Sports champions Mo Simpson and Ian
Donaldson win Curling Championships at Glasgow’s Braehead Arena
Curling Champions Mo Simpson and Ian Donaldson with
Star Refrigeration’s Alan Walkinshaw
A great story of human triumph for another
sports champion by the name of Mo. Only this time, it is not the famous Olympic
champion Mo Farah, but our National Wheelchair Pairs Curling Champion Mo
Simpson, who secured the winning championship title for the second consecutive
year with her curling partner Ian Donaldson.
The National Wheelchair Pairs Curling
Championship 2013 took place at Braehead Arena in Glasgow over the weekend,
where a mix of paralympians and amateurs competed over the title.
This year, sixteen pairs of curlers took
part in the competition which saw participants travelling from all over
Scotland, and a couple from Newcastle. The games began on Saturday morning with
24 matches throughout the day that would come to determine Sunday’s “Low Road”
and “High Road” finals, where Mo Simpson and Ian Donaldson claimed victory.
Speaking about her win, Mo Simpson said, “I always enjoy playing in the Star Refrigeration National Wheelchair Pairs. With the standard of play in the game getting higher, it makes for a more competitive and challenging competition. Especially this year where a lot of the teams were evenly matched.
Winning the competition in 2007 was great. However to win again in 2012 with my current partner Ian Donaldson, and then successfully defend our title this year was – to coin the famous Glasgow phrase – ‘Pure Dead Brilliant!’ Roll on next year for our hat trick!”
The sporting event was streamed live via
the Curl Braehead website. This was a first for the event, and it
turned out to be a successful addition, with over a thousand sporting fans
tuning in over the weekend to watch the games.
David Morgan, Chairperson of the Scottish
Wheelchair Curling Association, SWCA, said: “It was nice to see so many
curlers participating this year, with a great turnout of new and old faces
getting together to participate in this prestigious event.”
The
competition is sponsored by home-grown Star Refrigeration – a household name in
Scotland for over 40 years and the UK’s largest independent industrial cooling
and heating contractor. Star have been working closely with the Leisure
industry since 1970, installing 80% of the country’s ice rinks, curling rinks,
indoor ski slopes and ice walls, including Braehead Arena.
Star Refrigeration’s Director of Sales,
Alan Walkinshaw, said: “I want to congratulate Mo Simpson and Ian Donaldson as
the winner of the Wheelchair Pairs National Championships for the second year
running. I was impressed by the focus and dedication of all this season's champions. It was good to see the event continuing
to develop – we were pleasantly surprised by the interest in the live webcast.
Judy Mackenzie and Norman Cathcart
provided the commentary on the final while it was being filmed, which helped
with bringing the contest to a wider audience. The event has brought many
wheelchair curlers together over the years, and lifelong bonds have been
created through the teamwork and camaraderie encouraged by the games.”
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