The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Buchan happy to have been in record books
SQUASH: Neighbour Aitken surpassed his rally feat last August
Lisa Aitken may be unrivalled as Montrose’s most decorated squash player – but there is one title Peter Buchan isn’t letting the multiple national champion have just yet.
Scotland’s No 1 female is a close neighbour of Buchan in the Angus town.
Last August she broke his world record for the longest continuous squash rally (now 3,606 strokes) alongside another Montrose player, Mark James, who held the previous record with Buchan (3,408), set in 2017.
Technically, the record still belongs to the two men because the Guinness Book of Records is yet to be updated. And it’s a straw Buchan will gladly clutch on to.
“Until I see Lisa’s certificate I’ll still claim the record,” he joked.
“Mark always tries to get me to do it again but I’ve got my certificate so I’m happy with that.
“It was a great day when we broke the record and the main highlight was the fact we raised £5,000 for charity.”
Now chairman of Montrose Squash Club, Buchan’s enthusiasm for the sport burns as brightly as it did when he first picked up a racket 30 years ago as a final year student at Strathclyde University.
“I started playing squash in my early 20s and wasn’t very good if I’m being honest,” he recalled.
“I used to play football in Germany where my dad worked in the armed forces but didn’t fancy playing in the Scottish weather.
“I couldn’t even get into the second team at Strathclyde Uni but enjoyed running around.
“With squash you can go inside and get a good sweat on for an hour.
“I managed to get better and continued playing when I moved to Montrose.”
Buchan added: “We had a team in the National Leagues who got promoted to Division One about 18 years ago.
“We weren’t very good and I remember we were due to play against (former world number one) Peter Nicol’s club based in Aberdeen.
“They had a tournament which clashed with the fixture but were desperate to play because they were going for the title.
“I joked we could only reschedule if they brought Peter Nicol down to Montrose which they surprisingly did.
“I played against him and we were probably on court for about 15 minutes, including the warm-up!
“We had about 100 spectators and Peter was great with all the kids. It was fantastic for our club.”
The Scotland Masters internationalist turned 50 last year but shows no sign of slowing down as he targets next year’s World Masters Squash Championships in Poland and the annual Home Internationals.
He began playing for Scotland at Masters level when he turned 35 and his proudest moment in an international shirt was back in 2012 when Scotland managed to capture a rare victory at the Home Internationals, normally dominated by England.
“That was a great occasion,” he said. “We had finished second a few times but had a good team that year and managed to break our duck.
“The Masters events are brilliant from my point of view.
“I’ve made some good friends over the years and the trips away are always enjoyable.
“I’m keeping fit just now, doing some running and a lot of cycling and I’ve got a small gym in the garage.
“Hopefully we can get back on a squash court soon.”