MEDAL HOPES . . . Team Muirhead are in Denmark for the European championships starting tomorrow. Picture courtesy of Tom Bryden
Anna Sloan jetted off to Denmark yesterday for the competition, where she will play vice skip to Eve Muirhead.
They will take on top talent from Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Russia, Switzerland and Sweden as well as the hosts at the Granly Hockey Arena in Esbjerg.
Speaking this week, Anna said: “We are really looking forward to getting out there and getting started.
“We have had a decent start to the season so we are looking to reap the benefits of all our work on and off the ice for a good week of curling ahead.
“We have a tough round robin ahead of us so we will take one step at a time and see where we are in the later stages. Obviously we are hoping to build on our bronze medal from last year, but right now we are not looking any further ahead than one game at a time.
“Excited to go out and get started with Scotland on our backs.”
The event will have the honour of a royal opening, with His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark throwing the first ceremonial stone.
Meanwhile, fellow home-grown Lockerbie curler David Murdoch is focusing his energies on the Scottish Curling Championship after failing to qualify at last month’s playdowns.
The 37-year-old has three gold medals from the European tournament but finished third at the qualifiers, behind Kyle Smith from Perth and Tom Brewster, originally from Breconbeds near Annan but now living in Aberdeen.
In an interview Murdoch said the team has spent a lot of time training in Canada and plans to be on top form in the run up to the Scottish tournament in Perth in February which, if successful, will take him to the World Championships in Basel, Switzerland in April.