Eikanger Bjørsvik has suffered a blow ahead of the defence of its Norwegian National title in Bergen next weekend, with the news of a lip injury to principal cornet player David Morton.

The 4BR 2017 Player of the Year has been force to take time off from playing and will miss the contest, stating on his Facebook page; "Absolutely gutted to not be playing this year.

Eikanger will of course be brilliant without me and the weekend will be a fantastic event full of highs and lows for everyone else too."

Highs and lows

David has certainly enjoyed both of these at the National Championship in recent times — helping Eikanger to the title on three occasions and winning the soloist prize in 2017, as well as suffering relegation from the Elite Section when playing for Molde and finding his slide fall out of his instrument to the floor mid way through a solo passage in 2015.

However, he added: "I have had numerous knock backs in my playing career and the result is always the same: I come back stronger! This time will be no different. Good luck to everyone who is competing and remember to take care of your chops!"

The contest rules state that bands can bring in new players due to a medical issue, with Eikanger able to engage the services of Lode Violet from Brass Band Willebroek4BR

Medical sub

The contest rules state that bands can bring in new players due to a medical issue, with Eikanger able to engage the services of Lode Violet from Brass Band Willebroek.

He flew into Bergen this week to meet up with conductors Ingar Bergby and Reid Gilje for the first time and will return for a week of preparation prior to the event starting on Friday 9th February.

A band spokesperson told 4BR: "Eikanger-Bjørsvik is very pleased that this kind of corporation between top bands in Europe is possible when needed."