MacDougall and Fowler are champions

Alan MacDougall and his team of Andrew Reed, Andrew Woolston and Tom Jaeggi won their 4th consecutive ECA Men's Championship at Fenton's Rink on Sunday afternoon beating Michael Opel, Jamie Malton, Henry Carter and Keith Wilson, the last team before the winners to take the Championship in 2009, by 7-6 in a pulsating final.

6-2 up after 7 ends, MacDougall seemed to be in control but all of a sudden a 3 for Opel followed by a stolen single meant that the teams were all-square going down the last. Quite a guddle developed but Alan kept the front fairly well open and did not need to play his last stone when an attempted take-out by Michael failed to clear the shot stone of Alan's from the house.

Alan and his team had had a fairly quiet Saturday when the draw gave them just one game - 6 ends against the Ivan Zadorozny team, missing Ivan as he had had to go to hospital to see his mother,and so they were probably glad of a tough ten-ender on Sunday morning to get back into the swing. Yours truly was the opposition and after taking a three at the first end, I was pegged back by Alan taking 3 singles to be all square after 4 ends.

And then one of those rare occurrences that few of us have ever witnessed - a blank end, even though the head was full of stones.Umpire Robin Shand was unable to separate the two nearest stones on the measure and so he declared a blank. The game went on being closely fought until Alan suffered his second defeat of the week by 5-6.

In another close game on Sunday morning John Sharp defeated John Summers 7-6 after an extra end. (Bryan Zachary and Ivan Zadorozny did not play their scheduled game as it had no bearing on the final positions).Neither of the games that were played had any impact on the teams who would play in the final but it did produce a situation with 4 teams tied on a 3-4 win record for 4th to 7th places. Looking at the win-loss record among those teams meant that the final order after the Round Robin was:

Michael Opel - 6 wins, 1 loss
Alan MacDougall - 5-2
Bryan Zachary - 4-2 (1 unplayed)
John Sharp - 3-4
Greg Dunn - 3-4
John Summers - 3-4
John Brown - 3-4
Ivan Zadorozny - 0-6 (1 unplayed)

So the DSC did not come into play to decide rankings but for interest the team's results were as follows:

Michael Opel - 12.0cm
John Sharp - 23.3
Greg Dunn - 25.3
Alan MacDougall - 37.3
John Summers - 60.5
Ivan Zadorozny - 64.1
John Brown - 64.7
Bryan Zachary - 68.4



Anna Fowler, just 22 years old, and her team of juniors -  Hetty Garnier, Noami Robinson and Lauren Pearce won their first National title as a team (Anna had won in 2011 with Fiona Hawker) when they defeated Fiona by 8-5 to complete a remarkable turnaround after losing the first two games of this best of 5 Championship series. Anna was always in control it seemed in this game going into a 7-2 lead after 6 ends and holding on against a fightback from Fiona and her team of Lesley Gregory, Angharad Ward and Tracey Brown. Tracey had stepped in at the last moment at the start of the competition when Fiona's lead, Debbie Hutcheon was taken ill and was unable to travel down from the North-East. Tracey herself was then injured on Saturday morning and was only able to take part in half a game out of the two played that day, but she was back on the ice for the final game

It was Hetty Garnier's second Championship in a month, having won the Mixed Doubles title with Ben Fowler back in January, but she has had to pull out of going to the World Mixed Doubles owing to exams and her place will be taken by Anna Fowler.

The end is near

Saturday evening at the English Championships and things are building to a climax. Last night's victory for Michael Opel over Alan MacDougall means that a final is guaranteed as there will be no undefeated team in the men's competition. Alan had a quiet day today- just one game against Ivan Zadorozny who was unfortunately down to three men - 14-2 in just 6 ends.Michael beat John Brown this morning and is now on the ice against John Sharp in his last game - should he win he will be guaranteed to finish top of the rankings after the Round Robin.Should he lose he would drop down into a possible tie for second place on 5 wins and 2 losses with one or two other teams.

Alan has one game left tomorrow morning - against John Brown and is expected to win, which could set up an Opel v MacDougall final. But again, should he lose, other teams could come back into contention. Currently on 2 losses are John Summers, presently on the ice against Greg Dunn, another team reduced to three men, and Bryan Zachary.

The ladies final has been turned on its head today. After Fiona Hawker won both games yesterday, Anna Fowler won game 3 and it looks as though she is about to win game 4 as well which would set up a decider at 1400 tomorrow alongside the men's final. Substitute Tracey Brown hurt herself in a kitchen accident today and was only able to play the first 5 ends of game 3 and so it has been hard work for Angharad Ward and Lesley Gregory throwing three stones each and sweeping. They will need a long lie tomorrow morning to recover from their exertions today.

