Robin enjoys strong mixed doubles run
Perth’s Robin Brydone reflected on a productive week at the British Curling Mixed Doubles Elite Finals.
He teamed-up with Maggie Wilson at the National Curling Academy in Stirling and enjoyed an impressive run to the semi-final.
A tight quarter-final victory over Cameron Bryce and Katie McMillan setup a last four test with Bobby Lammie and Eve Muirhead on Tuesday.
That was where their tournament was brought to an end but Brydone was thrilled with how the partnership worked throughout the event.
“Playing mixed doubles is always interesting and is a completely different format,” he said. “It’s always nice to get a change.
“It requires you to play a lot of different shots and is usually a lot of fun.
“Myself and Maggie hadn’t actually played together a lot, only one competition before this one and a couple of practice games.
“If you’d said at the start of the week that we were going to make the semi-final, I probably wouldn’t have quite believed you. The strength of the field was high.
“The top four teams are all paired up and had been playing most Fridays in a mixed doubles league.
“We had our ups and downs in the week and started off really well. We had a bit of a rough patch in the middle but came back.
“We were 6-3 down in the quarter-final which wasn’t a great spot to be in. But we still had a power play and managed to take a five.
“It was quite a comeback. To make the semi-final was brilliant and we couldn’t have asked for any better. It was always going to be tough against Eve and Bobby.”
The mixed doubles format saw Brydone come up against men’s team-mate and fellow Perth curler Duncan McFadzean, who was playing with Perth Academy student Holly Wilkie-Milne.
Brydone told the PA: “I played Duncan this time and there was a mixed doubles competition before where I played our lead Euan (Kyle).
“I’ve just got Ross (Whyte) to play now and we’ll see how that goes. It’s always fun and interesting to play your team-mates.
“Even in training we end up playing pairs against each other. There’s that friendly rivalry.”
The COVID-19 interrupted season is coming to a close but Brydone has big plans for the future and would love to turn out at the Winter Olympics further down the line.
“There are talks of another men’s competition in March,” the former Perth High student said. “If that doesn’t go ahead, we’re done competing-wise.
“We’ll strip a lot of stuff back and put in some good work before we get a break towards May or June.
“The last two seasons have been incredible with the amount we’ve grown together and been able to develop.
“We all enjoy playing together. There are four players together who are talented but also good friends.
“We’re hopeful of keeping the team together. Fingers-crossed we can and definitely the goal is to get to the Olympics down the line. 2026 is probably the most realistic in terms of what we can get to.”
The strength of the field was high... to make the semi-final was brilliant