Aycliffe Squash Club
National Squash Competition at Aycliffe Squash Club
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| Mr Geoff Bedford from Holiways FORD together with all the winners and runner ups. |
Aycliffe squash club held its first ever national squash competition last weekend with children from all over the country competing in 76 games over 2 days in under 11, 13 and 15s boys and girls events. The venue was held at the Oak Leaf Sports Complex whose staff pulled out all the stops to ensure that it was a massive success; THANK YOU. Manager Derek Snowball came down on Sunday and was impressed with the standard of squash and also delighted to meet ex-complex manager Richard Vitty who now coaches in Newcastle and had brought down several of his top juniors. Also in attendance was Northumbria squash coach and professional player David Barnet, who was also supporting his junior players. The standard of competition was exceptionally high with the under 11s competition being the first to finish on Saturday with Redcar's Jo Dale claiming a well deserved winners trophy, beating Adam Gardner from Chester-le-Street. Aycliffe's Hadyn MacLean just missed out on 3rd place after finishing strongly in the 3rd/4th play off.
Sunday saw the climax of the under 13 and 15s competitions with Katie Burke from Wakefield finishing as runner up in the girls under 15s final to the nationally ranked Sara Dowson from Newton Aycliffe. Despite playing great squash the Yorkshire girl could never match the pace and power of the Aycliffe teenage. The under 13s girls final was decisively won by Northumbria's Maria Bainbridge beating Jessica Winda from Cumbria in a showcase of junior girl squash.
The boys provided the packed galleries with fantastic entertainment throughout the weekend with the under 13s event eventually won by Luke Mabbott who got stronger and stronger throughout the weekend. Luke's final partner was Jesmond's Richard Ridgeway who had previously scored a stunning 5 set semi final marathon win over No.1 seed Stephen Twaddle from Gosforth.
The boys under 15s final saw a welcome return to competition squash from Norton's Daniel Hockborn who was in a menacing mood throughout the early rounds, playing some great squash. After a hard fought semi final against Cumbrian raider, Jonathan Honeyman, Daniel beat Aycliffe player David Gardiner from Chester-le-Street's who trains at the Aycliffe club in the final. The rapid improvement by David looks set to provide the exciting prospect of more final meetings in the future from these 2 top juniors.
All children received a commemorative medal and a T-Shirt printed by Andy from Custom Planet in Durham. Throughout the weekend the committee was flooded with comments from first time visitors to Aycliffe on the fantastic squash and food facilities provided by Great Aycliffe Town Council as well as the helpful Oak Leaf staff. One of the longest serving club members, Kevin Martin gave up 2 afternoons of his weekend to come down and mark game after game which was enjoyed by Kevin and appreciated by all of the children. The weekend event was sponsored by Holiways FORD of Aycliffe Industrial Estate and Holiways director Mr Geoff Bedford made the presentation after watching several of the finals. Geoff said "I think it is great to see so many children spending their time in such a healthy way and obviously having a great time".
Without the help from Holiways, Great Aycliffe Town Council, Awards for All, Aycliffe Physiotherapy and KOOLCA$H, the event would not have been able to take place but thanks to those mentioned, plans are already underway to make this a yearly event and expand the age groups to make next years competition the biggest and best in the North of England.
Pictured: Aycliffe Squash Club chairperson Jed Hodgson with Mr Geoff Bedford from Holiways FORD together with all the winners and runner ups. Not pictured Under 11s winner Jo Dale and runner up Adam Gardner.
10:34pm Monday 10th December 2007
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