Drew Duncan Quaich 2013 and Ross Low Trophy

Steell McFadzean has won the Drew Duncan Quaich for the second year running. With his team of Peter Galloway, Colin Naismith and George Hay he beat David Hope's team by 13 shots to 4.

Here's a photo of the winning rink.

Peter, Steell, George and Colin

Second was Charlie Jack's team with +7 shots.  The results are here.

Our team in the Ross Low Trophy represented the club with distinction, losing to Troon Portland in today's semi final.  Congratulations to Allan Brown, Ernest Mutter, Allan Hastie and Peter Galloway.

Troon Portland themselves were beaten by Tarbolton in the final.

Drew Duncan Quaich

Drew Duncan

Next Monday, 9th December, we will be playing in the Drew Duncan Quaich at 5.00pm
This is a one off game, with opponents being the nearest in the final league of the Fraser Cup, 1 v 2, 3 v 4, etc.
A meal has been booked for everyone after the game. If you can't be there, please let Bob know.

President's Cup

The first games in the President's Cup were played tonight, with wins for David Hope, Steell McFadzean and Ronnie Peat.
Of course, the above mentioned were only leading and the real heroes were Francis McCrossin, George Hay and Jim Dunlop.
The results are shown here.
Next games in the President's Cup are on January 13th, but on 9th December we have the ever popular Drew Duncan Quaich.

European Championships start on Saturday

Tomorrow sees the start of the 2013 European Championships. These are being held in Stavanger and Scotland are represented by our two Olympic teams.

David Murdoch and his team of Tom Brewster, Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow play two games on Saturday, against Denmark and Russia.

The Ladies team of Eve Muirhead, Anna Sloan,Vicki Adams and Claire Hamilton play Russia in their first game.

Games will be broadcast on Eurosport and full details can be found here in the Event Website

Final Week of Fraser Cup

We couldn't have asked for a closer finish to this year's competition. Playing the last end, the scores were tied at 4 a piece between Bob Cherry and Jimmy Begg.  The winner of the game would win the league.
It might have come down to a last stone nail biter, but Bob did not need to play it - he was already lying the one shot required for victory.
Congratulations to the winning rink of Bob, George Hodge, Richard Morrison and Bob Charters.
In the other games there were wins for Euan Lawrence, David Hope and Ronnie Peat.  The final league positions are shown here.

Next week sees the first round of the President's Cup.  Please note that there are only three games on at 5.00pm.  Charlie Jack and Jimmy Begg have the day off.

December 6th sees the Drew Duncan Quaich.  Interestingly, the draw for this is determined by the finishing order of the Fraser Cup, and that will be a repeat of the games that were played last night.
So Jimmy's team can get some revenge on Bob's, Bert on me and the same for Charlie and Steel.

Week 6 Results

Bob Cherry and Jimmy Begg are setting the pace at the top of the league. Bob had a close 8-5 victory over Charlie Jack and Jimmy's team beat Bert McKay by 10-9.
Bob now has 10 points with Jimmy close behind on 9.  However, with two rounds left, there are still three teams who have 6 points in the bag and could therefore reach double figures. (Well that sounds good, but in reality some are playing each other, so it won't happen.)
After next week's games we can see who is still playing for the trophy at the bitter end, and who is playing to avoid the bottom spot.  And yes - I'm well aware who the favourite for that is!
Here is the position to date.

It's Close at Top of League

Bob Cherry's unbeaten run came to an end tonight, when his team of Bob Charters, Richard Morrison and George Hodge lost to the Bert McKay team of Harry Peters, Ken Ross and Peter Kennedy. Although Bob scored on 5 ends, they were all singles, and Bert's two scores of 3 were enough to win the game.
Jimmy Begg's team won against Charlie Jack to move into second place with 7 points, one behind Bob and one in front of Charlie and Euan Lawrence.  Euan beat David Hope and in the other game Steell McFadzean beat Ronnie Peat.  The league table is here.

Training Night, Beresford Ladies and Week 4 of Fraser Cup

Monday 21st October saw the Training Night, with approx 14 Gangrels enjoying coaching provided by Ayr CC's accredited trainers.  All the reports have been very positive and we wish to extend our thanks to Kirsty and her team for assisting us.  I'm sure we'll see the results as the weeks go on.

