Again this year, tournament director Steve Mikovich, was ready to receive hordes of feisty racketlon players at the RA Center. Attendance was lower than the previous year but the excitement was there anyway. The highlight of the weekend, in my humble opinion, is the increasing number of younger players, the largest event being the u-13, there was also, for the first time in Canada, an u-10 category. It looks good for the future as the juniors come with a crew (parents, grand parents). The big guns were there, Pat Laplante jr and Jeremy Easterbrook battled till the end as Pat need to overcome a 4 points deficit in tennis to win it. It was good to see Jeremy returning to a decent form. On the women’s side it was a badminton showdown with specialists Line Bellerose and Karen Li going at it in the finale. Again Line won but it was well contested. All of the junior categories were dominated by the Bedard bros. Nathan won the u-10 against Danik Marion and finished 3rd in u-13. This third place match against Samuel Edwards was a thriller, Nathan needed a 21-6 win in tennis to get to the “gummi arm” which he did win in an admirable rally . Anthony Bedard was unbeaten all weekend long, in u-13 the finalist was Brandan Chow and in U-16 Anthony upseted the favorite, Patrick McClay, a competitive squash player. After being trashed 21-5 in squash, Anthony was able to stay alert all the way to win tennis 21-12 hence winning his first u-16 title. B final was another brotherhood story with the Martynyshyn bros, meeting in the finale. C went to Daniel McClay against Huu-Nghi Quach. In the O-45, the previous 2 years winner Rod Bedard being out of action due to an injury
, long time contender Marc Fortin ceased the opportunity to win his fist title in the seniors.
