A wait of 38 years has finally come to an end as Gerry Murphy (65) won the Handicap Squash Tournament at Warlingham Squash and Racketball Club last week. Since joining the club in 1975 as a fit young 27 year old Gerry has entered all the club's annual squash tournaments, singles, doubles, handicap and eventually veterans but has never managed to come out on top until now.

In a long and hard fought final Gerry finally overcame a previous club champion Ron Terry (50) who was unable to make up the 33 point handicap he had to start with. In a squash Handicap Tournament every entrant is given a points handicap according to their club rankings and the better player always has to come from behind to make up their handicap before they can win the game. Games are long with the better player carefully trying to win points without making too many mistakes but this time it was just too much for Ron who was up against a spritely and crafty old fox as Gerry worked hard to pick off Ron's occasional lose ball and returning them as winners into the nick. "Finally I have my name up on the Club Honours Board" commented Gerry.

The club's main Championship Tournament produced a re-run of last year's final with the defending champion Nick Easton again beating Ryan Pescod but this time in a much closer contest. Ryan stormed into the lead taking the first game 9-7 with Nick looking tense and unable to control the fierce cross court exchanges. The second game saw Nick finally loosen up and with a series of tight length drives he forced errors out of Ryan and won the game 9-6. The third game saw Nick take full control winning 9-0 but this only seemed to inspire Ryan who took the fourth game 9-0. The fifth game saw both players battling for the centre of the court but finally the more consistent Nick came out on top to win 9-2 and win the match 3-2.

Warlingham Squash and Racketball Club tournament results: