Category Archives: Competition

First Points Competion

On Thursday evening (17 Dec), ten members turned out for the last fixture before the festive break. The event was played out in a grand atmosphere of mutual support with participants eager to learn from the shots played by colleagues and to garner any information that could be passed on. Time passed quickly as our ranks were marshalled by orders from Ronnie Hope, taking on a sergeant-major’s roll (his next booking is as Goldilocks! at the ECC Christmas Bonspiel).

Eight disciplines were completed, and the contest remained pretty even until the seven discipline (Raising). Ken Hunter took the medal with 44 points, Walter Brown was in second place (37 pts), and Dave Anderson and Ronnie Hope tied for third place (33 pts). There was a good standard of play overall which was reflected in a relatively high average score of 28.5 on the night. David Gillespie made his debut and set a good opening benchmark for the future.

Hamish Tait Trophy

Saturday 12 December 2015

This bonspiel competition is played in memory of Hamish Tait. Hamish, a Penicuik Curling Club member, was a remarkable man who had been involved with three other clubs, namely Chartered Surveyors, Merchiston, and Watsonian. Each club field two rinks which play single ends against each of the rinks from the three other clubs. Regretably this season Chartered Surveyors only had four players so their rinks were augmented by Jim Cowper and Ken Hunter, and by John Jacobs and Jim Ramsay. The Penicuik teams were Walter Brown, Jean Lennie, Tom Alexander and Vic Ramage, and Dave Carr, Reg Dunbar, Andrew Lambie, and Peter Occleston.

At the end of the afternoon’s play Chartered Surveyors emerged as winners, with Penicuik in second place, Watsonian in third place, and Merchiston last.

Knock-out Final

The final of our KO competition was played on Monday 7th December. It turned out to be a very close and exciting game. The teams were Jim Ramsay, Roger Scott, Kirsten Mauchline and Alister McDonald, against Ronnie Hope, John Jacobs, Barbara Gillespie and Margaret Dalgleish.

It was very nice to see some of our newer members playing in the final.

The standard of play was excellent, although both teams had problems with wide, out-turn shots going away from the bar.

Ascendency swapped from side to side, with good strikes and raises to win ends.

Ronnie went into the last end 2 shots up. His first shot (on the difficult out-turn) was slightly over swept and then he was slightly heavy when he tried an in-turn draw onto Jim’s back stone. He hit the stone but rolled away from it, leaving Jim with 3 shots and not having to play his last stone.

Well done to both teams for a great game and congratulations to the new champions, Jim and his team.

Final Score: Team Ramsay 7 Team Hope 6

Dave Carr

Singles Competition

In some respects the 2015-16 Singles may well be remembered more for the weather conditions on the day than the competition itself. Road conditions were extremely bad, resulting in some late arrivals. Modern communications allowed some adjustment of the proposed programme to keep the event on track. After it was all over, participants faced a difficult and tedious journey home.

As to the curling, your web master was amongst the late comers and missed the preliminary round altogether. Those progressing to the quarter finals were David Ballantyne, Walter Brown, Keith Morris, and Ronnie Hope. In that round Keith, Ken Hunter, and Dave Anderson ran out winners. The closest tie was between David Ballantyne and Walter Brown. David took a single followed by a two to lead by 3 shots. Walter played a fine strike with his last stone in the third end, removing two opposition stones to take a four and lead 4 shots to 3. In the final end David’s attempts to tap back or rest on Walter’s stones failed, and Walter took the tie. On to the semi-finals; Walter proved too strong and eliminated Keith, and Ken overcame Dave A.

As you might expect, the final was a fairly tight affair. Ken led in the first end, and ended with a counter at the back right hand side of the house guarded by a biting stone at the front of the house and a shorter stone. Walter could see a fair proportion of the house and took a single with a finely judged draw. After a number of draws and strikes, the second end resulted in a single for Ken after a final strike. Ken then managed to keep two stones in play for most of each of the next two ends, and Walter was only able remove one without staying in the house with his final stones. So 3 shots to 1 for Ken after four ends. In the fifth end Walter’s first stone drew past ken’s stone on the outside, so Ken tried to remove it but only managed a fresh air hit (technically a horrible attempt) . Walter went on to extract the maximum penalty for this miss and took a two. So game even at 3 shots all after five ends. In the final end Walter opted to play just short of the house on the right hand side; Ken replied with a deep draw to the other side. Walter played a second stone just short of the house but nearer the centre, and Ken played a strike on the out turn to remove it. Walter then drew around his short stone into the house for second shot, his stone only gaining marginal cover from his short stone. Ken drove but only removed the guard leaving Walter to attempt a take out on his counting shot. Walter’s final stone only just touched the counter and Ken took the tie by 4 shots to 3.

Province League Update

Penicuik suffered a respectable but comprehensive 9-4 defeat to a very strong Currie and Balerno team, led by former World Junior Champion Kerry Barr, in the latest fixture. The first, and hopefully last, loss of the season.

