qathet region’s first ice bowl disc golf tournament has raised money and collected food for the Powell River food bank.
Event organizer Brandon Sparks said the tournament was held March 5 under sunny skies at Craig Regional Park, with 20 disc golfers participating. Sparks said ice bowl tournaments for disc golfers have been run for 35 years in a number of locations all around the world.
“It started out in the United States, 35 years ago, and since then, they have raised more than $5.3 million for food banks,” said Sparks. “That’s sort of like their mandate, running it for charities, and mostly food banks.
“I think this year there were around 200 tournaments between the United States and Canada, and then there are a few other countries, like some Scandinavian countries. The sport is really big over there right now.”
The local tournament raised $455 for the food bank.
“It’s a pretty good haul,” said Sparks. “We got a couple of boxes of food, too, maybe 30 pounds of food. Some of the competitors brought food along to the tournament. It was a really good event.”
Sparks said there were two rounds to the tournament. The first round was individual competition and in the second round, competitors competed in teams of two, with top and less experienced players being paired.
Sparks said he has recently returned to Powell River after living in Rossland in the Kootenays. He said he put on a few disc golf tournaments there, including an ice bowl three times. The qathet tournament is his fourth. It’s called an ice bowl because it has to be run during the winter solstice.
In terms of the qathet ice bowl, there was a three-way tie for first place, so it was “pretty competitive,” said Sparks. In order to settle first place, a shootout was necessary, with Mark Landen and Josh Forry winning. Course conditions for the tournament were “amazing.”
“It was great,” said Sparks. “You couldn’t ask for a better day.”
Sparks said he would like to put the ice bowl tournament on every year and hopefully it will grow.
“We had a good turnout but there’s lots of other people who play regularly in town,” said Sparks. “Next time, I’m going to specify that it’s a fun, all-ages event. I’ll be encouraging people to come out and play and have a good time.
There were a number of sponsors for the tournament, including Taws, Townsite Brewing, RP Mechanical, Monks on Marine, Coastal Cookery, Capone’s Cellar, Sun Coast Cannabis, 32 Lakes Coffee, Strikers and Hunt Fish Maniac. Sparks said the sponsorships were instrumental in the success of the tournament.
There is a disc golf league in place in the region for people who are interested in the sport. More information can be found on Facebook at qathet Disc Golf Club.
“It’s kind of new, still, in Powell River,” said Sparks. “It’s been three or four years since we’ve had the courses.”
