British Nationals 2026 wrapped part 2!

DAY 3 - Semis, Finals and Worthy Winners!


Some heavy legs (and even heavier heads thanks to our Dover, Isle of Wight and Yorkshire friends) at the start of day three, but this didn’t detract from the quality of the action at hand. With everyone back to Priory for the remaining matches it was another full on day and with all the titles being decided the courts were packed out from 9am - 4pm. Let’s breakdown the categories and find out what went down…
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Over 80s: 

Our oldest competitor in the event - Andrew Rugg Gunn of Devon managed incredibly to defend his O80s draw title, taking out several players up to 7 years his junior in doing so. Bob Shelley finishing runner up in his first year in the age group having had a great 3/1 match in the final. It was brilliant to hear Andrew get the loudest cheer at the presentations, a really lovely guy and someone who we should all aspire to copy at that age!


O75s:

This came down to a three way finals group between Ian Graham, Graham Greensall and Richard Lowe. Greensall doing very well to beat Lowe 12/10 in the 5th in a marathon match to take second place, both however losing out to Graham, who has been incredibly consistent in this category over the years. Again the quality of movement and shot play at this age is really great to see and all three guys are excellent poster boys for the game.


O70s: 

Shocks galore! With 2nd seed John Herbetko toppled on the Saturday, unseeded Phil Alexander then managed to take down ⅝ seed Steve Pearcey 3/2 in the semi final, before then backing up AGAIN to beat Graham Holmes in the Final! In his first ever UK Racketball National Championships! What a fantastic effort this was, basically the most difficult path through the draw possible, very much earning his maiden title. Kudos to Holmes for taking down last year’s Champion and leading Series O70s player Mitchell in an all Devon 3/2 semi final earlier in the day too!


Women’s O65s:

Another upset result! Jan Hazell Hunt managed to overturn last year’s loss to be able to beat reigning Champion Lesley Sturgess in a controlled and clinical 3/0 victory. This backed up with wins against Sue Moore and Melody Ripley gave the Devon player her first ever National title!


Men’s O65s:

Top seed (and sponsor via his Play Squash57 Youtube Channel) John Cordeaux showed his class by stomping through the draw to his first O65s title without dropping a game all weekend. Mike Phillips putting up a good fight in the final, but he was no match for the classy Norfolk lefty. Could this be the start of a new reign of terror in the category?


Women’s O60s:

Another dominant force comes to the fore here. Nicky Horn of Harrogate Yorkshire (one of our new Satellite venues this year,) took the title again without dropping a game! It was great to have a full 8 draw in this age group and a lovely bunch of players involved. Cornwall’s Siobhan Garland doing her best in the final but Nicky proving too clinical throughout, taking her first O60s Nationals title!

 
Men’s O60s:

Another draw that came with it’s share of surprises was the O60s, where top seed Patrick Osborn was taken down 3/1 by the Welsh ¾ seed Richard Murphy in the semi final! Murphy then going on to back up very well in the final by beating Nick Billington 3/0 to lift his first ever National Racketball title! Could this be the start of a new power in this always highly competitive and strong category? Osborn needs a challenger with Cordeaux moving up an age group, back to the drawing board for him! With Murphy certain to represent Wales in September’s Home Internationals it will be interesting to see the outcome of the rematch!

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Women’s O55s:

Local club member Tina Wotherspoon played really well on home turf, managing to battle her way through to second place, losing out only to top seed Kim Brook of Devon. The two had a great seesaw match, Tina going 2/1 up in games before Brook fought through to take the win 11/4 in the 5th game. What a brilliant match between the two and I am sure Tina will be very keen to get a rematch in same time next year for revenge!


Men’s O55s:

Here we saw both top seeds toppled in the semi finals on the Saturday, Andy Murray & John Simpson getting past Phil Hall & Chris Wase with 3/1 wins. This left the two England Masters Squash buddies to duke it out against each other reasonably ‘’fresh’’ on Sunday. The first two games going to a tie break 1/1. Simpson then however being too solid for Murray, forcing the attacking lefty into errors through the next two, giving the Yorkshireman the 3/1 win and the title in his first Nationals appearance! Kudos to Murray however for reaching this stage despite a knee replacement last year!


Women’s O50s:

Another quality 8 draw here was really great to see, and a wide spread of entries from Yorkshire, to Devon and Wales! In the end it came down to two of our most consistent competitors this year, Linda Pritchard vs Karen Bealey in the final. 
Karen having an absolutely brutal game vs Diane Fenwick in the semi final winning 3/1 - 10-12,11-9,9-11,10-12  (in comparison to Linda’s clinical 3/0 victory vs Jo Perriam,) ended up getting to the end of the day with nothing left in the tank. (Having also played the B Grade through to the final too!) So despite having been beaten in their last meeting, Linda took the win 3/0 and the 50s title!


