KELSO HIGH SCHOOL achieved a stunning victory in the Scottish Schools Curling Championships held at Murrayfield Ice Rink last week.
Cameron Bryce ( Skip), Neil Sutherland (Third), Amy Bryce ( Second) and Callum Potts (Lead) were beaten in the quarter finals of this tournament in 2012 but were determined to improve on this result when they qualified for the finals again this year.
Competing against schools from all over Scotland Kelso headed their section after five games having only lost their first game, narrowly 4-5 to Craigmount and then winning four successive bouts.
Kinross High School proved tough opposition in the quarter finals and although Kelso took a four shot lead after only the first end they had to fight off a determined response by Kinross but qualified for the semi finals 7-5.
The semi final clash against Forfar Academy was a rather one sided affair after Cameron and his rink demonstrated a maturity beyond their years by playing a well controlled game and building on excellent shot making by the whole rink to quickly take control of the game and lead 7-0 after just four ends. Forfar conceded the game after six ends when they were 10-2 adrift of a dominant Kelso rink.
Predictably the final was a very different matter with Kelso facing strong opposition from Stranraer. Both skips kept the ends tight with singles exchanged at the first and fourth before Cameron edged ahead with a double at the sixth. Kelso then consolidated this with a single against the head to take a 4-1 lead and a hill too steep for Stranraer who conceded the game without playing the final end.
Cameron, Neil, Amy and Callum proved excellent ambassadors for their sport of curling and Kelso High School and Border Ice Rink are justly proud of their national achievement underlined by the fact that the pool of juniors curling in the Borders is limited but with the support of coaches, parents and clubs what is lacking in numbers is more than made up for by quality.