A Big British Nationals Write Up!

The dust has settled on what was one of the best, if not THE best UK Racketball tournaments to date. The British Racketball National Championships 2024 at Edgbaston Priory (and Sutton Coldfield) in Birmingham.

Over 200 players from age 13 through to 89 took part, Men's and Ladies players alike, competing in 19 different draws (plus a Sunday Morning Fun Doubles comp) across three days of superb Racketball action. By the time the last finals finished by 5pm on the Sunday afternoon, there were new Champions crowned, titles regained, and an overwhelming sense that Racketball is really developing and pushing forward positively as a sport at all levels of the game. 

It was particularly exciting to see a new bunch of Junior players and Ladies players involved at a variety of ages and abilities, a really encouraging sign for the development of the sport and we will do our best to keep these areas moving forward with renewed vigour going forward.

Now to the matches themselves! I could write a dissertation on the quality of the games, the sportsmanship, the community feel and enjoyment across the draws, but I feel like I'd lose a few readers... So il do my best to keep it to the point and readable!

- Men's O70s, O75s and O80s:

Returning after a year's absence due to illness, Andrew Rugg Gunn was dominant in the box of 4 draw for the O80s. The 85 year old not dropping a game in taking his second National title in the category, showing incredibly impressive movement and control throughout. One hopes to be remotely as mobile as him close to that age. Larry Grover was similarly decisive in the O75s draw, battling through his three matches without dropping a game, though was pushed hard throughout. Top seed Howard Thompson just falling short in the final. A series of upsets in the O70s draw saw the unseeded Rob Lathbury put in a tremendous shift to knock out three higher seeded players on the way to the title, a really high quality match against EPC member and Racketball coach Rob Shay in the final, scraping through 3/2. Shay earlier also overturning previous Champion Graham Greensall in the semi finals.

- Ladies O60s and O65s:

Super Sturgess Slays All! Yes the return of Lesley Sturgess to the Nationals for another year saw her pick up both the O60s & O65s titles in a superhuman shift across the weekend. (She played 6 matches across the two days!) In the O65s she was pushed hard by eventual 2nd placed player Jo Robinson in a tight 3/1, the 4th being 11/9 too. In the O60s she faced her regular battle partner Siobhan Garland, this time getting past the Cornish player 3/0. Garland herself being clinical in not dropping a game on route to the final. 

- Men's O60s and O65s:

O65s - Phillips ages up to grab his 6th title! The recently turned 65 Mike Phillips was dominant in his new age group this year, moving through the draw to take his 6th National title in his 4th different age group. Pretty good going! Gary Preston did really well to come through the bottom half of the draw with some hard fought 3/1 wins in the quarters and semis especially to take runner up. 
The O60s draw this year was one of the strongest in terms of the depth of quality of players involved. On another day any of the top 4/8 players could have justifiably taken the title. As it was there was a real shootout across the early rounds, with Martin Greenslade in particular having to fend of 5 set challenges from May and Journeaux to get to the semis. Likewise in the bottom half Darren Withey had a brutal semi final with John Cordeaux in one of the matches of the tournament, eventually upsetting the 2 seed 3/1. In the end however, everyone's nemesis at O60s was there at the final hurdle, like the final boss in a computer game. And thus once again Patrick Osborn prevailed over all, moving serenely through the battlefield of the draw without dropping a game, showing his quality by taking the final 3/0 despite Withey's best efforts to break through. The man seems unstoppable currently!

- Men's O50s & O55s:

Another strong in depth draw in the O55s made it very hard to seed pre event. And this was very evident with Dave Evans being unseeded and yet pushing through to the semi finals with three tough 3/1 wins against Macdonald, Billington and Hall, eventually being stopped in another match of the tournament contender against Merv Davies. This was a schedule destroyer, lasting well over an hour with both players throwing everything at each other. Davies eventually taking the win 3/2. Mark Francis in the top half was pushed similarly hard by Neil Counter in his quarter final, coming through a long 5 set match before taking out 3/4 seed Andy Murray 3/0 in his semi. This perhaps saved him as he looked the fresher out of the two in the final, despite Davies best efforts, Francis took the title 3/0, his first in his new age group!
The O50s was dominated by the silky skills and flair of top seed Mike Gregory who put on a quality show of racket ability and ball control in regaining his National title, beating suprise finalist James Powley 3/0 in the final. Powley doing very well to get past the very hard to beat Chris Morris 3/1 in a long semi final grind.

- Ladies O50s and B Grade:

It was really great to be able to get a load of new faces involved in the Ladies O50s and B Grade draws, there were lots of really great games and a very sociable bunch of players. In the O50s, Jo Perriam played some brilliant matches, hitting quality lines and using her boast well, taking her first National title without dropping a game. Her Devon compatriot Kim Brook doing really well to make it through to her first final. The B Grade draw (new for this year) had a great mix of ages and standards, with some O50s players competing alongside Juniors. In the end it was a Junior who won it, with Bethany Fisher showing a lot of Racketball promise throughout the event, beating EPC's Tina Wotherspoon 3/0 in the Final. Promotion to A Grade next year beckons it seems!

