The PGA of B.C. announced its nominees for its annual awards on Wednesday and there was some Island flavour to the list.
In the running for awards are Jason Giesbrecht of Royal Colwood who is up for the Dick Munn Golf Professional of the Year; Olympic View’s Gordy Scutt, who is a finalist for the Fred Wood Class A Professional of the Year; Nate Ollis of Cordova Bay who is up for the Jock McKinnon Membership of the Year award; Gord Melissa of Pheasant Glen Golf Resort (Jack McLaughlin Junior Golf Leader of the Year; Bear Mountain Golf Resort (Golf Shop of the Year); Mac McLeod of Royal Colwood (Alvie Thompson Teacher of the Year); Cordova Bay Golf Club (Facility of the Year) and Doug Hastie of Bear Mountain (Davie Black Professional Development Award).
PGA of B.C. members have until Sept. 15 to vote on the nominees, and the winners are announced at the annual awards banquet Oct. 11 at the River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond.
Junior water polo players shine
One current and one former resident of Victoria are helping Canada rapidly rise in the world of women’s water polo.
Victoria resident and Island Water Polo Club member Peggy Jean Allin and former Langford resident Emma Fraser, who now resides in Edmonton, were named last month to the Canadian junior national team that is competing at the FINA World Women’s Junior Water Polo Championship in Volos, Greece.
Allin, Fraser and their Canadian teammates will play in today’s fifth-place game after losing 10-2 to the Netherlands in Thursday’s quarter-finals. Canada picked up group wins over Slovakia and Serbia, with a loss to Italy, but a crossover win over New Zealand sent the Canadians into the quarters. Canada will face the U.S. today in the battle for fifth.
The Netherlands, Greece, Russia and Spain will square off in today’s semifinals.
The Canadian team qualified for the world junior championship after finishing first at the 2016 Junior Pan American Championship in Edmonton last summer.
Attwell on the road to world title
Victoria’s Erin Attwell will sport the Maple Leaf at the final UCI road cycling event of the year, the world championships in Bergen, Norway.
Attwell was named this week to the Canadian women’s team which will compete at the world championships taking place Sept. 16-24. Attwell will compete in the Junior Women’s division, alongside teammate Simone Boilard of Quebec City, Maggie Coles-Lyster of Maple Ridge and Laurie Jussaume of Contrecour, Que.
Driver Okell best in the West
Bill Okell is peaking at the right time.
The Victoria race car driver has punched his ticket to the Sports Car Club of America national championships thanks to a strong finish to the Western Conference season. Okell made a late move in the points standings and finished with win in Shelton, Washington, last weekend to claim the Western Conference championship by a single point.
Okell, behind the wheel of his San Francisco-based Huffaker Engineering Austin Healey, finished the regular season with two wins and a track record at Buttonwillow Raceway Park in Bakersfield, California.
Okell now turns his attention to the SCCA national finals Sept. 25 to Oct. 1 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indiana.
