Curling Champions

Congratulations to Ross Whyte, a former Wallace Hall Academy pupil who was part of the GB Men’s Curling Team winning a Silver Medal at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. This is a phenomenal achievement and the school and its wider community are extremely proud of Ross’ success. All members of the men and women’s curling teams were a credit to their country and to their families and friends.

Charlie Gibb, S3 at Wallace Hall, has also achieved significant success on the ice recently, winning the Scottish Under 17 Championship held in Perth earlier this month. Charlie, alongside the other members of Team O Carson, retained the title for a second year. Well done boys.

Charlie and his family have a long history in curling with his grandfather, Charlie Gibb senior, being the proud recipient of a Royal Caledonian Curling Club medal for 50-years of continuous curling, playing regularly at Lockerbie Ice Rink and at other rinks throughout Scotland. In 1993, Charlie’s grandfather represented Scotland in Canada, with his team winning the overall competition for Scotland for the first time ever. Charlie junior has carried on the family tradition, beginning his curling career at Dumfries Ice Bowl at the age of seven. Charlie junior said: “Curling is my main hobby and I train 3 to 4 times each week, working on technique, strategy and fitness. My proudest achievement so far has been our team coming third in the Scottish Under 21 Championships in Aberdeen last November. We were up against much older teams with the winning team going on to represent Scotland at the World Junior Championships. I would love to go as far as I can in the sport, hopefully one day emulating my grandfather’s success in representing my country.”