2017 Marsh National Schools' Championships

27/03/17: The 2017 Marsh National Schools' Championships concluded on Saturday after a record-breaking week of Fives. Over 670 pairs from 33 schools - including pairs from Malaysia and Switzerland - took part in 13 different competitions.

Some of the younger age group competitions took place in advance of the main week but this was still an enormous logistical feat, managed amazingly as always by Mark Williams, with assistance from Paul Bowden, Nigel Cox, Rob Morris, Richard Black, Andy Bishop and Mike Hughes.

The Open competition was dominated this year by St.Olave's School, who not only won their first title at this level since 1999 (James Toop & Seb Cooley - whatever happened to them?) but provided both pairs in the final, an unusual and notable feat previously achieved by Shrewsbury in 2012, Highgate in 2001 and 1990 and Eton and Charterhouse immediately after the Second World War. The final was no formality for the Olavian first pair of Tom Gallagher & Kosi Nwuba, either. The St.Olave's second pair of Morgan Pugh & Kieran Walton had grown in confidence during the week, recording fine wins over Eton 1 and Harrow 1 in the quarter and semi-finals respectively and when the second pair were 2-1 up and leading 6-3 in the fourth game, it looked like an upset might be on the cards. At that point in the match, Gallagher & Nwuba began to find their cutting rhythm and the tide began to turn, slowly at first as Pugh & Walton failed to build on their lead and then more quickly as Gallagher & Nwuba began to get on top, winning the fifth game comfortably to claim the title.

The Girls Open saw a changing of the guard moment; Highgate have dominated this competition in recent years, winning it a remarkable seven years in succession. With Amira Reimer unfortunately unavailable, Carolina Valensise stepped up to partner Phoebe Bracken (in her sixth successive final - surely a record that will never be beaten) at first pair for Highgate against the Shrewsbury pair of Nina Lange and Sophia Breese. Shrewsbury have been the coming force in girls Fives in the last couple of years and Lange & Breese seized their opportunity, recovering impressively from the loss of the second game to win well in four. There was another interesting footnote to this result, as Sophia & Tom Breese became only the second brother and sister to win titles at the National Schools' Championships after Seb & Charlotta Cooley (whatever happened to them?)

Eton have had a strong record in the last few years and made up for the disappointment of having to hand over the open title after three wins in a row by winning the U16, U14 and U14 beginners competitions, as well as making the final of the U15s, where they lost 3-2 to Highgate. Highgate also won the U12 title  - both winning Highgate pairs coming 0-2 down to win 3-2 - while St.Olave's won the U13s. The other big winners of the week were Berkhamsted, whose pairs reached five finals in the younger age groups, winning the U11s and producing one of the star pairs of the week in Bethan Miles and Lola Hannah, who won the inaugural girls U13 competition and then followed it up by also winning the U15s.

Below is a full list of the winners and finalists, photos from the tournament and more detailed results from the competitions that took place last week.

Results

Open: St.Olave's 1 (T.Gallagher & K.Nwuba) beat St.Olave's 2 (M.Pugh & K.Walton) 3-2 (7-12, 12-7, 7-12, 12-6, 12-4)

Girls Open: Shrewsbury (N.Lange & S.Breese) beat Highgate (P.Bracken & C.Valensise) 3-1 (12-2, 7-12, 12-6, 12-3)

U16s: Eton (C.Mcdonald & X.Watt) beat St.Olave's (S.Balaji & L.Maclean) 3-0 (12-6, 12-7, 12-3)

U15s: Highgate (J.Sochor-Grethe & C.Coleman) beat Eton (G.Brand & M.Spiridonov) 3-2 (10-12, 12-14, 12-6, 12-10, 12-1)

Girls U15s: Berkhamsted (B.Miles & L.Hannah) beat Shrewsbury (I.Wong & A.Sillar) 3-0 (12-6, 12-7, 12-9)

U14s: Eton (M.Russell & E.Bingham) beat St.Olave's (I.Jochim & Y.Bleunven) 3-1 (12-9, 6-12, 12-8, 15-11)

U14 Beginners: Eton (G.Freeman & A.Beagles) beat Shrewsbury (F.Sansom & D.Schofield) 3-0 (12-5, 12-3, 12-4)

U13s: St.Olave's (J.Akintolu & I.Akpovwa) beat Berkhamsted (J.Hubbard & M.Foster) 3-0 (12-8, 12-5, 12-8)

U13 Girls: Berkhamsted (B.Miles & L.Hannah) beat Cranleigh Prep (R.Halstead & M.Hamilton) 12-1

U12s: Highgate (H.Leek & A.Rosenthal) beat Berkhamsted (R.Pirani & M.James) 3-2 (6-12, 8-12, 12-8, 12-10, 12-10)

U11s: Berkhamsted (S.Kayanama & B.Baines) beat Ludgrove (C.Hope & R.Acheson-Gray) 2-0 (12-10, 12-9)

Girls Festival: Shrewsbury (M.Butler & S.Cormack) beat Zuoz (A.Kolchina & R.Velasquez) 3-0 (12-7, 12-6, 12-9)

Mixed: Shrewsbury (D.Orchard & N.Lange) drew with Highgate (D.Marshall & E.Smith-Bingham) 1-1 (12-11, 8-12) match unfinished

Open

Girls Open

U16

Girls U15

U14

U15

U14 Beginners

Girls Festival

Mixed