EVA HARE AND ETHAN BREWSTER WIN INAUGURAL MATT MURDOCH MEMORIAL JUNIOR MIXED DOUBLES EVENT
Many congratulations to Eva Hare and Ethan Brewster who became the first-ever winners of the Matt Murdoch Memorial Junior Mixed Doubles event. They beat Robyn Mitchell and Jack Strawhorn in the final to triumph at the competition debut at Dumfries Curling. Both teams have earned themselves a funded trip to the Nordic Junior Curling Tour Mixed Doubles event.
An incredible 24 duos signed up for the inaugural Matt Murdoch Junior Mixed Doubles event and gathered at Dumfries Ice Bowl for three days of competition. Playing in four sections, the top two sides progressed to the play-offs.
The only duo across the board to go undefeated in the section games, Cara and Arran Thomson roared into the quarter-finals where they faced Cara Davidson and Lewis McCabe. Leading 4-2 after three ends, Thomson/Thomson stole twice to make it an unsurmountable advantage that took them to the semi-finals.
However, the remaining quarter-finals were less straight-forward. The encounter between Hare/Brewster and Jessica and Zac Trotter went all the way to an extra end with the former just edging it.
Elsewhere, the lead kept swapping hands between R.Mitchell/Strawhorn and Amy Mitchell and Kaleb Johnston. The latter held a two-points lead going into the last end, but R.Mitchell/Strawhorn took three to snatch the win by a single point.
Finally, Holly Clemie and Fraser Rankin were trailing Robyn Munro and Niall Ryder 4-1 after three ends but turned the game on its head with a massive score of five. From there, they never surrendered the advantage.
On to the semi-finals were Hare/Brewster started things off strongly with a four versus Clemie/Rankin. They added two single steals and although their opponents tried to bounce back, the game went in the books for good when Hare/Brewster added a three in End 6.
The second semi-final between R.Mitchell/Strawhorn and Thomson/Thomson was a significantly tighter affair. While the former had the better start and led 5-1 after five ends, Thomson/Thomson weren’t done yet. They scored a three to cut things right down, held their opponents to two, and once more took a three to equalise and take proceedings to an extra end. Coming down with hammer, R.Mitchell/Strawhorn bagged a single point for the win.
Hare/Brewster started the final with a score of two for an early advantage and built on it with three consecutive single steals. There was no way back into the game for R.Mitchell/Strawhorn and after three stolen points going to Hare/Brewster in End 5, handshakes were exchanged.
