Herts Closed Squash Championships 2001

Herts Closed Squash Champions

held at Cannons St Albans
Mon 30th September - Sat 5th October 2002

Championship Report

[ click here for County Champs 2002 Results & Photos ]

The Mens 'A' tournament this year was trimmed down from 16 to a disappointing 8 draw due to a shortage of entries. Notable absentees were defending champion Chris Ryder who has begun a degree course at Loughborough University. 11 times winner and National coach Paul Carter had threatened to appear but to no avail and there was no 1999 winner Galen Le Cheminant who has moved out of the area. This left the tournament wide open for a new name to be added to the Hertfordshire Championship Trophy.

County captain Jason Foster from Bishop's Stortford was seeded to meet Chris Newlyn from Radlett in the Final.

In the first round Jason defeated Over 35 Runner up Richard Lewis from Cannons St.Albans 3/0 to set up a semi-final showdown with Herts county Over 35 Champion and club mate Martin Geear who had received a walkover against John McFarlane. Jason raced into a 2/0 lead but Martin fought back admirably and won the third game convincingly. The fourth game see-sawed either way until Jason finally won it 9/7 with a cross-court volley kill.

In the bottom half of the draw Chris went 1/0 and 5/0 down in the second game to Mark Cottingham from Bishop's Stortford but Chris' experience and superior fitness saw him come through comfortably to win 3/1. In the semi-final he played young pretender Keith Timms from Broxbourne who had earlier received a walkover from Herts Junior Champion Adam Fuller from Herts Country Club. Chris turned in an impressive display to win 3/0 after Keith had battled back from 8/0 down in the second game to have game balls but was unable to convert his chance.

The Final between Jason and Chris was the first time that they'd ever played one another and it showed in the first game as they tested each other out with some long rallies. Chris had the upper hand for most of the game but failed to take the initiative in the closing stages letting Jason in to win 9/6. This proved to be decisive as Jason confidently took the next two games 9/2 9/0 to become Hertfordshire Champion for 2002.

The Mens 'B' competition was won by Tony Stewart from Radlett against Mike Philp from Cannons St.Albans and the plate competition was won by Mark Cottingham.

Ladies Squash

An even more depleted entry this year for the women's tournament. Defending champion Zoe Smith was unable to enter due to an injury but will be fighting fit again for next year. Several other players i.e. Sue Collins, Maureen Winter, Sheila Blake were unable to enter due to other commitments. It is very sad to see the number of ladies getting less and less each year. There are players out there and we must try and and persuade them to enter the tournament.

Isobel Smith met Lesley Garner in the final winning 3-0. Lesley Garner beat Elke Rubsam 3-2 in the Vets Final.

Many thanks to Tony Smith for sponsoring the event, Cannons St.Albans for use of the club, to Lesley and Jo for their organisation and to Dean Clayton and his team of officials who marked and refereed during the tournament.

Mens Rankings

1. Chris Ryder

2. Jason Foster

3. Chris Newlyn

4. Lee Woodruff

5. Keith Timms

6. Adam Fuller

7. Martin Geear

8. Richard Bull

9. Mark Cottingham

10.Richard Lewis