Category Archives: Competition

Edinburgh International Curlers’ Gathering 2017

The Gathering took place over the last weekend of March and fourteen local sides were joined by fourteen overseas teams for a 3-day fun curling tournament.  Eight of the visiting teams were new to the event and came from France, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the USA.

Penicuik fielded teams drawn from a squad of Dave Carr, Dave Anderson, Andrew Lambie, Jim Ramsay,Liz Anderson, Pam Ramsay, Barbara Gillespie, Jean Lennie, Roger Scott, and David Gillespie.  Wins against Alba and The Queens (Sweden), and a loss to Lyss City 1 (Switzerland) in the preliminary stage meant Penicuik played in Group C in the final stage.  Here they lost to O’Neil (USA), Curlingstones (Switzerland), and Lyss City 2 (Switzerland).

The Roaring Stones (aka Murray Hope, Iain Scott, John Jacobs, Robert Beaton, and Ronnie Hope) played in a very strong group in the preliminary stage losing to Paddy Power, The Maple Rocks (Canada), and Torsten Med Borsten (Sweden).  Happily they went on to gain a victory against Easy Curlers (Switzerland) in the final group stage. 

Some of the Organising Team

A number of members banded together to form the Organising Team for the Gathering.  Jim R was Transport Manager and MC, Linda Hunter is the Treasurer and Competition Score,  Janette Lambie and Barbara Gillespie manned the Registration Desk, and Christine Hope and Pam Ramsay ran the fund raising activities.  The whole team readily took on additional duties throughout the weekend.   A big than you to all of them, and to the volunteers who delivered Jim’s transport plan for airport transfers.

The Winning Teams this year were;

Group A         Paddy Power

Group B        All Mixed Up

Group C        O’Neil (USA)

Group D       Lyss City 1 (Switzerland)

Group E        Balfron Wolves

Group F        Kelso Reivers

Group G       Midcalder

The Friendship Quaich was awarded jointly to the two USA teams (O’Neil and Mulville) from St Paul, Minnesota, who made a great contribution to the event both on and off the ice.

37 Club Challenge Match

At our dinner to celebrate our Bi-centenary, 37 Club presented Penicuik with a very nice silver salver to mark the occasion.  Subsequently, the clubs agreed that they would compete annually for the salver. Last season, we played a single rink game against them and managed to win the trophy 7-4.  Afterwards both clubs felt that they could raise two teams, so it was decided to make it a double rink sheet match for this season.
So, on Monday 20th March, Penicuik played against 37 Club.
Representing Penicuik were the President’s team, Jim Ramsay, Dave Carr, John Jacobs and Ronnie Hope, and the Vice President’s team, Murray Hope, Dave Anderson, Iain Scott and Robert Beaton.  The President’s team played Mike Wilkinson, Bryan Little, Mike Williamson, and Mel Stimpson, and the Vice-President’s team played Paul Davidson, David Lambie, Alastair Hay, and Harry Fairley.
The Vice President’s team got off to a great start and went 6 up after two ends. While the President’s game was more of a nip and tuck affair, with both sides striving to gain an advantage.  While the Vice President’s team were keeping a good lead in shots, they were dropping ends and the President’s team started to struggle.  So going into the last end, it looked like Penicuik would win the Vice President’s game but lose The President’s game. The Challenge Match would be decided on ends and Penicuik would win if they could gain an end in either of the games.
The President’s team lost a heavy (5) last end  and lost the game 4-10 but drew 3-3 on ends. In the Vice Presidents game, 37 Club had a well buried shot and Murray decided to go for a “David Murdoch” style triple lift at weight. It was looking good all the way down the ice. However, the last stone to be lifted missed the 37 stone by half an inch (see Mike Williamson’s photo). A great effort by Murray, whose team ran out winners 8-4.
Congratulations to 37 Club who won the match 14-12 (7 ends to 6).
We all retired to the bar after the match for the usual conviviality and all agreed that we should keep the double rink format for next season.
Dave Carr

District Medal

Two teams of our curlers traveled across to Braehead late on Wednesday evening to meet Cadder CC in a District Medal fixture.  Our teams were Dave Anderson. Dave Carr, John Jacobs, and Robert Beaton; and Andrew Lambie, Iain Scott, Roger Scott, and Ronnie Hope.

The President’s team (Anderson) won 7-4, and the Vice-president’s team (Lambie) lost 5-9.  Overall a victory for Cadder, so congratulations to them on their win.

Intermediate Points

The first Intermediate Points Competition was played out tonight, Tuesday 14 March, with 11 enthusiastic members vying to gain the medal.  Six disciplines were completed, with ‘Wick & Curl In’ being omitted in favor of ‘Raising’.   It was a closely contested evening with a tight finish; Andrew Dalgleish took the medal on 16 points, with Janette Lambie and Vic Ramage just one point behind in joint second place.  Congratulations to Andrew, and well done to all of the participants.

Everyone enjoyed themselves, so hopefully we can look to run the event on an annual basis. Finally your Secretary would like to thank Jim Cowper for going in to the curling rink to assist in making the event run smoothly for the players.

Pairs Competition

Once again we have had an excellent Pairs competition with an exciting finish. The High and Low Road format giving everyone 2 games and keeping the crowds to the bitter end.  The games were played on sheets 1 and 2. The ice was very tricky with big swings and fall backs.

The first round winners were Tom Alexander & Jean Lennie, Dave Anderson & Margaret Carr, Roger Scott & Dave Carr and Walter Brown & Janette Lambie.

