The delayed Northumbria County Closed 2021 finally took place at Tynemouth Squash Club from 20th to 24th October. All the action and results can be found here.

There was an encouraging number of entries for each event and very good attendance throughout, particularly on Finals Night.

In the Men's Senior A event, Liam Gutcher claimed his second title against first-time finalist and Newcastle University team-mate Chris Wiggins in three entertaining games. Sam Ward had earlier secured the Ladies' Senior title for the 8th time beating 2016 champion Hannah Cliff in a repeat of the 2017 and 2018 finals, in three extremely close-fought games.

The Men's Senior B event was won by Lewis Cruz who beat Milo McKenzie 3-0, and the Men's Senior C title went to Matthew Mahoney who overcame Adam Coates 3-1.

In the Masters events, Peter Mcleod was made to work hard for his fourth Over 45 title, coming back from 2-0 down against Richard Bradley to win 3-2. Glenn Ward claimed both the Over 55 and Over 60 titles, with comfortable wins over Matt Tellyn and Peter Slaughter respectively. The inaugural Over 65 event attracted a good entry and was won by Adrian Alderton, beating Joe Witherspoon in a hard-fought match 3-1.

Racketball had a new champion in Mike Paul who overcame the first-ever lady finalist Maria Bainbridge 3-0.

Peter McLeod and Simon Cliff retained their Doubles crown for the umpteenth year in succession. Will they ever be beaten?

In the Plate events, there were wins for David Jackson (Men's A), Maria Bainbridge (Ladies), Lewis Conqueror (Men's B), Joe Elliott (Men's C), Jeremy Phillipson (Over 45), Peter Slaughter (Over 55), Tim Gorman (Over 60), John Thompson (Over 65) and Steve Brown (Racketball).

Thanks go to Adam Coates and Guy Eniona for organising the tournament, to Steve Cubbins for the photography and maintaining the County Closed site, and to Tynemouth for hosting. Only three months to wait for the County Closed 2022!