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