September 14, 2008

Lightning strikes Curl Aberdeen

It is no secret that the weather in Scotland has been pretty bad this summer! Roll on winter, many were saying, and it was great when the season got underway. Curling Today was at Curl Aberdeen recently (here), and so I was worried when the news came through that the rink would have to close this week.

Manager Tom Brewster confirms that the rink suffered a lightning strike last week which hit close to the building, causing a power surge which tripped the main fuse for the refrigeration room. Because of the nature of the fault it bypassed the alarm systems that Aberdeen have in place. Thin as it was at this point in the season, the ice began to melt in a very short time.

Although the surface was back in playable condition for the weekend, the paint job had suffered, and Tom has taken the decision to completely replace the ice as it does not meet the high standards Curl Aberdeen seeks to achieve. It should only take around four days to fix and the rink should be back in action by Friday evening.

Tom adds that he is currently working with Star Refrigeration to design an alarm system which can be accessed by computer or phone which will also send an alarm signal to a phone or email.

The Curl Aberdeen rink will be the venue for the A Division of the European Curling Championships in 2009.

Top photo of the Curl Aberdeen rink (on a sunny day) is by Bob.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Tom Brewster was kind enough to show me and my Dad around this World class facility.
Best of luck Tom.
Don Bartlett