Invitation Tournament - Season 2000-2001

This is the 4th year the tournament has taken place in Thurso Games Hall and welcomed participants from various areas within Scotland - namely; Orkney, Shetland, Edinburgh and Caithness, of course.

picture taken by John Macrae

Sponsors of the tournament included UKAEA Dounreay, Bank of Scotland, Jim Sangster, RM Consultants and Rolls-Royce.

The finale to the tournament took place in the Royal Hotel - where a meal was served (ask JG what she thought???) and trophies presented.

Thanks should also be given to Jasmin Gunn, for her wonderful home-made soup & sandwiches and, a particular favourite of my own 'lovely sugaree doughnuts'.

Also, I would like to thank Carolyne Young (Edinburgh chickie) for telling me that I was going to have 3 children, after reading my palm on numerous occasions in the Royal Hotel. For people that know me - they will find this amusing but there is some definite potential there, I would say myself.

Ladies Singles

If the organisers, 'KC and the shang-a-langs', had known that the final of the Ladies Singles would have provided such a close and entertaining encounter - they would have charged an admission fee at the door. Everyone leaving at the end of the night, were categorically (good Jim Delahunt phrase) in favour that it was one of the best ladies' matches they had seen in a long time.

Both players, Zoe Anderson and Carolyn Young, seemed to eventually 'out-fox' each other on every point throughout the match - which contained long back breaking rallies, neat net shots and powerful finishes.

With the match sitting at 1 set each and five points a piece, both players showed no signs of nerves - in fact, it was only the umpire, Big Al, that was looking nervous because all the shots were proving very close to call and she was like a 'who wants to be a millionaire contestant looking for a million pound answer and the audience wouldna tell her anything' in other words, nervous as hell.

The first set was claimed by Zoe - 11-9, the second by Carolyn - 11-7 and the third went to the final point, with both girls providing some excellent finishing strokes, Zoe took the set 13-12 and lifted the title.

Cheers, girlies - for an excellent encounter and hope we will see something like this, in Caithness, again.

Mens Singles

The final of the mens singles was between Mark Mackay and young Johnnie Durrand.

Mark had just returned from a long holiday in a foreign land and had managed to get through customs with a package underneath his jersey that Raz would've been proud of - a BIG GUT.

This showed in the first game when little Johnnie piled the pressure on Mark and had him running round, like a doog looking for his tail - to go 5-0 infront. So much so that Charlie Henderson and myself commented that we would have to go and get a set of jump leads or tow rope, to get 'e Ratter going.
But the big man caught his second wind and soon rattled off a sequence of fast, furious and precise points to take the first set 15-8.

Many an opponent would have laid down and taken the punishment but John battled away, to his credit, like a little Jack Russell searching for and retrieving anything that came at him. In the end, Mark produced the final killer instinct and won the set 15-12, to lift the singles title.

Ladies Doubles

There was an unknown feel to the Ladies Doubles competition this season, with some pairings appearing or being matched together for the first time - leaving the competition, as it is supposed to be, completely open.

The first semi saw the two Edinburgh girlies, Carolyne Young and Rhona Hume, take on Caithness lassies Pam 'Gang Member' Mackay and Alison 'Potential Member' Henderson.
The first set was taken easily by the edinburgh girls 15-1 but the second was a completely different affair. With the caithness pairing beginning to find their confidence, they started to claw back points but the 'auld reekie' woman showed their experience and won a second set tie-breaker, 17-15 to win the match 2 sets to 0.

The second semi saw Zoe 'ex Caithness' Anderson & Vicky 'Hairstyle' Gorn take on Carole Mowat and Casey Sangster. The caithness girls have not been showing the form of late, that has managed them to hold the Ortak Ladies Doubles Championship, in the past - maybe they should do something that Raz suggested, to spring them back into life, you know what I mean.
Anyway, back to the match, the make shift pairing of Zoe and Vicky proved to strong for the caithness lassies and never looked in trouble of losing the contest, going through to the final with the scores 15-5, 15-8.

The final was controlled from start to finish by the Edinburgh girls. If Zoe or Vicky managed to get past the strong barrier at the front of the net, they would have to compete with the strong finishing of one of the girls at the back. The match was finished with a 2 sets to 0 win for the Edinburgh girls - 15-3, 15-2.

Mens Doubles

With 'Big Bird' unable to play in this tournament due to injury, Mark was partnered by the only male Orkney participant, Calvin Reid.

The first semi-final brought together Calv and Mark against Daz and Raz. If you were a betting man, sorry person, you would have put any money on Daz and Raz pulling off an upset........ yeah right - but they gave as good as they could and were infront after the first serve, which looked promising until the other two switched on, eventually winning 15-7, 15-6. Anyway, Daz and Raz had pulled off an excellent result in the previous round by beating the Edinburgh lads 2 sets to 1, which seemed to surprise the crowd, for some reason.

The second semi brought together an all Caithness contest, Sam Campbell and John Durrand against Davie Nicolson and Ewen Sutherland. Sam and John have played consistently throughout the year - unlike Ewen and Davie who last had a contest together in Orkney when Davie smacked Ewen on the chin. With stats like that the eventual winner spoke for itself. Final score 15-7, 15-11.

The final was a close contest and Sam & John should have taken the match into a third set - but if Sam had shaken his head anymore, it would've probably fallen off - not sure if it was himself or his partner he was shaking it at. Both pairings managed to keep the tie going with some excellent returning and retrieving but Mark and Calvin pinched the trophy, winning 15-9, 15-13.

Mixed Doubles

In all honesty, there was always only going to be one winner in this competition. Mark and Carole have been playing with each other now for the past few years and are proving very difficult opposition for anyone opponent.

The first semi-final saw Mark and Carole take on the edinburgh partnership of Carolyn Young and Sandy Mackenzie, (who had a tough previous round game against Sandy Mowat and Daisy, which they just scraped through, winning by 2 sets to 1) - but the caithness duo were just to strong for the traveling pair and went through by 2 sets to 0 - 15-5, 15-4.

The second semi saw the other edinburgh couple, Ainsley Brown and Rhona Hume, take on Calvin Reid and Zoe Anderson, a pairing who have never played with each other in the past. With the big lad from 'e Auld Reekie finishing with some ferocious smashes and Rhona covering the net well, an upset was looking on the cards but Zoe and Calvin dug deep to clinch the final spot 15-8, 15-11.

The final was slightly closer than the scoreline reflects, with both pairings going through some long rallies and tight net shots - but Mark and Carole clinched the title in 2 sets - 15-9, 15-4, allowing the boy from Ratter, Dunnet to lift the treble.

Presentation

Ladies Singles trophy presented by Dougie Sinclair of Rolls-Royce.	Mens Singles, Doubles and Ladies Doubles Winners

Mixed Doubles Winners presented by Suzanne Mackenzie for UKAEA Dounreay.

pictures taken by John Macrae

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