Joe Takes Annual Handicap Crown

DSC_0034[1]Monday 28th July saw the final of the annual (handicapped) knockout competition at Gala Squash and Racketball Club . The match, between Ruaridh Kohler and Joe Eyre, had been delayed because of hollidays, but it was well worth waiting for. In one of the most hotly contested squash matches outside of the Commonwealth games, Joe Eyre (left in the piccie) finally picked up the trophy after almost 1 hour of hard fought rallies. Joe and Ruaridh were evenly matched right from the start, and this was reflected in their starting handicaps of +1 and -1 respectively. The first game went all the way to sudden death before Ruaridh took it 17-15. Joe served his way to the second game 15-7 and scraped the third 15-13, to open a 2-1 lead. But Ruardidh came roaring back to win the forth 15-13 and take the match into a deciding game. By now both players were showing signs of tiredness, but it was Joe that looked the freshest – or perhaps Ruaridh that looked the most tired. Either way, Joe pulled away in the middle of the decider and deservedly took it 15-10. “I had to keep going for every ball – it was the final after all”, said Joe immediately after the match. It took Ruaridh slightly longer to get his breath back, before he admitted “I almost quit at the end of the 4th game, but thought I’d better at least try to play the deciding game”. The plate competition, which had been played on a previous date, was taken by Luis Molero.