On the following Thursday, we held our annual match against the ladies of Beresford Ladies.  This was the usual keenly fought match, with the Gangrels eventually winning all three games, although not without the occasional scare along the way.
Passion Caterers provided an excellent meal afterwards.

Last night, Bob Cherry's team had a great fightback to snatch victory from Euan Lawrence and so preserve their unbeaten start to the league. Jimmy Begg also fought back well and gained a point against Ronnie Peat and there were wins for David Hope and Charlie Jack.
The latest table is here.

Bob Leads the Way

President Bob Cherry's team of George Hodge, Richard Morrison and Bob Charters won a close game against Ronnie Peat's team by 6-4 last night.  They remain the only unbeaten team.
There were also good wins for Charlie Jack, Euan Lawrence and Steell McFadzean.
The updated table is here.

Fraser Cup Week 2

Two teams, skipped by Jimmy Begg and Bob Cherry won again tonight and stand at the top of the rankings. Despite Bob scoring an impressive 25 shots over two games his team is still second in the table. Jimmy knows the way things work and crucially has scored one more end than our President!
There were also good wins for Bert McKay's and Ronnie Peat's teams to ease them off the bottom rung of the League Table.

All the results can be found here.

Gangrels Opening Night

The Gangrels took to the ice tonight to start the campaign for the Fraser Cup.

Ready for the off!

We were delighted to welcome Honorary President Jim Watson to our Opening Game.  Jim didn't feel able to join us on the ice and Steell McFadzean had the honour of throwing the first stone.

An excellent job he did of it, with the stone finishing on the tee line without sweeping! Mind you, he confessed that he was using Jim Watson's cue.

Steell starts the season well!

In the games, there were wins for Euan Lawrence, Jimmy Begg, Charlie Jack and Bob Cherry.  The first league table can be found here, or by clicking on the Fraser Cup Link above.

An excellent meal was provided for us by Passion Caterers and our President Bob Cherry welcomed everyone to the new season, particularly Peter Graham who joined us for the first time.

Bob also reminded everyone that a Training Session has been organised for October 21st at 5.00pm. This will be conducted by the Coaching Team at Ayr Ice Rink and a good attendance is requested.

The first representative game was played last week in the Province Knockout. It didn't go to plan, as Jimmy Begg explains.

"The Gangrels rink of Jimmy Begg, Ernest Mutter, Alan Hastie and Ken Ross made a glorious exit from the first round of the Province Knockout against Crosshill. Faced with a stellar rink of Bobby Ireland, Liam Scott, Bert Andrew and Andrew Baird, the Gangrels lost a two at each of the first three ends. But undaunted, they managed to claw their way back into the match to lie 7-4 down after seven ends. In an exciting last end, with Crosshill lying three, Jimmy Begg played a buried inwick to lie shot. Not content with a meritorious defeat of 7-5, the rink elected to go for glory and a double takeout that would have ensured a peels. Jimmy managed the double take out, which unfortunately included his own shot, and the match ended 8-4. A great game. Crosshill meet Stewarton Heather in the next round. Raither them than us!"

Dates for Next Season's games

The dates for next season's fixtures are now shown, along with teams for our other matches.  Where we have dates for these they are shown and the list will be updated as the draws are released.

Rinks for Next Season

Rinks for Season 2013-14 are now available and can be viewed here or by clicking the page link on the right hand side.
The teams for other matches are nearly complete and these will be published as soon as possible along with the dates of play.
Watch this space!

World Men's Curling Championships

The 2013 Ford Men's World Curling Championships start in Victoria BC, Canada this Saturday, March 30th.
If you've enjoyed watching Eve Muirhead's Team winning the Gold Medal in Riga, then  details of the Men's competition can be found on this website.  Some of the games will be covered on Eurosport.

Scotland will be represented by David Murdoch and his team of Tom Brewster, Scott Andrews, Michael Goodfellow and Greg Drummond.

Your Curler Magazine

The latest issue of The RCCC Your Curler ezine has just been released.  It features articles on Ayr's magnificent wins in the Morton and Maxwell Trophies, plus a nice piece from Pat Galloway about Kirkoswald's 175th Anniversary Celebrations.
You can access the magazine with this link.