- Men's O40s and O45s:

The Champions of this year's O40s and O45s categories have long proved themselves to be standout competitors in their draws. Ryan Loska has been one of the most consistent players throughout UK Racketball's history and he justified his top seeding by not giving anything away on his route through. Mat Lowery has also been a top dog at this level but he was unable to break through Loska's defences, pushing him hard but ultimately losing out 3/1. Likewise in the Over 40s where Mike Tolman having just aged up into the draw proved to be a fearsome obstacle for all who came up against him. Alex Preston getting a great win against another Series regular Alexis Smith in a brutal 3/2 semi final effort, but ultimately not having enough ammunition to take down the big left handed Yorkshireman. Tolman's first National title in this draw and he certainly looks like a really tough one to take out for a few years to come!

- Men's O35s:

This draw featured two of the toughest matches of the tournament. One of them being a first round!! Jon Newton from Cornwall getting a fantastic upset win by battling back from 0/2 down to take out Paul Norton, 13/11 in the 5th at that! He then even managed to back it up and take out 3/4 seed Callum Arnott in the next round 3/0. That's where the gas ran out as he subsided to top seed Jason Pike 3/0 in the semi final. This then led to what most would agree was match of the tournament, as Pike took on National Championships first time Ali Mutch in the final. In Mutch's words, it was point for point for pretty much all the way through the first 4 games, Pike getting the best of it to go 2/0 up, both 11/8, but then Mutch clawing it back to take games three and four 11/9! This then led to a titanic 5th game (where yours truly was doing his best to scrap out his final on the next door court to the cheers, gasps and shouts from their showdown!!) In the end both players had several match balls in a 5th game ending that had both of them at the very limits of their physical ability. Mutch eventually finding the reserves to scrap his way past Pike with a 15/13 5th game win. In 74 minutes!

- Men's Open B & C Grades:

In a new format for this year we introduced the B and C Grades to the Open draw to try and encourage a larger variety of players to get involved without the fear of ''not being good enough.'' And it worked fantastically well with lots of new faces and some great games across the three days. Both of the Grade Finals ended up being 5 set marathons, with Greg Jansz overcoming a 1/2 defeceit to beat Oliver Palmer to take the C Grade. In the B Grade two Isle of Wight playing partners threw down in a match where both had plenty of chances to take the win. In the end Callum Arnott took it 18/16 in the 5th, leaving both firmly set for a big nap on the way back and on the ferry home...

- Men's and Ladies Open A Grades:

The question on everyone's lips was whether or not the two reigning Champions of the Open category draws (Amber Marshall with 3 consecutive wins, Mike Harris with 6 consecutive wins) could do it again for another year. Both of them faced strong draws and tough Semi Final and Final opponents who were out for their first wins. Marshall beating a spirited effort from Rebecca Symmons and Harris being too experienced for the young and up and coming Callum McGurk. 
It ended up being two very contrasting Finals, Marshall showing every ounce of her Racketball quality and ball ability by taking out Kimberly Hay 3/0 in her match, never really giving Hay any sort of foothold in the match despite the ex England Junior Squash player's best attempts.
Harris took on local Warwickshire player Guy Pearson in the Open Men's Final in a game that matches Pearson's attacking intent and ability against Mike's retrieval skills and relentless corner hitting. In the end the game scores didn't really reflect how hard and tight the rallies were, Harris taking the win 3/1 but having to leave everything on court in the process. 

So there we have it! A brilliant event and a fantastically sociable and enjoyable weekend for all. We must give a huge thank you to the always lovely Edgbaston Priory and it's staff for hosting us so splendidly again (and Head of Squash Mike Edwards for all his help in the background for the event.) Also to Sutton Coldfield and Chris Hall for opening their courts to us for our plate event matches on the Saturday. A huge help!

We must also thank the England Squash referees who came in on the Sunday to oversee the Semis and Finals. It made a huge difference having them involved, and they also all did a really great job with some difficult battles to look after. Also to our support staff for how unbelievable hard they worked across the 3 days to run the tournament - Ant Stefanelli, Nicky Horn and Tessa Harris. Wouldn't have been anywhere near as good without their efforts.

Finally thank you to our brilliant event sponsors for all their backing for the competition. What they provided enabled us to do fantastic shirts and gift bags, better prizes and trophies, bring in the referees, set up the DJ on the Saturday night and more. It made a huge difference to how great the player experience was and we are very lucky to have their backing. Long may it continue!

Next year's version is already booked in - 18th/19th/20th July 2025, get it in your diaries!

You can find the full results from the weekend on Sporty HQ here:

www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/The-Karakal-British-National-Racketball-Championships-20th21st-July-Edgbaston

Pictures from all the matches here:

www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=UKRacketballSeries&set=a.1413037676310449

And finally what effect the finishing positions from the weekend has had on the 2024 UK Racketball Series rankings here:

www.sportyhq.com/ranking/group/1727/2024