Curlers from Canada take to the ice in Inverness
CURLERS from Canada took on a team from Northern Counties in a special match which took place at the Inverness Ice Centre.
The Canadian Ladies Friendship Tour 2024 saw a team made up of 22 curlers from across Canada take on curlers from across the Highlands on Tuesday.
The tour takes place every five years, alternating between Scottish players going to Canada and the Canadians visiting Scotland. However Covid interrupted this pattern and the tour originally scheduled for 2020 took place four years later.
The team met up in Glasgow on November 2 and travelled to play at Stranraer at the start of a three-week journey which to date has taken them to 18 ice rinks all over Scotland.
Nearing the end of their trip, Inverness curlers played them on Tuesday.
Teams from across Scotland competed for the Muriel Fage Trophy which will be presented to the highest scoring team at the end of the tour.
Canadian team captain Cathy Hughes said it has been a successful tour.
She said: “It has been a wonderful experience for everybody. Safe to say, you never know what is happening on the tour.
“But it has been great and everybody has played well, we are very happy with our scores and we are going to play on Tuesday and Wednesday and then we will say adieu.
“We started our tour in Glasgow, where we all got together, some of us for the first time. We have done 18 curling rinks on the tour during 21 days.
“We arrived in Inverness on Monday night and then we toured Urquhart Castle on Tuesday and then had a curling game in the afternoon before attending a civic reception this evening. The welcome has been warm everywhere where we have gone.”
