Mackay & Leslie sweep the boards both winning the treble in this year’s Highland Badminton Group Senior Restricted

Mackay & Leslie sweep the boards both winning the treble in this year’s Highland Badminton Group Senior Restricted which took place on Friday 29th and Saturday 30th September in the Black Isle Leisure Centre in Fortrose.

20 men and 14 women battling it out over the two days from all over the Highland Badminton Group Area.

The Friday night saw the singles competition take place. The men’s singles were played over two groups and then the plays-off for the main overall winner and also a consolation play-off.  Within the group stages we saw some great games 2 of which went to 3 sets!  Mark Mackay, Caithness topped Group A, Steven McGregor, Nairn come 2nd with Iain Nicolson Caithness and Sam Groudwater Orkney headed to the consolation.  Group B saw Great Glen’s Callum Craig top the group followed by Thomas Calder from Shetland with Erlend Ballantine and John Macculloch through to the consolation. Callum and Thomas fought it out for the top place with a 3 setter which Callum won 11-21, 21-19, 21-12.  The main draw saw young Thomas Calder and Mark Mackay play with Mark coming out top 21-15, 21-17. The other semifinal saw young Callum Craig challenge Steven McGregor with Callum winning 21-2, 21-11.  The final was very well played by both with some great rallies,  Mark clinched the title winning 21-15, 21-17. The Consolation saw young Sam Groundwater take on John Mcculloch in the first semi-final which went to 3 sets with Sam winning 21-16, 13-21, 21-18. The 2nd semi-final should have been Erlend and Iain, But Erlend retired giving Iain a place in the final – but Iain decided enough was enough for one night he then also retired which meant Sam won the Consolation draw.

The ladies singles was a round robin, with Shannon Leslie, Orkney coming out on top and Orkney’s Jody Groundwater taking second.

The levels were held on Saturday, the men’s events saw the top 2 teams from each of the 3 groups going through to the main draw and the rest going into the consolation rounds. The main draw saw 2 very good semi-finals. First being Mark Mackay Caithness and Thomas Calder Shetland against Callum Craig Great Glen and Callum Mcwhirter Elgin go head-to-head with Mark and Thomas, with Mark and Thomas securing their place in the final winning 21-13, 21-8. The 2nd semi-final saw a closely fought battle between the Orkney duo of father and son Eion and Erlend Ballantine against John Durrand Caithness and Alistair Gordon from Great Glen. It was the father and son duo who come out top 20-22, 22-20, 21-17 after a nail-biting semi-final securing them a place in the final. In the final Mark and Thomas dominated winning 21-14, 21-10. The consolation final was a battle between Caithness duo Matthew Robertson and Iain Nicolson against Great Glen’s James Brown and Mark Sproule, which saw the Caithness pair win 21-14, 21-18.

 Ladies Doubles was played in two groups with the top 2 heading to the main draw play off and the others playing in the consolation. The main draw saw two very well played semi-finals the first of them between Jody Groundwater and Emma Work from Orkney and Chloe Mackenzie Caithness and Joanne Pottinger Orkney, everyone in the hall got to witness a great match between these teams. Jody and Emma come out on top after a marathon 3 setter 22-20, 19-21, 23-21.  The 2nd pair securing their place in the final was Orkney’s Shannon Leslie and Gemma Foulis after beating Emma Donald, Moray and Rachel Birse Great Glen 21-16, 21-18.  The Final saw Shannon and Gemma come out top 21-19, 21-16. In the consolation final Eleanor Bonser and Joanne Welsey saw off Emma Sendall and Cara Strath after a lengthy 3 setter 19-21, 21-14. 21-19.

 After a long day of play the mixed doubles, was played as an elimination with consolation. There were some great round one games and quarter-final games. But making the semi-finals were Mark & Shannon against Erlend and Jody with Mark and Shannon winning comfortable 21-10, 21-11. The second semi was Orkney duo Eion and Emma against Caithness’ John Durrand and Orkney’s Joanne Pottinger, with Eion and Emma winning 21-13, 21-17. The final then saw Mark and Shannon who were both on fire win 21-7, 21-8, but that was after some great long rallies between the pairings. The consolation semi-finals were John Macculloch, Culbokie and Cara Strath Lochcarron against Gemma Foulis Orkney and Callum Mcwhirter Elgin – with Callum and Gemma winning 21-13, 21-12. The second semi saw Skye’s Michelle Macintosh and Orkney’s Ross Groundwater taking on James Brown and Emma Sendall both Great Glen, with James and Emma coming out top 18-21, 21-9, 21-12. The final was a good game between the pairings with Callum and Gemma winning 21-17, 21-18.

 A massive thank you to all the players that came along to compete, all the volunteers that helped behind the scenes and on the day to make these competitions possible to run. Also, thanks to all the staff at the Fortrose Leisure Centre.