The Northumbria Senior and Masters County Closed was once again held at Tynemouth Squash Club, where we witnessed a week of intense battles and remarkable performances, cementing the tournament’s reputation as a premier event in the region’s squash calendar. With participants competing across a wide range of categories, the tournament brought together the best of Northumbria’s squash community.

Men’s Senior A

In the Men’s A event, top seed Michael Mattimore of Northern won his fourth consecutive title by once again overcoming two-time champion and 2nd seed Liam Gutcher of Newcastle University 3-0 (11/3, 11/8, 11/7) in an action-packed final full of exacting rallies and brilliant shotplay. Michael had cruised through the earlier rounds, including a 3-0 win over 3/4 seed Cai Younger in the semi-final, but Liam had to come back from 2-0 down against 5/8 seed Richard Parsons (Tynemouth) in the quarter-final, and then had a tough 3-1 semi-final win against former 13-times champion and 3/4 seed Dave Barnett (Nothumberland Club).

Women’s Senior

In an all-Northumberland Club final between the top two seeds, Kim Hay returned to claim her fourth title after an unprecedented gap of 15 years, beating Lizzie Little 3-0 (11-3, 11-8, 11-7). 3/4 seed Emily King (Newcastle University) lost out to Kim in the semi-final, with Lizzie beating unseeded Annabelle Satow (Hexham) who had reached her first semi-final after knocking out 3/4 seed Emma Turnbull (Northumberland Club) in the quarter-final.

Men's Senior B

Top seed Richard Bradley (Tynemouth) came through a tough 5-game semi-final encounter against 5/8 seed Jack Hunter (Northumberland Club) to reach the final against 2nd seed Tom Beresford (Chester-le-Street) whoi had eased past 3/4 seed Andrew Gibson (Northern) in the other semi-final. In a topsy-turvy final, Tom came back from 2-1 down to emerge victorious, taking the 4th game 11-0 and the 5th game 12-10.

Men's Senior C

Ari Karki (Tynemouth) justified his top seeding with 3-0 semi-final win over unseeded Chris Pringle (Newbiggin) followed by a 3-1 victory over unseeded David Brocklehurst (Eldon) in the final. David had previously knocked out 2nd seed Tom Allan (Tynemouth) and 3/4 seed Michael Devine (Sunderland).

Men's Senior D

The top two seeds John McLean (Tynemouth) and Chris Sharp (Northumberland Club) reached the final, John coming back from 2-1 down in the semi-final against unseeded Dave North (Northern) with an 11-9,11-9 finish, and Chris beating 3/4 seed Peter Thompson (Northern) 3-1 in the other semi-final. The final itself could not have been closer, John going 2-0 up only for Chris to peg him back to 2-2, before John scraped home 12-10 in the 5th.

Men's Over 45

Top seeds Peter McCleod (Sunderland) and defending champion Simon Long (Eldon) progressed to a repeat of last year's final. In the semi-finals, Peter took out 3/4 seed Eric Mok (Tynemouth) 3-0 and Simon overcame 3/4 seed John Armstrong (Newbiggin) 3-1. Peter got his revenge on Simon in this year's final, winning 3-1 to claim his sixth O45 title.

Men's Over 55

Last year's losing finalist and this year's top seed Richard Bradley (Tynemouth) cruised to his third consecutive final, including a 3-0 victory over 3/4 seed Paul Satow (Hexham) in the semi-final, to face 2nd seed John Armstrong (Newbiggin) who had come through a bruising encounter with unseeded Russell Hunter (Tynemouth) 3-2 in the semi-final. Both players were in uncompromising mood in the final, Richard dropping the first game but turning it around to emerge the winner by 3-1.

Men's Over 65

Top seed John Thompson (Tynemouth) was back in action after his heart attack at Tynemouth which had disrupted last year's tournament, but defending champion Steve Ross (Concordia) proved too strong for John in the final, running out a 3-0 winner to claim his second title.

Racketball

Top seed Kim Hay warmed up for her Women's Senior final by defeating 2nd seed Martin Jolley (Northumberland Club) 3-1 in the Racketball final. Kim had earlier put out Jack Hunter (also Northumberland Club) 3-0 and Martin had overcome Mark Sander (Tynemouth) 3-1. This event now has its 7th different champion in its 8 years of existence (Tom Cornell of Northern being the only player to have won the title twice).

Women's Over 40

Gill Millington (Tynemouth) beat Louise Robertson (Tynemouth) 3-0 for her third title.

Doubles event

There were some very competitve matches amongst the nine pairings in the pool stage. Ben Robinson & Chris Cassidy (Sunderland) topped Pool A with Richard Parsons & Nathan Dobson (Tynemouth) in 2nd place, and Peter McLeod & Mick Devine (Sunderland) headed Pool B with a tie for 2nd place between Andrew & Rob Black and John Armstrong & Simon Broatch (all Newbiggin), with Andrew & Rob having to concede through injury. This opened the way for John & Simon, who then disposed of Ben & Chris in the semi-final to meet Richard & Nathan who had eliminated Peter & Mick in the other semi. In a closely-contested final, the Newbiggin pairing John & Simon emerged victorious by 15-12 to claim the title.

Men's Senior A Plate

Aidan Mahoney (Northumberland Club) beat Simon Broatch (Newbiggin) 3-2

Women's Senior Plate

Emma Turnbull (Northumberland Club) beat Amy Rowell (Tynemouth) 3-0

Men's Senior B Plate

Mike Paul (Northumberland Club) beat Jake Mottram (Benwell Hill) 3-1

Men's Senior C Plate

Tom Allan (Tynemouth) beat John Thompson (Tynemouth) 3-0

Men's Senior D Plate

Stuart Mitchell (Northern) beat Rory Colthart (Tynemouth) 3-0 (Stuart retains his D Plate title!)

MO45 Plate

Ari Karki (Tynemouth) beat John McLean (Tynemouth) 3-1

MO55 Plate

Greg Van Hinsbergh (Hexham) beat Dave North (Northern) 3-1

MO65 Plate

Steve Cubbins (Tynemouth) w/o v Mike Cherryman (Consett)

Racketball Plate

Mark Humphreys (Tynemouth) beat Steve Cubbins (Tynemouth)  3-0

Congratulations to all the winners, runners-up and everyone who participated in the tournament and a huge thank you to Tynemouth for hosting and to Steve Cubbins, Louise Robertson, Dave Armstrong and all those who volunteered their time to make this tournament a success.