«It was absolutely amazing,» said Diane Lacroix, one of the organizers for the Russell Curling Club J.P. St-Pierre Memorial Golf Tournament.
«The weather was perfect,» she said. «People were ecstatic about being out together.»
The golf tournament honours the memory of Jean-Paul St-Pierre, beloved mayor of Russell Township, who died in October 2014. At the time he was campaigning for reelection.
The club launched its memorial tournament the following year and saw it become an increasingly popular summer sports event. The tournament was suspended in 2020 because of the pandemic. With the relaxation now of public healh restrictions against social gatherings the club has revived the tournament this year for its official sixth edition.
The tournament took place July 16 at the Cloverdale Golf Link in Winchester. Lacroix noted that this edition of the tournament saw a record number of participants with 144 golfers entered.
The team of Brad Dow of Metcalfe and Ryan Cochrane, Jamie Cochrane, and Mike Cochrane, all of Russell, earned the tournament overall scoring title with an 11-under-par result.
The tournament raised about $13,000, a record amount for the event. The money will go towards the Russell Curling Club’s youth development and Learn to Curl programs and also assist with rink maintenance costs at the clubhouse.
Lacroix credited both participants and sponsors with making the sixth edition of the tournament «a great success» over the weekend.»
