Friday Glynhill update

I went to the dentist yesterday, and she asked me to do this. Gillian Howard.

It's who it says it is! Binia skips a Swiss team.

The schoolkids from Arkleston Primary will remember their morning at the rink. That's the local development officer David Horne at the back of the pic!

Special bus! And thanks to all the sponsors.

Big scalp for Gail Munro and her team this morning - Jennifer Jones's World Champs. You can find all the linescores and results here.

Nominated in the following categories: (1) Brunette of the Day (2) Russian of the Day (3) Best supporting eyes - Ekaterina Galkina, known to her friends as Katya

This is Ian Mackin, the webmaster, and President of the I love Lucy fan club!

Jennifer Jones. Needs a caption.

Euro Champ Mirjam Ott of Switzerland.

Braehead's Liz Paul was substituting for the Netherlands this morning.

Caption Competition. Sara Carlsson and Lotta Lennartson from Cissi Ostlund's Swedish team.

And here's their skip, Cissie Ostlund herself! Do you think they would look nicer in black?

Pics by Bob.

Eve Muirhead skips GB Olympic Squad team at the Glynhill

Roll up, roll up for the best show in town this weekend!

Chief Umpire Leslie Ingram-Brown gives a short presentation to an attentive audience at 08.00 this morning!


Eve Muirhead got her chance to skip the GB Olympic Squad team this morning, with Jackie Lockhart, Karen Addison and Lorna Vevers. Kelly Wood is the alternate. The team was against Eve's third from the World Junior Championships last season, Kerry Barr, who probably enjoyed the experience of demolishing the big team - it was all over after seven. You can find all the scores from the event here.

World Champion Jennifer Jones is here with her Canadian team. They beat Siderova's Russians after an extra end in their first game.

So too is Bingyu Wang (aka Betty to her friends) from China, here practising last night.

The Draw Shot Distance is used to decide last stone advantage these days, so why is Umpire Ian Addison tossing a coin? Did both teams cover the poppy? No. What happened was that the Russians, playing first came up short. The Japanese put it in the rings... but kicked it away before the umpires could measure. That means the stone doesn't count (check your rulebook) and so the coin toss was used to decide! I remember when this game of ours was SO much simpler!


Team EYOF? What's that, some were wondering. Curling Today thinks it stands for 'Team Every Young Ones' Friends'. Actually it is the team going to the European Youth Olympic Festival in Poland next month. The girls beat Gail Munro in their first outing. More later.

Who is this young Swede? Actually it is our own Katie Stevenson, drafted in to sub for Anna Hasselborg who lost a player due to illness. Get well soon Sabina. Good to see Katie who hails from Lockerbie on the ice again.

Katie's skip Anna Hasselborg.

We like the sponsorship which we think must be a pub in Stockholm?

Tributes to the hard working organising committee. Here is co-chairman Kirsty Letton who was involved in the Glasgow Kelvin Hall Silver Broom when she was just a lass in 1985. I wonder where they found the banner for this weekend?

Pics by Bob

Lucy's fan club welcomes their heroine to Braehead

Yes, they're here. All the hassles of last year behind them when they were delayed by the Heathrow air crash, the Russian squad, three teams, have arrived safely at Braehead for the Glynhill Ladies International which begins tomorrow.

Liudmila Privivkova's fan club president, Ian Mackin (photo to follow), was in the welcoming party, as was a scrum of media! Well, Curling Today was there and Stable Recordings who will be making the video record for posterity. That's Lucy above.

Ian of course is the Glynhill website webmaster, and you can follow all the results thanks to his efforts here.

I managed a visit to Hamilton today, to see the Canadian tourists, the South group, in action against Lanarkshire Province. Here's a few pics of what that was like!

Lockhart Steele leads the Lanarkshire Province teams on to the ice behind the piper.

It is certainly a bit of an occasion!

A pose for the local press photographer.

This is Ron Belden whose team was up against Lockhart's side. Find how they got on here.

Ron's team and the welcome banner, the Lanarkshire Ice Rink well dressed for the occasion!

I asked Willie Young, the Scottish courier for the early part of the tour, who were the 'characters' amongst the Canadians. He immediately pointed to Gus Claveau, seen here. Welcome to Scotland, Gus!

Pics by Bob.

The weekend in prospect

As usual at this time of year, there is so much going on that it is difficult to keep track of it all.

Before I forget though, if you would like to be involved as a volunteer at the Scottish Finals next month, the Royal Club is looking for help with the statistics and results service which is being provided once again by CurlingZone, thanks to support from British Curling. More details are here.

I've already mentioned the Glynhill Ladies International, and I'll be blogging some photos from Braehead, hopefully. It would be great to see the same number of people spectating as there was at Perth last weekend. You'll not see better women's curling in Scotland this season. I just hope, for the sake of the hard-working committee that the event does not encounter ice plant breakdowns and airport problems that caused a headache or three at the inaugural event last season.

