Scottish Curling Championship decided in Dumfries
Report by Natasha Potts
Dumfries has once again taken centre stage in curling after the final of the Scottish Championships were held today in the town.
In the women’s event defending champions and European Championship bronze medallists Rebecca Morrison, Gina Aitken, Sophie Sinclair and Sophie Jackson took first place.
It's two consecutive national titles for Team Morrison who bagged an 8-3 win over Team Young in the Scottish Curling Women's Championship final.
Skip Rebecca Morrison, originally from Aberdeen, said, "We came out here this week and we've gone undefeated going into the final. It's a little scary when you've not lost a game. You just don't want the one loss you have to be the final. So a little bit of extra pressure going into today. So we're just delighted to come up with that win."
Dumfries' Sophie Jackson said, "This is my my hometown, so it's great to have of family and fans and it's really nice to win a championship here in Dumfries. Obviously there's a lot of interest in the sport. So you've got people in watching, and with there being so many high profile curlers from around this area there's just so much interest in it. So it's great."
Interim Chief Executive of Scottish Curling Vincent Bryson said of the event being held in Dumfries, " This the second time we've been here and the events staff, the Scottish Curling staff and the athletes have all put in so much effort to make it come off. You can see how much the crowd enjoyed some high quality curling. So it was nothing but a 10/10 event really. Having it here is great because of the standard of curling that comes from this region. We want it consistently to be seen. High quality, talented curlers coming out of Dumfries and the surrounding area who then go on and hopefully have great careers in the game."
In a closely fought men's final, Olympic Champion Team Mouat narrowly beat Team Craik.
It was a fourth title in their last four appearances at the event for Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan and after missing it last year because they were on Olympic duty, they were widely expected to win the final after going through the entire competition unbeaten to that point.
Mouat said, “We always want to come down with hammer and peels in the last end to win a nationals. Drawing the four foot is what we always talk about, so I obviously didn’t need to play my last there, but that’s what I thought I would have to play.”
“This is really special. We’ve worked really hard over the past five years as a team and to win four nationals in four attempts it’s hard to put into words how much it means, because it’s everything you work for.
“It’s been a great week for us going undefeated, so hopefully that can lead us into the rest of our season.
“We’ve had so much fun and the ice has been unbelievable and I really hope we can come back here next year.”
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