As always, Grove Park Squash Club delivered a very successful North West of England Masters regional event with excellent condition courts and people on hand to help out.  There were 157 players registered for the event and 130 players competed as there were 27 withdrawals due to illness or injury, however that still left us with an increase on last years event.

WO55 - Lesley Sturgess did well to beat the number one seed in the semi-finals and progressed through to the final where she went on to beat Hilary Kenyon 3-1.

WO50 - A small pool of three ladies here but the final was high quality. Rachel Woolford came through a tough 5 setter to win 3-2.

WO45 - Helen Barnard played well to beat the number 2 seed 3-0 in the semi-final and then met the strong Andrea Santamaria who was taking a break from her international refereeing interests. Andrea proved her strength and went 2-0 up, only for Helen to pull back the 3rd game. Andrea composed herself again and won the 4th game to finish as the winner.

talented Alan

WO35/40 - A small pool of 3 ladies here but was decided by the match between Natalie Townsend and Krissy Burkin. Krissy went 2-1 up, only for Natalie to dig in and win the final 2 games and become champion.

MO75 - It's not often Adrian Wright doesn't win the tournament he enters, but there was an upset here. Bill Wilson came through the draw very well and beat Adrian 3-1 in the final.

MO70 - Mike Clemson caused a few people to ask for his birth certificate as he took out the number 2 seed Rodney Boswell 3-2 and then the 3/4 seed Aubrey Waddy also 3-2. Meanwhile in the top half, Barry Featherstone fell to Ian Ross who reached the final and beat Mike Clemson 3-0 to take the title.

MO65 - This event went pretty much to seeding. A large age group entry and lots of competitive matches. The stand out player here was the eventual winner who played excellent squash all the way in a great style. John Goodrich beat all in front of him but only after talking 5 games to win in a well contested final against number 2 seed Ian Holmes.

MO60 - Simon Evenden coughed his way to the semi-finals but couldn't get past talented Alan Barwise who reached the final to play number 1 seed Ian Bradburn. Alan continued his run and beat the top seed 3-1 to end up as champ.

MO55 - David Box played really well and proved his top seeding by reaching the final without dropping a game. In the final David was up against the newcomer to the age group Gary Raw. Gary won the first game, only for David to strike back by winning the next 2. It was nip and tuck all the way in the 4th with Gary having chances but David stayed strong and closed the match 12-10 in the 4th game to end as the winner.

MO50 - It was always going to be tough for this field with the highly talented Yawar Abbas in at one seed. Cliff Martindale played good squash to beat Ray Burke and was then up against his partner (in business only) Andy Murray in the semi-finals. Unfortunately for Cliff, his sore knee got too bad to carry on and had to concede after losing the first game for Andy to reach the final. Yawar Abbas beat Steve Dodridge 3-0 in the semi-final to play Andy Murray in the final match. Andy played measured squash and took the first game but couldn't quite sustain the pace and Yawar came through the next 3 games to win 3-1.

MO45 - Newcomer to this age group and number one seed Paul Boyle showed his class to beat Matthew Stephenson 3-1 in the semis after Matt had done really well to win a draining 3-2 quarter-final against Andy Normile. Jonathan Gliddon claimed his revenge on Jeremy Krzystyniak and showed he was back to form against Mike Harris by going 2-0 up in the semi. However, Mike dug in well and battled back to win a high-quality match 3-2. In the final, Mike started slowly against the quick Paul Boyle but Mike's squash shone through to win 3-1 and pick up his 4th regional win of the season.

MO40 - Nick Hargreaves went 2-0 down against number 2 seed Joss Hargrave, but battled back to take the match 3-2 and reach the final against Mick Biggs. Mick went 2-0 up but Nick squeezed through in the 3rd. Mick regrouped and took the 4th game to end as winner take the title.

MO35 - The stand out player here was Marcus Hayes who took out Paul Stroud 3-1 in the semi-final and was up against top seed Phil Nightingale in the final. Marcus continued some of the best squash he has displayed on the masters circuit and played brilliantly to beat Phil convincingly 3-0.

Thanks to our event sponsors: North West Counties Squash League, Best Western Pinewood Hotel, Total Fitness, Ben Harris, Mark Davenport, Mike Andrews, David Johnstone from Britannia Paints and Andy Murray from iProSports.

Also, a special thank you to our England Masters regional sponsors for this season; PDHSports - https://www.pdhsports.com/

Thanks to all at Grove Park Squash Club for their help and assistance, to Physio Mark Campbell and thank you to our referees Steve Eccles, Joss Garvey and Andrea Santamaria.

Once again, a really special thank you to Brian Brock and Roz who have been amazing all season and continue to manage our events, whilst continuing to develop and improve our England Masters circuit of events etc.