August 18, 2009 Canadian Horseshoe Pitching Champ. 2009

2009 Canadian Horseshoe Pitching Championships
A tournament story



The 2009 Canadian Championships were held in Aylmer, Ontario from July 7-11 at the East Elgin Community Complex. There were 212 participants including an impressive record of 48 juniors! The previous record was 37 juniors set two years ago in Woodstock. Again, the vast majority of them came from the Aylmer region. Here are the champions crowned in eight divisions:
Men - Ron PARISIEN, Ont. (66.81%)
Ladies - Sylvianne MOISAN, Que. (81.11%)
Junior Boys - Scott LUMB, Ont. (53.50%)
Junior Girls - Lindsay NOOREN, Ont. (33.54%)
PeeWee - Tyler STEENBERGEN, Ont. (11.14%)
Senior Men - Ric McIVOR, Ont. (43.67%)
Senior Ladies - Angeline MOISAN, Que. (57.43%)
Sr 30' (Elders) - Larry GRIFFITH, Alberta (66.96%)

The complete results are available here, while the game by game summaries will be completed soon.
In the Men's division, Ron Parisien became the first player from Eastern Ontario to capture the coveted National title. In a very well-matched group, Ron lost two games: round 3 to Ed Neeb (who recorded his high game at 75%) despite a 66.7% effort; and round 10 to Tom Gallina (69%). That pivotal match put those two players in a tie for first place with 5 rounds to go, with no less than 6 other contenders in the race, four of them at 7 wins and 3 losses! The last day started with another pivotal match: Ron Parisien (76.1%) beat defending champion Colin Finnie 42-7. Ron continued to win and recorded his high game (85%), round 13, regaining a two-game lead. He clinched the title by defeating Quebec champion Andre Leclerc 41-30 with a 72% and concluded a perfect day with a win against Drew Becker, the group's youngest participant. The longest game (84 shoes) involved Frank Weaver and Michel Forget. Colin Finnie recorded the high game (85.4%) against Horseshoe Canada's Hall of Fame inductee Steve Hohl. The highest losing effort was 70.3% when Andre fell to Ed Neeb (71.9) 41-37 in 64 shoes. Ron Parisien was followed by the same trio who tied for first place two years ago in Woodstock, Adam Ellis again finishing second.

In the Women's division, Sylvianne Moisan captured her 13th Canadian title recording the high average of all the participants in Aylmer with 81.1%. Sylvianne almost ended her tournament with a perfect game when she missed one shoe with the score 36-0. This was also the high game of the tournament with 95.5%. The victim was defending champion Lucille Leis who finished 3rd. Sandy Janssens was runner-up and also concluded her tournament with her high game (88.1%). Sylvianne and Sandy had 3 good battles (the Women played a triple round-robin), Sandy pitching 75% in all three of them. Their third one lasted 94 shoes, longest game of the tournament, and featured an impressive string of 15 consecutive doubles by Sandy! Jane Cordingley almost defeated Sylvianne (round 7). After taking the lead 38-26, and throwing a double, Jane saw Sylvianne rally with 5 doubles in a row to win the game.

In the Senior 30' (Elders) division, it was a close race between defending champion Howard Weitzel, Larry Griffith and Steve Csanadi. In their double round-robin, Steve Csanadi lost 31-42 to Griffith in 64 shoes recording 73.4%, highest losing effort in the group, as Larry shot his best game (79.7%). Then, Csanadi turned around and defeated Howard Weitzel 42-37 also in 64 shoes. Griffith defeated Weitzel 42-39 in 76 shoes with 68.4%. In the second half, Csanadi (65.9) gave Griffith his first loss 45-35 in 88 shoes, longest game of the group. Weitzel stayed in the race by defeating Csanadi 42-14 with his high game of 81.8%. The last round game opposed Griffith vs Weitzel, a win by Howard would have created a 3-way tie for first. The game lasted 70 shoes and both pitched 71.4%. A new champion was crowned when Larry won 40-38! Larry Griffith, a 1982 Alberta Men's champion, joins his late brother Don Griffith on the Canadian Elders champions' list. Don had captured the same title back in 2001.

