A tradition dating back to the 1980s, members of the Williams Lake RCMP hosted its annual RCMP Charity Golf Tournament Wednesday in the lakecity.
Hosted at the Williams Lake Golf and Tennis Club, RCMP members joined WLGTC players and local businesses for a fun-filled day on the links in support of local organizations.
In all, 22 teams and 89 players took part. It was the first time the tournament had been held in the past three years due to the wildfire evacuation in 2017 and the wildfire smoke in 2018.
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“It was super successful,” said Williams Lake RCMP Const. Taylor Callens, noting final numbers are still being tallied, however, he estimates roughly $13,000 has been raised for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Williams Lake and two yet-to-be named youth organizations.
“Everyone had fun, prizes went really well and people definitely shelled out their cash for us.”
Callens and fellow Williams Lake RCMP Const. Dan Cohen were passed the torch this year to organize the tournament from past RCMP members such as Grant Martin, Warren Brown and Mike Hacker — who have kept the tournament alive for years.
“Unfortunately with the RCMP people get transferred on a regular basis but Mike, Warren and Grant, me and Dan decided it was something we wanted to keep going because we knew how successful it was and how much the community enjoyed the tournament,” Callens said.
Brown, who now works as the North District RCMP District Commander for Northern B.C. in Prince George and is the former Williams Lake RCMP inspector, said it was a great day and he was happy to help give back to the community.
Martin, meanwhile, is the former staff sergeant of the Williams Lake detachment, and said he’s missed just one year of playing in the tournament since 1995.
“The great thing about this tournament is when we started it that was our mandate — to always pick a local charity — and to give back to the community,” Martin said.
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Callens, meanwhile, added he’d like to give a huge shout out to all the businesses and community members who donated.
Speaking to the participants, Callens stressed the importance of buying local to support community businesses that, in turn, give back to the community.
Winning the tournament was the team of Steve Simms, Rolf Shuetze, Jason Kobelt and James Pederson, who fired an 11-under-par 60 in the four-person best-ball format.
sports@wltribune.com
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