Macrae Trophy – Idaburn Council

Lochie Macrae was a member of the Alexandra Curling Club. The competition started in 1993, the year that the "new" outdoor ice rink opened at Molyneux Park, Alexandra (the present "IceInLine" site). The round-robin section play of the Macrae Trophy generally starts in late May / early June, with the finals in mid-July.

Curling had previously been played on the artificial ice rink at the Manorburn Dam, but in light of the size of that rink games were confined to two sheets / rinks at a time, playing on the diagonal from corner to corner. Needless to say, there was the occasional instance where stones crashed in the middle of the rink when players in the different games threw their stones at the same time!

The Macrae Trophy inter-club competition used to require each Club to have two teams per day (when the Club was rostered to play) and the competition involved two games of 21 ends per day. It became increasing more difficult for some clubs to front with eight players per day and so it was decided to change the competition to have one team per club per rostered day and to play four games per day (10 ends or 90 minutes per game). This change was introduced in the 2001 season and can now result in a club having two teams qualify for the finals day and to even have two teams from the one club competing in the grand final.

The Nicolson Trophy is competed for between two Clubs from the Idaburn Council and two Clubs from the Naseby Council – the winners and runners-up in the respective Council's inter-club competitions the previous season. Should there be no natural ice competitions in a season, the Idaburn Council's Nicolson Trophy contestants for the following year will be the top two Clubs from the Macrae Trophy competition after the completion of the round robin phase.