From Campbell River to Victoria, pickleball players from across the region converged on Fuller Lake Park on Aug. 15 and 16 for the 2015 Vancouver Island Pickleball Championships.
The field included 18 women's doubles teams, 15 men's doubles teams, and a whopping 24 mixed doubles teams, as well as eight singles players.
"There were many hard-fought and exciting matches involving the best players on the Island," Vancouver Island Pickleball Association president Ken Holman said.
The big winner of the weekend was Nanaimo's Nancy Stern, who won gold in all three of the events she entered: women's doubles (alongside Pauline Davidson), mixed doubles (alongside John Savoy) and women's singles.
Stern and Davidson beat the team of Gwen Chew and Marilyn Moen in the women's doubles final, while Shirley Moore and Arlene Thorne won the women's doubles consolation over Leslie Black and Gwen Hay.
The men's doubles final went to Ronnie Pitcher and Garth Watkins over Michael Seal and Bob Fish, while Savoy and Vaughan Allin won the consolation bracket over Alex Gendron and Buzz Handford.
Stern and Savoy won the mixed doubles final over Davidson and Barry Bissonnette, while Evelyn Kaatz and Bill Dumper beat Beverly De Haitre and Rick Adie in the consolation final.
Phil Cowley Jr. won the men's singles over Bissonnette, and Phil Cowley Sr. won the men's singles consolation over Neil Rich. Stern defeated Kerry Savory to win the women's singles.