And this week the snow stayed away

The weekend after the English Men’s Championships escaped from being snowbound by an early finish, the English Women’s Championship went all the way through from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon as two teams battled for their trip to Sweden. A light flurry of snow on Sunday morning as the teams arrived at the rink came to nothing and battle continued.

Mind you when we all left the rink on Friday evening it was -9 degrees and that was probably why the teams were wrapped up in multiple layers the following day having experienced the bitter cold on the ice the previous evening.

So who was playing? Well originally it had been going to be Anna Fowler’s Junior team against Fiona Hawker who had recruited a team older than herself this year since two of her team from last year had defected to the juniors. However, a mix up over dates saw two of Anna’s team drop out and she recruited her mother, Jules, to join Angharad Ward and Lauren Pearce in her team. Fiona had her lead from last year, Debbie Hutcheon, together with Susan Young and Alison Hemmings.

The first game was nip and tuck all the way and it was 3-3 after five ends (remember those numbers) but Fiona had last stone at the tenth and she used it to win 6-5. Game 2 on Saturday afternoon saw Fiona jump into a 3-1 lead before Anna pegged it back to 3-3 after five (again). It was still close at 5-4 to Anna after eight but a three for her at the ninth saw handshakes from Fiona and her team. So one game all.

Saturday evening and once again Fiona got the early jump to 3-0, but once again when it came to the fifth end break the score was….3-3! It was then 5-5 after eight and this time Fiona was unable to make last stone at the tenth count and a steal for Anna saw her win 7-5 and take a 2-1 lead overall.

Sunday morning and an early start for us all at 0900. This time it was Anna who got the early lead with a four at the third end and after five ends, for a change, it was 5-3 for her. But after six we were all square at 5-5 and then Fiona stole a big three to make it 8-5 after seven. However Anna was not done and got a two back at the eighth, which Fiona copied at the ninth to go into the last end 10-7 up without the hammer. A brave attempt by Anna to remove three of Fiona’s tightly packed stones to force the extra end just failed to come off and the one she scored was scant consolation for an 8-10 defeat.

And so it all came down to the fifth and deciding game and after four tense struggles it was a shame that Anna and her team ran out of steam in this one as Fiona raced into an 8-1 lead after five, a further single at the sixth leading to handshakes all round and a very relieved Fiona, Alison, Susan and Debbie celebrating their success and looking forward to Sweden in December.

It was Fiona’s fourth Championship victory, her first having been back in 2000 when she played with Joan Reed, while she also won it in 2002 (with Sarah Johnston) and then again last year as skip in her own right. In 2002 she was successful in getting a large sponsorship deal from Twinings Tea which helped them gain promotion to the European A Group at the Europeans in Grindelwald and then in 2003, when the same team had been unchallenged in the English Championships, she was thrown into skipping in that A Group when Sarah had to stay at home when she fell ill. A baptism of fire indeed. Again in 2004 she represented England in Sofia when there were no other English challengers.

For Anna and Angharad, having done so well in Moscow in December, it was a bitter disappointment for them to lose, and while Angharad still has Juniors to look forward to next season, and has memories of Innsbruck to keep her spirits up, Anna is now too old for Juniors. It will be a long year before she gets another chance to win the Championships, but she has time on her side and I am sure she will become one of England’s great champions in the future.

Top L-R: Fiona Hawker, Susan Young, Alison Hemmings, Debbie Hutcheon. Photo © John Brown.