The Canadians are touring the country, North and South. Lindsay Scotland is keeping us up to date with the scores here. The Canadians seem to be showing us how the game should be played, but there's a long way to go yet! And I should also not forget the Swiss Tour - bit of a well kept secret this, and somewhat overshadowed by the incoming Canadians. The RCCC website is carrying results here.

The second batch of Seniors qualifiers is on at Forfar. Find these results here. First games are at 10.00 tomorrow (Friday).

The first round of the Bruadar Scottish Championship qualifying begins Friday evening at Perth. Twenty teams have to be cut down to ten over two weekends play. The way this is being done this year is in two sections, the top five in each going through to the finals. Each section has its first four games this weekend. The rest are Jan 30-Feb 1.

Section A includes Keith MacLennan, Logan Gray, Alan Smith, Colin Hamilton, Ian Watt, Jamie Dick, David Edwards, Angus Robertson, David Murdoch and Dillan Perras.

Section B has Hammy McMillan, Lee McCleary, Scott Hamilton, Glen Muirhead, John Hamilton, Neil Joss, Allan Manuel, Warwick Smith, Craig Reid and Tom Brewster.

Last but not least, three Scottish junior teams will be playing in Hamburg in the last of the three WCT-e Junior Tour events. There are just seven teams in the boys' event, including Graeme Black's side who are second in the standings. The EYOF squad (Blair Fraser, Kerr Drummond, Colin Dick, Struan Wood and Jay McWilliam) are also in the event listed under Colin Dick's name. Jennifer Dodds has just four other teams to contend against in the girls event. I haven't been able to find a website for results yet. (Added later. See here.)

Now, have I forgotten anything?

(Added later) Yes, indeed I have. The Four Nations is on at the Lanarkshire Ice Rink, Hamilton!

Top: The Scotch Cup is now the trophy for the Bruadar Scottish Men's Championship.

Vernon: the next chapter

The Royal Club Board Minutes for December have now been published (they can be downloaded here). Significantly, they contain the following statement about the Vernon enquiry:

"Board members expressed frustration that despite constant pressure from the Chairman on the Independent Investigator slow progress is being made. The lack of progress is down to some witness statements having not been signed off. It was agreed that Michael Nicholson should be instructed to finish the report without the missing witness statements."

Word on the rink is that all the material that Nicholson needs is now in his hands, and that the Board will meet soon to discuss the report when it is received. Let's hope so.

It was back in October 27 of last year that the Royal Club issued its last statement about the Vernon investigation. Bob Tait indicated then that the remit for Michael Nicholson, the independent investigator, had been agreed and signed by all the parties, and that work on completing the independent investigation was ongoing.

In summary, the remit was, "To conduct an investigation into the events that resulted in the Scottish team at the Ford World Women’s Curling Championships in Vernon in March 2008 playing 2 games with 3 players, and the events in Vernon following each of these games. To provide the Chairman of the Board of the RCCC a written report on the facts found by the Investigator and to make recommendations on actions, if any, to be taken. The Investigator will not recommend specific disciplinary sanctions. The report and any appendices will be sent to Bob Tait, Chairman of the Board of the RCCC by a date to be agreed with the Investigator. The report and any appendices will also be circulated by the Investigator to Alan Cowan of Simpson Marwick for Gail Munro and Lyndsay Wilson; and Derek Brown. The report and any appendices will also be placed on the RCCC web-site and circulated to all Scottish team players at the event, the Team Coach, Support staff and the RCCC representative at the event no earlier than 48 hours after it was sent to the parties."

The full text of the October 27 announcement is on the RCCC website here.

I am hopeful that we will all soon find out what really happened in Vernon. Bob Tait has indicated that the report will be placed in the public domain, on the Royal Club website. For only by being open and honest can our sport's governing body minimise the public relations disaster that it has already suffered from the delay in getting to this stage.

I believe that Chairman Bob Tait is as frustrated as anyone over how long it has taken to get to this stage. Certainly the statement in December's Board Minutes would seem to indicate this. It has not been a good start to his leadership term and as long as it continues the less opportunity there is for him to begin to repair the Royal Club's reputation.

The question for me is what will happen now? Will the conclusions in the Nicholson report lead to resignations, or will there be a resumption of the complaints procedures which are currently on hold? I fervently hope that there will be no attempts at a cover up. There is no doubt in my mind, from talking to curlers in all walks of the game, that many would like the Vernon issue over with and that we just move on. They are fed up with it. But that's the danger, that the whole matter just gets quietly forgotten about.

I have promised that the Scottish Curler will NOT let the matter be forgotten, although I am as disturbed by the whole issue as any lover of our sport.

