C&B Juniors Progress

Andrew Barr, who is closely involved in the running of the Gogar Park Young Curlers Club at Murrayfield, reports on the progress of our junior members in the first half of the season.  All of their hard work leads towards performing well in the Scottish Junior Championships in the first quarter of 2017.  We will have updates of their progress in that competition.  Here is Andrew's report.

 

Junior members started their season a lot earlier than regular members of the club - way back in early August for the members of the Academy (Karina Aitken, Laura Barr and Gavin Barr).

 

Karina and Laura play in team Aitken (coached by club member David Aitken).  They have played three European Junior Curling Tour events in Braehead, Oslo and Thun, their best result being a semi-final finish in Brahead. 

 

In the Royal Caledonian Curling Club U21 Slam events, team Aitken have competed in Greenacres (runners-up), Kinross (winners) and Inverness (3rd). 

 

They played a "best of five" play-off in Braehead against rivals Team Jackson to determine a Scottish team to play in the World Junior B Division competition to try and qualify Scotland back into the World Junior Championships in Pyeonggchang-gun, South Korea in February (also the venue for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games).  Twice they led in the series of matches, but it was not to be; they were narrowly beaten by a last stone draw to the eight foot in the fifth and deciding game.  Team Jackson has chosen Laura Barr as their fifth player and we wish them well as they head to Ostersund in Sweden just before the New Year.

 

 A good season to date and here is the team after their great win in Kinross.

 

Team Aitken from left, Karina Aitken, Rebecca Morrison, Hailey Duff and Laura Barr, winners of the Kinross U21 competition

Meanwhile, Gavin Barr plays lead stones for team Baird in the junior slams this year, their best result so far being a third place finish in the Inverness U21 competition.  He also plays lead for team Taylor in the men's Scottish Curling tour events, best result with them being a losing semi-final spot in Forfar.  Stop Press: Gavin and team Baird played in the Scottish Junior Championship qualifying event in Perth and have qualified for the Scottish Junior Championships final weekend in Aberdeen in February - many congratulations!

 

 

Team Davie from left, Lisa Davie, Kirsty Barr, Anna Skuse and Emma Barr, winners of the Inverness U21 competition

Competing on the U17 Slam circuit, Kirsty Barr and Emma Barr compete in Team Davie and are coached by Andrew Barr.  They have played so far in the Lockerbie competition (losing low road semi-final), Lanarkshire and Greenacres (4th in both competitions).  They also competed in U21 slam competitions in Kinross (4th) and, wait for this one, winning the girls event in Inverness, beating team Aitken in the semi-finals - a wonderful result for such a young team. 

 

The juniors are now well through their calendar with just the Lockerbie U21 and Forfar and Perth U17 slams left before the Scottish Junior Championships, the finals of which take place in Aberdeen at the end of January.

 

Many thanks to Andrew for the update.