A new champion was crowned in the Senior Men's division. Defending champion Charlie Fromm had a good start with 9 consecutive wins. He then lost to Marcel Joly but was still in full command at 10-1 with 3 rounds to go. He lost those games including the pivotal next-to-last round to Ric McIvor who shot 52.9%. The new champion Ric McIvor, from Cobourg, Ont., had lost two earlier games, 38-40 to Charlie Fromm and 34-40 to Ken Drury. He recorded the high average at 43.69%, while Charlie Fromm had the high game honors with 66.7%. The longest game of the group was 78 shoes between Sandy Mckenzie and Albert Alderson.

The Senior Ladies division also saw a new champion crowned. Angeline Moisan went undefeated with 12 wins and recorded the high average (57.4%) and high game of the group (80%). Marie Hartman was runner-up. Marie was involved in the longest game at 74 shoes with Trena McLean. Defending champion Ida Boschman, from B.C., could not be present.

As mentioned earlier, a record number of 48 juniors participated this year. As the St.Thomas Times Journal titled on July 14, "Young Aylmer throwers shine". Scotty Lumb and Lindsay Nooren retained their title earned last year in Calgary. Scotty captured his laurels in the last round by defeating the 2007 champion Joe Parker 31-12. Both players were tied at 2 losses before that decisive round. Scotty lost two close games 28-30 (to Joe) and 26-27 (to Brad Acheson). He recorded the high average (53.5) and high game (67.5). Lindsay Nooren went undefeated to capture the Junior Girls title with a 33.4% average. Her high game was a 42.5% against runner-up Kayla Mackay. The PeeWee division was won by Tyler Steenbergen who went undefeated with an 11.1% average, while Stacey Pond was crowned PeeWee Girls champion.

At the banquet held Saturday evening at EECC winners and champions received their awards. Among other special presentations made, Steve Hohl was inducted into the Horseshoe Canada Hall of Fame as outstanding male pitcher. The presentation was made by Steve's long time friend Stan Leis. It was followed by Steve's own memorable speech. This great annual event was superbly hosted by the East Elgin horseshoe club, headed by Keith Lindsay. The club received tremendous support by the EECC, lead by the dynamic Theresa Klachan. Special thanks go to Keith and Theresa and their team, and to all the volunteers (specially the tournament directors Sheryl and Wally Arnold), sponsors, participants and fans who helped make this 2009 tournament a great success!

Andre.

About the AGM:

Cecil Mitchell was elected President, Sheryl Arnold as Treasurer and Mary Holley as Public Relations director. The 2010 Canadians will be held in Victoria, B.C. from August 10-14, while the 2011 Canadians were awarded to Blainville, Quebec (dates to be determined). The provinces' dues to Horseshoe Canada were increased from $1 to $2 per member.



A few articles or media coverage on the 2009 Canadians:

  • July 4, 2009 - St.Thomas Times Journal (http://www.stthomastimesjournal.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1642331)
  • July 9, 2009 - London Free Press (http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Sports/OtherSports/2009/07/09/10072401-sun.html)
  • July 9, 2009 - London Free Press (http://video.calgarysun.ca/archive/source/london-free-press/canadian-horseshoe-pitching-championship/28981253001) Video!
  • July 14, 2009 - St.Thomas Times Journal (http://www.stthomastimesjournal.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1655333&auth=PATRICK%20BRENNAN,%20Times-Journal) titled "Young Aylmer throwers shine"
  • July 18, 2009 - Ottawa Citizen (http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/soccer/Ottawa+first+Lord+ringer/1804500/story.html) about Ron Parisien, 2009 Men's Champion

    Pictures from the 2009 Canadians:

  • coming soon


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