Monday, November 24, 2014

Final League Position - Fraser Cup

Colin Naismith and his team of Peter Reynolds, Robert Boyd and Jimmy Begg (with David Scott subbing for Peter) won the Fraser Cup this evening, but it was a close run thing.

They started on 8 points, knowing that a point would be enough to secure the title, and were cruising with a 6-2 lead after 5 ends. However, our Vice President Francis McCrossin and his team had other ideas. They took a 5 at the 6th and traded shots at the 7th and 8th ends to win by a single shot.

Peter Kennedy's team was the only one within reach and he duly won by 8 shots to 7 to also reach 8 points.  However, his ends+ tally of 21 was three short of Colin's.

In the last game, Ronnie Peat's team stole a 4 at the last end to pip the unlucky Charlie Jack by 9 shots to 8.

The final league positions are shown here.

Nest week is the first round of the President's Cup.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

European Championships

This Saturday sees the start of the European Championships in Champery, Switzerland.

Euro 14

Scotland will be represented by teams skipped by Eve Muirhead and David Edwards as they strive for medals in the "A" Division. All Ayrshire folk will be rooting even more than usual for the Men's team, where Billy Morton plays lead stones.
The event website with details of the draw can be found here.
The games will be broadcast on Eurosport from Monday and you can watch Scotland play Germany at 2.00 pm C.E.T. (1.00 pm GMT).  The full schedule of broadcasts can be found by clicking this link. Live Coverage will also be available on the WCF World Curling TV channel, although,as always, I'm never sure whether this is available if Eurosport are covering the game.


Team Edwards Euro Web 300X203


For an insight into life at a Major Champioships, follow this link to Team Edwards preparations for the event and their season so far. I'm sure it will be interesting to follow their week.
Eve's women's team is Anna Sloan at Third, Vicki Adams at Second and Sara Reid at lead.  They start their campaign with a game against Denmark at 2.00 pm GMT on Saturday and their game against Germany is scheduled to be shown live on Eurosport at 7.30 pm GMT on Tuesday.

Monday, November 17, 2014

One Week to Go!

Tonight Colin Naismith's team made a dash for the line by beating Peter Kennedy's rink by 7 shots to 5.  There were also good wins for Francis McCrossin over Ronnie Peat by 10 shots to 7 and Charlie Jack over Jim Dunlop by the same margin.

So there is one week left in this season's Fraser Cup.

The Naismith rink have 8 points and if they win next week they will win the Trophy.  If, however, they slip up, Peter Kennedy's rink could overtake them if they beat George Hay.  All to play for (and I'm afraid the rest of us will be down the field).

The league can be found here.


Thursday, November 13, 2014

Match against the Swiss Tourists

The Gangrels were honoured to be asked to field a team to play against the Swiss Tourists yesterday.
Ronnie Peat, Robert Boyd, Jimmy Begg and Bob Cherry were one of four teams playing for Ayr, the others being skipped by Colin Murdoch, Billy Howat and Rab Clark.



The touring party are in the middle of a 15 day tour of the ice rinks in Scotland, under the auspices of the RCCC.

We played well, winning by 16 shots to 4, and eventually all 4 Ayr teams were winners, although after 4 ends it was a lot closer.

An excellent dinner followed and we were delighted that Provost Helen Moonie was able to attend and lend her support by speaking of the good work done by the curlers, skaters and other sportsmen in South Ayrshire.
After the meal, the entertainment was led by Andrew Jones on his accordion. Jimmy Begg regaled us with his thoughts about "Oor Skip".
The Swiss then took over with songs from Maya Ryman, one of Switzerland's top yodellers, accompanied by the Fuchs family on organ, accordion and "saw".
It was a fantastic night, enjoyed by everyone, and a great credit to Andrew Kerr and his organising team.

More photos of the day can be found on the Ayr website, by clicking here.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Fraser Cup Week 5

Colin Naismith, Jim Dunlop and Peter Kennedy skipped the winning teams yesterday, although Peter was generous enough to say that Ken Ross had played very well against him as skip and had been very unlucky to lose.
Three teams now sit on top of the league with 6 points, with a two more only two points adrift.
Check the league position here.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Closer Still

I mentioned last week that the league was close, with 3 teams standing on 4 points. Well it just became closer!

There are now 5 teams sharing top spot on 4 points, separated only by ends scored and lost. The other two teams are not far away either, being only two points behind.

Congratulations to the winners last night, the teams skipped by Ronnie Wilson (for Peter Kennedy), Colin Naismith and Jim Dunlop.

See the latest position here.