And so to the two finals of the Edinburgh International Seniors Championships.

The men’s final was contested between two strong teams -  

• Team Prentice, skip Keith Prentice, third Lockhart Steele, second Robert Anderson and lead Tommy Fleming and
• Team Clydesdale, skip David Clydesdale, third Billy Johnston, second Alistair Wood and Dougie Rodger

Both teams struggled a bit to get to grips with the ice but 2s in the first and fifth ends gave Keith and company a comfortable 4-1 lead.  You are never “comfortable” against David Clydesdale when you are only 4-1 up, mind you but that said, he and his team tried and tried again to get round the guards out front and never quite made it.  Come the seventh end, they found themselves two shots down with some cover out front and a Prentice counter out in the wings.  With his first stone and trying to engineer a 2, David went for the draw around the centre guard but his stone seemed light and tight from his hand and he ended up short and tight.  With his first stone, Keith played a lovely split to lie three shots but left David with the same draw around the centre guard.  It was the big, swinging hand that he played and this time he got it out to the brush.  It didn’t quite “bury” though and Keith had a barrier weight take out to score a 4.  Played to perfection and the Kinross lads sportingly offered their hands.  The title was Prentice’s and congratulations to Keith, Lockhart, Robert and Tommy.  This sets them up well for their defence of the Scottish senior championships in January and February.

In the ladies final, as with the men, two strong teams had fought their way through and it was fitting that the two section winners from the earlier schenkel playdowns had made it through.  The two teams were

• Team Watt, skip Barbara Watt, third, Jean Hammond, second Maggie Barry and lead Val Mahon.
• Team Adams, skip Kate Adams, third Catherine Dodds, second, Jill Florence and lead Elspeth Johnson.

Barbara knows her players well and is a past master at playing to her team’s strengths.  They concentrate on the drawing game and they managed to build up a good 4-2 advantage after five ends.  In the sixth end, there was cover out front and the gallery wondered whether Kate would try to bury a stone or two behind the cover.  She didn’t and was eventually forced to take a 1.  In the seventh end all that was in play come Barbara’s last stone were a couple of stones in the back eight foot corner of the house.  Barbara elected to hit on the in-turn but played her stone tight and gave up a 1 against the head.  Peels coming home.

What Kate really needed was cover.  Initially, she was tempted to hit a Watt counter at the back of the house; third Dodds came running down the ice for a chat and the guard was called.  Game on!  Deep into the end, Barbara called her third, Jean Hammond to draw the four foot; Jean played it and Kate hit and rolled with her first.  Barbara called the same shot with her first stone, but came too far into the house, giving Kate the chance to play a delicate freeze or tap with her last stone.  She laid the stone well; Catherine called the sweepers on then off, then on – then ON!  The shot was beautifully laid, played, judged and swept!  Barbara had a real challenge on her hands because Kate’s stone had the backing.  Down she came; the sweepers swept and Jean Hammond went out to join them – nearly falling twice in the process!  Barbara’s stone curled a tad too much and left Kate the winner of the championship.

Well done, Kate, Catherine, Jill and Elspeth!

Quarter finals

Judith Carr and Christine Hamilton had a toothy tussle for the first five ends of their game until it all went pear-shaped for Christine in the sixth end.  A big 5 secured the win for Judith and her Aberdeen team.

In the other ladies quarter-final, Gwen Prentice and Enid Brown enjoyed a topsy-turvy game, swapping twos and threes in the first four ends.  A stolen 1 in end seven gave Gwen a two-shot cushion going into the last end and she managed to restrict Enid to a 1 for the win and progression through to the semi-final.

Graeme Adam and Alan Durno had three blanked ends in their game this morning.  A superb split by young Drew Howie (!) set up a 3 in the seventh end and the Durno rink ran out of stones in the eighth.

The wheels came aff the Dodds bus in the next game (and I’ve been wanting to write those words these past forty years!) in their match against Keith Prentice.  They were 6-0 down before they managed to score a 1 in the fourth end.  In truth, the game was a bogey by this time and the teams shook hands after Keith scored another 4 in the sixth end.

David Clydesdale makes a habit of going four or five shots down before making an epic comeback and the same happened again this morning.  Ian Gillespie was 5-1 up playing the sixth end before losing respectively a 3, 2 and finally a 1 in the last end.  Ian had a strike for a big end in the seventh that would have sealed the game for them, but he caught on a guard to give up a 1.  That’s curling.  He has had a good run at the championship with his new team though and will take heart as the season progresses.

Finally, Gary Macfarlane made short work of the Johnjo Kenny-less Irish team, running out winners with a 6-3 scoreline.

In the semi-finals this afternoon, Graeme Adam plays Keith Prentice and Gary Macfarlane is up against David Clydesdale.  In the ladies competition, Barbara Watt is playing Gwen Prentice and Judith Carr is playing Kate Adams.