George Sinclair Bonspiel Results 2025-26

Posted on Tuesday, January 6, 2026 at 5:00am

The George Sinclair Bonspiel is played in honour of the former head iceman at Kirkcaldy who worked at the rink in the 80s and 90s. This year it was played just after the Xmas break, on Monday 5 January.

The bonspiel is won by the highest up rink. On this occasion, this was Boreland CC with +11 shots. Congratulations to their rink of Steve Jamieson (skip), Leslie Wilson, John MacGalloway and Malcolm Gerdes-Hansen who, in the absence of the trophy which has been missing for several years, were presented with bottles of wine by Area 10 Vice-President, Iain Rennick.

The scores were:

Thanks to Ron Filsell (Markinch) for the following report on the matches:

George Sinclair Memorial Trophy Bonspiel:
This Bonspiel, in memory of Iceman, George Sinclair, took place on Monday, 5th January, 2026. This prestigious event used to attract enough clubs from East and West of Fife Provinces, along with Cupar Province, to require 2 or more sessions, but, it is, now, sadly, reduced to one session. Unfortunately, Hercules was stood up by its scheduled opponents, Largo, so, the Bonspiel was reduced to 5 matches.

On Sheet B, East’s Kennoway was paired with West’s Aberdour. Aberdour started with a single, matched by Kennoway, at the second end. Aberdour continued the trend with another single at the third, but, Kennoway edged ahead with a 2 at the 4th end, then, extended that with a great steal of 3 shots. Aberdour continued its scoring of singles, taking the 6th end, then, stealing (you guessed it!), only, a single, at the seventh and last end. This meant Kennoway merged as victor, winning 6-4.

Sheet C saw a clash of East clubs, Hercules Ladies and Thornton. The Ladies started the ball rolling with a single at the first end. The singles see-sawed between the two teams over the next 3 ends, but, Thornton went into full stealing mode, taking a 5, then a 4, to race into an 11-2 lead. The Ladies got some pride back, taking a 3, then, stealing a 2, at the last end, but, not enough to prevent Thornton taking the match, 11-7.

West’s Raith & Abbotshall might have been shaking in their curling shoes, having lost to Markinch, 17-1, in the League match, however, they were not such lambs to the slaughter, this time, making a go of it, coming back at Markinch’s single and steal of 2, with a 2 and a single steal, at the 3rd and 4th ends. Markinch pulled away, again, taking a 2, and, stealing another 2, at the 6th end. R & A took its turn of taking two ends, again, but, were restricted to two singles to allow Markinch a 7-5 win.

Cupar Province’s sole representative, Stratheden, took on West’s Inverkeithing, on Sheet E. Inverkeithing used its local knowledge to dominate this match, opening with a 2, and, after giving up a single, piled the pressure on Stratheden, scoring a 5, then, rubbing salt in its wounds with a steal of one. Stratheden licked its wounds with a score of 2, before the match was ended with an exchange of singles, meaning Inverkeithing took the match, 9-4.

Sheet F was full Western, with Boreland robbing the Bank (of Scotland). Boreland took the first 7 ends, with five 2s, interspersed with singles at the second and sixth ends, before relenting for the Bankers to take a single crumb of comfort at the eighth end. The Boreland score of 12-1 meant that Boreland won the long and still missing trophy, but, had the consolation of a bottle of wine each.