Its a bit late - after midnight - and I am somewhat tired after a tough, tough third game. So its a short blog.
We remain in the mix after round 3 by virtue of a good win over Team MacDougall. It was a tight game through-out but we sneaked ahead after an unfortunate miss by Alan MacDougall at the eight which allowed us to take four shots and establish a lead of three. Some great shots from the rest of the team meant we restricted the MacDougall team to one shot at the ninth and when Jamie played two execllent shots at the tenth we were home and dry for a 9-6 win.
Team Bowyer won their game so at half way Malton is on 3 wins, MacDougall 2 and Bowyer 1. Tomorrow we start again but with only two games. Time for bed.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Men Round 2
The local constabulary have been alerted and are investigating. A major case of theft. As we were the thieves we are keeping a low profile. So yes, another win. 7-6.
6-3 down with two ends to play and defeat looked a more obvious course. However, we are tenacious and perhaps a little lucky. Lucky in that Bruce half made his last shot at the ninth but left us a difficult chance for a three. Jamie obliged with his shot of the day so far. So all level going down the tenth. Good start but then James Dixon played a fine shot for Bruce's team taking out the two shots we had carefully accumulated in the house and also one that we had lying near the back. Instead of looking good we are in deep trouble. We put up a guard in hope. Bruce's team surprisingly fail to clear. We put up another guard (perhaps it was not intended to be a guard). Bruce was heavy coming round but was still lying four in various places. Jamie plays his last a mite heavy but the sweepers (that's me and Henry) are alert and sweep his stone so it hits one of Bruce's and rolls so it is partly guarded and quite difficult to remove. But Bruce has been playing well. Bruce throws his stone. It looks good. It needs sweeping. The team sweep a bit and then stop. But it needs more. It hits the guard and rolls away. We are nearest centre and have stolen one to win 7-6. Our team are whistling the theme to "The Great Escape". Even Michael and he is German.
Pretty tough on Bruce and his team who were the better team over all. James Dixon gets our fair play award when my broom goes flying at one point and touches a running stone without affecting its path. He could have called for the stone to be removed but is sporting enough to recognise that it did not affect things and waives that. We wish best of luck to them in their remaining games.
The tournament favourites Team MacDougall also win - 9-3, I think. So big game this evening at 8.45. Only lunatics would play at 8.45 after two previous games so send for the men in white coats.
6-3 down with two ends to play and defeat looked a more obvious course. However, we are tenacious and perhaps a little lucky. Lucky in that Bruce half made his last shot at the ninth but left us a difficult chance for a three. Jamie obliged with his shot of the day so far. So all level going down the tenth. Good start but then James Dixon played a fine shot for Bruce's team taking out the two shots we had carefully accumulated in the house and also one that we had lying near the back. Instead of looking good we are in deep trouble. We put up a guard in hope. Bruce's team surprisingly fail to clear. We put up another guard (perhaps it was not intended to be a guard). Bruce was heavy coming round but was still lying four in various places. Jamie plays his last a mite heavy but the sweepers (that's me and Henry) are alert and sweep his stone so it hits one of Bruce's and rolls so it is partly guarded and quite difficult to remove. But Bruce has been playing well. Bruce throws his stone. It looks good. It needs sweeping. The team sweep a bit and then stop. But it needs more. It hits the guard and rolls away. We are nearest centre and have stolen one to win 7-6. Our team are whistling the theme to "The Great Escape". Even Michael and he is German.
Pretty tough on Bruce and his team who were the better team over all. James Dixon gets our fair play award when my broom goes flying at one point and touches a running stone without affecting its path. He could have called for the stone to be removed but is sporting enough to recognise that it did not affect things and waives that. We wish best of luck to them in their remaining games.
The tournament favourites Team MacDougall also win - 9-3, I think. So big game this evening at 8.45. Only lunatics would play at 8.45 after two previous games so send for the men in white coats.
Men Round 1
So 3 hours later and our team - Team Malton - sneaked a narrow last ditch win over the mature Team Brown with a well played final end despite not having the benefit of last stone. In the other game tournament favourites Team MacDougall edged a close game against Team Bowyer with a final stone, extra end win. So early days but our campaign is on track so far. Time to cram in some food before we hit the ice for round 2.
