Sunday 19^th October saw our second Linlithgow League match of the season.  President and Vice President Team of Stirling and McQuistin were joined by new curlers Sheddan and Curry on the ice.  Curry made her second appearance for the club with Sheddan making his debut!

After an unlucky loss of the coin toss we had a rough first end with all team members struggling with the particularly keen ice.  With many of our stones through the back of the house Carrington were able to build up a solid 4 stones in the house, all scoring.  4-0 Carrington.

The second end saw the University team far more in control, although still struggling to get their weight.  With Stirling’s last stone clipping a well placed Carrington guard, the opposition stole 1. 5-0 Carrington.

The third end saw a more solid performance from Curry and then Sheddan, followed by shot of the match by McQuistin, with a perfectly executed run back double take out! Unfortunately an incorrect choice of handle left Stirling clipping the guard once more and allowing another Carrington steal.  6-0 Carrington.

A similar fourth end saw the skilful Carrington team set up a full house, but the University were left lying 1 with last stone still to come.  An unlucky catch of the corner of a stone saw our stone shifted out of shot position. 7-0 Carrington.

Here begins the come back!

With the front end gaining skills and experience rapidly and the back end slowly regaining skills that had been hibernating over the summer break, we began our comeback! With the house pretty full and a bit of a guddle at the front, a plan B take out by Stirling left us with our first score of the game! 7-1 Carrington.

Spurred on by our success in end 5, we had good guards from Curry, two perfect take outs from Sheddan, and some excellent tactical play from McQuistin and then Stirling leaving Carrington with two tricky options for their last shot.  Their skip was unsuccessful and we stole 1! 7-2 Carrington.

The seventh and final end saw more solid play from the University team, but Carrington also played well and set themselves up to score 2.

The final score was Carrington 9 – 2 Edinburgh University

We were pleased with our performance against a very tough team, and it was an excellent debut from Sheddan and second match from Curry.  Onwards and upwards for next week!

Jayne Stirling

Thank you to everyone who came to visit us at the Sports Fair last week, it was great to see so many people keen to get involved in curling!

Our first session of the season will be on Wednesday 25th September at 3pm, at our usual venue of Murrayfield Curling Rink.

There will be qualified coaches to help beginners through their first session, and if you’ve curled before we’ll have some more advanced coaching
available too. At the end of the session we will get as many people as possible involved in games!

The first session is a Come & Try session and will be FREE OF CHARGE.

There will be members of the committee outside the Pollock Halls Reception Centre, and outside Teviot in Bristo Square at 1.45pm.
From there we will get the bus to the ice rink. The bus costs £1.50 for a single ticket, so remember to bring change with you to get there and back!

The session ends at 5pm, and it is traditional to go upstairs to the bar for a drink afterwards, when you can meet some of the members and get to know more about the club! Food is also available at the ice rink.

The Club President for 2012/13, Fraser Stockton, has been duly announced EUSU Alumni Officer in an uncontested election at today’s Sports Union AGM. He joins the new Executive Committee, headed by Rob Tate.

*No nominations were submitted. Entries will be accepted for the General Meeting in September.

At the AGM held on Wednesday 27th March, the following committee was elected and will take office on the 1st of June. Congratulations to those who stood, it’s looking like next year will be another great one for the Club!

Keep an eye out for the new committee page coming soon!

Over the next week or so there’s some updating being done to the website, namely uploading the results and some pictures from the Universities Open in Stranraer, adjusting the ‘Alumni‘ section to include a report from the Anniversary Bonspiel, creating new pages for the incoming committee members, and and all-round tidy up, including posting some missing match reports and scores.

Keep an eye out for the changes!

Our annual screening of the classic curling film ‘Men With Brooms’ takes a different form this year, as we’re hosting an event with FilmSoc, one of the few collaborations between sports clubs and societies.

 For anyone unfamiliar with the film here’s a brief description to whet your appetite:

This offbeat comedy centres around a curling team from a small Canadian town as they battle with personal issues to compete for the championship title. Featuring Leslie Nielsen as an eccentric coach, this film is certain to have you in hoots of laughter.
Don’t worry if you know little or nothing about curling – it’s the combination of loose storylines and absurd humour that makes this film a real side-splitter.

The screening will take place in the Teviot study tomorrow (22nd January) 7.30, but it would be best to arrive around 7.20 in order to get seated.

Entry is free for FilmSoc members, £2.50 for non-members

Murrayfield Curling, 1st December 2012

Edinburgh University welcomed members of the Slovenian national team as their tour of Scotland reached Edinburgh and, more specifically, Murrayfield ice rink. The International team had faced a variety of curlers on their tour, including a former world champion, but now they faced a much less experienced team in Edinburgh University whose two front end players had only learned to curl last year.