Frame Salver, A.G.M. and Prizegiving

The Frame Salver was won tonight by David Gray and his team of Jim Dunlop, Richard Morrison and Peter Reynolds. It was their good fortune to catch their opposition skip (President David Hope) when his mind was obviously on the forthcoming A.G.M.  He needn't have worried, because the A.G.M. was very well conducted.

I hope to publish the President's and Match Secretary's reports in due course, but in the meantime here are some photos of the Prizewinners.

Fraser Cup Winners
Ronnie Wilson (skip) Robert Boyd, Peter Reynolds, Ronnie Peat

President's Cup Winners
Ronnie Peat (skip) Ronnie Wilson, Peter Reynolds, Robert Boyd

Kirkbride Rosebowl Winners
Ronnie Wilson (skip) Ronnie Peat, Robert Boyd, Peter Reynolds

Kirkbride Rosebowl -  Low Road Winners
Jimmy Niblock (skip) Francis McCrossin, Robert Charters, Colin Naismith

Drew Duncan Quaich Winners
Steell McFadzean and Forbes Watson (with Peter Kennedy and Harry Peters )

Frame Salver Winners
David Gray (skip) Jim Dunlop, Richard Morrison, Peter Reynolds

Points Winner
Robert Boyd ( 45 points)

Pairs Trophy
Robert Charters and Bert McKay

Jim Hendry presenting the Sportsman's Award
to David Hope

Kirkbride Rose Bowl Finals + Women's World Championships

Two contrasting games tonight. The Low Road Final was never very close and despite having only three players, Jimmy Niblock, Colin Naismith and Robert Charters won the Low Road with a 12 - 4 victory over Scott Thomson, Austin Thomson, Ian Ruthven and Ernest Mutter.

Low Road Finalists
On the right are the winners, Jimmy Niblock, Colin Naismith and Robert Charters

The High Road Final was a different game entirely, with the lead changing hands regularly and some good shot playing evident.
At the last end, Jimmy Begg's team of Euan Lawrence, Peter Galloway and Charlie Jack had a two shot lead. Jimmy with his first stone drew half behind cover, in the four foot, for first shot, but this was matched by an angled tap back and roll by Ronnie Wilson to lie two.  Jimmy then managed to get another shot close, but there was doubt about whether it was second or third shot.  Ronnie Wilson drew the tee line for two and was delighted when the measure was declared in his favour.  A three meant his team of Ronnie Peat, Peter Reynolds and Robert Boyd had won 7-6.

Kirkbride Rosebowl Winners
Peter Reynolds, Ronnie Wilson (skip), Robert Boyd and Ronnie Peat

Runners Up
Euan Lawrence, Peter Galloway, Charlie Jack and Jimmy Begg (skip)

Titlis Glacier Mountain

Women's World Championships

If you were able to see some of the World Juniors last week, you may also be interested in Women's World Championships.  These start on Saturday 16th  and are taking place in Riga, Latvia.

Scotland will be again be represented by Eve Muirhead's team and they will be hoping to improve on last year's 6th place.

You can follow the games on Eurosport, although the Scotland teams don't feature all that often. The Schedule of games can be found here.

Last Year's AGM Minutes

There is now a page for AGM minutes.  These can be found by clicking on the page link on the right hand side, or by following this link.

Kirkbride Rosebowl Semis

Semis tonight and in the High Road there were wins for Ronnie Wilson against David Gray and Jimmy Begg against Bert McKay. Ronnie & Jimmy play the final on Thursday 14th at 5.00pm.

It was good to see Gerry Watson on the ice and I'm sure I speak for us all when I say that we're thinking of him at this difficult time.

The Low Road semis saw wins for Austin Thomson (subbing for Scott Thomson) and Jimmy Niblock.  Their final is also next Thursday at 5.00.

New Rinks for Frame Salver

Thanks to everyone who responded to Bob's email about the reduction in rinks from 10 to 8 for the Frame Salver.

