 8 SCT events.

They also plan to play in the Scottish Championships.

Chay Telfer and John Tait are returning again this season with Graeme Hay coming in to replace Hugh Thompson.

With his head still fully lodged in summer mode, Graham's goals and aspirations lie with getting the entry forms in on time and finding a suitable team outfit.

As consummate athletes, Team Shedden is planning a sober season. This does not involve avoidance of alcohol, it just involves avoidance of Team Gracie aka Team COO!

He is very happy to see the curling tour going from strength to strength and plan to support it as best they can.

We wish Team Shedden all the best for the season and look forward to seeing them on the SCT.

Profile of Team MacDonald

Last years SCT runner up Ally Fraser has joined forces with Ewan MacDonald to add a bit of young blood to a very experienced line up.

Ewan will also be joined by Euan Byers and Duncan Fernie in what will be a strong line up for next season.

It will be really good to see Duncan back on the ice.

This team will have ambitions of winning the Scottish Championships and getting another chance to represent Scotland on the International stage.

The MacDonald team are planning to play in a couple of SCT events along with the Scottish Championships. Ewan was runner up in the Stirling Invitational on last seasons tour and will be hoping to go one better this year.

Ewan stated that it was great to see the Tour developing and growing and hoped this would lead to more teams challenging at the top level.

We wish Ewan and his team all the success for this season.

Photos © Skip Cottage

Profile of Team Smith

We thought it would be good idea to find out what plans the winners of the first Scottish Curling Tour had for next season.

Kyle Smith and his team pipped Ally Fraser by 27 points to 24 last season to win the first prize.

Included in the first prize of the Scottish Curling Tour last year was an opportunity for the winning team to spend time during the summer conducting elite training courtesy of the World Class Performance Programme.

Kyle stated that his team worked with Soren Gran and Nancy Smith on various sessions which covered sliding technique and delivery release. He felt these were very worthwhile and his team thanks Soren and Nancy for their time and expertise.

We asked Kyle about his plans and schedule for this season and he confirmed that his junior team now has his brother Cammy in at lead, in place of the over age Kerr Drummond. Aswell as featuring on the SCT, as part of their inclusion in the Performance Squad 2012/13 , Kyle’s team will be competing in four Champion’s Tour events across Europe, the Scottish Mens and the Scottish Juniors (of which they are the holders).

This is a busy schedule indeed along with juggling university workaround.

The teams main aim for this season is to successfully defend their Scottish Junior title which commences with qualifiers at Perth on the weekend of 7-9 December. They also would like to put on a good show in the Scottish Mens Championships and we have no doubt they will indeed be a team to watch this coming season.

We all wish Kyle and his team the best of luck for the season.

Guest Bloggers Wanted

With the SCT blog now up and running, we would like to invite volunteers to try their hand at blogging for one (or more) weekends on the 2012/13 SCT calendar.

The aim is for each event to have its own budding reporter who will broadcast through this portal the on and off ice happenings over the weekend.

The blogspot is very easy to use and some brief training will be given in advance.

For inspiration you can visit the 1,800 posts still archived on www.skipcottagecurling.blogspot.com

To register interest for a specific event please e-mail neil.joss@btopenworld.com

Dumfries Open

Dumfries Open on the 14th - 16th September have still places left so get your entry in to be sure of a place.

There will be foreign representation at the event with a team from Latvia and also from Holland.

The tournament committee have decided to re-vamp last years prize fund. Depending on achieving the desired 24 entries the following prizes will be up for grabs

Winners - £600
Runners – up - £400
Semi Finals - £250
1/4finals - £100

It is hoped that all teams will be able to access video footage of all games on request. Teams would need to provide appropriate memory sticks or DVDs to download footage.

The committee will confirm this availability in the next couple of months.

Entry forms can be found at www.dibca.co.uk or contact Graham at the Ice Bowl through graham@royalcaledoniancurlingclub.org

Inverness Skins

The 10th Annual Inverness Skins Invitation Curling Competition will take place from the 2nd - 4th November.

