County Open Championships - Season 2005-2006 - 18&19/03/06

Andrew Bremner & Davie Swanson

With bravura performances by swimmers, cyclists and Rugby players, this was a great weekend for Scottish Sport. Slightly further down the scale, the Caithness Squash Championship was staged at Thurso Squash Club! A good contingent from both sides of the county graced the Millbank courts with junior players being particularly to the fore.

The junior plate was closely contested with beaten semi-finalists being Mark Nicolson and Ian Henderson. The final saw Sam Hendry play well to pip Martin Gunn.

Martin was also involved in the under15 final but again he had to accept the runner-up spot after a close match with Gavin Majilton. Losing semi-finalists in this one were Jordan Farmer and Sean Miller.

The under 19 Junior tournament attracted an excellent entry and Wick players dominated the field with John Georgeson defeating Dexter Durrand in the top half while Jamie Durrand won a fast and entertaining match against Craig Nicolson. The final was always John's but Jamie has all the shots and is decidedly a name to mark down for the future.

The County plate competition saw Gavin Majilton in action again but losing to Martyn Cook in the semis where Jim Georgeson saw off Malcolm Lord. Martyn won the final with a good mix of pace and guile.

Jim Georgeson was back on court in the Veterans' competition where he lost out to James Henderson in the first semi. In the other half of the draw, virgin veteran Stuart Greig had a tight tussle with whispering Jim Cassidy. Stuart won out to have a crack at Birdie but as always the latter was on song and powered his way to the title.

This left the two main competitions. First up were the ladies where schoolgirl Donna Majilton caught the eye with quality shots although losing out to Carole Mowat. Carol Cameron beat Jane Grant in the second semi although Jane did have her chances. So the final was a rerun of the Thurso Championships and again Carole Mowat dominated the front of the court to defeat her vastly experienced opponent.

In the men's tournament, top seed Andrew Bremner survived a dangerous floater in Ian Adamson and then accounted for the powerful Alistair Miller in the semis. In the bottom half of the draw, Davie Swanson won a tough encounter with Donald Pollard, a match which involved one or two polite requests for verification from the marker.

Davie, Thurso Squash Club's ace journalist, photographer and webmaster, was underdog in the final but turned in one of the best performances of his squash career in a match of brutal rallies and tremendous retrieving. Young Andrew capped a great season - Wick Champion/Number 1 against Orkney - by winning 3/1 but he certainly knew he had been in a match.

report by Sandy Stewart

Results

• Mens Final - Andrew Bremner beat Davie Swanson - 3-1
  • Plate - Martyn Cook beat James Georgeson - 3-0
• Ladies Final - Carole Mowat beat Carole Cameron - 3-0
• Veterans Final - James Henderson beat Stuart Greig - 3-0
• Under 19 Junior Final - John Georgeson beat Jamie Durrand - 3-0
• Under 15 Junior Final - Gavin Majilton beat Martin Gunn - 3-1
  • ALL Junior Plate - Sam Hendry beat Martin Gunn - 3-0

Photos

ALL Winners and Runners-Up of the County Open

Carole Mowat	Carole Cameron	Andrew Bremner
Davie Swanson	Martyn Cook	James Georgeson
James Henderson	John Georgeson	Jamie Durrand
Gavin Majilton	Martin Gunn

Ladies Final - Carole Cameron & Carole Mowat	Carole C was running too fast for the camera to catch her getting to a tricky Carole M lob...
Men's Plate Final - James Georgeson & Martyn Cook	James makes the Stallion scramble for a point.
Men's Over 45's - James Henderson & Stuart Greig	Greigeeee is still wondering which way to go to reach this shot...
Under 19 Boys - Jamie Durrand & John Georgeson	Little Jamie 'swears' he has won this point and puts John under pressure.
All Junior Plate - Sam Hendry & Martin Gunn	Sam stretches to finish off a good Martin boast.
Under 15 Juniors - Martin Gunn & Gavin Majilton	Men's Final - Andrew Bremner & Davie Swanson. Sorry no action shots, Adams'-son was in the bog too many times...

End-of-Document