Men’s O50s: 

This was always going to be one of the hardest fought categories over the weekend, and it certainly didn’t hold back! Saturday night saw a great upset win with Andy Speake taking out #2 seed Jon Davies 3/2 from 2/0 down. (And some serious fist pumps afterwards!)

When it came to the semis and finals stage though, the seeds reasserted themselves, with event sponsor and top seed Mat Lowery seeing off Chris Morris (last year’s finalist,) and ¾ seed Mark Davis taking down an understandably leggy Speake 3/0. 

In a final which showcased two quality movers and accurate ball placement, both players worked each other really hard. Covering all areas of the court with great variety of pace and angles. In the end, Lowery’s control broke down the harder hitting Davis, giving him his first title at this age category! Will he be able to repeat at the Europeans in October?


Men’s O45s:

This group of players  always seems to have one stand out name to beat. Ryan Loska. Can anyone not only battle through the rest to face him, but also can they do enough to take him out too? This year Adam Giles came close, but not close enough… 

The Wiltshire Warrior managed to recover well from his 3/2 battle with Paul Norton the previous evening and pushed the Shropshire top seed hard, losing out in a really high quality 3/1 final. Giles later admitting he started off too passively and needed to attack more from the start. You let Mr Loska squeeze you in the first game or two and then you are always in trouble… 
So yet another title for one of the UK Racketball communities most consistent and relentless performers, a very admirable effort! (8 National titles across the age groups and counting!)


Women’s O40s:

A new champion! In her first British Nationals event Yorkshire’s Marie Elcock put in a clinical performance, winning all 4 of her group games 3/0 to take her first every Racketball title! A fantastic effort considering she had some tough battles in the B Grade too. Kudos and commiserations to local player Tina Wotherspoon who finished runner up in her second event of the weekend! “Always the bridesmaid” she remarked at the presentations… #justiceforTina


Men’s O40s:

Wow we had some battles here. The top four seeds all came into the event with every right to expect a chance of winning it, all with serious Racketball pedigree. 

Both semi finals provided us with some excellent games and upset wins, with both ¾ seeds overcoming their higher ranked opponents. 
Kent’s Zeb Young beat last year’s champion Alexis Smith from Dorset, impressively managing to overcome a two deficit to take the win in a marathon five game 75 minute + match. In the bottom half of the draw, Daniel Soar returned to Nationals action after a few years out, taking on Yorkshire’s Mike Tolman, who has had plenty of success at this event in the past. 

The tall Cambridgeshire Player showcased his full array of racket ability and speed, taking the win in a very entertaining 3/1 battle. On Sunday he then continued this rich vein of form, not giving Young any chance to get a foothold in the final, coming through with a 3/0 win! Fully deserved, and if he can stay fit, he will be a real tough one to beat in this category going forwards. (European Cup in October?!)


O35s:

We unfortunately lost our second and third seeds in the few days leading up to this event, leaving already odds on favourite for the title Ted Jeal looking even more the top dog! 

Ted being one of the most skilful and clever players on the UK Racketball circuit is a handful for any of the top players in the Series, and he showed his class by coming through to win his first ever National title without dropping a game. Second place was taken by the Isle of Wight’s Callum Arnott, who fully deserved his spot having done very well to beat third place Ben Bryant in a quality Sunday morning showdown. Both players are regulars on the series and great guys to have in the mix. 


Juniors:

It was fantastic to have another 8 player draw for the Junior competition, with a mix of ages from 12 years old to 18! The more we can get Junior players seeing the benefit and fun in playing Racketball alongside their Squash training, the more we can help the game grow, so please do encourage players at your Club to give it a try!

This had to be one of the strongest Junior draws we have had for a very long time, with the likes of England under 13 number one Daniel Stevenson in the draw alongside top 10 in the country ranked under 17 and under 19 players. Two days of great matches led to a final between Louis Vinten from Cornwall, and Aaron Suthi from Priory. The local lad proving too good for Vinten, taking the title in a tight 3/0 victory. Congratulations Aaron and we hope to see you back next year!


Women’s B Grade::

Each year this event grows and grows, this time round with us having a full 16 draw of players which is absolutely brilliant to see. 

The semi-finals came down to four of our more experienced Series campaigners: In the top half Diane Fenwick beating Wales is Rhian Davies in the semi-final, and in the bottom half Karen Bealey winning a marathon match against Marie Elcock, Diane’s Yorkshire teammate! 

