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Rob MacNeill, 604.279.5422, ext. 326
Marianne Meadahl, Media & PR Office, 604.291.4323/3210

A first place victory for the SFU pipe band's drumming corps at the annual world pipe band championships in Glasgow, Scotland on August 13-14 seemed a good omen as the band took aim at yet another world championship.

But when the dust settled it was Northern Ireland's Field Marshall Montgomery band that would edge out SFU for the title in the elite Grade one category. The SFU band settled for second spot, having given what manager Rob MacNeill considered a “knockout performance.”

“We thought with the win in drumming we might win the championship title this year, but that didn't tip things in our favour,” says MacNeill, who is just back from Scotland. “There's a lot of mutual respect between the two bands and in the end we were happy for them.”

SFU's Grade 2 band, made up of many former members of its junior Robert Malcolm band, also finished second to a Northern Ireland competitor, Ballinderry Bridge. The junior band competes every other year and last year took first place.

MacNeill says the week began with torrential rains that flooded sections of the country, wiping out some roads and closing fields for other competitions scheduled that week. But by the weekend, world championship competitors performed under sunny skies. Some 8,000 musicians participate in the event, attended by an audience of about 45,000.

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