National Province Championships

 National Province Championships

As many of you will be aware Mid Calder were runners up in the Mid Lothian Province league for

season 2023/24, this put us into the final play-off against Barbarians Curling Club at the end of last

season. Mid Calder fielded a team consisting of David Baird(Skip), Graham Young (3 rd ), Adam Keron

(2 nd ) and Mhairi Howden (lead), which turned into a one-sided affair with Mid Calder having a

runaway 8-1 victory. With this, the club were duely entered into the National Province

Championships which have been played at Greenacres Curling Club for more than 20 years.

Discussing our entry with Basil Baird he advised that this was the first time Mid Calder’s history (that

he was aware of) the club had ever qualified to play at the championships.

With baited breath having selected from the pool of players who aided the club to gain the lofty

position at the top of the province table and win the final, we took to the ice on Friday with David

Baird(Skip), Graham Young (3rd), Laura Barr (2nd) and Scott Baird (lead).

Friday saw us playing our one and only game of the day against Forth & Endrick Province,

represented by The Bucanneers, who play out of The Peak, Stirling. Mid Calder took the first 3 ends,

scoring a total of 4 shots, dropped a single in the 4 th end, before scoring 3 shots in the 5 th .

Bucanneers made a valiant effort to recover the score in their favour with 2 shots in the 6 th , however

decided to concede the game.

Saturday was an early start for the team, with the first game played at 09:30am against Stewartry

Province, who were represented by Kirkpatrick Durham CC. The game started with Stewartry

securing 2 points in the first, however we bounced back capturing a big score of 4 shots, followed by

a steal of a single in the 3 rd end. Stewartry were pushed to a single shot in the 4 th end before Mid

Calder replied with 3 shots in the 5 th end, a steal of 2 shots in the 6 th and a further steal in the 7 th of 4

shots, where Stewartry conceded the game.

Our 2 nd game of the day at 16:15pm was against North Eastern province, represented by Meldrum &

Daviot Curling Club. The game was closely contested through the first few ends, with North Eastern

taking 2 shots in the first, followed by Mid Calder being forced to a single shot in the 2 nd . Single

points were exchanged over the next 2 ends. However North Eastern went on to steal the next two

ends with scores of 2 shots per end, with Mid Calder capturing a score of 2 in the final end. The final

score being 8-4 to North Eastern Province.

Our last game of the day, at 19:30pm, was against Angus Province represented by Fortheringham

Curling Club. Angus province stepped out to an early lead with a steal of 2 in the first end, Mid

Calder fought back over the next two ends scoring a single in the 2 nd and a steal of a further single in

the 3 rd . Angus had different ideas and recovered their lead by scoring a 2 in the 4 th . Mid Calder

rallied again scoring a single in the 5 th and stealing a score of 2 shots in the 6 th . Angus were forced to

a single in the 7 th , meaning it was peels down the last. A short team talk before the start of the end

allowed us to set our plan, keep the 4ft clear for Dave’s last stone!. The plan executed without flaw,

we scored a single in the last to secure our 3 rd win in the round robin.

The section games over, we were invited to play a draw shot challenge to decide our ranking

position for the quarter finals. This wasn’t our best moment, with 2 stones reaching the back 12ft

and 2 reaching the 8ft.

As we waited for the standings from the RCCC umpires, we joined Angus province in the bar for a

few social drinks before retiring to our hotel for some well-earned rest.

Only North Eastern and ourselves won 3 games in our section, so we were confirmed as moving on

in the competition. North Eastern captured top place in the group having won 18 ends, to our 17

ends – maybe shouldn’t have accepted the concedetis of our earlier opponents.

Sunday was another early start, the quarter final game being played at 09:00am. We were drawn

against North Eastern province (again). With a slight air of trepidation we took to the ice where we

stole a single in the first end, followed by a further steal of 5 shots in the 2 nd end. North Eastern

scored in the 3 rd with a single shot, before we extended our lead by scoring a further 3 shots in the

4 th where North Eastern conceded the game. We took the opportunity to take in an early, but light,

lunch as well as getting some fresh air and enjoying the views around the ice rink – well, there’s not

much else to do at Greenacres Ice Rink, given its remote location.

Back on the ice at 12noon for the semi-final game where we met Moray province, who were

represented by Ardlach Curling Club. Moray who had the shorter DSC result, gained the benefit of

both hammer and stone selection. Moray made good with their hammer advantage in the first end,

gaining a score of 2shots. In the 2 nd end, we battled to gain a good score but were forced to a single

shot. The third end, was quickly lead into a hitting end with stones and runbacks exchanged, before

the end was blanked by Moray. Making the most of the hammer advantage, moray scored 2 shots in

the 4th, before stealing a further 2 in the 5 th end. Mid Calder were forced to a single in 6 th , however,

we managed to steal a further shot in the 7 th end. With the gap down to a 3 shot difference, we

talked about playing the last end – it was still possible to score 3 to peel and force the extra. So we

continued on, we played some well-placed stones, with some not so accurate shots by Moray as we

reached skips stones we were fortunate enough to be sitting 3 shots with limited cover. Moray

attempted to play off the central most stone which was sitting in the left 4ft, however played slightly

tight it skiffed a guard and caught one of the shots at the back left of the rink. Had this stone caught

the guard thicker, it would have meant a draw to lie four shots against the hammer. With our stone

played and lying three, Moray made short work of removing one of our stones, but rolled out giving

us a steal of 2, nevertheless this secured them the win with a score of 6-5.

Handshakes were accepted in good spirits, while disappointment may have been in the back of our

minds, we reminded each other that we had done ourselves and our club proud by advancing so far

in our first attendance at the event.

Moray province went on to play Dunbartonshire province, represented by defending champions

Kelvinside Academical Curling Club. While the game remained close throughout, Moray successfully

overcame Dunbartonshire wining the final 5-4 after 8 ends.