Saturday 24th October 2015 saw the 4th Indoor Grand Match.  This event happens across all 17 curling rinks in Scotland and is a North v South challenge that is a homage to the historical Grand Matches that were played on frozen lochs when winters are cold enough. The North / South divide is notionally the Forth and Clyde.  KCDC entered two rinks to this event with George Ponton, Kirsty Cassells, Geoff Thorpe-Tracey and Gill Neil playing Carrington 2 (Edinburgh) at Kirkcaldy with Colin Bruce, Colin Ballantine, Gill Gentry and Eddie O'Donnell taking on Cairns (Dumfries) at Kinross.

At both rinks the players paraded onto the ice with a piper with team photos taken before getting down to the serious business of playing.  

Kirkcaldy is always an interesting challenge as it is primarily an ice hockey / ice skating rink that hosts curling.  The ice is generally a bit slower and has some interesting slopes on it that required some negative handle.  Kinross got off to a good start taking two shots in the first three ends through a combination of good play and missed shots by the opposition.  A single in the 4th end put us 7 - 0 up in time for "stacking the brooms".  After some refreshments (whisky & irn-bru) we took 4 shots at the next end giving an 11-0 lead after 5 ends.  Carrington then came back into the game taking a single in ends 6 & 7 and 4 shot in the final end for a final score of 11-6.  We then retired to the bar for food, drink and some good chat.

 The other Kinross team had a tougher draw and came up against a strong Dumfries team (Cairns) who had potentially 4 skips in the team.  The Kinross team put up a good fight but ended the match 5-8.  

The overall match finished with a convincing victory to the South, who have won all 4 of the IGMs to date.  Roll on 2020!

Well the season is underway and games are starting to get played.

We had our opening Bonspiel in September where we had 9 members plus a guest out for a fun game.  This was a good way to dust of the curling technique and get some low pressure practice in.  The first round of league games is complete with Colin Ballantine's rink taking an early lead in with a strong victory against Alan Stewart's rink (albeit he was subbed by Colin Bruce).

The KCT League Division 3 matches kicked off at the end of September with the team of Colin Ballantine, Colin Bruce, Gill Neil and Anne McIntyre recording an 8-4 victory against Glenfarg Ladies.  Well done guys - next game is Wednesday 28th October against v Aberdour.

This weekend (24th October) sees the Indoor Grand Match - this is a North v South match played across Scotland every 5 years.  We have two rinks entered (George Ponton, Gill Neil, Geoff Thorpe-Tracey, Kirsty Cassells and Colin Bruce, Colin Ballantine, Gill Neil and Eddie O'Donnell) playing at Kirkcaldy and Kinross.  Updates to follow.