Reed wins her eighth English Women’s Title

Joan Reed led her new team to her eighth title in emphatic style over the weekend. It took just three of the allotted five games to overcome Fiona Hawker’s team that had one change from their European Championship line-up. Reed, with Lorna Rettig at third, Claire Grimwood at second and Kirsty Balfour at Lead, won their three games 13-6; 11-2 and 10-5 at the Greenacres Curling Club in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The games were not all as one sided as the results may suggest but the overall result is very conclusive and will give Reed and her team a lot of confidence when they travel to Gernany in December to represent England at the 2005 European Curling Championships.

Reed first won the English Championships in 1988 and has never lost more than two Championships in a row since then! She has won more titles than any other English woman and all eight of them at skip. In addition she has skipped the English Senior Women’s team (over 50’s) to two World Senior Curling Championships, coming fourth last year and third the previous year. Next month she will lead her Senior’s team out at the 2005 Worlds in Scotland and aims to come back with another medal. When she returns home from there, she is then looking for an unprecedented third English title in the same year when she competes in the English Mixed Curling Championships. These Championships will be the first to be played in England, at England’s first dedicated curling rink, the newly opened Fenton’s Rink near Tunbridge Wells in Kent.