However, it was the University team who took the lead in their first end, as following a double take-out from the skip, Gavin McQuistin (himself, only in his first year with the club), with only a solitary Edinburgh stone left in the house, giving the University team the first point of the game.

The Edinburgh team, clearly taking confidence from a very good start, continued to play a very tidy game with Emma Wheeldon guarding well and Rory Williams getting rid of the Slovenian’s stones, forcing them to draw into the house for a solitary point. However, the international team began to show why they are being tipped to be one of the next big curling sides, when in the third end they took full advantage of the University’s inexperience to steal a two.

However, Edinburgh University didn’t let their heads drop and continued to play some very impressive stones with Wheeldon drawing into the house behind her own guard and the more experienced Fraser Stockton successfully sitting on the Slovenians stone so as to not be removed. McQuistin had the chance to draw in to give the Edinburgh side the lead, however the University side were incredibly unlucky when his stone picked up a piece of dirt causing it to change direction, meaning they could only even the game up.

This warning sign was quickly acted upon by the Slovenians, who again showed their class when, despite Williams and Stockton clearing the majority of their stones, they were able use their last stone advantage to take a two point lead going into the final end.

With the University side knowing they would need a two to at least draw they went on the offensive, however every stone Edinburgh got into a scoring position, was quickly removed by the international side. However, McQuistin kept his cool with the final stone of the match to limit the defeat to only one point by drawing the button.

As facebook friend requests where swapped and a promise to play again sometime soon was agreed , Edinburgh University will take great encouragement from their performance against a team who not only were expected to defeat them heavily, but were also made up of players who compete on an international level. Hopefully this confidence and skill will continue for the students in their next SSS league fixtures in February.

Fraser Stockton

28th November 2012

Scottish Student Sport League
Dewars Centre, Perth, 24th October 2012

N.B. Scorecard approximately correct.

Scottish Student Sport League
Dewars Centre, Perth, 24th October 2012

Linlithgow League

Murrayfield Curling, 4th November 2012

Edinburgh University entered their fifth Linlithgow League match this season as the underdogs, taking on DAFS, a team with a long history of wins behind them. However, in the first two ends the teams were generally pretty well balanced. Some well-placed guards from Wheeldon in both ends set the house up nicely for some skilful curling from both teams. Williams struggled with his weight for much of the game, though performed well when asked for two take-outs in the second end. Some clever tactics from Spain and McGaan allowed the university team to win a point in each end, a promising start to the match.

However, the tables turned in the third and fourth ends, as DAFS slowly crept ahead, equalising after  two points in the third end and one in the fourth, though some nice draws and take outs from McGaan and Spain limited the points gained by the opposition.

The fifth end was very close, with the majority of stones in play, and DAFS putting up a strong side, however a tap-up from Spain allowed the university team to gain two points, putting them again in the lead. By the sixth end the effect of persistent sweeping was taking its toll, and tiredness began to creep in. DAFS won the end with a point, drawing neck-and-neck with the students.

Wheeldon set up the seventh end nicely, with a couple of subtle draws behind the opposition’s first guard. This was followed by McGaan drawing nicely, though DAFS did their utmost to prevent the university from taking the end by placing one of their stones ever so slightly closer to the button. It fell to Spain to remedy this, and she did not disappoint, using her stone to tap up one of McGaan’s, in the process sending DAFS’ stone towards the back of the house, leaving the university sitting three.

It came as a very welcome victory, the Club’s first this season, and hopefully will bode well for future matches, both in the Linlithgow and SSS Leagues. To echo a phrase well used on the ice: “more of the same please!”

 Rory Williams

Congratulations to this year’s team for the SSS League – Katie McGaan, Gavin McQuistin, Jayne Stirling and Fraser Stockton! Their first match is on the 24th against Glasgow – best of luck to them!

Just a quick reminder about the social tomorrow! Pub crawl starting at Teviot at 8.30pm. We’ll be meeting in the foyer, and don’t forget your Vodka Rev cards! Hopefully see you all tomorrow.

(Posted 23rd October)

The first social of the term, organised by our social sec Emma, is the Grassroots Comedy night at Pleasance this Tuesday (today!). We’ll be meeting outside the Pleasance at 7.30, and it’s £1 entry. Hope to see you all there!

(Posted 16th October)

Are you an alumnus of the club? As part of our 40th anniversary celebrations we’re hoping to expand our alumni relations, and need your help! If you’re one of our past members and would like to join our alumni mailing list, or know of any other alumni who’d like to regain contact with the club, please email curling@ed.ac.uk, or click on the ‘Contact Us‘ section of the website. Also keep an eye on our Alumni page, as it’ll be getting updated soon!