Players will converge in Clearwater this weekend for the 2024 Canadian Nationals (Harvest Huck) Disc Golf Tournament hosted by the Best Western Plus and Quality Inn and Suites and presented by INNOVA.
It is taking place from Friday Sept. 13 to Sunday, Sept. 15.
Tournament director, Dennis Greffard, is looking forward to hosting the event in Wells Gray Country again this year.
"We are inviting the public to come watch at any of the three locations this year," he said. "They are the Clearwater Ski Hill Disc Golf Course, Wells Gray Golf and RV and the former Lacarya which is now Civilia Golf Retreat in Clearwater."
Greffard noted the tournament events will be taking place at the same time on Friday, Sat. and Sun. at all three locations, starting at 7:00 a.m. and going until 4:00 p.m. all three days.
The events are free of charge for spectators.
"We’ve had players arriving since Labour Day weekend for this national event," Graffard said.
Greffard added currently the prize pool is about $46,000 and he encouraged spectators to visit any of the three locations free of charge to cheer on their favourite players.
The organizer's wife, Christine, originally got him interested in the sport in 2009 when she became involved with the Clearwater Ski Club.
“The club decided to develop a disc golf course in Clearwater in 2010 that would be a summer attraction and the local ski hill executive has been behind the summer sport since the beginning," Greffard said. "With such great support from local businesses like the Best Western Plus and the Quality Inn and Suites as our major sponsors we are seeing more local interest growing with players coming in from all over Canada and North America, an obvious boost to the economy in the area."
Since Disc Golf is a "growing market" not only in B.C. but “around the world” he feels the sport can be a boost to tourism in the region as well long-term.
Watch for our next article following the tournament in our upcoming issue of the Clearwater Times.