In the girls there have been some close games and some very attractive curling but Team Balfour are out in front. The girls are playing constantly all weekend with a, I think, seventeen round round robin (well possibly hyperbole but a lot of games). They finish playing in March (again pure exaggeration) unless one team is left standing. Kind of a fight to the death. Perhaps what curling needs to attract more publicity.
In many games there are old rivalries. I was playing lead against Steve Amman in the Brown team. Steve and I used to play together and there is the typical friendly rivalry between ex-team-mates. Last time round Steve had the better of us and today was another excellent tussle. Such good natured competitive situations are part and parcel of the spirit of curling and today was no exception - played out in good spirit. Good luck toe Steve in remaining games (except when they play us again, of course!).
So onwards.
In the girls there have been some close games and some very attractive curling but Team Balfour are out in front. The girls are playing constantly all weekend with a, I think, seventeen round round robin (well possibly hyperbole but a lot of games). They finish playing in March (again pure exaggeration) unless one team is left standing. Kind of a fight to the death. Perhaps what curling needs to attract more publicity.
In many games there are old rivalries. I was playing lead against Steve Amman in the Brown team. Steve and I used to play together and there is the typical friendly rivalry between ex-team-mates. Last time round Steve had the better of us and today was another excellent tussle. Such good natured competitive situations are part and parcel of the spirit of curling and today was no exception - played out in good spirit. Good luck toe Steve in remaining games (except when they play us again, of course!).
So onwards.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
More Curling - National Championships
You would be forgiven if you were unaware of the English National Curling Championships taking place tomorrow through sunday - in the first place they are advertised only to a small select group aka the competitors and secondly they take place just outside Glasgow so the connection to England is not obvious. That they take place in Scotland and not at the excellent curling facility in Kent is a contentious subject among the small (but I like to think elite) fraternity that is English curling and, I would imagine, baffling to anyone living in England who becomes aware of the situation. That is all a topic for another day, though - for now the English national championships occupy the foreground even if they are being held in the neighbouring country.
I see now that I left the blogging on the European Championships a little abruptly. Not deliberately so but I guess once we were out there was a feeling of it all being over and although we stayed in Aberdeen through to the finals, I was also catching up with work and family. Our nemesis the Dutch defeated the favourites the Russians (their team is on an 8 year dedicated programme leading to the Winter Olympics in 2014 in Russia) to win the B Group and gain promotion to the big boy league. They did well but we had a big feeling of "it could have been us". We beat them in the round robin and we had a strong position against them in the play off but a combination of their good play and a few loose shots from us left us missing out all together. When they received their gold medals and their national anthem we realised what we had missed doing.
We hope for another chance. And that is what this weekend offers. The winners of the National Championship represent England at the next Europeans in Champery, Switzerland. We have tasted it and we want it again but there are three strong teams arrayed against us. Each one is a worthy opponent and all would represent England well. We must play our best if we are to succeed in attaining a second attempt at the Europeans.
There has been training - and more shockingly, abstinence from alcohol. What else would you expect: we are peak condition athletes (well relatively speaking within the curling world in which we compete). And we need to be because tomorrow is a testing day. We play each of our opponents so that's three games; likely nine hours on the ice. If you have not tried curling then you probably think it is a bit like bowls but played on ice. Even if that were right you might balk at nine hours of bowls and admit that, in the unlikely event that you chose to do that, you would find yourself a bit fatigued by the time you eventually left the green. I may even have told you that it was like bowling: it makes it easier to understand. But I lied. It is considerably more athletically demanding. The power and thrust of delivering a stone is more demanding; staying upright on ice requires more muscle control than on grass or carpet and sweeping can be very physically taxing. Listen to me and stop laughing - this is the man who did under 3.5 hours for the NY Marathon in late 2008 - I know a bit about demanding physical activities. In fact I would tell you more but I am exhausted from the training today and need to catch some zzzs.
More tomorrow if I don't fall asleep at the keyboard.
Keith
I see now that I left the blogging on the European Championships a little abruptly. Not deliberately so but I guess once we were out there was a feeling of it all being over and although we stayed in Aberdeen through to the finals, I was also catching up with work and family. Our nemesis the Dutch defeated the favourites the Russians (their team is on an 8 year dedicated programme leading to the Winter Olympics in 2014 in Russia) to win the B Group and gain promotion to the big boy league. They did well but we had a big feeling of "it could have been us". We beat them in the round robin and we had a strong position against them in the play off but a combination of their good play and a few loose shots from us left us missing out all together. When they received their gold medals and their national anthem we realised what we had missed doing.
