Former world champions Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat claimed their second national title together when they defeated Sophie Jackson and Duncan McFadzean 6-4 in the final at Perth’s Dewars Centre and they are now hoping they get the chance to do the same at the forthcoming World Championships.
It was a record-breaking sixth win in the event as Mouat surpassed the mark previously set by his former partner Gina Aitken, while for Dodds it was an outcome that went a long way to justifying her decision to concentrate on the two-player game this season after winning Olympic gold as part of Team Muirhead a year ago. 
“I don’t think we could have asked for much more,” she said.
“At the start of the week it was a wee bit tough for us. We just weren’t finding those first couple of shots, which was putting us under pressure, but we definitely built into the competition.
“Maybe for me that could have been a wee bit of rustiness in competition because I haven’t really played much at the start of this year, but the last three or four games it was like the old us again.
“So we’re really happy with our performance in the later part of the competition.”
The victory was a huge stepping stone towards achieving her season’s objectives.
“It would mean a lot to go back to the World Championships, particularly because I’ve just concentrated solely on mixed doubles this season,” she said.
“So, the Scottish and then hopefully the Worlds were my main focus. The first one is achieved and I would love to go back to Worlds because the last time we were there we won the World Championships and I would love to get back and try to win it again.”
Whoever makes that trip will be aiming to make a hat-trick of Scottish wins, Eve Muirhead and Bobby Lammie having successfully defended the world title after defeating Dodds and Mouat in last year’s Scottish Championship final and if they now get the opportunity to return to the Worlds they believe they can repeat what they achieved in Aberdeen two years ago.
“That’s the goal,” said Mouat.
“We’re not going to go there for anything less. We’ve already got that World Championship, so we might as well try and get three-in-a-row after Bobby and Eve did such a great job last year, but they went undefeated which gives us a bit of a challenge.”
With his men’s team having already earned selection for their World Championship, it has the potential to be a congested end of season for Mouat, but he is savouring the prospect.
“I know what a busy season looks like already, so if it happens to be a six week trip, then it happens to be a six week trip, let’s go for it,” he said.
“It feels nice that we’re still in form after what was a really good season last year. Obviously we finished fourth in the mixed doubles at the Olympics, so it would be nice to go back to a World Championship and try and get a few spots better, because the fourth hurt at the time.”
The growing quality of the domestic game was meanwhile demonstrated in the challenge they faced over the week, not least in the final where they were headed just once when they forced their opponents to a single at the opening end.
“The first two ends were a bit ropey, but after Jen made a crucial draw in the second end we found our feet a wee bit and we were in control from there, managing to cause some trouble for them and get the stones on the top T which is what you’re after in mixed doubles,” he said.
“On any day everyone can beat each other, which is the hard thing with mixed doubles. You have to keep yourself on your toes to be able to win those games, so we’re not overly surprised that Duncan and Sophie made it to the final. 
“They played great all week and beat us in the round-robin stages and whoever has the best week normally ends up at the top and they gave us a really good fight.”
That message was reinforced by McFadzean who felt that having gone into the event as underdogs, he and Jackson had shown how that strength in depth is developing.
“We’re happy with the week, but it was frustrating playing so well throughout and then getting to the final and knowing that you are not playing the same as you were, so that hurts a little bit,” he said.
“However, nobody would have backed us to be here at the final at the start of the week and to be fair we probably wouldn’t have backed ourselves either, but to come out and enjoy playing good curling we have really enjoyed playing in this event.
“We have been together just this season playing in the NCA (National Curling Academy) Friday Mixed Doubles and we have not had the best season with a couple of injuries between us, so it is nice for us to both be fully fit and come out and put in a good performance together like we did.”
Selection for the Scotland team for the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship will take place during the week commencing 6 March.
