PITTSBURG — If you host it, they will come — and they certainly did this year.
More than 30 disc golf competitors took part in the 2nd annual SEK Ice Bowl on Saturday, a local charity event and a part of the Disc Golf Monkey Ice Bowl Tour. At the inaugural event last year, only six players participated.
“If it keeps growing like this, I’m going to be tickled pinked in a couple of years,” said event organizer Kevin Elrod. The Ice Bowl began more than 20 years ago in Columbia, Mo., as a way to raise awareness about the sport and make money for local charities. Now, the event even takes place internationally, with the Springfield-based group Disc Golf Monkey helping to host eight of the tournaments, from a stop in Miami, Okla., to Joplin, Mo.
One of the goals of Ice Bowl is to generate some positive publicity for disc golf., based on our mission of raising money for charity. Here's some recent stories:
Happy New Year everyone as we officially open the Ice Bowl 2010 season with three events, with only one of them being played in snow, according to this map that shows the snow cover in the USA. However, it's going to be cold, even in South Carolina today.
If the weather during the last week of December is any kind of harbinger of what it's going to be like for January, and even February, then this could be one of the frostiest Ice Bowls in recent memories. This means there are going to be lots of potential wimps who awake Ice Bowl morning and ponder, "Extra sleep in a warm bed" or "Do the right thing...play Ice Bowl." Of course, I'm remain confident there will once again be a large contingent of players who will support their local Ice Bowls again this year.
We're very interested in getting good photos that show some of the nasty weather we may be enduring this season. Please filter your photos (preferably high resolution) through your Ice Bowl TD, or send them directly to
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.
We’re now gearing up for Ice Bowl, which will be played a course near you during January and February. The first Ice Bowl was held nearly a quarter of century ago as a day to get people out to play some disc golf in mid-winter. Since then, it’s grown to include nearly 200 events that are dedicated to raising money to combat hunger and other charitable causes, while having fun and showing that disc golfers care about their communities.
With some 30 events not reporting, Ice Bowl 2009’s 190 events drew a total of 7,958 players, who raised $224,162 in cash and 55,599 pounds of food, primarily for local food banks and other charities. While a bit short of our lofty goal of $275,000, this is still a very impressive number, especially because of the lousy economy. All the TDs, organizers, and players who helped add to the total should feel a sense of accomplishment and pride. Besides helping those in need, raising money for a local charity puts our sport in an excellent light.
We congratulate John Bird and the Mile High Disc Golf Club for raising the most money in 2009, and the other top fundraising cities that are listed below, along with what they raised, and the charity they supported. We thank our sponsors—Innova Champion Discs, Gateway Disc Sports, Discraft, Little Flyers, and Millennium—for sponsoring Ice Bowl. We also extend a special shout-out to our clothing supplier, Eagle Products.
Raising the most money for charity. Mile High Disc Golf Club (CO)—$14,794 & 150 lbs for the Food Bank of the Rockies, Arvada Community Food Ban, and the Jeffco Open Space Foundation.
Raising the 2nd most money for charity. Huntington Disc Golf (WV) —$11,922 and 683 pounds of food.
Raising the third most money for charity. Saint Cloud (MN) Disc Golf Club—$9,316 and 143 pounds for the Salvation Army and the Catholic Charities Food Shelf.
Raising the 4th most money for charity. Charlotte Disc Golf Club—$7,700 Second Harvest Food Bank & The Raptor Center
Raising the 5th most money for charity. Seven Hills Hurlers (Tallahassee, FL) c/o James Farmer—$7,111 and 3,054 pounds for the America’s Second Harvest of the Big Bend.
Raising the 6th most money for charity.Niagara Region Disc Golf, John & Eileen Mikulek, Buffalo, NY—$5,500 for Hunters Hope Foundation. 100 custom bag tags from Little Flyers.
Raising the 7th most money for charity.Tulsa Disc Sports Association—$5,081& 731 pounds of food for the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma.
Raising the 8th most money for charity.Rod & Pam Seely of Durham Discs, Durham, New Brunswick—$4,300 & 22 pounds of food for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of New Brunswick and the Stanley Food Bank.
Raising the 9th most money for charity.Kansas City Flying Disc Club—$4,300 & 20 pounds of food for the Bishop Sullivan Center.
Raising the 10th most money for charity.Joshua Fritz (Palisades, CO). $4,046 and 900 pounds of food for the Grand Valley Catholic Outreach.
Raising the 11th most money for charity.River City Flyers (St. Louis)—$3,602 & 450 pounds of food for the St Louis Food Bank.
Raising the 12th most money for charity.David Stidham Buffamville Dam, Massachusetts. $3,329 and 444 pounds of food for the Haiti Children’s Fund-Maneska School. 1 set of Gateway Disc Sports Putters.
Raising the 13th (tie) most money for charity.Air Capital Disc Golf Club (Wichita, KS). $3,329 and 30 pounds of food for Kansas food bank.
Raising the 13th (tie( most money for charity.Greater Cincinnati Flying Disc Association. $2,950 for the Fairhaven Rescue Mission.
Raising the 15th most money for charity.Indianapolis Disc Golf Club. $2,900 for Gleaners Food Bank.1 set of Gateway Disc Sports putters.
Raising the most food (2000 pounds minimum). Jennifer Knisley of Oranglevale, California—11,601 pounds of food & $1,400 for Soroptimist International of Rocklin Loomis & Placer Food Bank. 1 Ozark Backpack from Gateway Disc Sports.
For a full listing of reporting Ice Bowls from 2009, check out the media link above.
The fundraising goal for Ice Bowl 2010 is $250,000. It’s our hope to have at least one official Ice Bowl in every state and province in Canada, and more countries in Europe.
