Squash and racketball champs at Hunts County Squash Club

Six categories of squash doubles and racketball singles filled two days of the high quality action at Hunts County Squash Club, in Hemingford Grey.

The new project was started in 2022 by doubles enthusiast John Williams, a member at Hunts County Squash Club, in partnership with The Sports Academy.

The aim was to create a third ‘major’ county championships to sit alongside the junior and senior County Closed Championships, with a totally different vibe to squash singles.

Three doubles categories: Open, Mixed and Women’s, and three racketball categories: Open, B-Grade and Over 50’s brought the top talent from across the county.

Ridiculously strong draws in both the Open Doubles Squash and the Racketball Open especially ensured hard battles right from the start of the competition.

Mixed Doubles: The experience of John Mitchley helped his pairing with Sarah-Jane Hilton secure the win against Nicki Halls/Jeremy Hyde 3-2 in a epic battle.

The Open Doubles finalist at Hemingford Grey. (Image: Colin Griggs)

Women’s Doubles: Two very evenly matched teams needed all 5 games to be separated, with Nicki Halls/Lizzie Kilsby finally overcoming the resistance of Carol Hargreaves/Sarah-Jane Hilton.

The Women's finalists. (Image: Colin Griggs)

Open Doubles: 3rd year, 3rd contest between reigning champions Chris Reeve/Dan Soar and Rob Dadds/Chris Shaw. Another superb battle closed the championships on Sunday afternoon, with Reeve/Soar needing two tie-breaks in the 1st and 3rd games to retain their title.

With the popularity and importance of racketball increasing, it wasn’t a surprise to see stronger draws in all three of the “Big-Bats” categories. A north American sport originally (with it’s own court dimensions) the adapted version played across the globe on a squash singles court offers a great alternative to squash.

Over 50 Racketball Open: The experience of James Powley was too strong for the field, with the final 3-1 victory over Tim Millington securing the title.

B-Grade Open: A great mix of ages, standards and experience as always in the B-Grade, with Jason Monks’s consistency and fitness taking him to the title over club mate Matt Ainley in the final play-off match.

Racketball Open: Callum McGurk’s accuracy of length combined with good offence proved too much for Colin Griggs after his brutal semi-final in the morning, with the youngster running out a deserved 3-0 winner of the top prize.