ECA MIXED CHAMPIONSHIPS

OK - L plates gradually coming off - but still got the P plates up.

Clock is now correct - thanks Bob for the tip.

So how about a proper blog post........

It is the ECA Mixed Championships this weekend at Fenton's where there are 4 entries:

John Brown (Skip), Jean Robinson, Charles Murphy, Susan Young
John Sharp (Skip), Lorna Rettig, Nigel Patrick, Alison Hemmings, Tom Jaeggi
Ben Fowler, Anna Fowler, Sam Fowler, Hetty Garnier (Anybody's guess who will skip that one)
Bryan Zachary (Skip), Lauren Pearce, Kerr Alexander, Naomi Robinson, Angharad Ward

There will be a single round robin with games at 1200 and 1600 on Saturday and 1000 on Sunday and then:

If the teams win 3, 2, 1 and 0 games there will be a final between the top two on Sunday at 1400
If the teams win 3, 1, 1 and 1 then the team with 3 wins will be champion
If the teams win 2, 2, 1 and 1 there will be a final between the top two on Sunday at 1400
If the teams win 2, 2, 2 and 0 there will be a tie break at 1400 on Sunday and a Final at 1600 - the ranking of the three teams will be decided by a post round-robin 4 stone Draw Shot Challenge.

What is interesting of course is that this will be the first year since the ECA Mixed Championships began that Alan MacDougall will not be skipping the winning rink.

In 2005 he played with Joan Reed, Chris Robinson and Claire Grimwood and after losing the second round robin game to Daniel Jaeggi, Fiona Hawker, Tom Jaeggi and Louisa Penny he beat them in the final by 6-2. Pictures of that game can be seen here. You need to find pictures 41 to 43!!

In 2006 we had no entries for the Mixed Championships and the next year there were only 2. Playing it at Greenacres might have been the problem there but in a 5 game rubber Alan, Lana Watson, Andrew Reed and Suzie Law defeated John Brown, Glynnice Lauder, Robin Gemmell and Venetia Scott by 3 games to 0 to begin their incredible run of 5 consecutive Championships without losing a game! That was 19 successive victories.

In the European Mixed fortunes have been mixed for Alan. Over the 6 years there was the highlight of a bronze medal in 2009 when the only game they lost was the semi-final. This was followed by a 4th place in 2010. 2 tie-break defeats in 2005 and 2007 were the next highest rankings. Overall however he never had a losing record in the any of the European Mixed he played in and his overall record of 30 wins and 14 losses puts England 6th out of the 31 countries that have participated.

So no pressure on the winning team this year then.

John Sharp and Lorna Rettig have already won the ECA Mixed Doubles Championship and are going to the World MD at Erzurum in April - can they make it a double title and also a double trip to Erzurum as that is where the European Mixed Championship is in September / October. The Fowler clan will be desperate to stop them while one should never discount the experience of yours truly and my Seniors rink!! The 4th team skipped by Bryan Zachary is an unknown quality as a team though all 4 players (well 5 as Angharad is subbing for Naomi on Sunday) are good players in their own right. It promises to be a fascinating weekend.