2024 Gippsland Lakes Classic Racquetball Tournament
Published Tue 26 Nov 2024
The last racquetball tournament for 2024 was the Gippsland Lakes Classic, held at the Squash and Table Tennis Centre, Bairnsdale on 8th – 10th November. We had great numbers once again with 70 singles (68 last year) and 68 doubles entries (56 last year). There was great local support for the tournament and a good mix of players from Albury/Wodongs, Melbourne, Ballarat, Geelong and Shepparton. We also had 9 Junior U/13 Boy’s, which made for a very competitive grade. The weather was mild making for good playing conditions. We had a fantastic Saturday Night function at the Mitchell River Tavern, completely filling the large function room, with special guest presenter, Sarah Fitz-Gerald awarding the S&RV 2024 Racquetball Person of the Year to a well deserving Hannah Leonti. Also would like to congratulate the tournament committee from the Bairnsdale Squash and Racquetball club consisting of Hannah Leonti, Kass OKelly, Paul Jonkers, Carl Freshwater, Mark Edgley, Glen Hofert and Andrew Papp for preparation and support during the tournament. There was a lot of lobbying done prior to the tournament to achieve such wonderful numbers.
The Men’s Open was won by Cam White proving too good for a well deserving runner-up, Matt Howard. The Women’s Open was taken out Judy Kool over Maddy Rolls, who despite the score line, hung in for some very long rallies and Maddy continues to show rapid improvement. The Open doubles was won by Cam White and Tim Paramore taking revenge for their close loss last year – the winners were decided by a triple count-back in their round robin!
A major theme of the tournament was the tribute to the memory of tournament benefactor, Chris ‘Furry’ Fuhrmeister. All 1st round winners were presented a commemorative Hawaiian shirt and a new annual award, the ‘Spirit of the Classic’ was won by the very popular Ellyn McKenzie. The Best Performance by a Junior, in memory of Rob McFadzean, was won by Charlie Cropper.
Full review, results and photos can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/7y6vatrr
