Lymphoy Cup Round 2.1

President Niall's Canadian Adventure

C&B club president, Niall Gunn, is off to Canada to compete for the Strathcona Cup. He is playing second stones on David Imlay's West Tour team. You will be able to follow Niall's progress on the Scottish Curling site. Sadly, I can't seem to post the link, for which apologies. There are three different tours, West, East and Central and I suspect that many of you will know quite a few of the curlers on each of the tours as Edinburgh is well represented this time around.

This is a picture of Niall earlier in the season, having just won the "Champion of Champions" Jackson Trophy. Interestingly, both Joe and Maggie Barry, also pictured, are former tourists themselves - Maggie to Canada in 2015 and Joe to Switzerland in 2009 and Canada in 2013. Douglas is a bit young yet to be thinking about a tour, but his time will come!

Lymphoy Cup Round 1

It only seems like yesterday that we were waxing lyrical about the Kettle League final results, but in the meantime Christmas has been and went, as they say in footballing circles and here we are reporting on round one of the Lymphoy Cup. Early days, of course, but a good win for Karen Munro's team, skipped by Rowena Steven. Brian Fleming was lying game when Rowena came to play her last stone. She managed to wangle her stone on to lie shot and the points went to Karen. Other teams all bedding in. Here's to the next seven or eight weeks! Results and league tables follow. New colour scheme. Hope you like it!

Kettle Trophy Final Results and League Table

It was all over, bar the whimpering, last week, but true to C&B form, the last two games had to be played out, and both were fought tooth and nail to the end! For those who need their teeth looked at, C&B has many recommendations to give its members; nails are another thing altogether, though we understand that the Lilac Rooms in Currie are very good with the scissors, varnish and all that other stuff that goes on between one's nail person and oneself. Not something I've ever worried about myself, but there we are and the world is a fine place for its diversity. Here's the final results grid before Christmas.

Jenny Barr's rink, skipped in her absence by Jennifer Marshall with Margaret Nicol and Angela Downie had a comprehensive win over Dave Munro's team. Team Barr was already assured of third place but this result stretched the gap between the haves and the have nots. Team Barr finished on 11 points - enough in previous C&B leagues to assure them of second spot and sometimes enough to win the league outright! Sadly for them one loss and one draw was enough to relegate them to third place in this competitive league. Team Copland leapt athletically (it says here) to an 8-3 win over team Watt, skipped in Shona's absence by Kerry Clark, and means that he also skipped into seventh place in the final league table. To be very fair, his team of regular third Maggie Barry and substitutes Douglas Burns and Vicky Gumley played out of their skins and made his life relatively easy and Kerry's life insanely difficult. Was he complaining? Are Hearts going to win the league? He rests his case. Here's the final league table.

Kettle Trophy Round 7.1

Well, it's all over! Congratulations to Brian Fleming, Rowena Steven, Douglas Burns and Richie Anderson, winners of the Kettle Trophy. They played John Steven's strong team - remember that they were in contention until only last week - and they ran out convincing 11-4 winners; crucially, they won five ends and made it impossible for second-placed Karen Munro's team to overtake them on ends. Here's the results grid.

In the night's other game, Karen Munro's team, skipped by Andrew Galloway, with Mike Wood playing third stones and subsitutes Eilidh Yeats and Angela Downie also had a good win over Niall Gunn's team, skipped in his absence by Katie Wood with regular team players, Betty Gibb, David Hogg and substitute Cammy Burns (thanks again for playing, Cammy). Though Karen's team had a convincing 13-4 win, they actually only managed to win four ends so they were unable to overhaul Brian's team. Congratulations to Karen Munro, Andrew Galloway, Mike Wood and Graham Paterson, who take the Harlaw Cup; they have been strong contenders for the Kettle Trophy throughout the competition and managed to keep Brian and his team honest right until the end! Here's the league table.

