PICTURES: Moray international curling bonspiel attracts competitors from USA, Norway, Finland and France and raises almost £2000 to nurture local talent in the sport
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The future of curling in Moray looks bright thanks to the efforts of a sporting event which lured visitors from USA, France and Scandinavia to Elgin's ice rink.
The Moray international curling bonspiel was held for the 13th time at Moray Leisure Centre with 20 teams from across the world taking part.
Speyside-based curler Andy Cameron, who founded the event in 2009 based on his own overseas experiences within his sport, has used the bonspiel to raise many thousands of pounds for local charities over the years.
He was thrilled that this year's competition brought in a sum of over £1900 which is being given to the Moray Junior Curling Club based at Moray Leisure Centre, where the bonspiel was held.
"I started this on the basis that I went abroad to different places with curling and social weekends, and having played against a lot of friends overseas, I decided I wanted to take it back to Elgin and try and do something here," Cameron said.
"Since then it has gone from strength to strength. It took a few years to get up to the 20 teams who now play in it but I don't think we have raised less than £1500 in any year since we started.
"The weekend is about bringing people together for the end of the season, having a good social weekend and also raise money for a good cause.
"We do a raffle and silent auction and different things and choose local groups and charities to benefit and have managed to raise a lot of money over the years for causes, always in Moray.
"This year we decided to keep it in curling and did it for Moray Junior Curling Club."
Former Olympic gold medal-winning curler Janice Rankin heads up the junior club in Elgin, and had been planning a fundraising drive to help cover some of the costs involved in developing young talent in the sport.
Cameron explained: "The juniors are only going to get better if they get out there and play in events around Scotland but it isn’t cheap when you are having to travel that distance and stay over weekends.
"This money raised is going to help them buy some equipment for the club and pay for some of the entry fees and some of their accommodation.
"Junior curlers are aged 21 and under and overall I think there were 12 curlers taking part over the weekend who started off at Moray Junior Curling Club."
Some of those local prospects were part of the victorious rink in the tournament.
Janice Rankin's son Jamie has come through the ranks of the club, and entered a team along with his father Stephen and his junior team-mate David Beesley.
Leading Scottish curler Eilidh Yeats also filled a slot in the Rankin team for part of the tournament as did rising Moray junior talent Owen Watson, and the team triumphed in the High Road contest to take the top prize.
Cameron said two teams of Norwegian curlers take part virtually every year and were joined by a rink from Finland and France, as well as the far-travelled United States players.
"The American team have played in the Highland League through in Inverness and they thought the whole weekend we put on was great," he said.
"The two Norwegians teams have been coming across since 2011, and the French team were curling in Scotland for the first time and thought it was amazing.
"Everyone likes the format because it is only six-end games and it is a good social, fun event. Everyone mixes and makes new friends, while a lot of old friends get the chance to meet up again, so it’s really good.
"It takes a bit of business to Moray as well with people staying in the area. Moray Leisure Centre love hosting our weekend because there’s such a buzz about the rink and you are looking at 80 curlers in total over two sessions, and people who have come over with the curlers to watch them so that just adds to the buzz.
"The centre put a lot of work and effort into it and the ice was really good.
"But we can’t do this event without all the sponsors we have and all the prizes, so we are very grateful for that."
A lot of hard work goes into the organisation of the bonspiel but Cameron said the rewards far outweigh the effort he puts in.
"I get my enjoyment out of seeing everyone else enjoying themselves and having a great weekend," he said. "That and seeing the faces of the people we are raising money for when they find out how much we have raised."