The 10th anniversary coincides with the announcement of a new sponsor for the event.

Mercure Hotels have recently joined the Inverness set up and in partnership with this international hotel chain they can offer excellent B&B accomodation rates for any competitor of the Skins competition.

Twin rooms at £30 per head and Single rooms at £50. To make a booking call 0844 815 9006 and quote the Inverness Skins.

The hotel is situated in the town centre and within walking distance to the ice rink.

For more information you can also visit their website www.mercureinverness.co.uk

Mercure Inverness, Church Street, Inverness, IV1 1DX

The Skins will be played in the same format as previous years with 24 teams being split into 4 sections of 6 teams where they will play each other once in a round robin format. All games will be 6 ends with the value of each end increasing as the games go on.

The top 2 teams in money ranking order from each section will progress to the knockout stages starting with the quarter finals on Sunday morning. By close of play on Sunday evening the Inverness Skins Champions for 2012 will lay their hands on a handsome trophy as well as a large sum of money. Most teams will recoup their entry fee and by the end of the weekend some teams may even make a profit.

A small beer and bite reception on Friday evening and a buffet and disco on Saturday night will ensure everyone has a good time off the ice and anyone who has been to the Skins event before can vouch for that.

The entry fee is £200 per team and the closing date is Tuesday 31st July.

Forfar Womens Open 12-14 October

The Forfar Womens Open is joining the Scottish Curling Tour for 2012-13. This is the first womens only event on the SCT and with a 1^st place prize of £500 for this stand-alone event, early registration is suggested!

With the Forfar Open (also on the SCT) being played on alternate sessions to the Forfar Womens Open, the event promises to provide a good weekends entertainment with raffles, social activities and food being put on by Forfar Indoor Sports. 

3 sections of 5 teams will play a round-robin to determine the quarter finalists with the knock-out stages being played on Sunday. 

The entry fee is £160 per team and is direct via Forfar Indoor Sports.

More information can be found by clicking on the link. 

http://www.forfarindoorsports.co.uk/images/stories/pdf/forfaropenentryform.pdf

Stirling Invitational Curling Competition

Stirling Sports Village hosts the Stirling Invitational Curling Competition for its second year at the Peak from Friday 30th November to Sunday 2nd December.

Teams have the chance to play for a total prize purse of over £6,000 (subject to number of entries)

They aim to have a 24 team competition running in 4 sections of 6 and guaranteeing 5 games. Entry is open to mens, womens and mixed teams of all ages. International entries are very welcome.

Places in the competition will be confirmed following the entry deadline.

The entry fee is £450 for all teams. Included in the cost, teams can enjoy lunch and dinner on Friday and lunch on Saturday of the competition.

Prizes will be for the last 4 teams in the competition. For each of the losing semifinalists there will be an estimated prize of £800, £1500 for the runner-ups and £3000 for the winners.

New for 2012

Time clocks will be in use during the knockout stages on Sunday only. Thinking time will be used rather than the traditional playing time.

Accomodation

The Holiday Inn Express (3 star) is located just 300 metres from the ice rink and provides bed and breakfast accomodation. A curlers rate of £60 for a twin room is available to all competitors.

www.expressstirling.co.uk

Alternatively the Doubletree by Hilton Dunblane Hotel (4 star) is 20 minutes drive.

www.doubletree.hilton.co.uk/dunblane

To enter please email your entry with team names and contact details by Tuesday 31st July to Ben O'Connell, Performance Sport Manager

oconnellb@activestirling.org.uk

Entry fees will be due once your place has been confirmed along with full details of the competition.

http://www.activestirling.org.uk/App/uploads/Stirling%20Invitational%20Invite%202012.pdf

The Forfar Open

See below for the entry form to the above event.

Please ensure your entry is in as spaces are filling up

The Forfar Open Entry Form

Braehead Open - sponsored by Cardwell Garden Centre

We are over 5 months away from the above tournament, however 20 teams have already entered leaving only 12 place up for grabs.