A new draw has been made and the rinks will be as follows:

Rink 1             D Hope, C Jack, F Watson, E Mutter

Rink 2             D Gray, J Dunlop ,R Morrison, P Reynolds 

Rink 3             B McKay, E Lawrence, B Grassom, B Cherry 

Rink 4             S McFadzean, F McCrossin, R Charters, P Galloway

Rink 5             S Thomson, R Peat, K Ross, R Boyd

Rink 6             J Begg, C Naismith, A Thomson, G Watson

Rink 7             R Wilson, G Hodge, A Brown, D Moulds 

Rink 8             J Niblock, A Hastie, D Kidd, J Henry  

World Junior Curling Championships 2013

This Thursday sees the start of the World Junior Championships. The Russian resort of Sochi is hosting the event and this will be a further trial of their ice and facilities before they host the Olympics in 2014.

Scotland's Hannah Fleming from Lockerbie will be defending the Gold Medal she won last year and will no doubt be trying to put the disappointment of losing the Scottish Women's championship to Eve Muirhead a week or so ago.

In the Men's event, we are again represented by Perth's Kyle Smith. His team will be looking to improve on  a creditable Bronze from 2012.

The schedule of games can be found here. Please bear in mind that Sochi time is 4 hours ahead of us.

The WCF is providing free coverage and this can be found by using this link.

Pairs Competition

Gangrels Pairs Competition

 This report from David Hope

The High Road Semi Final was contested between Colin Naismith and Peter Galloway who were playing Robert Charters and Bert McKay.

This was a close game, which could have gone either way. After two ends it was peeled at 1 each. The last end could have gone either way with Robert and Bert just easing into the final.

Peter Galloway, Bert McKay, Robert Charters and Colin Naismith
Bert and Robert were winners of High Road

The Low Road Semi final was contested between Jim Henry and Robert Boyd who were up against Francis McCrossan and George Hodge. Jim and Robert got off to a good start but Francis and George kept plugging away with them getting a 2 at the third end. However Jim and Robert went onto win the match.

George Hodge, Francis McCrossin, Robert Boyd and Jim Henry

The second High Road Semi Final was played out between Harry Peters and David Hope who was up against Jimmy Niblock and Euan Lawrence. Although Jim and Euan got a single shot at the first end. It could have been a different story and the same story was to continue for Harry and David for the next few ends where Jim and Euan would deny them a shot. Jim and Euan went onto win this tie.

Euan Lawrence, Jimmy Niblock, Harry Peters and David Hope

The Final low Road took place between David Gray and Peter Kennedy who received a bye from the previous round and they were up against a changed rink of Jim Henry and (Robert Boyd). Unfortunately Robert had another game to play in at this time so George Hodge stepped in to play in his place. After a nip and tuck final of the Low Road David and Peter came through in the end to win what was a very close last end.

Final of the High Road was between Bert McKay, Robert Charters and Jim Niblock, Euan Lawrence. The Final got off and running with the first end going to Jim and Euan by a single shot. At the second end Bert and Robert got a four. At the third end Jim and Euan got a single shot. The fourth end was a bit of a nip and tuck with both teams having a tough last end with Bert and Robert getting a single shot to win the Pairs Trophy.

A special thank you to all the members who took part in this competition.

Pairs - 2nd Round

The second round of the Pairs Competition took place during the late session tonight and there were one or two byes caused by unforeseen circumstances.
Despite these issues, the top half produced good wins for Colin Naismith and Scott Thomson, George Hodge and Francis McCrossin and Steell McFadzean and Allan Hastie.
The bottom half had only two games played resulting in wins for Jimmy Niblock and Euan Lawrence, and David Gray and Peter Kennedy.

The semi finals and final are on this Friday night (22nd February) and the line up is as follows:

Playing at 6.15
Top Half

Bob Charters and Bert McKay  v   Colin Naismith and Scott Thomson  (High Road)
George Hodge and Francis McCrossin   v  Steell McFadzean and Allan Hastie   (Low Road)

Playing at 7.15
Bottom Half

Harry Peters and David Hope   v   Jimmy Niblock and Euan Lawrence   (High Road)
Willie Scott and Bob Grassom   v  David Gray and Peter Kennedy    (Low Road)

Playing at 8.30
Low Road Final

Playing at 9.30
High Road Final

These are the official placings but I know that substitutes are being arranged to ensure that we have 16 players on the night.

