Dumfries Sports Club

Last weekend saw the culmination of Dumfries Squash Club’s successful season with the Club Finals and annual awards evening at the Club.

Jim Thorburn Handicap winner Davy Rogerson with Squash Club Chairman Keith Gristwood

In the team events, sponsored by John Henderson & Sons, the convincing winners of Division 2 were Dumfries Cricket Club, led by their captain Chris McCutcheon, who will now be promoted to Division 1. Division 2 runners-up were Cisco Systems. The winners of Division 1 were So Below who were pushed all the way by runners-up Bard Vet.

The Jim Thorburn Handicap competition is Dumfries Squash Club’s most popular tournament and attracted over 50 entries as its handicap system provides everyone with a chance to win the competition. After five rounds of prior games, the final was a close contest with Davy Rogerson emerging as the winner of the Jim Thorburn Handicap trophy defeating Iain Anderson 2-0 despite his handicap of 18 points. Iain, however, had his chances to win the second set and but for a few loose shots could have taken the final to a third set.

The Ladies Club Championship was played in a round-robin format this year due to a lack of entries with Alice Thompson securing runner-up and Sue Strachan retaining her title as Ladies Champion for another year. Read the rest of this entry »

Dumfries Squash Club has had a very successful season on the Scottish Squash Masters circuit. The club’s Chairman, Keith Gristwood, announced “we are extremely proud that our club in such a small town continues to push well above its weight nationally in that six of our members have been selected to play for Scotland at the forthcoming Masters Home Internationals series which commenced last weekend. It is a major achievement which every member of Dumfries Squash Club should be proud of”. He continued “as such Dumfries Squash Club is probably the best squash club in Scotland”.

L to R - Ronnie Carter (Lockerbie), Davy Rogan, Faith Sinclair, Sue Strachan, Abbie Robertson, Jimmy Wells

Sue Strachan has been selected to play for both the Over 35s and Over 40s Ladies and will be playing in Cardiff and Nottingham while Faith Sinclair was selected for the Over 50s Ladies and will be playing in Dublin.

In the men’s Masters tournaments competitors gain ranking points and at the end of the 8-tournament season the top four players gain automatic selection to their respective age-group teams along with the selection of two wildcard players, typically the players occupying 5th and 6th in the national rankings.

This year, Davy Rogan and Abbie Robertson have once again been selected for the Over 70s team and will play in Dublin while Jimmy Wells was selected for the Over 45s team playing in Nottingham. Keith Gristwood was initially selected as first reserve for the Over 50s team but had a late call-up into the team also playing in Dublin.

Lockerbie’s Ronnie Carter was also selected for the Over 45s team as was Russell Hunter, an ex-Lockerbie player now residing in Tyneside.

Any squash players interested in being a part of the success of the club can call in at Dumfries Sports Club at Nunholm or visit the website: http://www.dumfriessportsclub.co.uk for further information.

Dumfries and Galloway Standard