A bumper turnout at Pontefract saw a record 140+ entries,
ironically despite some moans, this date always produces a large draw.
WO55
– Lynn Davies, have racquet will travel, saw off everyone 3 ‘zip’ with
Cheshire’s Jane Law coming in second.
WO50
– Julie Field entered this event and won her section with Tammy
Bennett, coughing beautifully second and newcomer Shelly Walsh, third.
In the other group, Fran Wallis dropped a game to Polly Woodward, but
had too much for everyone. The Final saw a well fired up Lincoln City
supporter give Julie a rare beating, the five year age gap being a
bit too much: 10/8 9/2 9/0.
WO45
– Andrea Santamaria cruised past a lack lustre Nicky Horn after the
latter blew the first game, whilst in the other section Rose
Bamber just scraped past Di Parums 11/3 9/11
12/10 9/11 8/11. The final saw Bamber
just on the wrong edge of every rally as Santamaria dominated
11/8 11/9 4/7. 3-4 spot saw Horn squeak past Parums
16/14 in the fifth.
WO40
– Alison Goy was called Alison Joy after sneaking
past her nemesis Sam Mueller 10/12 11/5
3/11 12/10 11/9, and narrowly losing to Sarah Parr
3-2. Izzy Tyrell, steady as a rock with her tennis
swing, was too good for everyone with Sarah Parr second.
WO35
– Saw Katie Lawrence winner over Kristy Burkin 3-2 and Sarah Roberton
3-1.
MO75 –
saw Lance Kinder, his serve still a lottery, but his speed
for a 78 year old defies belief and he was too good for Mike Barnard,
3-1.
MO70
– saw a round robin with Mike Clemson in charge, narrowly overturning
Graham Fisher 9/7 10/9 7/9 0/9
8/10 and in the Final Adrian Wright 3/9 9/3
9/3 9/6. Fisher beat William Wilson 3-0 and Brian Hardcastle
gained revenge over Nigel Belle for 5/6 place.
MO65
– Quarters saw Martin Day lead Aubrey Waddy, only to go down
5/9 9/6 9/6 9/4 and Martin Pearse kept
Tony Wheeler at bay 9/4 9/4 7/9 9/2.
Larry Grover took a lot out of Rod Boswell 7/9 9/7
9/1 5/9 9/3 and the latter found Waddy far too hot
to handle four hours later, as did Pearse with Barry Featherstone. The
latter overcame Waddy 9/3 in the fifth for another Regional.
MO60
– A very large draw with about 6 possibles fighting for one, or at best
two International spots, with Holmes, Bell, Jackson and Drysdale
virtually cemented. Alan Hathway kept himself in the running
beating Denis Welch, Geoff Wilcock, Ian Smith before going down
to Ronnie Bell. Both Geoff Walton and Neil Nightingale won’t
look back at Pontefract with affection and Holmes, previously second
best to Bell, now has the whip hand with a superb display of placement
squash, volleying everything despite 13 pints of 5% real ale in
Wakefield on Sat night and Sunday morning.
MO55
- With Cowley M back on the warpath and Steve Johnson
dropping out, the Final two looked a gimme and so it proved.
Peter Culver scraped past Ian Bradburn only to lose 1-3 to Colin
Shields who found Cowley too hot to handle. Stuart Hardy saw off Ripley
Oyler and Gary Marshall but Cowley was intent on revenge, refusing free
drinks on Sat night, and beat his team mate 9/4 9/3
1/9 9/4.
MO50
– Top seed Ged Martin narrowly went out in the Quarters to
Cumbrian David Gray 9/4 10/8 7/9
0/9 6/9 and the latter beat Hooper to enter his first Final.
Darren Withey was in a class slightly above the rest to record victory
but Gray was well pleased.
MO45
– No 1 seed John Hanson found super banker Eamonn Price just too
focussed as the latter overturned the seedings 8/11
6/11 11/6 11/5 3/11, whilst Andy Normile
had a lengthy battle with Peter Lonsdale 11/6 8/1
11/6 6/11 11/8. Murray Scott, back in the Regionals
is always ultra combatative, beating Normile 3-1 and then eventually
overcoming Price 9/11 12/10 11/4
6/11 8/11 in a high quality Final.
MO40
– Glen Ragou forgot how old he was and pressed the wrong digit on
entry. And paid the price, after beating both Ian Douglas 3-1 and Chris
Stanley 3-1 he came unstuck against youngster Stuart Summers
11/8 11/9 11/7. Bottom half Paul Boyle sneaked past
no 2 Jon Gliddon 11.6 11.13 11.6 15/13 to
enter the Final and was a bit too consistent for a tiring
Summers 5/11 4/11 11/5 7/11.
MO35 – both
Nick Wall and Jamie Goodrich entered and both eligible for a higher age
group... Confidence for you! Wall eased past Steve Payne 3-1 and Mike
McLoughlin 3-1 the latter having had a royal battle with Ian Cox
17/15 7/11 11/4 9/11 4/11. In
the bottom half Jamie Goodrich saw off Nick Hargreaves and Mike Biggs
3-1, before the Final. The Final was feisty. No other word
for it. Two ultra competent players, both very
quick and super talented. Something had to give and the
marker(s) were questioned in stages of 1 to 10 for ferocity. Eventually
I called in Uncle Malcolm who stood there and soon order was restored.
A great match and Goodrich’s Facebook page over-flowed as Wall is
rarely beaten. Interesting next encounter, for sure.
Many thanks to Mick and Cindy Todd, the owners of Pontefract,
Margaret Rotherforth who organizes everything, Vicky, Nicky and Chris
for keeping us fed and watered, Jane Belle and of course Brian Brock
for his immaculate expedition organising the Tournament over the three
days (especially over the lack of court space on Saturday due to the
amount of entries in the Plate).
Good to see Malcolm Willstrop coaching over 100 children on
Sunday morning!! Pontefract Squash Club proves that most clubs should
copy their template...
P.S. Why hasn’t Malcolm been given an MBE ?
Martin Pearse