Scottish Championships on BBC

The next two nights will see the finals of the Women's and Men's  Scottish Championships at 11.20 on BBC2.
The women's game is on Tuesday Night and the Men's on Wednesday.

President's Cup Finals Night

6.15 on the ice saw the start of the semi final games. The first was between David Hope's team, skipped by George Hay and Jimmy Begg's team, skipped by Euan Lawrence. George found himself 5-1 behind after 3 ends and couldn't quite pull off the comeback, losing 8-2 after 6 ends.

Semi finalists
Richard Morrison, George Hay (skip), David Hope, Jim Henry

The second semi was a keenly fought game between Bert McKay's team skipped by Jim Dunlop and Ronnie Wilson's team, skipped by Ronnie Peat.
This went to the 7th end and the two Ronnie's coming out on top by 9 shots to 4.

Semi finalists
Gerry Watson, Bert McKay, Jim Dunlop (skip), Allan Hastie

After a short break to replenish fluids and recharge batteries, the final took place at 8.30.
After three ends, Euan's team had built up a lead of 4 shots to 1, but they were destined not to score another shot as Ronnie's team of Peter Reynolds, Robert Boyd and Ronnie Wilson triumphed by 9 shots to 4.

 President's Cup Finalists
Ken Ross, Charlie Jack, Euan Lawrence (skip), Bob Cherry

President's Cup Winners
Ronnie Peat (skip), Peter Reynolds, Robert Boyd, Ronnie Wilson

Points Competition

Hearty congratulations to Robert Boyd, who won this year's competition with an excellent score of 45 points.

The scores from last night were as follows:

Robert Boyd.........................45
Peter Galloway.....................42
Russell Boyd........................40
David Hope...........................36
Bob Cherry...........................35
Ronnie Wilson......................34
George Hay..........................30
Ken Ross.............................29
Ernest Mutter........................26
Peter Reynolds.....................22
Jim Henry.............................18

Pairs First Round Results - plus Two other Match Reports

Tonight saw the first round of the pairs. Winners tonight will play in the high road next week and losers in the low road.

The Three Wise Men?

Playing at 9.30 next Monday

High Road
Bob Charters and Bert McKay  v    Jimmy Begg and Forbes Watson
Ronnie Peat and Ken Ross        v     Colin Naismith and Scott Thomson

Low Road
George Hodge and Francis McCrossin v Richard Morrison and George Hay
Jim Henry and Robert Boyd     v    Steell McFadzean and Allan Hastie

Guard!

"Just draw a wee bit more"

Playing at 10.30 next Monday

High Road
Harry Peters and David Hope            v   Charlie Jack and Bob Cherry
Jimmy Niblock and Euan Lawrence   v   Peter Galloway and Ronnie Wilson

Low Road
Ian Ruthven and David Kidd               v  Willie Scott and Bob Grassom
Austin Thomson and Peter Reynolds   v   David Gray and Peter Kennedy

Deep in thought

"8 shots - That'll do nicely"

Other Match Reports

Last Friday saw two teams from Gangrels playing Ayr & Alloway in the annual match between our two clubs.
In the first game, David Hope's team of Russell Boyd, Robert Charters and Bob Cherry faced up to an A & A team including our own David Scott, Ronnie Wilson and Peter Reynolds. The score was close at 5-4 to the Gangrels after 5 ends, but we then scored 2, 5 and 2 to finish comfortable winners at 14-4.
In the second game Robert Boyd's team of Ronnie Peat, George Hay and Jimmy Begg played well and eventually won the game by 8 shots to 5.

On Sunday, Gangrels joined Stewarton Heather, Crosshill and Ayr & Alloway to represent Ayrshire Province in the RCCC Waldie Griffith Competition at Braehead.  Our opponents were Dunbartonshire Province and we played against Bearsden Ski Club.
Overall, Ayrshire won the match by one shot, but Gangrels were the most successful club, winning by 10 shots to 3.  We were represented by Ronnie Peat, Robert Boyd, Jimmy Begg and Francis McCrossin.

Parish Trophy 2013--A Rare Gangrels Win

David Gray has sent the following report on a magnificent victory.  

