Caithness husband-and-wife duo strike gold in Yorkshire Masters
Husband-and-wife duo Mark and Shona Mackay from Dunnet travelled to York for the Yorkshire Masters Gold 2025 badminton tournament – and their round trip of 965 miles proved well worthwhile.
Shona, playing singles for the first time since her knee injury in July 2023, competed in the 35-and-over ladies’ singles where she came up against Lucy Kidd from England. Shona took gold after winning 21-16, 21-19.
Mark played singles in the 50-and-over section and topped his group, winning his two games comfortably as he dropped only 48 points over four sets.
This placed him in the semi-finals where he played the number two seed Kenton Jones from England. Mark lost the first set 21-16 but came back to take the next two 21-13, 21-14.
His opponent in the final was the number one seed, England’s Carl Jennings. Mark claimed gold in two sets, 21-19 apiece.
Shona teamed up with Kimberley Clague in the 35-and-over ladies’ doubles. They topped their group, placing them in the final against English duo Helen Fisher and Sara Moore.
Shona and Kimberley took gold in two sets, 21-18, 21-13.
Mark paired up with Craig Lamb to play doubles in the 50-plus age group. They topped their group comfortably, putting them into the semi-finals where they faced the number one seeds Carl Jennings and Mark Arthur King.
Carl and Mark won 21-19, 21-18 after a good encounter full of lengthy rallies, with the match lasting 42 minutes.
In the mixed doubles Mark played down three age groups to compete with Shona in the 35-and-over section. They topped their group, progressing to the semi-finals against second seeds Nikita Kolomnin and Kimberley Clague.
Shona and Mark won 21-16, 19-21, 27-25, after 54 minutes on court, to go through to the final against top seeds Nick Hodgson and Sarah Burgess. Mark and Shona won 21-13, 26-24 to add a final gold medal to the collection.
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