PICTURES: Moray international curling bonspiel attracts teams from Canada, Norway and Finland to Moray Leisure Centre and raises £1300 for Moray Women's Aid
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Curling enthusiasts from across the world celebrated the return of an international competition to the Elgin ice.
The Moray international curling bonspiel hadn't been contested since 2019 because of Covid-19 but the 12th running of the three-day event returned to the sporting calendar this month.
Organised by Aberlour-based curler Andy Cameron, the tourney attracted two teams from the Canadian town of Perth, another two from Stavanger, Norway and one more from Finland among 18 rinks competing at Moray Leisure Centre.
The event also nominated the Elgin branch of Women's Aid to benefit from proceeds of a raffle and silent auction which raised over £1300.
Cameron said: "In November we had 26 teams confirmed and had to put six on the waiting list, but with Covid and travel restrictions and people not being able to get flights they couldn’t come.
"So we were pleased to get the bonspiel back this year. We got there, and it was well worth it."
After two days of play, the teams split up into the 'high road' and 'low road' competitions on the Sunday to decide the destiny of the silverware.
The Ailsa Craig Crew, a rink from Ayrshire, emerged as the overall champions just ahead of Cameron's Moray rink.
And one of the Canada teams, going by the name of 'Moose in the Hoose' took the honours in the low road category.
There was at least one Moray winner, as the Ailsa Craig team saw one of their members pull out after the first day and drafted in local player Nicole Allan, from Elgin, to make up the numbers in the victorious rink.
All participants also took part in a dinner and dance at Elgin's Laichmoray Hotel on the Saturday night.
Cameron said the event, which also drew rinks from across Scotland, was well received by the visitors to Moray.
"Some of the curlers who came over from Canada couldn’t believe that they were curling on ice on the Friday where there had been ice hockey on the Thursday night," he said.
"They thought it was great to be able to play on ice that was multi-purpose and it was also the first time they had been across to Scotland and they found it phenomenal.
"The Canadians are looking to come back next year.
"We also had a lot of people who came in and watched, and it was a great atmosphere over the whole weekend."
In the past, the Moray international bonspiel has welcomed teams from USA, Switzerland, Greece and Denmark to the Moray area.
