The 2015 Junior Inter-Regionals took place at Colinton Castle Squash Club from 18-19 April and proved to be the most competitive for a number of years. Four regions claimed titles, bringing an end to several years of West dominance which has seen them collect four of the five titles available in each of the past 3 years.
The Under 19 event was the only age-group to contain teams from all 6 regions and ended up being a three-way fight between East, West and Central. Central, with Rory Stewart and Claire Gadsby in their line-up, who had led Scotland to a 7thplace finish at the U19 European Team Championships only 2 weeks earlier, looked to be marginal favourite. In the end, all the matches between the three teams in contention finished 2-2 and were decided on games, or sometimes even points countback, with the greater strength in depth of East giving them the edge. Central finished 2nd with West 3rd. East’s team consisted of Angus MacPherson, Carrie Hallam, Pietro Gagliardini, Andrew Boyd and Euan Reed.
Central gained revenge over East in the Under 17 event. Another 2-2 draw went in favour of Central by 8 games to 6, thanks to 3-0 wins by James Dougan and Emma Fitzsimmons and a vital 2 games from Jack Orr. Douglas Lemon was the fourth member of the Central team. West finished 3rd.
In the closest event of the weekend, East were the only region to win two titles thanks to their victory in the Under 15 event. Another three horse race saw West beat East on countback (2-2, 8-7) at the end of Day 1. However, an unexpected loss to Highlands and Islands, again on countback, opened the door for the East to take the title if they could beat Highlands and Islands in the final match of the day. Despite James Riches losing 3-0 to Scottish No.1, Alasdair Prott, Georgia Adderley, Andrew Hill and David Riches all won 3-0 to give the East the narrowest of victories, with
West 2nd and Highlands and Islands 3rd.
West won their only title in the Under 13 event. A minor slip up against East, where they still won on 9-6 on games countback after drawing 2-2 in matches was enough for Craig Thomson, Huzaifah Ali, Beth Moglia and Adam Hunter to win the title. A strong Central team looked capable of challenging them but lost 3-1 before beating East 4-0 to finish 2nd.
The only convincing win of the weekend came from Highlands and Islands in the Under 11 event. Their team of Ben Barron, Struan Donald, William Jack, Ross Donachie and Erin Jones walked away with the title without losing a match. West finished 2nd with Central 3rd.