It was well worth braving the snow to be at Curl Aberdeen this afternoon for one of the finest games of wheelchair curling that I've seen! The opponents in the final were the teams skipped by Angie Malone with Ian Donaldson, Gill Keith and Jim Taylor, and Aileen Neilson with Michael McCreadie, Bill Masterton and Gerald Pocock. All are members of the Braehead Wheelchair CC.Malone counted three in the fifth to be 5-3 up coming home. She looked to have the game won, keeping the Neilson team to a single. But Aileen played a delicate takeout, squeezing past the guard to get the inside edge she wanted to wick into the four foot, for the second of the two shots she needed to force the extra end.
And when it came to the last stone of the game, Angie played a hit through a port to take out the Nielson counter for the Championship win. Who needs sweepers? Great stuff. Good ice, good curling, and it seemed that the unanimous view was that a return to Aberdeen for next season's championship would be a popular decision.
A full report in the May Scottish Curler. All the results are here.
Top: Angie delivers with Gill Keith her buddy.Above: L-R Ian Donaldson, Angie Malone, Jim Taylor and Gill Keith. Pics by Bob.
1 comment:
I was a much surprised man to find myself elected to the Scottish Wheelchair Curling Association Presidency on Friday night.
I'd discovered the game being played in Hamilton only two seasons ago, after some six years in a chair.
What a great sport it is, and yesterday's final was one of the best examples of sporting skill I have seen in years. It had the nailbiting emotions of watching Scotland going for victory and leading at Twickenham, without the gut-deep feeling it was all going to go wrong.
Angie Malone and Aileen Neilsen skipped two teams of matching excelllence. The last end finished. They were tied, and a great gasp went through the audience in the superb Curl Aberdeen rink. A further end was played, and tension was almost touchable. What the eight great curlers were feeling Lord only knows.
When the final stone came to be played, with red lying dead plumb centre for Aileen, surrounded by three of Angie's team's yellow stones, it seemed impossible. Guards there were a-plenty, and it seemed as if "THEY SHALL NOT PASS". But Angie Malone's Magic Stone did it. And the cheers roared from the viewing crowd in the bar. (Where else?)
I was truly proud to be a small part of such a stimulating and challenging sport.
Magnificent, and millions should have been watching. They would not have seen "Disability"...they would have seen ABILITY. Well done.
Post a Comment