Caithness badminton couple take mixed doubles title at Glasgow Yonex Championships
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Caithness shuttle aces Mark and Shona Mackay extended their hot streak in the Scottish "A" grade badminton circuit at the weekend.
The couple secured the mixed doubles title at the Glasgow Yonex Championships after a thrilling win in the final against a talented young Fife pairing.
It adds to their success in the Dunfermline Open in January and runners-up medals in the West of Scotland Open and the Lanarkshire Open, both last October.
Outwith the open competitions, 48-year-old Mark has also been picking up an array of silverware on the Scottish, European and world Masters circuit.
After a first-round bye at the weekend event in the city's Sir Craig Reedie Centre, the Scarfskerry pair justified their number one seeding as they cruised through to the final without dropping a set.
Against them were the number two seeds, 20-year-old Calum Flockhart, son of long-time Scottish singles champion Bruce Flockhart, and Brooke Stalker, who was celebrating her 17th birthday.
The Dunfermline duo, who are both in national development squads, raced to a 15-4 lead in the first game.
"They caught us a bit cold," Mark said. "We got back to 12-17 but they went on to close out the set.
"We then led 17-12 in the second but they came back strongly and I was beginning to think we were going to blow it.
"It was very edgy but we managed to scrape it 23-21.
"The third was really tight with rarely more than a point in it."
At 19-18 for the Caithness couple, an unreturnable smash from Shona gave them championship point and Mark served out to secure the title.
"We were delighted to come through," Mark added.
It clinched his sixth mixed title over four decades at the championships, following his wins between 1999 and 2007 with Carol Tedman and Helen Blair.
It was 36-year-old Shona's first success at Glasgow. She also won the consolation women's doubles with partner Chloe Hitchin, a Shetlander currently at Stirling University.
After their second-round knockout in the main competition, they scored a three-set victory over Nuria Clowes and Katie Stewart in the consolation final.
Shona earlier went out in the second round of the singles to Qing Zang Xiao, from Edinburgh.
Mark was beaten in the quarter-finals of the men's singles by Finlay Jack, who lost out in the final to number one Matthew Waring.
The Mackays are in action this weekend at the 25th annual Caithness Invitation Open in Wick.
