Nuffield St Albans drew 2-2 with Berkhamsted in the Herts First Division Squash League in what was a memorial match for Harry Faulkner, who tragically lost his life in the corresponding fixture last year.
The 18-year-old collapsed after feeling unwell during the league match. Attempts to resuscitate Faulkner at the club and later at Watford General Hospital were unsuccessful.
A post-mortem revealed no problems with Faulkner’s heart and the coroner subsequently recorded a verdict of natural causes by Sudden Adult Death Syndrome.
Since Harry died his parents have been working with Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) and with England Squash to raise awareness of the illness, particularly regarding young sports people.
The Berkhamstead club was full as people from both sides paid their respects.
The match was tied at 2-2 when Nuffield’s Adam Auckland and Berkhamstead’s Angus Gillams took centre-stage.
The Nuffield player took control from the very first rally and never relinquished his hold on the match. He ran out a comfortable 3-0 winner but even with Nuffield clinching an overall 3-2 victory, they are still behind Broxbourne in the race for this year’s title.
The club were back in action in the semi-final of the Herts Squash Cup against Luton and Dunstable.
The St Albans team on Saturday was largely made up of squad players relishing their chance to shine.
The first two matches on court involved Nuffield’s Björn Angtoft and Jesper Skarman and both ran out 3-0 winners.
Team captain Tom James then secured overall victory with another 3-0 win and was backed up by Jack Fowler, although he was the only Nuffield player to drop a game in his 3-1 success.
Adam Auckland continued his good run of form with another commanding display against Luton’s Mike McLaughlin, who was unable to provide much resistance to the rampaging Auckland.
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