Inverness's Ally Fraser and his team of Steven Mitchell, Scott Andrews and Kerr Drummond are bound for the World Junior Curling Championships in Flims, Switzerland (March 6-14) after winning the Scottish Junior title in Aberdeen.

Team Fraser completed an undefeated week with a 9-4 win over pre-event favourites, Perth's Glen Muirhead. 

“We got off to a good start against Glen in the first game of the week,” said 19 year old Fraser.  “We just managed to win that one on an extra end which set us up for the whole week.
 
“The team played excellently and we just kept on grinding out results and kept winning.” 
 
Fraser has experienced a world championship as part of Team Black which finished eighth in last year’s event in Vancouver.  This year he leads his own rink.
 
“This is a good team and we have had a good season,” said Fraser.  “We won a competition in Canada this season; it’s always great to win over there.  And we finished third overall on the European Junior Tour.
 
“For the Worlds, we want to win a medal, hopefully a gold.”
 
Fraser and team are all supported by the National Academy, created to identify and build a wider base of potential curlers capable of challenging for a place in the Elite Squad, and sportscotland’s institute of sport regional network.
 
“The National Academy with Rhona Martin and Brad Askew (RCCC Performance Development Coach) and Brad Askew (RCCC Assistant Performance Development Coach) has been a great help,” said Fraser.  “They have taken us on foreign trips, coached and funded us.
 
“I’ve been with the Highland Institute of Sport since July and the support is brilliant.  The Strength & Conditioning training has been the big boost for this season and has brought not just me but the whole team on.  Physically and mentally I’m a lot stronger.  I’ve also had nutritional advice which has been a big help, knowing what and when to eat and drink.” 
 
Fraser has three weeks of training to look forward to before heading to Switzerland for the World Championships.  His team are from different parts of the country but that has not hindered their progress and they meet on a regular basis.
 
“I’m from Inverness, Steve is from Perth, Scott is from Ayr and Kerr is from Forfar, so we are from all over,” said Fraser.  “I will be training at home with our coach Ross MacDonald and we will meet for training weekends, starting in Perth this Sunday.”
 
Former West of Scotland Institute of Sport athlete Lauren Gray (Balfron) won Scottish Junior girls title.  Edinburgh’s East of Scotland Institute of Sport supported Caitlin Barr, was in the team along with Claire McDonald (Inverness) and Tasha Aitken (Longniddry). 
 
“We play together as a team really well and we were hoping to win and thought we had a good chance, so it was good to come through,” said Caitlin
 
With Scotland having won the gold medal for the past three years she admits there is a level of expectation. 
 
“It’s a bit of pressure to think what we have to live up to but it’s good,” she said.  “Anna Sloan, who was in the winning Scotland team last year, was skip this week and we managed to beat her.  So we should do well when we get to the Worlds.”