Martin Pearse reports
For the first time in memory the weather at Moreton Hall
was inclement – to say the least. Snow curtailed one or two
journeys and poor Colin Shields was stuck on the AI M for
five hours and was forced to scratch. Our travelling knight
of the road, Glen Ragou gave up on the Friday night from
snow bound Lancashire but showed his mettle by arriving on
the Saturday. The Sunday morning (circa 2am) saw him voted
as the oldest dancer in Bury’s one and only night club.
Commitment!
To the Squash.
The Women’s 50/55 was in one group, but partly
sectionalized. Tammy Bennett beat newcomer Dawn Pearson,
before losing 3-1 to no 1 seed Karen Hume in the Semi Final.
In the other half, Lynne Davies from Wales, beat Carolyn
Roylance but then was overturned by a very happy Jane Law,
for the latter to reach the Final. This was won by Karen.
In the W O40/O45, Bea de Dreu Spitze beat Rina Einy
and Fran Wallis’ match with Mandy Akin was cut short when
the former scratched – injured - in the second game. In the
WO45 Final (although the group Semi) Bea and Mandy slugged
it out for over an hour, full of top quality squash, nip and
tuck. Someone has to win, and when it’s 10/9 in the fifth,
it’s hard to take. Bea was the lucky one.
In the WO40 section, Isabella Tyrell won the
interesting Semi with Sam Mueller in a tight 3-0, Tyrell’s
tennis and racketlon pedigree showing at the crucial times
as she weathered the formidable hitting power of Mueller and
placed the ball into parts of the court that weren’t
sympathetic to Sam. In the Final, Tyrell fell behind 1-2 to
Bea, but came back strongly to win the last two – to record
the Title.
The W O35 saw top class newcomers, potential England
players, which adds a new flavor in the mix. As long as they
all play in the Closed and subject to points qualification,
they will be in with a chance. Top of the tree was Lisa
May, who beat the favourite Alexa Prior in a high quality
match. Third was Katie Lawrence followed by Zoe Owens.
In the Men’s O70/75, all players were over 75 except
for Adrian Wright, just 70, who was, obviously in a class of
his own. However, having four World Champions in one group
was a treat for connoisseurs, and out of the more aging
stars, John Woodliffe emerged the winner.
The MO65 saw a stronger draw than Exeter with Graham
Fisher totally outplaying a lack lustre Mike Clemson, now
Chairman of Yorkshire Squash and looking to visit all 100
plus clubs under his domain. As there isn’t a keener,
genuine squash enthusiast in the whole globe, it is certain
he will rack up some miles! In the event, Fisher won 9/1
9/2 9/4. In the other half, Dave Hardern beat Nigel Belle,
before crashing out to World Champion Chris Ansell 1/9 2/9
7/9.
Martin Pearse beat Tony Clifford 3-1 and then completely
overpowered Ansell, 9/2 9/2 9/4 in the first Semi Final.
The latter , normally a slow starter, just never seemed to
get going as the Chairman dominated the T.
In the other half, newcomer Chris Goodbourn beat Rob Smith,
9/2 9/0 9/2. Fisher 9/2 10/8 9/5 before meeting Martin
Pearse in the Final. The first game saw Pearse power in to a
8/0 lead but the break saw the Middlesex player slow the
match right down to level at 1-1.
Goodbourn led 5/0 in the third before Pearse re-asserted the
pace to level at 5/5, but Goodbourn took a 2/1 lead with
three tight back hand drops. The fourth was exactly the
same, a comeback to 7/7, but the day belonged to Goodbourn
as he closed out the match 9/7 to record his first Regional.
The Men’s O60 was a much weaker draw than usual,
missing Jones, Brown, Featherstone, Graham and Cherlin. In
the event double handed Mick Broomhall took full advantage
to record his second Regional, overturning no 1 seed Larry
Grover and Phil Godfrey 10/9 7/9 8/10 9/7 1/9 before
beating Terry Norman 9/6 9/7 9/7 in the Final.
Earlier Norman had scraped past an erratic Geoff Howes and
then the Irish player had outplayed Peter Smith.
The Men’s O55 was also missing Cowley, Alexander,
both spectators, and Bativala, as well as the stranded
Shields and the injured Drysdale. Stuart Hardy gave himself
some much needed points when he beat fellow contender Ian
Holmes – there are six players eyeing one free spot in the
international Team before he played Steve Johnson.
The latter was far too powerful early on until Hardy got the
message. Fight Fire with fire. Then the match got much, much
more even and Johnson would have been pleased to come out of
the match with a 3-1 victory as it was nip and tuck at the
end with one or two interesting decisions……… The other half
saw Duleep Adihetty in full flow and his feathered touch
proved too much for all his opponents including Johnson in
the Final. 9/5 9/7 9/0
The O50’s saw the re-emergence of Greg Pearman fresh
from RAC duties (not as a Patrolman!) He beat Ian Bradburn,
the conqueror of the Flying Doctor Chris Harland 9/6 9/5
10/9 and in the other half, James Ockwell concede through
injury after beating Jeremy Goulding. John Cordeaux at no 2
scraped the quarters 3-2 with Ged Martin, before jumping the
Semi to meet Pearman in the Final. The match was evenly
contested until Pearman ran away with the third and then
stayed just in front in the fourth to record the title.
In the O45’s, a weak draw missing a whole host of
contenders, Gunter, Scott, Loach. Watkins, to name a few.
But the English no 1 was there, Eamonn Price and he found
the courts to his liking, beating Nigel Bacon and Andrew
Eilfield 2-9 9/6 9/5 9/1 to meet Marc Aldridge in the Final.
The latter had removed Martin Geear, victor over seeded Mark
Hildred - in the Semi 4/9 9/3 0/9 3/9
The Final saw Price victor 9/4 9/0 9/4.
The O40 section saw Andrew Cross beat Norfolk’s Rob
Hambrook and then a battle royal with our Court Jester Ragou
9/11 11/7 6/11 11/6 11/9 - to enter the final.
John Hanson went out closely to 46 year old Steve McLoughlin,
interesting to see him play his proper age group with
Price!!
In the Final it was nip and tuck 2-2 before Cross emerged
the winner 11/7 10/12 11/7 7/11 11/3.
In the O35’s Jago Nardelli dropped out (again!)
leaving the coast clear for Ian Cox as he took out
Christian Donelan and Mat Lowery. At the other end, Jamie
Goodrich had the mother and father of a match with Barny
Elworthy who must have been a marathon runner in a previous
life
The Final between old friends Goodrich and Cox saw the
latter power into a 1-0 lead with some incredible power (but
he is a Policeman). Goodrich, however, is now learning the
finer art of squash from the injured Richard Millman and his
feathered drops, feathered volleys and not so feathered
everything else, were too much for our DC and Goodrich
recorded yet another title.
Maybe Barny, whose game a year or so ago mirrored Jamie’s,
could make the trek up to Broadland Squash Club to learn
about feathering ??
Finally, thanks to Peter, Ann and Holly at Bury, Roz and
Brian, for all their hard work on the desk and Colin and
Peter for the refereeing.
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