Prentice, along with team-mates Tommy Fleming, Lockhart Steele and Robin Aitken claimed the Scottish title in a thrilling 5-4 victory over their fellow finalists from Kinross.

Following this latest brush with success, Hutton farmer Prentice and his team will compete at the World Senior Curling Championships next month, for the third time in four years.

No strangers to international success, the quartet, along with reserve Archie Craig, are former World Champions, having won the gold medal at the 2007 World Senior Championships in Canada. And last year they proved they are still a force to be reckoned with when they made it through to the semi finals in Dunedin, New Zealand, bringing bronze back to Scotland.

The quintet will now carry their hopes of further silverware to Chelyabinsk in Russia, where this year's World Senior Curling Championships kick off on April 16.

The team, who have played together for the last five years, came through the qualifying rounds of the Scottish championships in January unbeaten, with 30 teams taking part in the round-robin format. And at the February finals they again showed their mettle, remaining unbeaten from 12 competitors to claim the seniors title.

The side will now aim for glory on the world stage.
Twelve countries will compete at this year's World Championships and the Scots' main competitors could include Canada, the USA, Switzerland and Sweden

After finishing in third place at last year's Championships following a semi-final defeat to the USA and a win in the consolation final against Switzerland, skip Prentice said he'd like to do one better this time round.

"We're off to Russia next month for the World's and we're definitely looking forward to it," he said. "We came back from New Zealand last year with bronze and were a little disappointed with that so we're hoping to go one better. We're looking to get through to the semi finals and we'll take it from there."

Scotland are grouped with the USA, Japan, Australia, Hungary, England, Estonia and hosts Russia in the round robin stages. "We're in the same group as the Americans, because we finished third last year and they finished second," Prentice explained. "The American team is the same team that beat us in the semi final last year so we'll be looking to get our revenge there," he added.

"This will be our third time at the World Senior Championships and I think the experience of being there before certainly does help because we know what to expect. You play in round robins first and then the finals, so it's like two competitions in one."

Located some 2,000 kilometres east of Moscow, Chelyabinsk's Ice Palace will host the 2010 Championships. The winter sport hub is surrounded by an Olympic-sized long-track speed skating oval, and 12 sheets of dedicated curling ice will be created for the Championships, with spectator seating for 3,000 plus a stage erected for the opening and closing ceremonies.

With Russia hosting the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in the resort city of Sochi, the 2010 World Mixed Doubles and World Seniors Curling Championships will pave the way toward an increased profile of curling in Russia.

"They're trying very hard to promote the sport in Russia," Prentice commented. "They're trying to show to the World Curling Federation that they can hold a major championships, and they're holding the next Winter Olympics.

"Last year we were in New Zealand so it will be much colder this year, at the moment it's about -20 over there - it should be a little bit warmer by the middle of April but it will still be cold!"
Prentice and his team are planning to travel to Russia on April 15, to acclimatise and get some practise in before the competition starts on April 17.

"There's a five hour time difference, compared to 11 hours last year, so Russia shouldn't be as hard to settle in," Prentice added.