The teams skipped by Perth’s Eve Muirhead and Aberdeen’s John Penny will represent Scotland at the World Junior Curling Championships, from 5-13 March 2011, following their successful wins at the Scottish Junior Curling Championships at Curl Aberdeen on Sunday.

Eve Muirhead and her team of Anna Sloan, Vicki Adams and Rhiann Macleod went through the complete championship with an unblemished record, having taken on Lockerbie’s Hannah Fleming in the final, the Muirhead side racked up a 10-4 win after only eight ends. Muirhead returned to the junior ranks after taking a year out to concentrate on the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and with her win yesterday, Muirhead will get the opportunity to go for her fourth World Junior title in her final year of junior eligibility. 

Speaking after the presentation ceremony yesterday, Muirhead said, “I’m absolutely delighted to win my 4^th Scottish Junior Championship! The week was tough, but my team performed well and we had great ice conditions at Curl Aberdeen. We are now all looking forward to the World Juniors in Perth and we will continue training hard and practicing as a team as often as we can. With the World’s being held in Scotland, I’m sure it will be a great event and the home support will be great so I can’t wait for it to begin!”

John Penny’s, Colin Dick, Colin Howden and Billy Morton took on defending champion and 2010 World Junior Silver Medallist Ally Fraser in the final of the Scottish Junior Men’s Championships where a great demonstration of precision curling was exhibited. Over the course of the week, Penny’s side defeated the Fraser team on three occasions on their way to claiming the Championship trophy and the first Scottish Junior title for all four players.

Skip John Penny, a trainee accountant at Simpson Forsyth, spoke about his team’s success, “Over the past four months my team and I have been curling every weekend, travelling to Norway, Canada and Switzerland to play against other strong junior teams similar to those who we will now play at the World Junior Championships. We had a great final against Ally Fraser and his team and thankfully my team performed brilliantly and we came out on top. We are now looking forward to the World Juniors in Perth and hopefully we can do Scotland proud.”

Alice Spence from Lockerbie and Jay McWilliam from Stranraer will join the teams in the role of alternate player for the Championship.

The World Junior Championships will take place at Dewars Centre in Perth from 3-15 March 2011 where the Scottish representatives will take on nine other nations in their respective Championships. The World Junior Championships were last held in Scotland in 1995 when Scotland’s Tom Brewster claimed the World title with a 6-3 win over the German team in the final. 

Team Scotland (Men)                                                 Team Scotland (Women)

John Penny                                                                                         Eve Muirhead

Colin Dick                                                                                             Anna Sloan

Colin Howden                                                                                     Vicki Adams

Billy Morton                                                                                         Rhiann Macleod

Jay McWilliam                                                                                    Alice Spence

Grieg Henderson (Coach)                                                              Gordon Muirhead (Coach)

 

Images:

Team Scotland Women with President (L-R): Rhiann Macleod, Eve Muirhead, Robbie Scott (President of The Royal Caledonian Curling Club), Anna Sloan and Vicki Adams. Image courtesy of Bob Cowan.

Team Scotland Men with President (L-R): Billy Morton, John Penny, Robbie Scott (President of The Royal Caledonian Curling Club), Colin Dick and Colin Howden. Image courtesy of Bob Cowan.