Curlers aiming for mammoth world record scalp

Feb 29 2012 by Andrew Burns, Dumfries Standard Wednesday

A TEAM of Dumfries curlers start their attempt to break a world record tomorrow.
The 10-strong group is aiming to play a match continuously for three days.
The game will start at 10am tomorrow at Dumfries Ice Bowl, with the record set to be smashed between 7pm and 8pm on Saturday.

The group is aiming to play a match for more than 57 hours and 44 seconds – the time set by members of the Coaldale Granite Club in Canada in November 2010.

And all going well, they will then be looking to power through to Sunday to reach the squad’s target of 72 hours.

Effort

Team member Graham Sloan, 30, said: “It’s going to be an almighty effort from the guys but we are all full of confidence and can’t wait to get started.

“There is a great amount of respect and friendship in the teams which will be vital in keeping the moral up once we get started.”

The others taking part are David Owen, Scott Robertson, Graham Black, James Findlay, Ruariadh Whyte, Stuart Henderson, Neil Henderson, Chris Jardine and Duncan Gracie.

They are raising money to help develop curling at the Ice Bowl and around the region.
Funds will go towards developing the junior section and general curling facilities along with upgrading the current stones, the latter providing competition standard which would allow the Ice Bowl to start bidding for national and international events.

Two rinks will square off against one another with the fifth player rotating in when someone requires a rest.

Over the three days, locals can head along and join in on the fun by taking part in fundraising challenges, coaching sessions and practice matches.

And on Saturday Olympic gold medalist and national woman's head coach Rhona Martin will be joined by men's national head coach Soren Gran and Tony Zummack from national wheelchair curling for a special coaching session.

Graham, who is curling development officer at the Ice Bowl, has urged the local public to come down and show their support.

He said: “As one of our main aims is to raise the profile of curling within Dumfries Ice Bowl we would like to invite anyone who might be interested in coming down during the four days to watch or even get the chance to have a go on the ice playing alongside the teams.

“Everyone can get involved and your support would be much appreciated so why not come down and see what’s going on?”

The team would like to thank their generous sponsors for their support.