Olympic curling gold medallist Janice Rankin steers Moray Firth Ladies to top spot in Moray Province East Division 4 top spot - and all the latest league standings

As the final stone of the year slid to a halt at Moray Leisure Centre to count a single shot and rubber stamp a convincing win, Moray Firth Ladies sit proudly atop Division 4 of the Moray Province East League.

While Eve Muirhead further raised curling’s national profile with her third place in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, Moray's own Olympic champion Janice Rankin steered her ladies to the summit, scoring at each of the opening four ends to open up an 8-0 lead over Buckie newcomers skipped by Jodi Best.

A big four shot count gave the underdogs a whiff of hope, but too late and hands were shaken on a 9-4 loss.

Katie Gordon kept her juniors in the honours hunt scoring a total of 10 shots over the middle four ends in her 11-5 win over Buckie’s Jim Walls.

In the Division 3 table-top battle between Darnaway and Moray Juniors, it was Alan Douglas who came out ahead and the teams are now joint Division leaders.

In a Christmas cracker of a contest, the youngsters led 4-2 after four ends before Douglas picked up a decisive three at the fifth end. An exchange of singles over the last two ends gave the Darnaway rink the tightest of victories and a share of the divisional lead at the festive recess.

Curling resumes in the New Year with a four rink match between teams representing Moray Province and the USA team who will be arriving in Elgin in early January as part of their Scottish Tour.

Results

Moray Province East League

Division 3

A. Allardyce (Elgin) 6 H. Downey (Elgin) 8

A. Douglas (Darnaway) 6 O. Watson (Moray Juniors) 5

Division 4

K. Gordon (Moray Juniors)11 J. Walls (Buckie) 5

J. Rankin (Moray Firth Ladies) 9 Buckie Three 4

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.