Juniors & Schools Championships

[<<] [>>] by Peter Death at Nottingham
26th September 2022 (Other News)

Nottingham hosted the Junior and Schools Championships on 24-25 September 2022.

Schools Championship

Only two entries were received: Winchester, the defending champions, and Chilwell School, Nottingham. Sadly, Winchester withdrew the week before the event, citing in particular the lack of affordable accommodation in Nottingham. This was the result of an unfortunate clash of dates with the Nottingham Half-Marathon, which attracted several thousand runners and pushed up hotel prices as a result. This left Chilwell as the winners for 2022, the second year in a row that the event was uncontested, since Winchester had no opposition the previous year.

Junior Championships

For a CA tournament, this seems not to have been well-publicised. There were two visitors from Cheltenham, Sam Cuthbert and Erin James, and the rest of the field came from Nottingham's own junior players. Players were divided into under-13 and under-18 competitions .

The four players in the under-13 category, all aged between 7 and 9 years old, play a doubles match on Saturday, in which the 7 year olds, Alfie Baldwin and Millie Draper, beat Tilly Hallam and Frances Draper 7-5 in a GC match on half-size lawns, which was keenly contested and played in an excellent spirit. The players particularly enjoyed being able to summon a referee to adjudicate on a number of occasions! On Sunday, only 3 of the players were available, and in a round-robin Alfie was unbeaten. He has a beautifully free swing which reminded some of the older onlookers of a young James Death: definitely one to watch for the future.

The under-18s played GC on full lawns. There were 8 players in total, but two were available only on Saturday, and one only on Sunday. It was clear from the outset that Sam Cuthbert was in a different league from the rest, and he duly swept the board with 7 wins out of 7. The nearest he got to being challenged was when he went 3-1 down to Rae Holland, but he came back to win 7-3. Best of the rest was Declan McPhee with 5 wins, followed by Rae Holland and Elizabeth Shelton with 4, Erin James 3, Lois Holland 2, Marnie Tor 1, and Natasha Thomas 0. Declan also earned kudos by making a banoffee pie for dessert on Sunday!

Three pairs also contested GC doubles on Sunday, when Sam and Natasha beat Declan and Elizabeth, and Lois and Rae.

The under-18 AC competition had only two competitors, and Sam Cuthbert quickly wrapped up a win against Elizabeth Shelton.

The prizes were presented by Ian Vincent on behalf of Quiller Barret, CA President.