We hope for another chance. And that is what this weekend offers. The winners of the National Championship represent England at the next Europeans in Champery, Switzerland. We have tasted it and we want it again but there are three strong teams arrayed against us. Each one is a worthy opponent and all would represent England well. We must play our best if we are to succeed in attaining a second attempt at the Europeans.
There has been training - and more shockingly, abstinence from alcohol. What else would you expect: we are peak condition athletes (well relatively speaking within the curling world in which we compete). And we need to be because tomorrow is a testing day. We play each of our opponents so that's three games; likely nine hours on the ice. If you have not tried curling then you probably think it is a bit like bowls but played on ice. Even if that were right you might balk at nine hours of bowls and admit that, in the unlikely event that you chose to do that, you would find yourself a bit fatigued by the time you eventually left the green. I may even have told you that it was like bowling: it makes it easier to understand. But I lied. It is considerably more athletically demanding. The power and thrust of delivering a stone is more demanding; staying upright on ice requires more muscle control than on grass or carpet and sweeping can be very physically taxing. Listen to me and stop laughing - this is the man who did under 3.5 hours for the NY Marathon in late 2008 - I know a bit about demanding physical activities. In fact I would tell you more but I am exhausted from the training today and need to catch some zzzs.
More tomorrow if I don't fall asleep at the keyboard.
Keith
Friday, December 11, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Double Dutch
This was, to pulverise a football euphemism, a game of three halves. We played very well to establish a three shot lead and had the Dutch skip not played a perfect freeze at the third it could have been five. But then we played the fourth poorly. One story would be three missed shots including a very rare last shot strike miss from Jamie - half an inch less ice (this is curling talk for the uninitiated) and the story would be different. Another story might be tactics being slightly aggressive. Whatever the story, as said in the earlier post, one that got away.
So to the fifth all square. The Dutch were dictating tactics and established two stones either side of the house. We had last stone. We were heavy with the draw to the four foot circle. Into the half time break with the Dutch with a two shot lead.
End six and lady luck cast her (this time) vicious hand. Already facing some Dutch stones, Michael's first caught a piece of dirt on the ice and headed towards Ailsa Craig in fright. Dutch had a chance to guard. We made little impact with our next. Jamie faced three guarded Dutch stones with his first and still managed to remove three. However, it came to a draw and this time light. Three more to the Dutch and an uphill struggle was recognised.
We are fighters not quitters. Much better play and we edged back with singles at 7 and 8. The Dutch skip produced some magic to edge us out of what looked like another steal at 9 and took one. Probably by now more cussed than likely winners we nevertheless went after four in the last but were run out of stones.
Bottoms and pants. We finished third in group B1 which means no prizes. It does mean no relegation to the new qualifying round but we were arrogant enough not to have feared that. It also means beer. For the first time in several weeks. There is also the small matter of the "Losers' Party" - I like parties but, goodness, how I did not want to go to a party for "Losers".
So to the fifth all square. The Dutch were dictating tactics and established two stones either side of the house. We had last stone. We were heavy with the draw to the four foot circle. Into the half time break with the Dutch with a two shot lead.
End six and lady luck cast her (this time) vicious hand. Already facing some Dutch stones, Michael's first caught a piece of dirt on the ice and headed towards Ailsa Craig in fright. Dutch had a chance to guard. We made little impact with our next. Jamie faced three guarded Dutch stones with his first and still managed to remove three. However, it came to a draw and this time light. Three more to the Dutch and an uphill struggle was recognised.
We are fighters not quitters. Much better play and we edged back with singles at 7 and 8. The Dutch skip produced some magic to edge us out of what looked like another steal at 9 and took one. Probably by now more cussed than likely winners we nevertheless went after four in the last but were run out of stones.
Bottoms and pants. We finished third in group B1 which means no prizes. It does mean no relegation to the new qualifying round but we were arrogant enough not to have feared that. It also means beer. For the first time in several weeks. There is also the small matter of the "Losers' Party" - I like parties but, goodness, how I did not want to go to a party for "Losers".
English Dream Over
No penalty shoot out. The only German present was playing for England. Nevertheless the dream is over - beaten by the Dutch in the play off for second place in Group B1....and so going home early. Final score was 8-5 and this was definitely one that got away but more on that later.
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