Updates will follow.

Latest results from English National Championships

So here we are over halfway through the Championships and the latest results are:

0900 John Brown 12 Ivan Zadorozny 4, Alan MacDougall 8 Greg Dunn 5, Bryan Zachary 10 Michael Opel 8

1400 John Summers 12 John Brown 2, John Sharp 12, Ivan Zadorozny 5, Fiona Hawker 8 Anna Fowler 5

Current standings after each men's team has played 4 games

MacDougall 4
Opel 3
Dunn 2
Brown 2
Summers 2
Zachary 2
Sharp 1
Zadorozny 0

Early scores from the National Championships

Thursday evening and three sessions of play have taken place here in Kent at the English men's Championships so far.

In Session 1 Alan MacDougall held off a strong fightback from John Summers to win 7 - 6, Bryan Zachary scored a 4 in the 8th end to take a winning 10-5 lead over John Sharp, and Michael Opel came back from 5 shots down to beat Greg Dunn 9-8.

Early morning start today and while Michael Opel and Alan MacDougall won their second games - 8-2 against Ivan Zadorozny and 9-3 against Bryan Zachary respectively, Greg Dunn came back to squeeze through 8-5 against John Brown.

Session 3 and there was a big win for Greg Dunn against Ivan Zadorozny by 12-3 after 6 ends, John Brown toppled John Sharp 9-3 after 8 and the closest game of the session saw John Summers hang on to beat Bryan Zachary 10-8.

So Alan MacDougall and Michael Opel are undefeated, Greg Dunn, John Brown and John Summers have lost 1 and Ivan Zadorozny, Bryan Zachary and John Sharp have lost 2.

On ice at the moment just 2 games - John Summers v Michael Opel and Alan MacDougall v John Sharp.

Webstreaming from Championships

Early stages but we have got a webstreaming link to Fenton's Rink - fentonsrink.privatedns.org:8080/multi.html

Unfortunately we have nobody free at the moment to fill in the scores and so if there are any volunteers out there who fancy spending a few days down here helping us out, then feel free to join us.

ENGLISH NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS THIS WEEKEND

The English National Championships take place at Fenton's Rink in Kent this weekend.

Teams competing are:
 

John Sharp                James Mallows          Ben Fowler                Steve Amann            

John Brown                Nigel Patrick              Mark Wilkinson          Oliver Kendall           

Alan MacDougall        Andrew Reed             Andy Woolston          Tom Jaeggi               

Bryan Zachary           Duncan Spence         Kerr Alexander           Ken Maxwell             

Greg Dunn                 James Dixon             Arthur Bates              Bruce Bowyer           

John Summers           Richard Hills              Andy Taylor     John Hamilton     Martin Gregory

Ivan Zadorozny           Doug Andrews           Charles Murphy          Robin Gemmell         

Michael Opel             Jamie Malton             Henry Carter              Keith Wilson             

 

Fiona Hawker             Lesley Gregory         Angharad Ward          Debbie Hutcheon       
Anna Fowler              Hetty Garnier             Naomi Robinson         Lauren Pearce

  
The men will play a single round-robin of 7 games and then the top two will contest a final on Sunday at 1400 unless the top team is undefeated and has 2 more wins than the second team. The women will contest a best-of-5 rubber - first team to win 3 games will be Champions