"9 Clubs entered for this years competition with early rounds being played, competing for the semi final and final playoffs on Monday 4th Feb.

 

    Our first round opponents Crosshill were double booked for our scheduled date and despite us rearranging the time, they withdrew from the competition, so the Gangrels team of David Gray, Robt Boyd, George Hodge and Peter Galloway along with Sorn, Tarbolton and Galston, qualified for the playoffs.

 

       In the semis we were drawn against Gavin Morton and his Galston team which included Euan Lawrence. We played a great drawing game, on very keen but true ice, building on a consistently good lead stones--so important, from Peter and George, and followed by experience of Robt. Although a close game, we were in control most ends and helped by a 5 at one end, were clear and worthy winners at the bell.

 

   Tarbolton skipped by the wily Willie Morton had an excellent last stone win over Sorn and thus a Gangrel/Tarbolton final had the bookies scratching their heads !

 

 

   At the first end in the final we seized on a half chance with our last stone to clip out our opponents stone to lie 5. Thereafter we continued to draw well, remain focused, giving little away. Although Willie Morton won two ends with single shots when he played two wonderful shots,Tarbolton shook hands after 6 ends of a scheduled 8 ends final.

 

   It was a great team effort, with all playing well--thanks guys."

Thanks David, and I'm sure all the club will join in with hearty congratulations to you and your team.

Next week is particularly busy for  club games so here is a brief reminder.

Monday  11th February  -  Pairs First Round   6.15 or 7.15 depending on top or bottom half.

Tuesday 12th February  -  Points Competition 6.15 or 8.30 depending on draw.

Thursday 14th Feb     -   President's cup semi finals 6.15 final thereafter at 8.30.

Kirkbride Rose Bowl First Round

All eight teams were on the ice tonight in the first round. Some of the games were closer than others but the four winners, who qualify for the High Road semi finals, were Ronnie Wilson, David Gray, Jimmy Begg and Bert McKay.
The losers don't miss out on extra games, though, because they will play in the Low Road Semis,
Scott Thomson will play David Hope and Jimmy Niblock will play Steell McFadzean
All the games take place on 4th March at 5.00 pm and the full draw is here.

Next week sees the start of the Pairs Competition, with the top half of the draw playing at 6.15 and the bottom half at 7.15.  The second round is on Monday 18th February and the full draw can be found, as usual, either by clicking on the Club Fixtures link on the right side of this page, or by clicking here.

President's Cup Semi Finalists Decided

Ronnie Wilson's rink overcame stiff opposition from Scott Thomson to win by 11 shots to 4 and progress to the semi finals along with David Hope. The final score did not reflect what was a close game until the last two ends.
In the Vice President's league there were wins for Jimmy Begg and Jimmy Niblock, but a score of two shots on the last end was enough for Bert McKay to sneak through to the semis alongside Jimmy Begg.
The Begg, McKay and Niblock teams had each won two out of their three games, so were level on 4 points.
Ends scored were as follows:

Jimmy Begg      12
Bert McKay     11
Jimmy Niblock 10

The  final league positions are here and the semis are played on 14th February at 6.15.

Ronnie Wilson  v Bert McKay
Jimmy Begg v David Hope

The final will follow immediately afterwards at 8.30 on 14th.

Next Monday sees the first round of the Kirkbride Rosebowl at 5.00 pm.

Latest President's Cup Results

Only one game played in the President's half of the draw last night, but what a big result it was for David Hope's team. They beat Steell McFadzean by 15 shots to 1, thereby confirming their place in the semi finals.
Next week will see Scott Thomson playing Ronnie Wilson and the winner will probably (subject to ends won) take up the remaining semi final place.
In the other half of the draw, Bert McKay beat David Gray 8-6, and Mr Begg won the battle of the Jimmys by beating Mr Niblock 11-2.
It's all to play for next week - each one of the four teams can still qualify to represent the Vice President's league in the semi finals.
The up to date league table is here.

If you're following Alistair Henry's progress in Canada, you'll be aware that the Scottish Team are performing very well indeed, up by 1654 to 1381 as I type this.
Follow the results here

The latest edition of the "Your Curler" magazine has just been released. You can view a copy here.

