NZ Curling

In a tight game that went down to the wire, Kenny Williamson's Curlers With Altitude took out the Auckland Curling Club 2008 Grand Final with a 6-5 win over 2007 champions Long Bay Old Boys.

Altitude (Kenny Williamson, Kieran Ford, Dylan Ford, Ian Ford, alternate Arnold Mataika) leapt out of the blocks, taking a well-constructed 3 with the hammer and then a steal to be up 4-0 after two ends. The teams then traded shots for the next three ends so after five ends Altitude were looking comfortable at 5-2, and with time running out the game was down to just two more ends. However Long Bay (Alex Bauer, Greg Prendergast, Nic Lambert, Anne Huddlestone) rallied with a huge steal of 3 to tie it up at 5-5 coming home.

With just the final stones from both skips left to play Altitude's shot stone was well back in the house, just outside the 8-foot but well protected. The attempted promotion from Long Bay's Bauer fell agonisingly short, and it was a relieved Williamson who didn't need to play his last stone. So Curlers with Altitude, third in 2007 and second the year before had their first Auckland title, and with it the right to represent their club in 2009.

The other play-off games were played over a maximum of six ends but weren't quite so nerve-wracking. YNWA (Haymon Keeler, Linda Geary, Katie Bauer, Natalie Campbell) took third place with a comfortable 9-2 win over Team Jackson (Aaron Jackson, Warren Jackson, Verily Jackson, Ruth Jackson). The top six was rounded out when North Shore Thistles (Liz Matthews, Christine Bewick, Pauline Farra, Cathy Fenton) beat CDs (Craig Parr-Whalley, David Kirby, Dave Gautrey, Craig Gautrey) 13-0.

The Club's annual prizegiving followed the conclusion of the finals. Kenny Thomson was a popular choice for Curler of the Year. His team Auckland Rio Scottish Extras (ARSE to their friends!) entered the competition after 5 rounds had been completed. In a remarkable run he skipped them undefeated through the remainder of the round robin, and was very unlucky not to make the top four. Other awards went to

• Penny Dallow — Supporter of the Year
• Gavin Brown — Fair Play Award
• Nicholas and Colleen Smith — Rookies of the Year
• Keswick Pearson — Male Junior of the Year
• Katie Bauer, Brittany Taylor — Female Juniors of the Year

Click here for scorelines

Earlier articles

• 22 Sep 2009 — Auckland finalists decided
• 15 Sep 2009 — Draw Shot Challenge determines Auckland semi-finalists

Auckland Finalists - L to R Curlers With Altitude (Ian Ford, Dylan Ford, Kenny Williamson, Kieran Ford) and Long Bay Old Boys (Nic Lambert, Greg Prendergast, Alex Bauer, Anne Huddlestone)

Curlers With Altitude in action - 3rd Kieran Ford calls the sweeping for his father Ian and brother Dylan as they sweep skip Kenny Williamson's stone

Earlier Articles

Auckland finalists decided

22 Sep 2009 — Not all results went according the the form book in the Auckland Curling Club's semi finals, held at Paradice Avondale on Sunday 21 September.

In the top four playoffs, Kenny Williamson's 4th ranked Curlers With Altitude overturned the big loss they suffered at the hands of top qualifier Haymon Keeler's YNWA the previous week. This game went down to the last stone with YNWA, down 5-1 going into the final end, sitting 4 with just Williamson's hammer stone to come. He threaded it through a congested front of house to cut YNWA back to 2 and secured a 5-3 win for his team.

In the other major semi final, Alex Bauer's Long Bay Old Boys and the Jackson Four were locked at 2-2 after 4 ends. LBOB took a 4 on the next and this proved to be decisive. Allthough the Jacksons hit back straight away with 3 it wasn't enough and LBOB eventually held on to win 7-5 and book a place in next Sunday's final against Curlers With Altitude.

There were surprises in the 5th to 8th playoffs as well. Kenny Thomson's Auckland Rio Scottish Extras, undefeated since they joined the league in the 6th round, went down 4-10 to the North Shore Thistles of Liz Matthews. The Thistles will play off for 5th next week against Craig Parr-Whalley's CDs who continued their recent hot run with a 4-2 win over Waikato Rockers.

In places 9 to 14 the results went according to the round robin rankings. Auckland City Granite were too strong for Latent Heat of Fusion at 9-1, CANZ needed a draw to the button to beat Akadeemeeze after the teams were locked up at 4-4 and Kohi Diamonds overcome Metro Jets 10-4.

The first session of Auckland Curling Club's 2008 Grand Final night gets under way at Paradice at 5:30 pm on Sunday 28 September with six end games for places 7 to 14. The top six places will be decided from 7:00 pm, with prizegiving to follow.

Click here for Semi-Final draw

Draw Shot Challenge determines Auckland semi-finalists

15 Sep 2009 — It was a case of "3 into 2 won't go" when the semi-finalists in the Auckland Club competition were decided in the last session of round-robin games last Sunday. Three teams contested a draw to the button to find the final two places in the top four.

Haymon Keeler's YNWA team topped the table with 18 points after 13 games, followed on 17 points by the Long Bay Old Boys team skipped by Alex Bauer. Three teams were tied just one point behind, and so it came down to a single draw to the button from the skips of Curlers With Altitude, Auckland Rio Scottish Extras and Jackson Four.

On the usual "interesting" ice offered by Paradice all three skips performed extremely well under pressure. First up was ARSE's Kenny Thomson who drew just into the 8-foot circle. He was followed in the early session of games by Kenny Williamson, skip of Curlers With Altitude, whose effort finished half a rock closer to the button.

There was a nervous wait while the second round of games was played, after which Jackson Four's loss meant that they were also left on 16 points. Aaron Jackson played a beauty but suffered a nervous moment when his stone was overswept a little. However it stopped just outside the four-foot for his team to claim third in pool play and a semi-final against Long Bay. Curlers With Altitude grabbed the last semi-final place against top qualifiers YNWA.

Desperately unlucky were ARSE, who have been the form team of the last part of the competition. They didn't join the league until Round 6, and in a remarkable run they were undefeated through the remainder of the round robin for a perfect 8-from-8 record. But in the end they just didn't quite play enough games.

All club teams will play in the semi-final and final rounds over the next two Sundays. As well as the top four, a second group of four will play off for 5th to 8th (where ARSE will certainly start as red-hot favourites) and the other six will contest places 9 to 14.