In the final, Diane managed to overcome her earlier in the day over 50s draw loss to Karen by winning the match 3/0, Karen (by that point having also having played her over 50s final,) admittedly a bit dead on her feet, but still threw everything at it, and we shouldn’t detract from Diane’s win. 

It was great to see more new faces in their first ever Nationals in this draw, let’s hope we can keep the positive influx of players going in the coming years!


Women’s A Grade: 

As this was a box of five, all players were still in action on the Sunday. Two however came into the day with a definite chance of winning the title, Jasmin Kalar and Amber Marshall having overcome their opponents on Saturday and being the only ones with 100% records. 

It all came down to the final match Sunday afternoon between the two of them, Jasmin starting really well to take the first game 11/9, the first time she has done so against top seed Marshall! 

After that however it was one-way traffic, with Amber showing why she is now the six time Champion, using her full array of skills and hitting power to flip things and take the win 3/1. Great to see such a competitive and very fairly fought final, both players will be in England action alongside each other in September!


Men’s A/B/C Grade:

The grades were now fully separated by the time we get to Sunday morning, with the semifinals and the finals of each being played out on the day.

In the C Grade, Thomas Simpson from Yorkshire managed to emulate his father‘s success in the over 55s, by taking out Ireland’s Dan Long in the final 3/0. Dan trying to put up a good fight, but at the end of a long weekend and having had several hard five set matches, had nothing left in the tank. Despite the fact he had also played the Junior event, Thomas was definitely looking far fresher and sharper by the time of the match on Sunday afternoon!

In the B Grade, it was an all Guernsey showdown! With team mates and travel buddies Leo Ware and Toby Young throwing down for the title. Both players having really tough semifinals to get through earlier in the day, so it was very much a case of who could back it up best in the afternoon! 

Despite losing the first game, Toby managed to get his body going and see off Leo 3/1 for his first Racketball Nationals title! Both players very well supported by the rest of the Guernsey crew, who are a great bunch and we love having them over!

Finally in the A Grade, it came down to the top two seeds fighting out in the very last match of the event. 

Mike Harris versus Ted Jeal, a fixture that has now happened three separate times in British Nationals finals! Both players were pushed well in their respective semifinals, Calli Smith taking a game off Ted to lose 3/1, and Guernsey’s Janick Radford impressively managing to back up his brutal quarter-final the night before, by pushing Mike quite hard, but losing out 3/0 in a high quality game. 

After a long weekend for both players, the final started out a bit scrappy, neither being able to find much rhythm initially. Jeal using his hitting ability to break up the patterns of play and not allow Harris to settle into his length hitting. However as it progressed, Harris manned to find his lines and get moving better, and while Jeal hit some impressive winners from all areas of the court (and going 10/7 up in both the 1st & 3rd games), the reigning champion came through to retain his title 3/0 once again. 9 in a row now for the Devon boy, just one off of the all time record holder Tim Vail!

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Sunday Fun Doubles:

Last but not least, it’s always worth it mentioning our now traditional and always entertaining Sunday morning fun doubles event! This in its third year is proving to be a really popular addition to the event, with it being a chance for either people to help relieve themselves of a bit of a hangover, or also get a few more entertaining games of Racketball in if they have already been knocked out out of the competition.

This year, the entries played out perfectly so that we had a mixed draw and a men’s draw, with four pairs in each. The mixed draw being very sociable and full of laughs, and being won by Michelle Meadows and Pete Cossey. The men’s draw (inevitably) getting slightly more competitive than first thought, was won by the Dover duo of John Waller and Tom Henson! All four players happily walking away with a big box of Burts crisps as a reward for their efforts!


It was lovely to have a full crowd for the last finals and also the presentations, thanks to everyone who stayed around for it, it always makes a big difference!

A massive thank you to our amazing event sponsors for their incredible backing of the competition. Everything they contributed went into making it the best possible tournament for everyone involved, whether it was in the gift bags, the high quality tournament shirts, or the prizes. It all makes a huge difference to what we can give everyone so thank you all very much. 

Thanks also to Edgbaston Priory and Sutton Coldfield for hosting us so well. Two great clubs and we are lucky to have their support in hosting this event as it continues to grow. 

The next big one is the European Cup on the 2nd - 4th October at Hallamshire & Fulwood Clubs in Sheffield! Entry is still open for all categories so don’t miss out on what will be an amazing event with players from all over Europe getting involved:

https://www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/The-British-Racketball-Open-2nd3rd4th-October-Hallamshire-Fulwood-Squash-Clubs

Hope to see loads of you at a UK Racketball event soon!
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