On Monday 12 February 2024, a Dumbarton rink consisting of Jim MacDonald (skip), David Armstrong (third), David Shanks (second) and Gus Wallace (lead) travelled to Greenacres for the District Medal match against Brookfield, which was the first meeting between the two clubs.
Dumbarton won the toss and were looking good in the first end when an tactical error by Jim allowed Brookfield to take control of the end. Instead of asking David Armstrong to place a stone to the front of the house to block the draw, he asked to tap back on a blue Brookfield stone from the back of the house. David executed the shot to raise the potential score for 2 to 5. However, not blocking the draw allowed Suzanne (Brookfields' skip) to draw to the top of the 4 foot and gain cover. It proved to be a difficult stone to move as Brookfield opened the scoring with a single steal.
Dumbarton struggled in the 2 end to match Brookfield's guard and draw game. Brookfield were counting 5 as Jim prepared to throw his final stone. With the shot stone sitting on the button the only option available was to cut down the shot count, which was executed by raising the white guard stone into the 4-foot conceding a second steal of one.
Dumbarton soon settled though and took control of the 3rd end with some accurate hit a rolls leaving Jim with a draw to the 8-foot with the hammer for a count of 3 and a 3-2 lead after 3 ends.
Brookfield responded with another single in the 4th end to tie the match before Dumbarton took control of the match.
Counting 4 shots, Suzanne attempted a freeze with her last stone to take shot, or at least reduce the shot count. Unfortunately the stone caught one of the guards in front of the house. It proved to be a pivotal point in the match as Jim put the hammer to good effect to draw onto one of his own stoned in the 4-foot for a score of 5 and a lead of 8-5 after 5 ends.
Brookfield, looking to respond with a mutliple score of their own in the sixth end, were counting 3, with the potential of scoring more as the skips prepared to play their stones. Jim's first stone was played with a hack weight that took out Brookfield's shot stone and moved a few inches to sit in front of another Brookfield stone just behing the t-line on the 4-foot. Suzanne, attempting to remove the white Dumbarton stone hit it to the side, but unfortunately for Brookfield the white stone jammed on the blue stone removing it from play, as the shooter rested for a perfect freeze on antoher blue stone just to the right and rear of the 4-foot.
Jim's final shot of the end was to freeze on the blue stone that was just played. After the stone was released, David Armstrong controlled to line to perfection calling David Shanks and Gus to sweep at just the right time, and took them off it when required for the shooter to nose the target stone freezing on it, while the blue stone jammed on the back blue stone pushing it out of play leaving Dumbarton counting 2 shots. Suzanne's reply was to draw to the inside of one of the white stones, and it looked good as it travelled down the ice. The stone carried just a bit too much weight as it hit the inside of the white stone as expected and bounced to the back of the 4-foot.
David Armstrong and Ken Greer couldn't agree on whether the score was 1 to Brookfield or 1 or 2 to Dumbarton. The resulting measure went in favour of Dumbarton and they scored a steal of 2 for a 10-3 lead prompting handshakes as Brookfield conceded the match.
This was the 3rd consecutive season Dumbarton contested the District Medal at Greenacres. Having been drawn away to Millport in 2021/22 for the first District Medal match since covid, and switching the 2022/23 match against Helensburgh to Greenacres due to ice plant issues at the Waterfront. It appears to be a happy hunting ground for Dumbarton after winning all 3 matches equalling the club record of winning 3 consecutive District Medals for only the 3rd time in the clubs' history, and the first since 2004-2006. The only other time the club achieved this feat being the 1993, '94, and '95 seasons.
Brookfield Curling Club was formed in 1963, and admitted to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club the same year. Brookfield are members of Renfrewshire 12th province, and play their regular club games at Greenacres. The club currently has 18 playing members registered with Scottish Curling.
