Congratulations to our Inaugural Box League Race Winners
There were some incredibly close finishes in the battles to win our inaugural annual box league races, which ended on 15th January, and the final results are now in! The aim of the races is to reward players for improvement, for playing as many games as possible throughout the year, and for achieving consistently good results – irrespective of their playing level.
The final standings show increased participation in all three leagues (tennis, squash and racketball), with more players taking up the challenge by playing more games. Perhaps best described as a marathon than a sprint, the added incentive of a points league table has certainly achieved its intended aim.
The races went right to the wire, and we saw some strong results from players across all levels. Here are the winners in each category:
Tennis
| Winner | Nick Boys | 127 Points |
| Runner - Up | Jolanta Hawryluk | 122 Points |
| 3rd Place | David Waterfield | 111 Points |
| 4th Place | Glenn Rudd | 100 Points |
Well done Nick and Jolanta! Just 5 points difference clinched the champion’s trophy for Nick but a great effort from Jolanta to push him so close.
Squash
| Winner | Ian Rounce | 143 Points |
| Runner - Up | Jonathan Towers | 140 Points |
| 3rd Place | Paul Nicholls | 133 Points |
| 4th Place | Rob Ayles | 127 Points |
Congratulations to squash winner Ian Rounce, narrowly pipping Jonathan Towers by just three points. Well done Jonathan (aged just 14 when the race began!)! You have all those guys in the top three divisions looking over their shoulder and you will kick on from here, especially with your very own match secretary to push you! Elder statesmen like Paul Nicholls and Andrew Slack were not far behind with 133 and 118 points respectively, either side of Rob Ayles in 4th place. An impressive 25 players broke the 100 point barrier.
Ladies Squash
| Winner | Juliet Johnson | 90 Points |
| Runner - Up | Karen Wright | 71 Points |
| 3rd Place | Sophie Cable | 69 Points |
| 4th Place | Jan Nicholson | 62 Points |
A decisive result for Juliet achieving consistent results through the whole year, but it was a close-run battle for 2nd place, narrowly clinched by Karen Wright. We began 2022 with separate ladies divisions but as most ladies are now playing in the open leagues the ‘ladies only’ leagues were discontinued last autumn.
Racketball
| Winner | Sam Morris | 129 Points |
| Runner - Up | Matt Towers | 112 Points |
| 3rd Place Tied | Paul Armstrong | 105 Points |
| 3rd Place Tied | Steve Adams | 105 Points |
The saying goes that you cannot keep a good man down. So true when you have lightning quick leftie Sam Morris chasing down every ball on court. Matt’s consistent performance in division 1 through the whole year was not quite enough to take the prize.
Well done to all the box league competitors.
See Where You Finished……
The full tables for each sport can be found here.
2023!
The 2023 Races have now begun, and the 2023 cycle end dates are shown below …..
| Cycle 1 | ends 26th Feb (6 weeks) |
| Cycle 2 | ends 9th April (6 weeks) |
| Cycle 3 | 21st May (6 weeks) |
| Cycle 4 | 2nd July (6 weeks) |
| Cycle 5 | 27th Aug (8 weeks) |
| Cycle 6 | 8th Oct (6 weeks) |
| Cycle 7 | 19th Nov (6 weeks) |
| Cycle 8 | 14th Jan 2024 (8 weeks) |
If you have not competed in our box leagues before then now is an excellent time to start. You can find out more about how the leagues work here. Simply enter your name on the sheets displayed on the noticeboards in the Squash corridor, or email Steve Adams at [email protected] for more information.
Finally, a big thanks go to our hardworking administrators Glenn Rudd, Babs Rai and Andy Symonds.
Who will be the big improvers this year or most consistent performers this year?
Good Luck to all in 2023!
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