Fay Henderson has joined select company after becoming the youngest skip to claim three successive national titles at the Hardie Engineering Scottish Curling Championships, beating Forfar’s Team Soutar 7-4 in a hard fought final on her home ice at the Dumfries Ice Bowl.
A year younger than Kelly Wood was when she became the first to achieve a hat-trick of successive victories in 2007, with only Olympic gold medallist Eve Muirhead having matched that in between times, Henderson was fully aware of the significance of what she had achieved with the support of teammates Hailey Duff, another member of the 2022 Olympic champion team, Katie McMillan, Lisa Davie and Laura Watt. 
“To win three successive Scottish Championship titles in a row isn’t something you see happen very often on the women’s side and I believe it’s only Eve Muirhead and Kelly Wood that have done that in the past,” said Henderson.
“We have had a really good week going undefeated on our way to winning the title for the third time for myself, Hailey and Katie and it was a special one for Laura as this was her first, but every Scottish title that we can earn is very special and we are very proud to be Scottish Champions.
“For us to have so much time in our careers and so many more opportunities to do this when we feel like this is just the beginning is a really exciting opportunity for myself and the team.
“I think that just shows how much potential we have not only on the national stage but on the international stage.”
Facing another five player set-up, with 17-year-old 2024 Youth Olympic gold medallist Callie Soutar having led Eva Hare, Holly Clemie, Alison Hamilton and Hannah Young into the final, they were made to work for it, only wrapping up the win at the final end with a steal of two.
“It was a very close game and we just knew we had to be patient,” said Henderson.
“We are were hoping we would get a couple of mistakes earlier on in the game but the girls played really well, so it was always close right up until the end.
“We played a great last end together when the pressure was on and made the most of it when it counted and I think the little edge we had, was just knowing that if it came down to the last stone at the last end we could do it.
“I said to the girls after the ninth, if we need to take it down the extra we can and I was pretty confident that if I had a tough shot to win I would still hopefully be able to deliver.” 
Though just setting out on her senior career, the 2024 World Junior Curling Championship winning skip had a huge advantage in experience over her closest rivals at this year’s nationals, with another Youth Olympic gold medallist Tia Laurie having skipped her team to second place in the standings, before they lost out to Team Soutar in the semi-final.
Having just returned from the Olympics, where she was the fifth player in the Team GB line-up that missed out on the play-offs by the narrowest of margins after winning five of their round-robin matches, Henderson is well-placed to assess the growing strength in depth in the domestic women’s game.
“To be part of Team GB and watch everyone at Milan Cortina put out a really inspiring performance and see that filter through to Dumfries in the crowd with all the Try Curling sessions that are going on definitely shows that the curlers out there can make a very big difference to the grassroots,” she observed.
“I hope that this week, with the finals being streamed on BBC we have also been able to inspire others to take up curling and show that there is definitely a large youth programme in Scotland.
“Callie played very well in the final and I think her previous experience in some of the junior finals and also playing at the Youth Olympics definitely helped and the team who played in front of her played great, so I am sure we will have a few more battles in the years to come.
“Team Laurie also made the semi final and had a great week I believe and they played great against us so I think that the women’s game heading into the new Olympic cycle is going to be very exciting and there is going to be opportunities to show the world out there how good Scottish curling is right now.”
The men’s event also brought local success with Ross Whyte emulating Henderson by leading his team of Robin Brydone, Euan Kyle and this season’s newcomer to their team Craig Waddell to what was also his third successive title win.