Without much room for error, Currie and Balerno were quick to punish any stray shots or seek openings in the game. Whilst this was our toughest test in the last two seasons, playing at this level is excellent experience for all of the team and lets us see where we can individually improve. Despite the late evening and facing a 6 shot deficit, we showed great spirit in fighting on for two shots in an eighth end (albeit via a slightly unconventional delivery of a dirty stone!). The PCC team continues to play competitively but with warm friendship – embodying the values of our club and enjoying the respect of all those we play. Of course, it’s even nicer to be on the victorious end of these historic friendly rivalries!

Murray Hope

Knock-out Semi-Finals

The semi-finals of the 2015-16 Knock-out Competition were played out last night (19 Nov). In the top half of the draw Team Ramsay eventually prevailed over Team Morris (7 – 4); whilst in the lower half of the draw Team Hope enjoyed a comfortable victory over Team Anderson.

The Final is scheduled for Monday 7 December at 7.30pm.

District Medal Match

Penicuik met Helensburgh at Murrayfield, on Tuesday afternoon, to compete for a Royal Club District Medal. The format was a double rink game, decided on aggregate score. As usual, our President and Vice President were responsible for organising a rink each for the fixture.

The President’s rink was Dave Anderson (Skip), Jim Ramsay, Andrew Lambie, and Dave Carr; the Vice President’s rink was Ken Hunter (Skip), Ronnie Hope, Liz Anderson, and Christine Hope. The Helensburgh rinks were Adam Clark (Skip), Robert Cornwell, Bob Park and Ian McArthur, and J Laverty (Skip), C Howat, G Kerr, and D Morton.

Everyone was at the rink early so there was ample opportunity to meet and chat before the action commenced. The President’s team were quick out of the blocks and established a 6 – 0 lead after three ends. The Vice President’s team were slow to settle, and were 4 -1 down at this stage; a two and a steal of three in the next two ends took the VP’s team to a 6 – 4 lead whilst the President’s team had moved on to a handsome 10 – 1 lead. The President’s team ran out winners at 14 – 5, and the Vice President’s team hung on to win 8 – 7. Afterwards, the teams joined company in the bar to socialise, before the visitors began their journey home to Helensburgh.

Swan Trophy

Penicuik were drawn against East Linton in this double rink knock-out competition. Team A, skipped by Walter Brown, with Ken Hunter, Keith Morris, and Jean Lennie, were comprehensively beaten (3 – 9), whilst Team B, skipped by Dave Anderson, with Jim Ramsay, Andrew Lambie, and Dave Carr, almost pulled the situation back in their game but unfortunately at the end only won by a 4 shot margin (8 – 4).

Congratulations to East Linton on their win.

KO Competition Update

In the quarter final matches on Wednesday evening Team Ramsay, skipped by Roger Scott, ran out winners against Team Lambie by 12 shots to 8; and the three-membered Team Morris overwhelmed Team Alexander (12 – 2). In the second group of matches on Thursday evening, Team Hope, skipped by John Jacobs, pipped Team Brown at the last end (7 – 6); and Team Anderson came back in the last two ends to win against Team Hunter (7 – 5).

Please remember that the semi-final matches are at 5.30pm on Thursday19 November.

Indoor Grand Match

Saturday 24 October 2015

South of Scotland 2154 North of Scotland 1928

See Gallery page for photographs

Elgin:

Penicuik 3 were drawn to play Strathspey in our first fixture of the day (10.00). Dave Carr, Dave Anderson, Liz Anderson, and Margaret Carr made up the Penicuik team. Penicuik got off to a good start taking a single in the first end, followed by steals of a single and then a two in the next two ends. They lost a single in the fourth end to leave the game 4 – 1 in Penicuik’s favour at the mid-point. The same sequence of results was repeated in the second half with Penicuik closing with a 8 – 2 victory.

Murrayfield:

Penicuik 1 were drawn against Bridge of Allan in our second fixture (12.45). Walter Brown skipped the Penicuik Rink, with Ken Hunter, John Jacobs, and Pauli Holmes making up team. Penicuik got off to a good start by taking a single in the first end, and followed this up by stealing another single at the second end. Bridge of Allan responded with a single in the third end. In the fourth end, a strike from Walter moved the opposition counter to yield a three. Penicuik then managed to steal another single in the fifth end after which brooms were stacked for a refreshment. Bridge of Allen restarted with a single at the sixth end, but Penicuik took singles in each of the last two ends to take the game by eight shots to two.

A meal afterwards was enjoyed in the company of our opponents Stefan, Arthur, David, and Jean. Bridge of Allan will be celebrating their 225th anniversary this season, so our best wishes go to them for their bonspiel.

Finally, the organising committee at our home rink are congratulated for their successful organisation of such a good day at Murrayfield.

Kinross:

Penicuik 2 were drawn against Dunfermline ladies in the our final fixture of the day (15.30). This Penicuik rink was skipped by Andrew Lambie, with Murray Hope, Iain Scott and Jim Cowper. Dunfermline Ladies had the better of the early stages in the match and Penicuik were fortunate to take a five in the seventh end to claw their way back to a narrow victory of 9 shots to 7.