Dumfries Junior International update

Well, that's my travels over for this curling year. For most Scottish curlers too, the domestic season is complete. Hasn't it gone past quickly! But the Dumfries Junior International set a fine note on which to finish the year. I'm sure the competitors, including lots of visitors, enjoyed the event. It was fun! Well done to Graham Sloan and his organising committee.

For the record, Colin Dick, Patrick Blom, Thomas Sloan and Rhiann Macleod defeated Scott Macleod, Steven Mitchell, Kerr Drummond and Aron Bryson in the final. A tied game going in to the final end, Scott needed his final takeout to curl more than it did, and Dick's team stole the victory.

Above: Provost Jack Groom with Rhiann, Thomas, Colin and Fiona Hardie who presented the Globe trophy. Here are a few more pics.

This from the final. Thomas Sloan's stone. Colin is shouting. Rhiann is doing all the work. Where is Patrick Blom? Good question? Why is Scotland only playing with three players? No, not what you think. There was good reason, such as Patrick Blom having to catch his flight back to Denmark!

Thomas and Colin study options as Kerr Drummond looks on.

The Dick team got past James Dunn, Vicki Adams, Michael Goodfellow and Aline Hardie in the semifinal.

Jaap van Dorp's team lost to Scott Macleod in the other semi, but went on to take third place in the event.

Lindsay Doucet, Sara Spafford, Meryn Avery and Nicole Jollimore from Nova Scotia had to get past two good U-17 teams skipped by Grant Hardie and Hamilton McMillan to win the Challenge trophy. I liked the fact that they wore Police Association of Nova Scotia tee shirts! PANS are sponsors of a local tournament at home. Perhaps the Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary might come in as a sponsor of next year's event at the Ice Bowl?

Chris MacRae ensured the Canadian team from Nova Scotia won the Low Road final against Anna Sloan. I'm sure he doesn't always deliver with his eyes shut, as the pic seems to show!

I mentioned before that the Canadians were without their skip Ben Parker who investigated the facilities of Dumfries Royal Infirmary for a couple of days. It was good to see him on the ice for the final games. What does he listen to on his MP3 player? Everything from ZZTop to Andrea Bocelli, apparently. (Now there's a question. What is the best music to curl to? Please don't say, 'Anything by the Rolling Stones!' There were some suggestions recently on the Scottish Curling Forum here.)

Here are the visitors from Canada, Holland, Denmark and Poland.

Pics by Bob.