Not Lincoln, but late-March
snow in Whitley Bay!




John Massarella

It was a cold snowy night in Lincoln, but this did not deter the crowds flocking to the Lindum Club to see the return of their prodigal son Mark Chaloner in an exhibition match against Alex Gough.

There was not a seat to be had, there were people hanging from stair rails and even sitting on top of the foyer entrance to get a view. Some people could only see a quarter of the court such was the draw of this
match.

People's expectations were not too high as Mark had been retired a while and was more used to basking in the Cayman Islands' sun that sprinting round a squash court in freezing Lincolnshire.

Much to their joy the crowd were in for a shock. Mark is still in great shape if a little lighter than in his playing days. He was looking sharp and athletic as Alex pushed him to every corner of the court with subtle drops and explosive drives. But Chaloner's trade mark retrieving was there for all to see as he chased down every ball.

With a little help from world referee John Massarella, Mark took the first game with Alex joking about home advantage.

John was also getting involved making mistakes in the scoring and on let decisions. Alex again questioned John's reffing skills. John replied "Sorry Alex, I must have got that wrong!" The witty response came from Goughie - "Nothing new there then!" much to the crowd's delight.

Mark looked a little tired after the first game so I was predicting a 3-1 to Alex. but to Mark's credit he took the second in fine style, putting away some great winners and some drops that he could have only dreamed of in his playing days to go 2-0 up.

Both the boys kept up a very fast pace delighting the crowd with cork screw exhibition shots and outrageous nicks. Alex did take the next three games to win 3/2, but they were all hard fought and the crowd loved every minute of an hour and a half of high energy fun squash.

Mark and Alex retired to the bar to answer questions from the members. A lot of them were keen to know if Mark would be competing in the age group events in the British Nationals. He didn't rule it out but replied he was happy playing his American hard ball doubles and relaxing in the Grand Cayman ...

Alex and Mark thanked Phil Hiatt for putting together the evening to which prizes and rackets where raffled for a local children's charity.

It was a really fun night and great to see mark on court again.

Let's hope it's not so long next time ...