Cheshire Closed Champs 2024
Over the two weekends the Cheshire Closed Squash and Racketball Champs have been taking place at Bowdon Squash Club. The finals took place on Sunday 20th October and some incredible squash was on display.
The men’s A final was a re-run of last year, with exciting youngster Charles Keeble (current world ranking: 569) taking on his coach and current Cheshire no1 Pete Billson (highest world ranking: 171). Some jaw-dropping squash was on display throughout, played by two squash role-models - their sportsmanship was fantastic. 3-1 to Pete in 2024 - could 2025 be Charles’ year?
The women’s final was also a re-run of last year with Rachael Chadwick (highest world ranking: 47) taking on the in-form Natalie Davenport-Husdan. As always, Nat dug in and really made Rachael work for the win, despite the large difference in rankings.
The men’s O45 final was another cracking match, featuring two members of the victorious 2024 Cheahire side from the inter-counties champs. Jon Davies and Paul Chapman put on a superb show with JD edging the match 3-2 in the 5th. A superb advert for O45 squash; again played in a great spirit.
Another match of note was the men’s A Plate. Such was the quality of this year’s A event, two extremely strong players ended up taking part in the plate. Youngster George Harry reversed the result from only a few days earlier (where Christian had beaten him in the NW Counties league) and beat Christian Ogden 3-0 in a tight and match. Big things to come from George who had this season moved to Bowdon and playing at the top of division 2.
This season we awarded four 305squash vouchers to players who demonstrated great squash values:
Mike Quartley - for playing his O65 final a week early as his opponent was unavailable on finals day.
Spiros Papaglims - for a superb victory against Matt Uren in the O50s final (after a number of times of trying) and for always making himself available for county selection for many years.
Dave Kelly - for taking part in two finals over the weekend, despite being severely under the weather.
Jon Davies - the legend that is JD has been playing for Cheshire for many years and has won countless titles at multiple age groups. He played his final 13:00 yet was still at a Bowdon at 18:00 - this typifies the man!
Results
Men’s A
Pete Billson (Bowdon) beat Charles Keeble (Bowdon/Knutsford) 3-1 (11-4, 16-14, 8-11, 11-8)
Women’s A
Rachael Chadwick (Neston) beat Natalie Davenport-Husdan (Alderley Edge) 3-0 (11-4, 11-7, 11-2)
Men’s A plate
George Harry (Bowdon) beat Christian Ogden (Bollington) 3-0 (12-10, 11-9, 11-8)
Men’s B
George Magee (Alderley Edge) beat Dave Kelly (Knutsford) 3-1 (11-9, 11-5, 8-11, 11-6)
Men’s B plate
Brad Ashton (Alderley Edge) beat Dave Gordon (Knutsford) 3-1 (11-7, 11-8, 5-11, 11-6)
Women’s B
Amber Simpson (Prestbury) beat Becca Polley (Grove Park) 3-0 (11-4, 11-1, 11-0)
Men’s over 35
Simon Langley (Knutsford) beat Fakhre Ali (Warrington) 3-0 (11-3, 11-4, 11-2)
Men’s over 45
Jon Davies (Wrexham) beat Paul Chapman (Crewe) 3-2 (11-8, 11-7, 7-11, 10-12, 11-6)
Men’s over 50 (Nick Gatwood Trophy)
Spiros Papaglimis (Hyde) beat Matt Uren (Barnton) 3-1 (11-9, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6)
Men’s over 55
Graham Yates (Bowdon) beat Dave Kelly (Knutsford) 3-2 (9-11, 11-1, 3-11, 11-3, 11-6)
Men’s over 65
Robbie Blair (Chester Rugby) beat Mike Quartley (Prestbury) 3-0 (11-3, 15-13, 11-9)
Women’s over 35
Lorraine Brady (Whitby) beat Becca Polley (Grove Park) 3-0 (11-4, 11-4, 11-2)
Open racketball A
Jon Davies (Wrexham) beat Jon Hunter (Neston) 3-1 (11-8, 11-6, 7-11, 11-7)
Open racketball B
Archie Lal (Brooklands) beat Peter Marsden (Brooklands) 3-0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-7)
Massive thanks to our sponsors:
Edge Worldwide Logistics
Harbour Healthcare
Britannia Paints
Flygeine
Tolley Health Economics
Kukri Sports
Woodford Physio
305Squash
Bishbashbooked
Many thanks to Bowdon Squash Club for the use of such a superb venue.
Finally, a massive vote of thanks to our superb referees, Matt Uren, Mick Broomhall and Joss Garvey without whom this event absolutely could not happen - a real team effort!
See you in 2025.
Finals from the show court can be found on the Cheshire SRA YouTube channel.
