Tournament Report
2019
The last weekend in March saw the culmination of the
2019 Veterans Squash Club Annual Club Championships,
which were again held at Colets Health and Fitness
in Thames Ditton, Surrey.
With additional categories of
Men's Over 40 and Mixed Doubles it was going to be a
busy weekend.
Saturday was Semi-Final day with 40 matches played
and another 30 on Sunday for the Finals.
Most Saturday matches went to
the expected winner except where Barry
Featherstone, having lost to Phil
Ayton in the O'70, then proceeded to beat
the Number 1 seed Geoff Redfern in
the O'65 Singles. Some age groups were played as
Round Robin matches so final places were not to be
decided until after the Sunday matches.
The Ladies O'40 title was won
by Keeley Johnson with
Mandy Akin winning the older group beating
her friend Karen Hume in the final.
The Ladies Doubles was played
as a Round Robin with Keeley and her partner
Rachel Woolford emerging as winners. The
Mixed Doubles proved to be a popular new category
with 7 pairs entering and produced some competitive
and enjoyable squash, with new member Shayne
Baillie and Richard Winter
coming out on top.
In the Men's age groups our
first winner at the Over 40 level was Dean
Newberry, Jeremy Krzystyniak
again won the O'45. Andy Normile,
Darren Withey and Stuart
Hardy all won their age groups. In the O'65
Barry could not repeat his Saturday performance and
was beaten by the younger Steve Jackson.
Possibly the best singles
final was the O'70 where Philip Ayton
revenged his British National loss to Howard
Cherlin with a 3-2 victory. These two have
been playing against each other for nearly 60 years
and are great friends, a testament to this great
game we play.
The popular categories for
Non-County players were won by Richard
Winter, Ask Chakraborty
and Mick Lowe.
Doubles has always featured strongly in The Vets
Club and the 45 and 55 age groups had some strong
pairings with Dermot Hurford
winning both with Nigel Stiles in
the 45 and Darren Withey in the 55.
Aubrey Waddy and Paul
Temple won the O'70 and Nigel Belle
and Brian Dobson the 75 title.
Then we come to our senior
citizens. There were only 4 entries each in the 75
and 80 age groups but some of these players played 6
matches over the weekend. Brian Dobson
was a worthy winner in the 75 group and
Vinnie Taylor, all the way from Canada and
representing Scotland, repeated his British National
victory in the O'80.
The Norman Hunt Trophy was
awarded to Stuart Hardy and The
Burrell to Geoff Howes.
I must thank a few people for
the help given to me over the weekend. Jane
Belle womaned the Tournament desk, feeding
fresh sheets to the markers and keeping track of the
results. She collected money from sales of
merchandise and chased those players who had not
paid their entry fee. Barely pausing to have a rest
and then at the end of the whole event had to drive
Nigel home.
The markers, Dean
Clayton, Mike Halpin and
Paul Clarke worked non-stop for the
whole weekend. They marked every match on courts 1,2
and 3. With their presence they bring greater
credibility to the event and are respected by the
players. This in turn leads to better matches and a
more enjoyable experience for every-one.
Finally a thank you to
Colets. Allowing us to hold our tournament there has
proved to be very popular. The support from the club
for squash is fantastic and we were exceedingly well
looked after by the staff.
I look forward to seeing many
of you next year at our 2020 tournament, which I
promise will not be held on Mothering Sunday.
Geoff Howes
Tournament Director
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