The inaugural Trilogy Challenge Disc Golf Tournament was held Saturday at the Patrick Park Disc Golf Course in the city.
“We were hoping for 20 entries in our first year, but we had 35 disc golfers out throwing on Saturday,” said local tournament director Trevor Lyons. “We were very pleased with the turn out, and the event went very well for a first effort.
Most of the entries were local participants but Lyons added people traveled to play in the tournament from Regina, North Battleford and Benito, MB.
In the end the top disc golfers were;
• Men’s Winner: Shane Zellweger of Regina
• Women’s Winner: Jocelyn Beehler of Benito
• Junior Men’s Winner: Joshua Istace, Moosomin
• Junior Women’s Winner: Caitlin Lyons, Yorkton
• Men’s Closest to the pin: Shane Zellweger of Regina
• Ladies’ Closest to the Pin: Kim Ashton of Regina
The tournament was a Trilogy Challenge event, which is supported by three well-known disc golf manufacturers; Dynamic Discs, Latitude 64°, and Westside Discs. Players received a disc from each company as part of the entry fee.
Players were only allowed to use the three discs they received in their player pack.
“We chose the Trilogy Challenge because it’s a great event for new players of which we have a growing number locally because they got discs they can use for years,” said Lyons.
“And since everyone used the same discs for the first time, it evened the playing field a bit too.”
The Trilogy Challenge series was also chosen because it is an established series which has been highly successful all over the world, said Lyons.
In 2014, 273 Trilogy Challenge events were held in 44 different U.S. states and eight countries with more than 10,000 players.
“Being part of something that has caught the attention of players worldwide was something we felt would work here, and the turn out Saturday proved it,” said Lyons.
The local event also builds on growth in the sport.
Lyons said 2015 has been a great in the region with new courses established in Springside, Sandy Beach on Good Spirit Lake, Carlton Trail Regional Park, Fort Qu’Appelle, Lemberg, and one planned for installation in Melville.
“We’ve worked on most of these projects,” said Lyons who has helped in the design work of the courses along with Calvin Daniels.
“It is great to see these communities show interest in the sport and be so willing to put courses in,” added Daniels. “Disc golf is such a great sport recreation which is affordable and playable by almost everyone, so having more courses locally is great.”
Daniels said that was another great aspect of the tournament Saturday as there were delegations from Asessippi Resort and Birtle, MB. in attendance.
“They came down to get a better understanding of what a disc golf course entails, and more about the sport in general because they are both looking at creating 18-target courses,” he said. “I think they both left feeling much more confident about their plans for courses, and I am confident we’ll see course in both locales by spring 2016.”
To build on that growth there is a plan being formulated to establish a Parkland Association of Disc Golf to promote all courses in the region, and to support the sport in any way possible, added Lyons.
“We have a tournament at the SandyBeach course on Sept. 12, and once that is in the books we’ll get down to details toward creating the Association,” said Daniels, who added one of the reasons for a group will be to create a tournament series in the Parkland area in 2016.
The series will include Trilogy Challenge II at Patrick Park Disc Golf Course in Yorkton on Saturday, Aug. 27.
“We’re already making plans that will see us go with two rounds of 18 on the day to give players more disc golf,” said Lyons. “We’ll also be looking at adding a Masters Division for those 50-plus, and a few other things to make the event bigger and better.
“But before that there are plans for a night tourney on Halloween, and we are looking at an event in early December at Patrick Park which will focus on collecting toys and food for the Salvation Army Christmas campaign.”
For anyone interested in learning more about the sport the local group will be at City Wide Registration at the Gallagher Centre this evening.
