Month: October 2018

Finnie Kettle

Hosted by Dundonald Curling Club, the Finnie Kettle is a competition played by clubs representing the north and south of the river Irvine. The winning club being the highest up rink on the winning team.

As usual, Stewarton Heather was represented by a Presidents Select (usually committee members) made up of President Jim Kirkwood, Cuthbertson Reserve Coordinator James Whiteford, Secretary Peter Barrett and  Cuthbertson league leader Hugh Whiteford.

Drawn against Dundonald, a tight game ensued with Stewarton Heather having the better of the first half and Dundonald coming back towards the end of the game. With Dundonald lying one and guarded, Hugh’s last stone was an attempted raised takeout which unfortunately missed by a matter of millimetres giving Dundonlad the point needed to peel the game at 5 each.

In the overall competition, the North scored 42 shots to the South’s 46. The highest up rink for the South was Troon Portland who beat Riccarton by 7 shots and took home the trophy for the second year running.

 

Points Competition

The annual points competition for the Corsehill Cup and Tom Reid Handicap Trophy saw 19 club members take to the ice.

After 7 rounds, Dave Reid and Alan Smith were tied on 39 points with another four player only 2 points behind. Dave and Alan went on to Chipping the Winner where going first, Dave put the pressure on and won 7-4 in the playoff to win the Corsehill Cup.

Having tied equal 3rd in the scratch competition with David Mundell, Ewan Jackson and David Young, Jim Kirkwood took the Tom Reid Handicap trophy by 2 points from Dave Reid with Ewan Jackson in 3rd.

Full results and analysis can be downloaded here.

Cuthbertson – Match Day 6

With Tom Smith having withdrawn from the league, Lorna Montgomerie once again put up a stirling performance against Stuart Smith. In a tight match, all square going into the last end, it came down to the last two stones to decide the winner. With his last stone, Stuart came through a port with weight to remove what looked to be a well guarded winning stone and lie two shots. In reply, with the last stone, Lorna drew through the same port but ended up inches short to hand Gouky the win 6-5

Up against Tom Reid, it was hard going for Peter Barrett, with Iain Dunlop clearing out whenever a big end was building. It was too early to finish after 7 ends, despite being 9-3 down, and a foul by the sweepers on Tom’s last stone in the 8th led to Barrett drawing for 3 and taking the game to a 9th end. With Barrett lying two, Reid drew for second shot round the guards, Barrett’s last was a little heavy leaving Reid to tap and roll in for shot and a 10-6 win.

It was top against second on sheet E where Hugh Reid took on Malcolm Noble. A 2 in the 2nd for Reid gave him the early advantage which was pegged back by Noble in the 5th with a 2 of his own. All square at 4-4 after 6, steals at the 7th and 8th kept up Hugh Reid’s unbeaten run and moves him 2 points clear at the top, winning 6-4

Andy Steel, playing skip in place of the absent Jim Young, was up against Douglas Reid on sheet F with Dougie looking to get some points on the board. Despite a 2 at the first end for Steel, it was steals at the 3rd, 6th and 7th ends that won the game for Reid who won 7-4

Results:

Stuart Smith 6-5 Lorna Montgomerie

Tom Reid 10-6 Peter Barrett

Malcom Noble 4-6 Hugh Reid

Jim Young 4-7 Douglas Reid

Cuthbertson – Match Day 5

It was top of the league against middle on the front sheets with joint table topper Mal Noble building a 6-0 lead after 4 ends against Tom Reid. In the second half Tom could only score four singles leaving Mal to win 7-4 after 9 ends. On sheet D, the other joint leader Hugh Reid took on David Mundell. A 3 at the second and 4 at the fifth helped Hugh to maintain his unbeaten start to the league.

Out the back, the four bottom teams fought it out. On Sheet E Doug Reid fought a close battle with John Craig who scored a two in the eighth to win 7-6 while on sheet F, Peter Barrett comfortably beat Tommy Wilson 10-3 with Tommy commenting “I’ve not had an easy shot all night.”

Results:

M Noble 7-4 Tom Reid

H Reid 10-4 D Mundell

D Reid 6-7 J Craig

P Barrett 10-3 T Wilson

Eglinton Jug Winners 2018

After three days of curling, the Stewarton Heather rink of David Mundell, David Reid, Tom Reid and Douglas Reid have again won the prestigious Eglinton Jug at Ayr Ice Rink.

Having reached the quarter finals with wins over Land o Burns and Sorn 3, Mundell’s rink came up against fellow Stewarton Heather rink of Craig Reid and, in the words of David himself “we were lucky to win the game.”

The semi-final was against Sorn 1 where Mundell took early control of the match and won 7-2 to set up the final against yet another Sorn rink of Neil Sands (Sorn 4). All square at 2-2 after 4 ends, Mundell took a 5-2 lead in the 5th. Sands took 1 in the 6th and stole another in the 7th to make it 5-4 going into the 8th, where Mundell secured another shot to win 6-4.

This was Team Mundell’s fifth win (2007, 2009, 2012, 2015 & 2018) and the clubs eighth overall (1901, 1987 & 1992).

Well done to all three Stewarton Heather rinks that took part in this years event.