Let's not forget the seriousness of what happened. Scotland was made to look the laughing stock of the curling world in Vernon last year. Why did it happen, and what procedures can be put in place that this never happens again? Is it wrong to expect answers to these two questions? And of course we are now very close to finding out who will be representing Scotland at the World Championships this year. Could the same thing happen again?

Glynhill coming up

Top women’s curling teams from all over the world will be at the Braehead rink, January 16-18, for the Glynhill Ladies International, the last World Curling Tour Europe event of the season. Jennifer Jones from Canada, the reigning World Champion, will be there with her team of gold medallists.

China’s Bingyu Wang got the World silver medal in 2008, we could see a repeat of the World final at Braehead this weekend.

Mirjam Ott, skip of one of three teams from Switzerland, is on a high after winning the European Curling Championship just a month ago. The Ott team tops the WCT-e rankings. They’ll face some tough opposition from home grown teams. Gail Munro will be back to defend the title she won last year. Members of the initial GB Olympic squad will be in action as well.

Hannah Fleming and her team will represent Great Britain at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Poland in a month’s time. They’ll be looking for a good result at the Glynhill Ladies’ International. Kay Adams and her team are getting ready to head off for China in February to represent Great Britain at the World University Games.

Three teams from Russia feature in the field along with teams from the Czech Republic, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Japan and the Netherlands.

It promises to be a great weekend of top class curling at Braehead! For more information and the results, see the event website here.

Top: A scene from the Kelly Wood v Gail Munro final last season, won by Munro. Above: Lucy's fan club will be happy that the Russians are back at Braehead! Both photos are by Richard Gray.

Perth Masters and Sunday roundup

The quarterfinals of the Ramada Perth Masters saw the three remaining Canadian sides on the same half of the draw. Hammy McMillan matched up against Kevin Koe. That game was broken open when Hammy was light on a draw against two Canadian stones and Blake MacDonald had a free draw for a third and a 6-2 lead. Kerry Burtnyk always looked in command against Wayne Middaugh in the all Canadian battle, although he had to play a pressure draw with last stone of the game to secure his win.

On the other side of the draw David Murdoch and his team were off early against Yusuke Morozumi's Japanese team. Peter Loudon and Norway's Thomas Ulsrud was tighter, 1-1 after five. But Ulsrud pulled off the big shot in the sixth, counted four, and that game was sewn up.

So to the semis, Murdoch v Ulsrud and Burtnyk v Koe. The latter match was over first. Burtnyk counted three at the first and then could not get another point as Koe and his team powered into the final. The teams shook hands after six with Koe 8-3 in front. All the linescores are here.

Murdoch has played Ulsrud some six times this season, with the Scots 4-2 ahead on wins (I think) prior to this game. Certainly Murdoch had won the last two games, in the Euro final and again earlier in this competition. It was not to be three in a row. Tied at 1-1 after four ends, the Norwegians stole two singles and were 3-1 up in the eighth. Murdoch could not get a stone hidden, and Ulsrud had an open hit for the game.

So it was Edmonton's Koe against Norway's Ulsrud in the final and when the Alberta side put three on the board in the first end, I wondered if I would be down the road early. Not so. In an entertaining and fascinating next three ends, Ulsrud worked back to 3-2, only to give up a further two in the fifth, after a measure. Intricate, delicate stuff it was, interspersed with the big weight clearances that you really had to be ice side to appreciate 'Broxden roundabout' weight.

Norway got two back in the sixth (it should have been three) then stole a single in the seventh, when MacDonald was inches away with an angled raise that would have given the Canadians a big end. So it was down the last with the scores tied, and Koe with the hammer.

The Canadians were not to be deprived. MacDonald was left with a draw to the four foot for the title and he was right on the money. Great stuff!

Top: Perth Masters champs 2009 , Nolan Thiessen (lead), Carter Rycroft (second), Blake MacDonald (4th), Kevin Koe (skip).

The Final. Thomas Ulsrud, with Kevin Koe and Blake MacDonald behind.

Kevin Koe

Honda Accord - very low mileage!

Today's caption, "Hello down there!" Nolan Thiessen.

Thomas Ulsrud and David Murdoch in the semifinal.

Pete Smith, "Not our day!"

Kerry Burtnyk, with Blake MacDonald and Kevin Koe (behind) in the semifinal.

Did I mention that Ramada is the competition's title sponsor? Blake MacDonald getting excited.

Blake again with Carter Rycroft. Presenting sponsor West End Garage, Broughty Ferry.

Pics by Bob.

I've not forgotten about Berne. Jackie Lockhart and the GB women's squad put Shannon Kleibrink's Canadian's into the B road in their third game as they made it to the quarters without loss. But in the first of the playoff games, they were to meet the Canadians again and this time were on the losing side of a 5-4 scoreline.