The Northumbria County Closed 2023 is now well underway at Tynemouth Squash Club. The latest status of each event is published on this site here and on the dedicated County Closed site here.

There have been over 70 entries in the Men's graded (A to D) events, 8 entries in the Women's event, 32 in total across three Masters age groups (O45, O55 and O65), 8 for Racketball and 12 Doubles pairings, with plate events for first match losers.

In the Men's A event, top seed Michael Mattimore of Northern aims to retain his title but is expected to be pressed hard by former champions Dave Barnett (Northumberland Club) and Liam Gutcher (Westoe), with Chris Wiggins (Northumberland Club) also in the mix.

Sam Ward, the Women's Senior nine-times champion, is absent studying abroad, so the top seed is Hannah Cliff of Tynemouth, who is seeking her second title. If seedings go to plan, Hannah will face Harriet Wight (Newcastle University) in the final.

The top seeds in the other graded events are:

B - Jonathon Swift (Tynemouth ) and Bob Aynsley (Northern)

C - Andrew Black (Edinburgh Sports) and Ben Tudor (Northern)

D - Amanda King and Marcus Allsop (both Northumberland Club)

Meanwhile the current Masters champions all defend their titles - Peter McCleod (Sunderland) in the Over 45s, Glenn Ward (Northern) in the Over 55s, and Andrew Wilkinson (Hexham) in the Over 65s. They will be challenged by Simon Long (Concordia - O45s), Jon Evans (Tynemouth - O55s) and John Thompson (Tynemouth - O65s).

Racketball, in its sixth year, will have a sixth new champion, the favourites being Matthew Setterfield (Westoe) and Tom Cornell (Newcastle University).

In the Doubles event, Peter McCleod and Simon Cliff will seek to regain their stranglehold on the title which was broken last year by Chris Wiggins and Ryan Doran. WIggins has a new partner in Oscar Lloyd Laney, and there are many first-time pairings so Saturday evening could be interesting.

All are welcome to attend throughout the tournament. The trophies will be presented following the completion of the finals on Sunday evening.

For any queries please contact:

Steve Cubbins (steve@cubbins.com)