 In the Low Road semi-finals, Andrew Lambie & Liz Anderson beat John Jacobs & Reg Dunbar, and Ronnie Hope & David Gillespie beat Keith Morris & Vic Ramage. In the final, Andrew & Liz had a comfortable win against Ronnie & David, with Andrew playing the fall back particularly well.

 In the High Road semi-finals, Dave A & Margaret beat Tom & Jean in a tight match, and Roger & Dave C beat Walter & Janette.  The High Road final was a very close encounter. After 4 ends Roger & Dave had crept to a 5-0 lead, but Dave A & Margaret hit back with a 3 in the 5th end. In the 6th end, the advantage swapped around but with the last couple of shots Dave A just squeezed past a guard and Roger tried to follow him. Roger’s shot just caught the guard leaving Dave A & Margaret with a 2, to tie the game at 5-5.

So for the second year in a row, the Pairs competition would be settled by drawing shots.  Dave A went first and drew to within the 4 foot. Roger followed but was slightly heavier giving the title to Dave A and Margaret.

 Congratulations to Low Road winners Andrew and Liz and to High Road winners Dave A and Margaret.

 

Province League

We went into the last game of the season in 6th place (out of 8) against Bank of Scotland in 7th place, needing at least a peal to stay in Division 2.

We got off to a good start gaining 4 shots in the first end followed by a lucky steal of 1 shot in the second. We lost a single in the third then an unfortunate 4 in the fourth.  We rallied to take a single in the fifth followed by another in the sixth going into the last end 2 shots up. We kept our heads and stole 3 shots to come out winners by 10 shots to 5 thereby finishing the season mid-table on 7 points and retaining our position in Division 2.

The squad for the season was Murray Hope (Skip), Dave Anderson (Third) with John Jacobs, Iain Scott and Robert Beaton.

Dave Anderson

Waldie Griffith

A Waldie Griffith inter-province tie between Midlothian and Borders was played at Murrayfield on Thursday (2 March) afternoon.  This competition features a series of one off matches between provinces throughout Scotland, with the Province having the best shots up return gaining the trophy.  On this occasion, Midlothian was represented by teams from DAFS, Gogar, Midcalder, and Penicuik.  The Penicuik team for the day was Andrew Lambie (Skip), Dave Anderson, Jim Ramsay, and Ken Hunter.

Penicuik played a team of ladies made up with players from several clubs from the Borders. Penicuik took a single at the first end, then lost a three in the second end; the deficit was reclaimed with a two at the third end.  A close parity was maintained thereafter, and the teams were level after 6 ends.  With last stone and a free house to draw to, our opponents opted to blank the seventh end and retain last stone advantage.  In the final end, Penicuik were lying one shot before the last stone; the opposing skip tried a chap & lie but failed to keep her shooter in the house, so the game ended all square.  It was a good afternoon of sport in the excellent company of our opponents.

Regrettably, this was as good as it got for Midlothian, the other three teams all lost to give Borders a victory by 8 shots (+2 aggregate); not enough for them to be contenders for the trophy.

Second Points Competition

The Second Points Competition was played out on Wednesday 22 February, with nine members setting out to try and gain the medal.  Fastest out of the blocks in the first two disciples was Dave Anderson, but his lead was clawed back somewhat in the next two disciples.  Chap & Lie was perhaps the pivotal disciple with John Jacobs scoring a maximum eight to go into a one point overall lead.  John managed to hang on and finish on a total of 35 points (8 disciples), with Dave Anderson close behind on 33 points, and Iain Scott in third place on 30 points.

Congratulations to John, and well done to the others who all managed good scores on tricky ice.

Merchiston Team Points Match 2017

Our forces mobilised on Sunday 5 February ready to take on our adversary of old, Merchiston, in the annual Team Points Match.  Elements of our famed ‘Old Guard’ were not able to take the field and provide the benefit of their long battle experience; and one of our front line units was on overseas duty in the Americas.  The formation for the evening was Keith Morris, John Jacobs, Dave Anderson, Ronnie Hope, Iain Scott, Reg Dunbar, Ken Hunter, and Jim Cowper.

Our initial assault (striking) was highly successful, dealing our opponents a heavy blow.  Our attack continued with a decisive gain at In-wicking.  At the slower pace of Drawing and Guarding, our troops again showed their mettle with steady advances.  A counter thrust in the next disciple (Chap and Lie) saw our opponents regain some ground; perhaps tactically more of our units should have used the out-turn.  Neither side were able to make much at the Wick and Curl In, the ice was negative on the direct out-turn approach, and Raising ended in a stalemate.  Merchiston showed the quality of their play extracting a strong gain at Chipping the Winner, but it was too little too late; Penicuik took the day with a total score of 112 to 97.

As usual this was a great evening, played in the warmest atmosphere of friendship, with all participants applauding every good shot no matter who had played it.  The top scorer for Penicuik was Dave Anderson on 19, followed by Ken Hunter (17), and Ronnie Hope (16).  The top scorer for Merchiston was Avril Anderson on 15, followed by Keith Anderson and David Cunningham (both on 14).

merchiston-team-points-result-2017_001

King George Exit

After a flying start against Musselburgh in the first round, the chickens came home to roost on Friday 3rd January, when they were shot out of the sky by a strong 37 Club rink.  Penicuik failed to take advantage of the very few opportunities gifted to them by slack opposition play, and were severely punished for it. The final score of 13 – 2 slightly flattered 37 Club, but in truth on the night Penicuik’s rink of John Jacobs, Keith Morris, Roger Scott and Ronnie Hope fell short of the standard required to match the quality of the opposition clubs now entered in the King George IV.  We were sent homewards to think again!

Ronnie Hope