The third running of the annual NSM and SPF Cup took place last weekend at the Guernsey Racquet Club and showed off a great standard of visiting player, with Spain’s Jose Domingo Martinez and Manuel Valcarcel Sanchez taking the men’s honours, and Alice Keddie and GB Team member Victoria Nicholas the women’s.
But 16-year-old Chloe de la Mare was proud to make the women’s final alongside UK partner Rosie Quirk, getting further than any Guernsey player.
‘The last two years here I’ve gone out in the semi-finals,’ said a player who will soon represent Great Britain at the Junior Euros in Portugal.
‘To get to the final this time was extra special and it’s really great to do it at home.’
Longcamps is one of only six venues across the British Isles to be awarded a sanction to run the highest level of domestic competition this year.
With tournaments running in categories from U14 to over-60s, upwards of 140 players – including 40 who travelled to Guernsey – gathered at the club in a festival of padel. This represented a nearly 20% increase in participants on 2025.
The return of Guernsey fog did its best to spoil things as incoming flights were diverted and cancelled across Friday night, and Saturday’s order of play had to be hastily re-written to run the players who were in the island first while stranded competitors scrambled to make it over.
This included eventual women’s champion Nicholas heading to Exeter from London on Saturday morning after her Gatwick flight was cancelled.
Players showed incredible humour and understanding as the event took place, ironically in beautiful Guernsey sunshine.
In the men’s event, the results followed the seeding exactly, with the top Guernsey pairing – Euros junior pick Liam de la Mare and senior partner Olly Cull – at No 3 putting up an incredible fight in the semi-finals against second seeds Rio Hanif and Mike Tolman.
From the Sarnians being a break up in the first set, the UK pair rallied to win 7-5, 6-2.
But the Spanish duo, who had travelled from Murcia, simply played at another level to take the final against Hanif and Tolman 6-4, 6-2.
Professional player Sanchez, the more fluent English speaker of the two, had been pleased to build on a Grade Two victory in London three months prior.
‘We feel very good and it’s our first Grade One win,’ he said.
‘We love the island, the people, and the organisation also – it’s very good – and we’re looking forward to being here again next year.’
Through the translation services of his ally, 23-year-old Martinez added: ‘It was a very good atmosphere. I felt at home and was very glad with the treatment we received.
‘We enjoy our very good weather, playing outdoors like we’re used to in Spain. That was an advantage to us because they’re not as used to playing outdoors.’
In the women’s event, de La Mare and regular partner Quirk joined forces as top seeds and breezed through the draw into their first Grade One final.
There, they met Keddie and GB team member Nicholas, who is returning to competition after giving birth to son Lenny just 10 months ago.
In an exciting final, breaks were traded freely in the first set, which the more experienced Keddie and Nicholas eventually took 7-4 on a tie-break.
The second set saw just one break of serve, allowing Keddie and Nicholas to win 6-3 and lift their first Grade One trophy together.
‘We have been getting closer with each tournament recently, so it was great to finally win one in beautiful Guernsey,’ Nicholas said.
‘Congrats to Rosie and Chloe for a great final – they pushed hard and made us work for every point.’
Keddie added: ‘We’re delighted to have won the Grade One in Guernsey this weekend.
‘Rosie and Chloe were fantastic opponents in the final, and the standard was high despite the challenging conditions.
‘A great deal of work has gone in over the past few years, and particularly this season, so I’m really proud of the level we produced this weekend and the composure we showed in some of the key moments.’
Both also thanked the organisers for the quality event and being so accommodating with travel arrangements.
Large numbers of Guernsey players contested the veterans’ events, but their UK counterparts showed more experience, taking all three of the trophies back to the ‘mainland’.
In the over-50s event, Drew Warren and Romain Luquet edged Jason Hanif and Marcus Lindstrup, 6-2, 3-6, 10-3.
The men’s 40-plus had Luquet teaming up with Open finalist Tolman to beat Gareth Nichol and Bea Jenner 6-4, 6-3.
Sarah Lochrie and Daisy Dickson were too strong for Sally Fisher and Teresa Catlin in the women’s 40-plus, breezing to a 6-0, 6-1 victory.
As is now traditional, the tournament begins on Friday with three local competitions.
This includes the legends 60-plus event, which sees open pairings – men’s, ladies’ or mixed – competing during the afternoon.
This year long-term racquet sport stalwart Rick Denton partnered up with Jos Ensink to prevail in a tough final against Andy Hale and James Sherborne, 6-3, 3-6, 10-6.
The junior events also allow open pairings and with only two girls competing at U18 level locally, Liam and Chloe de la Mare agreed to pair with them to give them a chance against the boys.
Both pairs showed their class to progress to an exciting and fun final which saw Chloe and Lara Gavey take on Liam and Louisa Hardouin.
After splitting the first two sets, the match was decided on a tie-break.
The de la Mare and Gavey pairing raced to an 8-4 lead, but Liam was not going to allow his little sister to take the spoils, and he and his partner rallied to eventually win 5-7, 6-3, 11-9.
The U14 event saw the top two seeds reach the final, and in a match displaying how far all the junior players have improved, Leo Carpenter and Oli Hardouin beat Danny Conchar and Daniel Martin 6-3, 6-2.
However, of all the quality padel on display, Kian Bettridge and John Gilmour earned the most valuable players of the weekend award.
In the U14 quarter-final, they gave younger opponents Alice Hardouin and Eleonore Moerman a match to remember.
The boys, benefitting from around three years and a foot in height, played in the best spirits possible, giving the girls plenty of balls to hit and allowing rallies to last over 10 shots.
Despite losing 4-0, 4-0, the girls left the court with huge smiles and were heard to say, ‘I think we could have beaten them’.
‘At a time when young girls are dropping out of sport at an alarming rate, Kian and John have ensured through their kindness and sportsmanship that these two little girls will keep competing for years to come,’ padel stalwart Sara Woolland commented afterwards.
