The Winchester Fives Open Doubles Championship
Sedbergh School, Cumbria
Sunday, 15th March 2026
Stop Press It’s a first Barnes Bridge title for Lewis Keates and a second for Dave Butler, who won with Ben Beltrami in 2017. In the end Dave and Lewis played the runners -up, Richard Guthrie & Rob Walton, in the round robin and in the final, after Richard and Rob had won the match of the day, a 3-gamer against Ian Purvis & Nick Whitney in their semi-final. Former winner John Minta paired up with Simon Maskell to win the Plate at the expense of Ben Hale & Jez Sinton.
Harry Akerman reports: Whilst numbers were not that big at Sedbergh for the Barnes Bridge this year, the excitement levels for a day of Winchester Fives were anything but. Sixteen of the 22 players travelled up on Saturday evening for a pre-tournament meal, kindly organised by Dave Fox, who was at pains to point out that this would definitely, absolutely, almost certainly be his last ever open tournament.
With group accommodation, a hearty meal, a few post-dinner drinks and even a slightly questionable nightclub, the whole thing began to feel suspiciously like a mini Jesters Edinburgh Fives tour.
Sunday morning greeted us with an organiser’s nightmare…. classic court-sweating conditions: heavy rain and slightly warmer air than expected. Fortunately, the court heaters had been working overtime (don’t tell the bursar!), and we were treated to four courts that remained dry throughout the day.
The morning’s play was split into two round-robin groups, with the top two pairs progressing to the semi-finals. Both groups were tightly contested, with several games decided by the odd point and 4 pairs in each group having a genuine chance of progressing as we headed into the final round of games.
The first semi-final saw Butler and Keates take on Fox and Roberts. The younger pair eventually prevailed, ensuring that Dave’s glorious farewell tour would not include a third Barnes Bridge title to sit alongside his victories in 2004 and 2005.
The other semi-final was a thriller, with Ian Purvis and Nick Whitney facing Sedbergh old boys Richard Guthrie and Rob Walton. In a classic best-of-three to 15, Ian and Nick somehow managed to turn a commanding lead in the first game into a 16–15 defeat. They rallied well to take the second 15–12, but Guthrie and Walton edged the decider 15–13 (overall 43 points each).
By the time the final arrived the Guthrie/Walton energy levels were understandably running a little low, but there were still some excellent exchanges. The standout moment was undoubtedly Rob Walton’s extraordinary backward-facing shot into the buttress — a piece of improvisation that was (just) caught on film and can be seen on the RFA WhatsApp group.
The Plate competition was equally competitive. Ben Hale and Jez Sinton gained revenge for their earlier round-robin defeat to Chris Woods and Harry Akerman, but in a storyline mirroring the main draw they perhaps ran out of steam when they met a fresher John Minta and Simon Maskell in the final. This was a shame for Ben in particular, who would have completed a unique ‘grand slam’ of Barnes Bridge plates to go with the ones he has won at the other 3 hosting venues. 4 years’ time maybe, Ben….!
All in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend. Huge thanks to Sedbergh for the use of their fantastic facilities and for putting on such a generous lunch. It was also great to see Taylor McGuire and Andrew Taylor back on their home courts, and to watch Ian Purvis striking the ball as sweetly as he did all those years ago. Should he ever decide to reunite with Simon Fraser, the rest of us had better watch out!
Scores
Group A: 1st D Butler & L Keates W5 55pts; 2nd R Guthrie & R Walton W4 47pts; 3rd S Maskell & J Minta W3 47pts; 4th T McGuire & A Taylor W2 33pts; 5th R Christie & A Passey W1 29pts; 6th D Spiegal & J Tye W0 19pts
Group B: 1st I Purvis & N Whitney W4 60pts; 2nd D Fox & S Roberts W3 53pts; 3rd H Akerman & C Woods W2 47pts; 4th B Hale & J Sinton W1 44pts; 5th R Follett & T Follett W0 12pts
Semi-finals: Butler & Keates bt Fox & Roberts 15-4, 15-4; Guthrie & Walton bt Purvis & Whitney 16-15, 12-15, 15-13
Final: Butler & Keates bt Guthrie & Walton 15-6, 15-7
Plate: Maskell & Minta bt Hale & Sinton 11-4, 11-7
Sustenance for the organiser
The Queen supervises the seeding
The finalists
The new champions
Dave Fox and his legendary master i/c
Action on court
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The end of a memorable semi-final
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