Please ensure that you get you entries in early not only for Braehead but all the other SCT events as it looks as though places could be limited.

A number of teams had to be placed on a reserve list last year at Braehead and it is filling up nicely again this year.

Entries to david-horne@capshop.co.uk or garymacfarlane1@me.com

The Braehead Open 2012 - sponsored by Cardwell Garden Centre

This competition is now in its 8^th year, and continues to attract a very high standard of curling. Last years competition was full with 37 entries, for 32 spaces, and with 4 foreign teams.

The event is on the weekend of Friday 5^th October – Sunday 7^th October 2012. Games start at 6pm on Friday evening and the final is at 2.30pm on Sunday. It offers all teams at least 3 games and most teams play 4 to 6 games.

It is open to all teams, with prize money of at least £2000, and prizes are available for a range of participants including under 25s, best overseas, seniors, ladies, Braehead members, as well as the main prize of £650 for the Braehead Open Champions. Entry Fee is £180.

There are local hotels within 5 minutes of Braehead. Glasgow International airport is just 10 minutes away, and Prestwick Airport is 30 minutes. Further information regarding accommodation and travel is available from David Horne at david-horne@capshop.co.uk.

Entries are on a first come, first served basis so entries in asap to David Horne in the Braehead office at david-horne@capshop.co.uk 

Or Gary Macfarlane at garymacfarlane1@me.com

We promise you a top quality competition, with great ice, at the beginning of the 2012 season.

Gary Macfarlane                                                David Horne

Chair, Braehead Development Group     Development Officer Braehead Curling

Developments at Dumfries

Dumfries Ice Bowl have managed to secure funds to buy new stones for next season.

It is hoped that they will be delivered for the opening of the New Season at the Ice Bowl on the 1st September.

These stones were secured due to the massive impact Curling had at the Ice Bowl During the World Record attempt and the fundraising that was generated during it along with other funding applications.

Dumfries Ice Bowl will also be improving ice quality to match the quality of the new stones so if you want some top quality playing conditions and some early points for the tour standings then sign up to Dumfries Ice Bowl Open NOW.

Entries are being accepted and again there will be Cash Prizes for the winners. 

You can enter online through the new website at www.dibca.co.uk

Dumfries Ice Bowl

Dumfries Ice Bowl now has a new website up and running for the new season.

On here you will find all items of news, details of competitions, super league tables, etc.

www.dibca.co.uk

Visit this site and watch it develop over the summer.

We will bring you details soon about the opening SCT event of the 2012-13 season at Dumfries.

Lockerbie Superspiel

23^rd-25^th November 2012

Sponsored by the Queens Hotel, Lockerbie. 01576 202415

Should you come, take part and emerge as the winner, you will be following in the footsteps of many of the curling elite who have trodden the well known path to Lockerbie Ice Rink over so many years starting in 1974.

1974 saw the start of what was known then as the Benson & Hedges with winners like Graeme Adam, Jim Bryson, Jim Waddell, David Porteous, Jim Stevenson and Gordon Muirhead.

1985 was when it turned into what is now known as the Lockerbie Superspiel. The Ice Master, Alan recalls visiting rinks from Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Germany etc. with two International winners F. Luchsinger and Ulrik Schmidt among others such as Hammy McMillan (9 times Champion), Colin Hamilton, Lockhart Steele, Douglas Dryburgh and more recently, David Murdoch, Logan Gray, Alan Manuel, David Edwards and Scott Hamilton.

You are always sure of a warm welcome at Lockerbie, noted for its hospitality and they do their best to make sure you have a memorable weekend curling. Good ice, good food, fun and friendship is what they try to achieve at these weekends. So if you come to Lockerbie, we are sure you will not be disappointed.

2012/13 SCT Events

All the 2012/13 Scottish Curling Tour events are now also listed on http://www.curlingcalendar.com/

Please ensure you get your entries in early to avoid disappointment as many of the events last year were over subscribed.