The draw is as follows

Wednesday 20^th February        1900

1          John Summers              v           Alan MacDougall

2          Bryan Zachary               v           John Sharp

3          Michael Opel                 v           Greg Dunn

Thursday 21st February           0900

1          John Brown                   v           Greg Dunn

2          Michael Opel                 v           Ivan Zadorozny

3          Bryan Zachary               v           Alan MacDougall

Thursday 21st February           1400

1          Bryan Zachary               v           John Summers

2          John Sharp                    v           John Brown

3          Greg Dunn                     v           Ivan Zadorozny

Thursday 21st February           1900

1          Sheet not used

2          John Summers              v           Michael Opel

3          Alan MacDougall            v           John Sharp

Friday 22nd February              0900

1          Ivan Zadorozny               v           John Brown

2          Greg Dunn                     v           Alan MacDougall

3          Bryan Zachary               v           Michael Opel

Friday 22nd February              1400

1          Fiona Hawker                v           Anna Fowler

2          John Brown                   v           John Summers

3          John Sharp                    v           Ivan Zadorozny

Friday 22nd February              1900

1          Greg Dunn                     v           Bryan Zachary

2          Alan MacDougall            v           Michael Opel

3          Anna Fowler                  v           Fiona Hawker

Saturday 23rd February           0900

1          John Brown                   v           Michael Opel

2          John Sharp                    v           Greg Dunn

3          Ivan Zadorozny               v           John Summers

Saturday 23rd February           1400

1          Alan MacDougall            v           Ivan Zadorozny

2          Fiona Hawker                v           Anna Fowler

3          John Brown                   v           Bryan Zachary

Saturday 23rd February           1900

1          Anna Fowler                  v           Fiona Hawker                if required

2          Greg Dunn                     v           John Summers

3          Michael Opel                 v           John Sharp

Sunday 24th February             0900

1          John Summers              v           John Sharp

2          Ivan Zadorozny               v           Bryan Zachary

3          Alan MacDougall            v           John Brown

Sunday 24th February             1400

Sheets to be decided

Men’s Final

Fiona Hawker                            v           Anna Fowler                  if required

Ann Beeley Trophy revived

The London Curling Club held a weekend competition for mixed teams for the Ann Beeley Trophy at Fentons at the weekend. Ann Beeley was a member of London 30 years ago who was knocked off her bike and killed and the trophy was presented by her sister with the proviso it had to be played for mixed teams as that had been Ann's great pleasure. Unfortunately Jean Beeley died last year but she had always taken a keen interest in how the trophy was doing.

The Trophy was first played for at Alexandra Palace as part of the programme of competitions that the then Province of London staged throughout the season. When Alexandra Palace closed for curling, it was awarded to the best mixed team at the Province's Scottish weekend where the main trophy was the Sir Alexander Fleming Trophy. On two occasions the same team was victorious in both trophies over the weekend as the Province toured the Scottish ice rinks from year-to-year - Kinross, Pitlochry, Lochgoilhead, Forest Hills, Letham Grange and Greenacres all played host to the Fleming / Beeley weekend - worryingly 4 of those 6 rinks have now closed!!!

After a three year hiatus it was then awarded to the winners of the SECC mixed league at Fenton's for a couple of years but there has been another spell of three years since then until this year it was staged a month before the ECA Mixed Championships in the hope of attracting some of the teams entered in that for practice. In the event 3 of the 6 participants were teams who had entered to practise and it was one of those, skipped by Andrew Woolston with Anna Fowler, Ben Fowler and Hetty Garnier who won all 4 of their games at the weekend to take the trophy over Jamie Malton on 3 wins and the rest of the 6 teams trailing behind in their wake.

Ann Beeley Winners - Ben Fowler, Andrew Woolston, Anna Fowler, Hetty Garnier

Full results

Ivan Zadorozny 7 John Brown 7
Jamie Malton 5 Fiona Hawker 4
Andrew Woolston 8 Oliver Kendall 3
Andrew Woolston 7 Jamie Malton 5
Oliver Kendall 11 John Brown 7
Ivan Zadorozny 8 Fiona Hawker 4
John Brown 7 Fiona Hawker 6
Andrew Woolston 14 Ivan Zadorozny 3
Jamie Malton 9 Oliver Kendall 3
Jamie Malton 11 Ivan Zadorozny 6
Fiona Hawker 10 Oliver Kendall 1
Andrew Woolston 6 John Brown 5

Andrew Woolston 8 points
Jamie Malton 6
John Brown 3 (13 ends, SD -4)
Ivan Zadorozny 3 (13 ends, SD -12)
Fiona Hawker 2 (14 ends)
Oliver Kendall 2 (10 ends)

2013 World University Games Selection Process

Following publication of the selection policy for the 2013 World University Games. The application forms for athletes wishing to be considered for selection are now available to be downloaded from the 'Policies' page of the British Curling website.

http://www.britishcurling.org.uk/policy-plans.asp

The forms are available in both Excel and Open Source format (.xls and .ods files)

Important dates to note;

1. Athletes wishing to be considered for selection must submit their application forms 1st - 15th March

2. Selection meeting to create shortlist of athletes to attend an on-ice selection day - week beginning 25th March

3. On ice selection day - Peak Ice rink, Stirling - Sat 27th April

4. Final selection meeting to select teams - 2nd May, 2013

Any questions, or problems downloading the relevant documents, please contact the Performance Director on Dave.crosbee@sisport.com