NEWCOMERS TROPHY 2024 GOES TO LEWIS KELLY, ANNA BLACKSTOCK, BETHAN MUIRHEAD, AND LIBBY DAVIE
Many congratulations to Lewis Kelly (Lanarkshire), Anna Blackstock (Lanarkshire), Bethan Muirhead (Lanarkshire), and Libby Davie (Greenacres) who came out top at the Newcomers Trophy 2024. They beat Harry Eadie (Kinross), Alisa McDougall (Kinross), Frederick Hesketh (Preston Ice Rink), and Adam Reid (Greenacres) 4-1 in the final at Greenacres.
Team Kelly were off to a strong start in the round robin, edging a 4-3 win over Team Tsang (Jake Tsang (Greenacres, Archie Colton (Preston Ice Rink), Zachary Thompson (Curl Edinburgh), Wendy Addison (Lanarkshire)). They followed it up with another three wins to sit undisputed at the top of the table standings.
Team Eadie too started their campaign with a win, edging out Team C Morrison (Calum Morrison (Dumfries), Jodi Campbell (Kinross), Riley Murdoch (Greenacres), Hayden Whitelaw (Lockerbie)) 5-3. Another win followed, but they were held to a draw by Team Tsang. Unfazed, Team Eadie bounced back in their final round robin fixture to beat Team J Morrison (Joe Morrison (Dumfries), Heidi Addison (Lanarkshire), Callum Boswell (Lanarkshire), Calum McRoberts (Greenacres)) to up their tally to seven points, securing runner-up spot in the table and with that a place in the final.
A number of teams were in contention for the 3v4 play-off. Team Smith (Kathryn Smith (Greenacres), Lily Barr (Greenacres), Max Rutherford (Kinross), Estelle McFarlane (Greenacres)) were leading the way on two wins, one defeat with a final fixture to go. A hard-fought draw versus Team Tindal (Andrew Tindal (Kinross), Euan Fraser (Kinross), Leo Pugh (Greenacres), Henry Highton (Preston Ice Rink) was enough to take them to five points and guarantee them a play-off spot.
Both Team C Morrison and Team J Morrison sat on three points with a game to go, knowing a win would mean a play-off spot. While Team J Morrison lost out to Team Eadie, Team C Morrison bagged the victory they needed versus Team Rose (Lewis Rose (Lanarkshire), Logan Kerr (Lanarkshire), Olivia Begg (Greenacres), Oscar McFarlane (Greenacres)) to make it five points in total.
On to the final between Team Kelly and Team Eadie. It was all square after two ends with the sides tied on a point each and Team Kelly continued a trend with another single going their way in End 3. Team Eadie were one down but with hammer with one end to go, however, it was Team Kelly who played an excellent game to steal two and clinch a 4-1 win.
In the 3v4 play-off, Team C Morrison had the better start with a steal of two in the first end. However, Team Smith came back to score three in End 2 and followed it up with a single steal to extend their advantage. Eventually, Team C Morrison conceded with stones to spare, 4-2 standing as the final scoreline.
Full results are available here.