Curlingcalendar collects information about international bonspiels and curling competitions from all countries. The site was launched in August 2010 and thanks to the active curlers who have added bonspiel information it has quickly grown to be the best place to find especially European bonspiels.

Markus, Janne, Juha & Toni from Finland launched the site with the aim to make it the best international bonspiel calendar.

Performance Prize

Dave Crosbee the performance director for British and Scottish Curling has confirmed that they will provide continued support for the Scottish Curling Tour by offering the winner of the 2012/13 tour the opportunity to participate in 3 training sessions with the National coaches over the summer of 2013.

This is indeed good news for the Tour as it continues to develop, and will be enjoyed by Kyle Smith's team over this summer as part of their prize for winning the inaugrual tour.

Kyle Smith's Team take Bronze

Kyle Smith's team of Thomas Muirhead, Kyle Waddell and Kerr Drummond have picked up the bronze medal at the World Junior Championships in Sweden after beating Norway 7-4.

This caps a great season for the team after winning the Scottish Curling Tour in February.

Men's Bronze Scotland: L-R Hamilton McMillan (alternate), Robin Halliday (coach), Kerr Drummond (lead), Kyle Waddell (2nd), Thomas Muirhead (3rd) and Kyle Smith (skip).
Photos © Leslie Ingram-Brown

Team Scotland World Champions

Hannah Fleming, Lauren Gray, Alice Spence and Abi Brown are the World Junior Champions after defeating the Czech Republic after an extra end this morning.

 Congratulations to the girls and also their coach Debbie Knox and their alternate Jennifer Martin.

L-R: Jennifer Martin, Abi Brown, Alice Spence, Lauren Gray and Hannah Fleming.

Photos © Leslie Ingram-Brown

Team Scotland in World Junior Final

Hannah Fleming and her team of Lauren Gray, Alice Spence and Abi Brown have reached the final of the World Junior Championships in Sweden after defeating the Czech Republic last night.

They await the winners of the Sweden v Czech Republic game tonight.

Alice and Abi working on Hannah's stone with Lauren in the house

Photos © Leslie Ingram-Brown

World Junior Championships

Scottish Curling Tour winners Kyle Smith, Thomas Muirhead, Kyle Waddell and Kerr Drummond are this week competing in the World Junior Championships in Sweden.

Today they came up against the Canadians who were one of the tournament favourites and Kyle and his team came out on top 8-4.

This puts the boys on 3 wins and 1 loss and very much in the hunt for the latter stages at the weekend.

Ranking: 4/0 Sweden; 3/1 Canada, Norway, Scotland, USA; 2/2 Switzerland; 1/3 China, Italy; 0/4 Czech Republic, Finland.

Kyle Smith and Canadian skip Brendan Bottcher

Photos © Leslie Ingram-Brown

Kyle Smith wins inaugural Scottish Curling Tour

Kyle Smith and his team of Thomas Muirhead, Kyle Waddell and Kerr Drummond have won the Scottish Curling Tour with a total of 27 points.

Ally Fraser and his team of David Reid, Ruaraidh Greenwood and Tom Pendreigh were runners up with 24 points.

In third place were Paul Stevenson, Ruaraidh Whyte, Fraser Watt and Tim Stevenson with 15 points.

Drew McVeigh from Goldline was across from Canada to present the prizes alongside Jeanette Galbraith who presented the Colin Galbraith trophy to Kyle.

Drew McVeigh with Kyle Smith, Thomas Muirhead, Kyle Waddell and Kerr Drummond.

Drew with Ally Fraser, David Reid, Ruardaidh Greenwood and Tom Pendreigh.

Drew with Paul Stevenson

Jeanette Galbraith with the Kyle Smith team

Photos © Bob Cowan

The Petrofac Aberdeen City Open

After a break for National Competitions it was on to Aberdeen for the The Petrofac Aberdeen City Open which was won by Tom Brewster defeating Kerry Barr in the final. Tom was using this event for practise for the upcoming Scottish Championships and this obviously worked as he went on to win this event and will represent Scotland at the World Championships in Basel.

Photo © Bob Cowan