Scottish Champions 2015: St. Laurence O’Toole

Dumbarton, Scotland – July 25, 2015 – The penultimate major contest in the RSPBA season was held in warm and breezy weather at Levengrove Park, where St. Laurence O’Toole were named 2015 Scottish Champions. It was the last championship before the World’s on August 14-15 in Glasgow, and was an upset to Field Marshal Montgomery who had won the previous three majors in 2015 and had a string of seven consecutive championship wins broken. Field Marshal Montgomery could not recover from an eighth in drumming, while St. Laurence O’Toole had solid marks across the board. Only a drumming mark of second or better would have gained FMM the title, all else being equal. Shotts & Dykehead and ScottishPower maintained their presence, with the latter zooming up in drumming with a second under first-year Leading-Drummer Jake Joergensen. The win was the first championship victory for St. Laurence O’Toole Pipe-Major Alen Tully, who took on the top spot after the 2013 season.

Grade 1 (medley, 12 competed)
1st St. Laurence O’Toole (2,1,1,2)
2nd Field Marshal Montgomery (1,2,8,1)
3rd Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia (3,6,3,3)
4th ScottishPower (7,3,2,5)
5th Inveraray & District (4,4,6,4)
6th Greater Glasgow Police Scotland (6,5,5,7)
Judges: Sam Young, Jim Wark (piping); Greg Dinsdale (drumming); John MacInnes (ensemble)

Grade 2 (MSR, 19 competed)
1st Bleary & District (1,1,4,1)
2nd Johnstone (2,2,1,3)
3rd Police Service of Northern Ireland (4,5,2,2)
4th Lomond & Clyde (3,3,7,4)
5th Buchan Peterson (6,4,3,7)
6th MacKenzie Caledonian (5,6,5,5)
Judges: Ian Wood, John Connor (piping); Paul Turner (drumming); Alan Ronaldson (ensemble)