Edinburgh University were well represented at Edinburgh Curling Club’s Centenary Bonspiel with three teams- more than half the club’s membership- seeing action.  First up were committee members David Jenkins and Katie McGaan (at skip and third respectively), together with the Czech front end of Joachim Vesely (second) and Jakub Hampl, making his competitive debut, at lead.  Facing off against them was a strong Oxenfoord team boasting a former Scottish Junior and Senior (but never simply Scottish) champion.

Neither front end made a spectacular start, with Hampl and Vesely each hogging one of their stones and the Oxenfoord front end accidentally guarding Hampl’s first in the top of the eight-foot.  The Oxenfoord second successfully drew the button, but McGaan played a beautiful takeout to lie second shot, after the Oxenfoord lead’s first.  Another lovely takeout by McGaan saw the Oxenfoord third’s second shot immediately removed, before their skip wrecked on his own guard with his first/ Jenkins’ peel drifted wide and allowed his counterpart back in to split the house, with one on the button and well-guarded and another in the eight-foot.  Preferring to limit the damage rather than risk a tricky draw, Jenkins tried to hit the stone on the wing but hung out wide and caught the wrong side of it to give up two.  Another Jenkins error in the second saw him take far too much ice, and his hit against one sailed through the house.

Jenkins atoned with a nice draw to the tee for two in the third, after the Oxenfoord skip was unable to peel away the lying Edinburgh shot.  The end saw some nice shot-making from the back end, but their task was made harder by frustrating inconsistency in their front-end’s shot-making, three of the first four Edinburgh stones failing to stay in play.  A stronger fourth end from the Czechs allowed Jenkins the freedom to be more aggressive, his freeze onto Oxenfoord’s second shot ultimately being unbeatable, limiting the score to a single.

Oxenfoord responded in kind in the fifth, but were fortuitous to do so, Jenkins only failing to secure two by virtue of his final draw picking up and changing handle.  Second shot was a very close call and, while the thirds agreed to count it as only one simply by eye, the measure might have shown things differently.  A beautiful draw from McGaan in the sixth seemed to be well-guarded, before a big cross-house double cleared the house of Edinburgh stones.  A light shot from Jenkins with his first allowed Oxenfoord to split the house, but with all three of their stones sitting in the front twelve.  Jenkins was unlucky not to clear the lot, his big weight takeout removing two and sitting shot in the eight foot, but exposed enough for his counterpart to hit and stick for the two.

Oxenfoord completed the rout with a steal of three in the seventh, when Jenkins’ last draw simply didn’t have the weight needed to reach the eight-foot. 

Michael Nicholson

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