Invergordon curlers slide out of reach of rivals
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INVERGORDON Academy Curling Club, the infant club of the Ross and Cromarty Province, won its first Province A League Championship last week, completing an eight-game winning run to give an unmatchable 16 points with a round of matches still to play.
Invergordon could not have picked a better platform to celebrate clinching its momentous first title, a key fixture against the rink just below them in the table — the Province’s most successful league club and skip since the Alan Moore Trophy was first played for in season 1963/64, Belmaduthy’s Peter Fraser.
Under the guidance of Allan MacLennan, the instrumentalist in getting Invergordon Academy pupils into curling and eventually forming a club in 2003, Invergordon became the first Ross-shire club to deprive Belmaduthy of the trophy since Caberfeidh won in season 1997/98.
When Peter Fraser’s nephew, Iain Fraser, won last season it became the 26th time Belmaduthy’s name went onto the trophy.
Invergordon served notice of its goal for this season’s championship as early as last October when in the second round the club beat the reigning champion, Iain Fraser. The win arrived during a period when skip Allan MacLennan was easing himself back into play after injury, taking the lead stones. The rink was skipped by Nigel Murray from Sutherland’s Rogart club.
It was not quite over as a contest after four ends when MacLennan with two big scoring ends of four shots led 8-4. Not surprisingly, back came Fraser with a triple in the next end after a double miss by Nigel Murray.
Plenty guards about in the sixth end and Invergordon lay one shot to go down the final end with a two-shot lead. Belmaduthy set up the end in search of two shots that would give them a peel, or three shots to win the tie — but important clearing strikes, from MacWilliam and then Murray, removed the danger leaving Fraser with only a last stone final draw for one shot. When Fraser’s last stone slipped through the house, MacLennan had the championship confirmed with a steal and a 10-7 win.
Charlie Munro (Caberfeidh) then inflicted more pain on Belmaduthy when he went above both Belmaduthy Frasers in the table with a closing end steal to beat the outgoing champion 7-5.
Muir of Ord 3, the rink that last season gained promotion to A League, look as if they are heading back down to B League. Duncan Mackenzie, who has skipped for most of the season in place of Ali Eddie, agonisingly lost a shot in the last end to lose to Caberfeidh’s Hugh Mackay. They are the two skips left propping up the rest of the table, both with just four points.
There is a lifeline for this pair in the final round as there are still three skips just in above them, Ian Mackay (Dornoch/Caberfeidh) five points, Stewart Torrie (Fairburn) and Iain Fraser (Belmaduthy) both with six points. Torrie was the only skip of the three to have won last week beating Ian Mackay 6-5 after Mackay had to field three subs.
But the Belmaduthy cupboard will not be completely empty as the outgoing Allan Moore Trophy will be replaced by the Webster Trophy after the club’s fourth rink skip, Dave MacLennan, clinched the B League championship with 14 points and a game to spare.
Muir of Ord’s Ross Urquhart was looking for some help from his clubmate Richard MacWilliam to close MacLennan’s two-point lead at the top of the B League table, but did not get it after Urquhart was left on 10 points when he suffered defeat from MacLennan’s Belmaduthy club mate, Mike Paul.
At the start of MacLennan’s own key fixture against MacWilliam, three single counts in the first four ends put the Muir of Ord rink into a lead which he held through five ends. Missing from MacLennan’s regular rink was experienced third player Brenda Fraser, causing a reshuffle of Lynne Fraser to third stones, the skip’s son, Rory at second and substitute Laura Fraser brought in to play at lead.
They eventually caught up and went ahead in the tension-filled game. A single in end five before a telling double in the next end was the crucial breakthrough to lead by one shot going into the final end, where the championship title was sealed with a second steal for the 5-3 win.
Urquhart got his game under way with two shots against Mike Paul who has taken the skip’s stones back from Calum MacRae in the Belmaduthy second rink. Paul’s triple in end five got him in front for the first time and, when attempting to halt the slide, Urquhart lost two ends against the hammer and his only other score came when it was too late, a single in the final end to go under 7-4.
The Muir of Ord first skip, who remained in second place, has a final round tie on March 12 against relegation threatened John Louden (Caberfeidh). The two-point winner of this game will determine who goes down to C League and who goes up to A League. Louden shares bottom place with Neil Gillies (Killearnan) and Urquhart is just a point ahead of Coreen MacRae’s Alness.
Douglas Gordon (Invergordon 3), in fourth place with nine points and still a game in hand, kept alive his slim promotion chance when he confined Duncan Clark skipping the Killearnan rink to bottom place in the table with a winning six shots in end seven to take Invergordon’s result to 9-5.
Results: Round 8 – A League – R MacDonald (Avoch) 6, R Mackenzie (Invergordon ) 4; C Munro (Caber) 7, I Fraser (Belmaduthy) 5; I Mackay (Caberfeidh) 5, S Torrie (Fairburn) 6; A MacLennan (Invergordon) 10, P Fraser (Belmaduthy) 7; D Mackenzie (Muir of Ord) 5, H Mackay (Caberfeidh) 8.
B League – M Paul (Belmaduthy) 7, R Urquhart (Muir of Ord) 4; C MacRae (Alness) 6, J Louden (Caberfeidh) 5; D MacLennan (Belmaduthy) 5, R MacWilliam (Muir of Ord) 3; E Mack (Caberfeidh) 9, B Shirran (Caberfeidh) 2; N Gillies (Killearnan) 5, D Gordon (Invergordon) 9.
