Aycliffe Squash Club’s championship finals evening took place on Saturday 15 June, commencing with the plate finals, followed by the main events – the ladies’ championship final, then the men’s championship final. All of the matches were played in excellent spirit and well supported by a good turnout.
The men’s plate final was a battle of the veterans, with Peter Morris beating Kevin Martin 3-1 in a close, sweat-drenched battle. In the ladies plate final, Meryl Graham beat Sarah Aisbit in straight games.
The ladies’ championship final was a very high quality match between county champion Sarah Dowson and twin sister Helen, the two best ladies in the club by a wide margin, both of whom achieved national top 10 rankings as juniors, with Sarah getting as high as 6 and Helen as high as 8 in the country.
These two players had contested the final for the previous 7 years, with Sarah winning on every occasion. This year was no exception, with Sarah winning 3-0, though Helen came close in the first and third games, and she was always in the contest until the final rally was won.
In the men’s final, player of the season 17 year old Alex MacFarlane, who was nationally ranked in the top 20 as a junior, faced club veteran John Snowball. Alex had reached the final via an epic 3-2 semi final victory over four-time champion Neil Ross and was strongly favoured by the bookies. Although John put up a brave fight, Alex always looked in control and was the victor by 3 games to 1, playing some superb squash.
Sarah, Helen and Alex all started out attending the Tuesday night junior coaching sessions at the Oak Leaf run by coach Bill West. Alex still attends Bill’s sessions but now he helps try to bring through the club champions of tomorrow.
Aycliffe Squash Club has 3 men’s teams and 2 women’s teams playing in the Durham and Cleveland leagues as well as a women’s friendly team. It holds regular women’s coaching sessions and will shortly be starting men’s coaching and is always looking out for new players.
Squash is a healthy sport for all ages and is easy to participate in at the Oak Leaf with equipment available to hire if needed. Watch out for drop-in taster sessions for beginners.
The Club thanks its new sponsors, car dealers Pulmans, for supporting the event, and Councillors Barbara and John Clare for coming along to watch the action and present the prizes.
More information on opportunities to play or learn to play squash is available by contacting the Oak Leaf on 01325 300600.
