With last seasons venture by Midlothian IBC into an Open Triples Tournament being such a huge success the powers that be at the Dalkeith Stadium are staging a similar one this Festive Season and have again attracted an impressive array of star figures
M&F Funeral Services have continued with their headline sponsorship of the event and the top prize of £600 will be chased in particular by eight invited triples headed up by Commonwealth Games gold medal heroes David Peacock, Alex Marshall MBE, Darren Burnett, and Neil Speirs. Also in the spotlight and sure to excite the spectators attracted to support the event are trios with international figures Julie Forrest, Derek Oliver, and Graeme Archer at their helm while local sponsors M&F are represented by Richard Rattray. “We are thrilled to bits at attracting the support of so many of the sports celebrity figures as it gives our membership in particular something exciting to look forward to and gives the club a morale boosting kick start to 2015”, said club secretary Colin Flower. Saturday January 3 is the final days play in the event and that is when the national icons enter the scene but prior to that the Dalkeith Stadium will be a hive of activity today with a buzz of excitement being created by the local grass-root contingent. “We have 24 triples from the club playing in six sections of four going head to head to qualify for the main event and spurred on by a combination of the chance of mixing it with the ‘big boys’ of the sport and walking off with some prize money”, added Flower. The formation of the six sections are as follows. 1. Graham Steele, Andrew Caldwell, Ian Forbes, Scott Ritchie. 2. Drew Pearson, Robert Stenhouse, Frank Malko, William Burnett. 3. Jack Macnab, John Watson, David King, Ronnie Allen. 4. Robert Trench, Alan Robinson, Andrew Scott, Peter Gray. 5.Michael Goldsmith, Les Nicholson, Ian Lockhart, Neil Watson. 6.Roy Borthwick, Gary Thomson, Connor Milne, Sandy (AJ) Knight.
The six section winners plus the two best runners up will qualify to reach for the sky on January 3 and attempt to eclipse the super stars of a sport that won three gold medals for Scotland in the 2014 Commonwealth Games.