Kettle Trophy Round 6

Ooft! What with all the chat about European Championships and the like, we are apt sometimes to forget the really important stuff: C&B's Kettle Trophy results and league table with only one round remaining! So, we are down to three teams for the Kettle and four for the runners-up and the Harlaw Cup. Brian Flemingless, skipped in Brian's absence by Rowena Steven had a really good win over Niall Gunn and as a result, moves to the top of the table on ten points. Niall was one up without coming home, but lost a two and the game. Karen Munroless, skipped in Karen's absence by Andrew Galloway, was also victorious with a good win over John Steven's strong team, effectively knocking John out of the running for silverware. The two top teams are on ten points. Jenny Barr had a good win over Shona Wattless's team, skipped by not a bad player, right enough, the recently married Kerry Clark (in joke - don't ask!). There was another game played between two grizzled veterans and their young teams. Neither team is in the running but Mr Munro prevailed in what was actually a really good fun game of curling. So, first of all, here's the results grid.

So what does that do to the league table and what can happen in round 7 of the competition? First up, here's the league table after round 6.

Round 7 will be played over two Fridays. On the 9th December, John Steven plays Brian Fleming. John is out the running for a top two finish, but he could throw a spanner in the works because if he wins, then Brian would stay on ten points. The other game on the 9th is between Karen Munro and Niall Gunn. Again, Niall cannot win anything but will have a huge say in who wins both the Kettle Trophy and the Harlaw Cup. If he wins, Karen stays on ten points - potentially the same score as Brian (both might win, in which case they both move onto twelve points; they could both draw their games, in which case they would move to eleven points - you get the picture!). Fast forward to a week later and Jenny's game v Dave Munro, whose daughter, of course, is in the running. I'm not one for conspiracies you understand, but - all I'm saying! Anyhow, Jenny wins against Dave and moves to eleven points. See an earlier sentence in this increasingly long paragraph and - three teams on eleven points! I just love it. Meanwhile, Shona Watt plays Robin Copland. This game is for the honour of finishing plum last, a position currently held by Mr Copland, on zero points. Fair to say that neither are challenging for the top spot, so I am going to ask my glamorous assistant to get out the veil and draw it.

C&B's Gina Aitken Wins Bronze at the European Curling Championships!

What a fantastic and gutsy performance by Team Scotland, with our own Gina Aitken playing third, in last week's European Curling Championships in Ostersund, Sweden. Team Scotland started the competition off strongly with good wins against Turkiye and Latvia. The team was under pressure from the start because they were "supposed" to win both those games, and win them they did. Their next two games were against strong opposition in Italy and the on-form Danish team. Two losses and it could all have gone horribly wrong - but how they bounced back with a huge win against one of the pre-tournament favourites, Anna Hasselborg's Swedish team. In a week of ups and downs, the Scots girls lost their next two games against the experienced German team under skip Daniela Jentsch and the Swiss World Number One team, skipped by Silvana Tirinzoni. After a comprehensive 10-1 win over Hungary, the Scots were left with a must-win game against Norway. Two things had to happen in this round of the competition: first, the Scots had to win their game and then second, other results had to go their way. It all came together and they were semi-final bound!

Gina concentrating hard during the Bronze play-off game v Italy (picture credit to Celine Stucki and the WCF) In the semi-final, the Scots girls came up against the hot team of the week, Madeleine Dupont's Danish team. Madeleine and her sister Denise have been on the circuit for many years. They have played well on occasion, but never really threatened. Well they threatened this week - and some! The Scottish girls had played positively against them in their round-robin game so went into the semi-final with some hope. Sadly for them a few rubs and some great Danish play in the first five ends saw the Scots eight points down and the game already out of their reach. They conceded as soon as they could in order to better prepare for their Bronze Medal game.

(from left) Skip Rebecca Morrison, Second Sophie Sinclair, Lead Sophie Jackson and Third Gina Aitken discuss the position late on in their game against Italy. Not in the picture is Fifth player Hailey Duff and coach Nancy Smith (picture credit Celine Stucki and the WCF). In the Bronze Medal game itself, the first half was a cagey affair and the two sides were tied, but come the second half of the game, the Scots donned their party clothes and played outstandingly! A two, followed by a stolen two, then a stolen single had them five shots clear playing the ninth end. They managed a force and the deflated Italians shook hands in what is surely the worst game of the week to lose. Congratulations to the Scottish team and particularly to Gina.