Registration opened on Monday, August 13 for the 2018 B.C. Provincials — a Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) B-Tier tournament to be held at both the Wycliffe and College of the Rockies courses on October 6 and 7.
Serge Gosselin, a long-time disc sport enthusiast and promoter, is the director of the tournament, supported by other avid supporters of the sport including Wycliffe Course designers and builders Fraser Bowden and Ben Loggains, as well as Kevin King, Kristy Shields and Mike Mahar.
“It’s a joint effort for our club,” Gosselin explains, speaking of the East Kootenay Disc Golf Club. “Our club expands from Elkford all the way to Cranbrook and so it just goes to show how disc golf in these little communities around the East Kootenays has started to grow and we’re all banding together to be able to showcase what we have in this part of the province.”
Gosselin told the Townsman that he has been throwing frisbees since he was a little kid and got heavily into competitive ultimate frisbee in the early 1990s.
“It was about 20 to 24 years ago that somebody showed up to an ultimate practise and he had a couple of disc golf discs,” Gosselin recalls. “That introduced me to the sport and I kind of fell in love with it and I’ve been hooked ever since. Been helping to organize tournaments and courses and everything ever since.”
He has played on pretty much every disc golf course in B.C. as well as Alberta, Montana and Washington, and he says the new course built in Wycliffe last year is among the best he’s ever played.
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“Wycliffe’s only going to get better, as we put in new tee pads and every year we’re going to do a little bit of trimming and it’s just going to get better and better every year,” he said. “For being as new as it is, it’s incredible what shape it’s in.”
He adds that Cranbrook is a great location for a tournament because we have two courses in such close proximity — the Wycliffe Regional Park course is only about a 15 minute drive away from the COTR course. Players will play on both courses on the Saturday and everyone will be at Wycliffe on the Sunday.
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They are currently looking for community sponsorship to cover the cost of hosting the tournament, as well as looking to build a pool of money to purchase disc golf related prizes that will be awarded for things like longest put and closest shot to the pin. Additionally, having greater sponsorship and pro-pool will help to draw touring professionals to the competition.
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“We’re also looking for help to be able to boost up the amateur prizes,” Gosselin said, “but the amateurs are being treated just as well as the pros if not better.”
There is a $100 registration fee for the pro levels, $80 for most of the amateur levels and $45 for the juniors. Registration closes one week prior to the tournament and there will not be registration available the day of. Follow the link here to sign up.
Absolutely anybody can register, there will be around 15 different divisions covering all age groups and skill levels.
They will also likely be putting out a call for volunteers but they don’t yet know the exact numbers they will need.