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| President Niall sweeping. Worth a Photo! |
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| Or maybe two! Good concentration, Stuart. |
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| A pensive Morna Aitken... |
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| ... discusses things with partner Lois before... |
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| ...throwing her stone. But Morna wasn't the only curler throwing stones! |
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| Dave throws and leaves another short one for Margaret to sweep into the house! |
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| At the end of the day though, it's all about the fun and camaraderie. |
Large Highland Park please. I'll take the 12 but if you have an 18... Well that was the plan until someone took me to one side and explained. To summarise: two stones in place before anyone so much as looks at throwing a stone; each team has five stones to throw; no hitting until fifth stone, etc., etc.. Great fun as some of the pictures illustrate. And, of course, Murrayfield's own Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat are the reigning World Mixed Doubles Champions, so what's not to like?
Another nice wee twist (should have read the rules before the competition, but that's a detail!) introduced by the committee was that shots-up would come first, not ends as is usual in C&B competitions.
Winners of the competition were Mike Wood and Sarah Ford. They were a total of eight shots up after their two games - an impressive performance. Should be said that Megan Priestley played one end out of the nine, meaning that she is a one ninth champion - an accolade that I know she will take with her to the grave! Runners-up were Jennifer Marshall, helped by Colin Barr and daughter (Colin's - not Jennifer's!) Kirsty. I am not sure how many ends each of the Barrs played so cannot comment on the share of prize. They were plus five shots, equal with Norman Nicol (though Margaret played most of their second game) and Raymond Preston. Jennifer and the Barrs were second on the basis of more shots scored.
Anyhow, there follows a picture of the winners. I've had a quick word with Niall by the way. I asked him where he buys his shirts - just so as I can avoid the place, you understand.
On-ice pictures follow in a separate post.
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| From left: Sarah Ford, president Niall Gunn and Mike Wood Winners C&B Doubles Competition 2021-22 |
Many congratulations to David who was playing with Martin Sutherland at the Kinross weekend competition organised by the SWCA (link here). He practised on Friday evening in his C&B game and I can confirm he was playing just fine and dandy!
Great performance.
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| David Hogg and Martin Sutherland Winners Scottish National Pairs 2021 Low Road |
An interesting night's curling with results that rule every team out of silverware apart from two, teams John Steven and Brian Fleming - and we aren't even into December!
First of all, here is the results grid for tonight.
Jennifer Marshall carries on team John Steven's winning ways in John's absence. A good 8-3 win over Shona Watt moves the team to five wins out of five. Crucially, their four ends move them to 22 ends in total which equals Brian Fleming's ends total - and they have a game in hand. Fair to say that they are warmish favourites for overall success in the league and the Kettle Trophy.
Talking of Brian Fleming, he and his team had a hard-fought win over Niall Gunn. Niall was 5-0 up after three ends and looked to be cruising. Brian, with Raymond Preston, Andrew Cargill and Angela Downie moved up a gear and took a 4, followed by a stolen 2 in ends four and five. They limited Niall to 1 shot in the penultimate end before scoring a 2 in the seventh. A satisfying win then and they are still in the hunt for the Kettle. As you can see in the league table, they are guaranteed second place at the worst.
So (sound of tumbleweed drifting on the wind), what of the other games this evening? Irrelevant. No, hang on, that's ridiculous; apart from anything else, your scribe was playing in one of them. Playing for Karen Munro and they had a win over Jenny Barr. Scored a 6 in one end. All I'm saying.
And in the other game, Andrew Galloway had a tight win against Dave Munro.
Here's the league table...
... and you can see what I mean. John and Brian are so far ahead of the pack that they cannot be caught. Niall can get closest with nine points if he wins both of his games. Jenny, Shona and Karen can get to eight points if they win their remaining games - but no-one can get to ten, so that's that, then - and we haven't even got to the end of Black Friday!
Some folk wander into town (just as an example) and forget to take their draw with them, then wonder just exactly what time it is that they are playing their C&B match that particular evening. This particular lawyer and retired sheriff shall, of course, remain nameless, but for their benefit (I wouldn't want to give any clue as to this resident of North Berwick's identity but for the avoidance of doubt, his name is not Barbara, nor indeed is it Kate) here is a copy of the Kettle draw.
An interesting week's curling and results. On a personal note, I missed our game and we won it. First game we have won. All I'm saying on the matter.
Clash of the night was the match up between the two hitherto undefeated teams - John Steven and Brian Fleming. John will be missing the rest of the competition for health reasons (and I am sure everyone joins with me in wishing John all the best with his treatment), but his team carried on where he left off. Jennifer Marshall skipped Morag Wellman (Is C&B the only club, I wonder, that has two past-presidents of the Ladies Branch plus the current president of the RCCC as current members?), Rebecca Steven and Jamie Rankin to an impressive 10-4 win over Brian. Remarkably, the Steven team scored two fours in their win. They have moved themselves into prime position for the Kettle Trophy.
Jenny Barr kept her and her team in contention with a tight 5-3 win over Dave Munro and finally, president (report's full of presidents, it would seem!) Niall Gunn had a good 9-3 mid-table win over Shona Watt. Results and League Tables follow.
Well OK - maybe that's a bit of a rich headline, but congratulations nevertheless to Susan Kesley, Fran Stretton, Vicky Gumley and Morna Aitken, all C&B members, who ended up winners of the Edinburgh International Senior Women's Curling Championship. It was a marvellous win over a tough and high quality field.
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| (From left), Susan Kesley, Fran Stretton, Vicky Gumley and Morna Aitken |
