New Season U-17 Slam

The new season begins for many under-17 curlers today! No, it's not April 1 - that was yesterday's post - but the U-17 event today and tomorrow at the Dewars Rinks in Perth is the first event in the series of five which will run through the first half of next season, to make up the U-17 Slam. The other events will be at Lockerbie, Greenacres, Hamilton and Pitlochry. These ice rinks donate trophy and prizes for each event.

The top two teams (that is a female team and a top male team or mixed team), based on results in three competitions, will receive an entry to the WCF junior camp in Fussen next summer. The RCCC will pay the camp fees (which includes accommodation and meals) and flights for the trip.

To compete in the Slam, players must be under the age of 17 years on June 30, 2008. This will the last date for teams to register to compete in the Slam.

Sixteen teams are entered for the Perth event, playing in four sections. The results are here.

Junior curling is also headlined this weekend at the Dumfries Ice Bowl. Teams from Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Holland and Poland will compete against some of the top Scottish juniors. With four events, there is something for everyone in this under-21 competition.

Spectators are welcome. Play begins Friday at 11.00. More on this event later this week.

Close finish to U-17 Slam

The fifth and last of the season's Under 17 events took place at Lockerbie this weekend. The winners of the competition for the Stevenson Trophy were the Blair Fraser team - Thomas Sloan played the last stones, Blair skipped and threw third, Scott Fraser played second and Thomas Muirhead was at lead. They beat Hamilton McMillan, Rori MacPherson, Andi Lock and Hamish McGeoch in the final.

In the photo above, Nancy Murdoch, the Royal Club's Performance Development Coach, presents the Stevenson trophy for the Lockerbie event to L-R Thomas Muirhead, Blair Fraser, Thomas Sloan and Scott Fraser.

The big prize of course, on offer to the overall winners of the Slam and to the best junior women's team, was the opportunity to attend the WCF Summer Camp in Fussen in July. The latter was won by Jennifer Dodds (skip), Tasha Aitken (3rd), Mairi Girvan (2nd) and Mhairi Anderson (lead). The team reached the last four in three events to be the top raked women's team.

The overall Slam title was not so easily decided. Two teams, skipped by Alan Inch and Colin Dick, were tied on the same number of points, on the basis of their best three performances in the Slam events they had participated in. An extra six end game was held at Lockerbie. Down 2-3 in the sixth, Alan Inch, Craig Waddell, Andrew Ballantyne and Kyle Waddell lay the shot needed to peel with one stone remaining. A draw to the four foot to count a second would give them the win and a trip to Germany. The young Hamilton skip was just too heavy, and the game went to an extra end! Drama indeed!

Colin Dick, Anna Sloan, Lauren Gray and Alice Spence (substituting for Struan Wood who was sidelined with illness for the final weekend) were not successful in keeping the front of the house clear in the seventh. But Alan could not get his last behind the cover and Colin had an open hit with his final stone, successfully executed, and it would be the Dick team who will be bound for Fussen.

The photo of the Dick team is here. Two others follow.

Overall best women's team in the Slam L-R: Jennifer Dodds, Tasha Aitken, Mairi Girvan and Mhairi Anderson.

Alan Inch and Colin Dick in the Slam decider.
Photos by Bob.

Weekend preview 4: U-17 Slam decider

The final Under-17 event of the season takes place this weekend at Lockerbie, the fifth in the Slam series. The event was postponed from the beginning of the season because of the rink's late opening. The four other venues have been Perth, Greenacres, Hamilton and Pitlochry.

Colin Dick and his mixed rink of Anna Sloan, Lauren Gray and Struan Wood won the Atholl competition and, on the basis of their best three performances, have the same number of points as Alan Inch, Kyle Waddell, Andrew Ballantyne and Craig Waddell from the Lanarkshire rink. The prize for the overall winners of the Slam are places at the World Curling Federation's summer camp in Fussen!

The same prizes are on offer in the junior women's section where Hannah Fleming and her team are just four points ahead of Tasha Aitken's side.

All are playing at Lockerbie tomorrow. The results will be here.

Fleming team wins U-17 event at Lanarkshire rink

The second of the RCCC U-17 events of this season took place this weekend at the Lanarkshire Ice Rink, Hamilton. The Lanarkshire Slam, sponsored by Scottish Conveyancing Services, saw Colin Dick's team of Lauren Gray, Struan Wood and Grant Hardie match up against Hannah Fleming, Kimberley Smith, Alice Spence and Kirsten McNay in the High Road final. The Lockerbie girls overcame an early deficit to win 7-6.

L-R: Kirsten McNay, Alice Spence, Kimberley Smith and Hannah Fleming

Photo by Bob.