Curling Club Annual Review

The 2013-14 season was a certainly a good one for the Glasgow University Curling Club with success across the board. The season started strongly with a large intake of new members, some seasoned veterans and others making their way onto the ice for the first time. A successful Come and Try session saw thirty four curious minds give the sport a go with roughly ten new members coming along to the subsequent sessions.

The club also took the SSS League and Open titles. The League was battled out over seven games in the Dewers Centre in Perth. Glasgow’s team of Alasdair Schreiber, Ben Fowler, Fraser Davidson, Jennifer Marshall, Rebecca Steven, Peter Dagen and Jim Whittle won the league with a record of six wins and one loss, losing only to Strathclyde 1.

The SSS Open was fought for in Stranraer with two Glasgow teams entered with both teams making it to the High Road quarter finals. Glasgow 1, Alasdair Schreiber (S), Fraser Davidson, Jennifer Marshall and Rebecca Steven (VS), who came through the group stages with only one defeat to Robert Gordon University, took on Glasgow 2, James Whittle(S), Peter Dagen (VS), Connor McIsaac and Cristina Marin, in the quarter final, with Glasgow 1 winning by 9 shots to 2.After a decisive win in the semi-final over Aberdeen, Glasgow 1 proceeded to the High Road Final.

The final was a Glasgow derby and a real grudge match with the opposition being Strathclyde 1. The game was a very close affair with both teams struggling to an advantage in the first half. However, a series of stolen points gave Glasgow a three shot advantage going into the eighth and final end allowing Glasgow to run Strathclyde out of stones to win a 6-3 victory. A mixed Glasgow/Strathclyde team, skipped by Glasgow’s Gregor Lawson with GU lead Heather Thorburn also won the Low Road Final.

The double win of the SSS League and SSS Open makes Glasgow University the undisputed Scottish Universities’ Champions for the 2013-14 season. The success in the SSS competitions is certainly down to the larger interest in curling at the start of this season and the large number of new members.

The club has seen a large amount of individual successes this season too. Current President, Alasdair Schreiber, reached the final of the Scottish Junior Curling Championships at Curl Aberdeen this year and also reached the final of the Scottish Pairs Championships held in Stranraer. Ben Fowler this year represented England in the European Junior Curling Challenge in Finland and made it to the quarter finals. Cristina Marin, one of our newest curlers who has only been curling since September, has been selected to play for the Romanian Junior Women’s team and will be representing Romania in this year’s Hungarian Open.

The post-Olympic craze about the sport has seen a large number of students keen to take up the sport with many trying it out in the closing weeks of the season. This, combined with a large number of members taking official coaching qualifications puts the curling club into a very strong position for next year.

This success will also mean a better chance of acheiving greater funding and support for next year through GUSA and will hopefully generate a greater interest in the sport among students.

It is hoped that the club will continue its success next season in the SSS events and also branch out into other events too.

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