Team Munro retains Henderson Bishop trophy

Some days things go better than expected - not too often in the life of the Editor, it has to be said - but today worked out well. I signed off on the final proofs of the March Scottish Curler by lunchtime in Dunfermline and realised that, given an open road and a following wind, my wee Almera could probably get me to Kelso in time to see most of the Henderson Bishop final. And it did.

Border Ice Rink hospitality was at its best, it had obviously been a great week for the women's premier competition, and there was a big crowd of fans in the Kelso four-sheeter for the High and Low Road finals. Both were great games to watch, and well worth the effort in getting there.

Gail Munro's team, the defending champions, were in the final again. Unfortunately, Lorna McMillan had had to return home due to a family illness, and Gail, Lyndsay Wilson and Fiona Hardie had recruited a local lass, Lorna Shaw, to play with them for their last three games in the event. Fourteen-year old Lorna played her heart out... and became the youngest competitor ever to get her name on the Henderson Bishop trophy!

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The Stranraer team was against the local foursome of June Swan, Glynnice Lauder, Gillian Smith and Myra Thomson. They were 2-2 after four, 3-3 after six, and still tied at 5-5 after eight, as you can see on the linescore here (with all the other results too). The ninth end proved to be the decisive one, the Stranraer team exerted the pressure, the Kelso side could not respond and Gail was sitting with three shots in the house when she went to play her last. She wiggled in another and four went up on the board. They kept the last end clean to run their opposition out of stones.

Above: Sheila Miller, President of the RCCC Ladies Branch, presents the Henderson Bishop trophy to Gail Munro, Lyndsay Wilson, Fiona Hardie and Lorna Shaw. The photo is a joint effort between Jim Buchanan and Bob (Jim's camera, Bob pressed the button, Jim forwarded the end result. Thanks Jim).

We don't usually say too much about event Low Roads, but today's Cherrystone final between Lisa Mackellaich, Morven Bridges, Abie Brodie and Wee Barras (above, Inverness), and Jean Robertson, Pat Keith, Susan Scougal and Angela Wilcox (Kirkcaldy) was a great game too. (I only saw two games from the whole week, so I really have to mention it!) The Inverness girls stole a three at the fifth to gain the advantage, but there was only a shot in it playing the tenth. Lisa chipped away a Kirkcaldy counter for the win with her last stone. As a fan of wee curling stones, I have to say how much I admired the individual prizes, handcrafted locally. The pic above is again a Bob-Jim co-production!

Furth of Skip Cottage

Having enjoyed a great week's curl watching, taking pics and blogging from Perth, being shackled to the computer this week is hard! But the March 'Championships Issue' of the Scottish Curler is just about ready to go to print.

But curling is continuing out there. Our teams at the Winter Universiade in Harbin have had a difficult time, looking at the results. But Sarah Reid's team are still fighting. They finished the round robin on five wins and four losses, jointly fourth in the ranking. They now have a tiebreaker against the Czech Republic to get into the playoffs. That will be tomorrow. Canada, China and Russia are the top three.

John Hamilton's team have three wins, having played eight of their nine round robin games, and cannot make the playoffs.

I've been following the World Wheelchair Curling Championship in Vancouver, online here. The playing stats are interesting. I note that Aileen Neilson is throwing last stones now. Mike Haggerty will now be in Vancouver, and his reports will be on the Royal Club website here.

I'm sorry not to be able to get over to the Border ice Rink, Kelso, this week where the Henderson Bishop trophy is being contested, the premier event in the Ladies' Branch calendar. The results are here.

Top: The GB girls who are at the WUG in China. L-R: Sarah Macintyre, Vicki Adams, Sarah Reid, Kay Adams, Laura Kirkpatrick. Photo by Hugh Stewart.

Henderson Bishop update

Thanks to Gordon Conacher for sending on this pic of the Henderson Bishop winners:
L-R Fiona Hardie, Lorna McMillan, Lyndsay Wilson, Gail Munro.

Ostersund: First post tomorrow! No moose sightings so far.

Curling in Atholl

Hello from the Atholl Curling Rink in Pitlochry! Competition for the Henderson Bishop trophy is well underway this week, and a few pics are posted below. The scores and standings can be found here.

The semifinals and finals of the high and low roads are on Thursday. Sadly, Curling Today will not be there. Sorry! Find out why tomorrow.

Photo above: From '101 things to do with a curling stone', we liked this floral arrangement in a hollow stone.

The Atholl rink is inside the shell of the old Pitlochry Festival theatre. This is the view from the cheap seats in the Upper Circle! That looks like Carolyn Hibberd delivering her stone for the Greenacres team. On second thoughts, it's not. Maggie Rutherford is a right-hander.

A wide range of ages are playing in this Ladies' Branch event. Here juniors Abi Brown and Rebecca Kesley look after Susan Kesley's stone, with Tina Weir in the house. Brenda Macintyre and Lynne Fraser (Inverness) look on.

Ena Smith will have played in one or two of these events over the years! Here she is sweeping Isobel Waddell's stone, with Margaret Robertson, for Marion MacDonald's Lanarkshire 2 team.