The Northumbria Senior & Masters County Closed 2026 is being held at Tynemouth Squash Club from Tuesday 20th to Sunday 25th January. The draws and latest status of each event are published on this site here.

There have been 49 entries in the Men's graded (A to c) events, 8 in the Women's event, 16 in total across four Masters age groups (O45, O55, O65 and O75), 6 for Racketball and approximately 10 Doubles pairings, with plate events for first match losers.

In the Men's A event, top seed Michael Mattimore (Northern) is favourite to claim his fifth consecutive title. Michael is seeded to meet Duncan Rutherford (Northern) at the semi-final stage, with second seed and twice former champion Liam Gutcher (Newcastle University) expected to meet 13 times former champion Dave Barnett (Northumberland Club) at the same stage.

In the Women's Senior, Kim Hay (Northumberland Club) is seeking her second consecutive title having won four times previously, in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2025! If seedings go to plan, Kim will face Emily King (Tynemouth) in the semi-final, with the other semi-final between second seed Harriet Wight (Northumberland Club) and Shae Paterson (Northern).

The top seeds in the other graded events are:

B - Steve Fountain and Tom Beresford (both Chester-le-Street)

C - David Brocklehurst (Eldon) and Stuart Keegan (Northern)

Meanwhile in the Masters events, O45 top seed Simon Long (Eldon) is likely to face Richard Bradley (Tynemouth) in an attempt to regain the title which Simon won in 2024. In the O55 event, Richard Bradley (Tynemouth) and Rob Black (Newbiggin) are the top seeds, and John Ord (Primrose) attempts to take the O65 title from both holder Steve Ross and Tim Gorman (both Concordia).

In the Racketball event, Kim Hay will attempt to retain her title against 2024 winner and top seed Alex Cahill (Northumberland Club).

In the Doubles event, John Armstrong and Simon Broatch (Newbiggin) are seeking to regain their title, and there are some first-time pairings so Saturday evening could be unpredictable.

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)