Carrick Knowe handed a trip to Bon Accord

EDINBURGH champions Carrick Knowe will carry the Capital city's bowling banner into the 2009 Roofline Scotland-sponsored Scottish Inter County Top Ten tournament, and they have been drawn out of the hat to face the Bon Accord Association.

The draw was made at the Kenny Milne Trophy day at Gorgie Mills at the weekend and is made so clubs can put funding plans in place if they have a long distance to travel.

Carrick Knowe will travel to the Aberdeen area on Sunday, May 17 for their preliminary round match and if successful they will travel to Stirling or, in the worst case scenario, Argyll & Bute.

"Transportation costs and in some respects overnight stays certainly puts a strain on club budgets, so I imagine our Carrick Knowe officials will arrange some specific fund-raising events during the winter," said player Colin Mitchell.

Mitchell, on hearing news of the draw, went on to point out that he and several of his colleagues are likely to be involved in a Cities and Counties match with Edinburgh and Leith on Saturday, May 16 so it will have to be an early-morning dash north the following day.

"An away draw gets a double-edged reaction from us as the E&L players would much prefer a home draw for convenience, and the officials for costs, but the others look forward to the adventure and challenge of invading new territory," he explained.

"We will be united, however, by a focus to make an impact on the event as this is our first tilt at the national title having been pipped at the post by losing in three previous finals of the Edinburgh Top Ten," he concluded.

Bathgate also find themselves in a travelling situation, but coming last of all out of the hat to visit the Port Glasgow club in Renfrewshire did give the West Lothian champions the benefit of a bye into the first round.

In terms of expense the draw was also unkind to Bonnyrigg with the Midlothian champions due to visit the Aberdeen & Kincardine area in the preliminary round, although a win would then give them a home tie against Northern Counties or Ayrshire.

West Barns take part in the national event for the second year running and the East Lothian champions have two reasons to be satisfied as they miss the preliminary round and will then line up at home to Buchan County in the first round on Sunday, May 24.

Two other dates for the diary are May 31 for the second round while the finals day takes place at Eddlewood, Lanarkshire on Sunday, June 14.