Perth curlers shine at senior championships to book place on world stage

Perth curlers swept to success at the Scottish Senior Championships to build on a special and memorable week for the sport.

Top class Mairi Milne, Wendy Johnston, Katie Loudon and Edith Hazard secured the title after a terrific performance at the Lanarkshire Ice Rink in Hamilton.

Mairi, Katie and Edith - the latter now based in the USA - are Airleywight Curling Club members while Wendy represents Kinfauns Curling Club.

All four have been and continue to be familiar faces at the Dewars Centre.

Playing under the name of Jackie Lockhart, who was on commentary duty at the Beijing Olympics, they defeated Susan Kesley’s team 6-1 in the final.

“We were defending champions but that had been with Jackie Lockhart, our regular skip,” Mairi explained.

“With Jackie being out in Beijing doing the commentary, we were probably at a disadvantage.

“We had to shuffle things around and I ended up playing last stones. It was a different kettle of fish for me.

“I was nervous before the final as I guess everybody was. You should be a wee bit nervous.

“But we got better as the weekend went on and we had a good game in the final. The girls played really well.”

The silverware arrived shortly after Team GB - skipped by Blair Atholl’s Eve Muirhead and including Jen Dodds, Vicky Wright, Hailey Duff and Mili Smith - earned spectacular gold at the Winter Olympics.

Mairi added: “The last two weeks have been terrific, from the start of the Olympics and moving into the team events.

“I think most curlers across Scotland had been having very early mornings and very late nights watching all the games.

“Down at Hamilton, Hailey Duff’s dad was competing. Jen Dodds’ mum and dad were both competing.

“So the big screen was on during the day when they were live.