President's Cup Week 2

In the President's mini league, there were wins for Ronnie Wilson and David Hope by 11-3 and 7-5 respectively over Steell McFadzean and Scott Thomson.

The Vice President's league saw Bert McKay's team beat Jimmy Begg by 6 shots to 5.

The up to date positions are shown here.

Strathcona Cup

Latest results from Canada show that Scotland are up overall by 585 points to 481. Alistair Henry's team are contributing their fair share of wins. A long way to go.

Keep up with their progress here.

Continental Cup

If you remember, I showed a great quadruple take out (see here) by Tom Brewster on our website at this time last year. It was taken from the Continental Cup.  Well the 2013 edition of the Cup starts on Thursday 10th January and last for 4 days.
This competition features 6 teams from North America against 6 teams representing the Rest of the World. Scotland has two teams, Tom Brewster and Eve Muirhead, as part of the World team.
The WCF is providing a live feed so we can watch some great curling, including skins games.  If you're interested, the link is here.

The Season So Far

David Hope has sent the following review of the season to date.

Gangrels Story of the Season so Far

The story of the season so far has been mixed for our various rinks that play in the open competitions within the ice rink.

The Eglinton Jug saw Gangrels 2 skipped by Robert Boyd, David Gray, Steell McFadzean and Robert Charters start the competition with a win against Ardrossan. Later on they met Symington where they recorded another victory. On Thursday in the quarter finals they came up against Sorn 2 with Sorn 2 coming out victorious.

Gangrels 1 skipped by David Hope, Francis McCrossin, Richard Morrison and Jim Henry went out in the first round when they were beaten by Troon Portland 1.

In the day League “A” Gangrels 1 has lost 1 and 1 won game. League “D” Gangrels 2 has played 3 games winning 1 and losing 2.

In the Ayrshire Province Knock Out competition we were represented by Skip Robert Boyd, Jimmy Begg, George Hodge and Richard Morrison who were playing Stewarton Heather who came out victorious.

In our annual match against Beresford Ladies we managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat putting together some large ends. The caterer’s gave us a most excellent meal, which was enjoyed by the company present.

In the Kyle and Carrick Challenge League we are represent by the rink of Russell Boyd, David Hope, Peter Galloway and Ken Ross. Currently we have played 4 games and managed a win, peel and 2 losses.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year and look forward to seeing you on the ice very soon.

Strathcona Cup

Our President's Cup games resume on Jan 14th at 5.00 pm - please check schedule of games to see if you're playing.

In the meantime, we wish Alistair Henry all the best as he leaves with the rest of the Scottish Team to tour Canada on Wednesday 9th January.

Billy Howat and Andrew Kerr are just two of the other weel kent Ayrshire names amongst the 61 who will be trying to regain the trophy for Scotland,  playing just 427 games in the process!

You can follow their progress over the following three weeks by following this link. We wish them every success.

Updated 7th January 2013
Here is some more info that Alistair has sent us re the Tour

I have been aiming to go on this specific tour for 30 years – ever since Dad returned from his in 1983.  He still meets with (surviving) Tourists every January and has not missed any in the 30 years.  There are 60 playing tourists – selected from nearly 100 applicants.  Each Central Rink will play 32 games, with most days featuring 2 games.  We will be on the move by 8 a.m. on most days and all our travel is by bus – unlike some of the other tourists who are flying between some locations.  It is a hectic schedule but as you only get to do this once in your life, we’ll make sure we enjoy it and bring back (and leave behind!) many happy memories.

I have a supply of Gangrels badges and will be passing these to my direct opponent at each match we play.  The whole event will be done on a competitive but friendly basis with the importance of meeting and enjoying the company of new, fellow curlers. 

The most relevant tabs for myself are those featuring the Central Tour.  I suggest that the Tourists, Itinerary and Results tabs are the key ones.  I am on Central Team 1 and our tour starts in Ottawa on Wed before moving east to Montreal and then down the St Lawrence through Toronto to Niagara Falls area.  We then return to Toronto to meet up with the East and West Tours for a grand finale and closing banquet.  We get back to Edinburgh on Sat 2^nd Feb.