If being bowled over by talent is up your alley, there's an exciting weekend in store.
Between 120-150 bowlers and guests are in town for the Timmins Invitational being held Feb. 15-18 at Mid-Town Bowl.
"It’s a tournament that’s been going on the same weekend for the past 30-plus years. We’ve expanded the tournament so it now starts on Thursday evening and it ends on Sunday night, it’s really a full weekend of events," said Al Paquette, a veteran bowler who has been organizing the local tournament for a decade.
Bowlers from across eastern Canada, including Newfoundland, Quebec, and Ontario — including local athletes — will be competing for over $50,000 in prizes. It's all open to the public to watch from the bleachers that will be set up in the local alley.
“It is a competitive event so there will be some of the best competitors in the country here, multiple national champions will be here, previous champions of this event will be here. There will be a lot of good competition, it can get pretty serious,” he said.
The roster includes men and women competitors ranging in age from 18 to around 90 years.
“We think of bowling as sometimes a recreational sport and not really a competitive sport, but you do see a lot of personalities come out and excitement come out in some pretty exciting shots,” he said.
In recent years, the Timmins tournament has seen huge growth.
That is largely due to support from the municipal accommodation tax (MAT). Since 2019, the city has been collecting a four-per-cent charge on short-term accommodations. Half of what's collected is redistributed by council, and the other half is reinvested into the community through a not-for-profit committee.
While the cash can't be added to the tournament's prize board, it is helping organizers cover expenses.
"So that’s allowing us to provide more money to the bowlers, which increases our prize board, which makes it more enticing for bowlers to come and play because the city’s supporting us,” said Paquette.
For Paquette, bowling has always been part of his life.
"My dad was an avid bowler when I was a kid. It was always come to the bowling alley, come watch dad bowl with his buddies on his league nights and following him around to tournaments. That’s kind of where I grew my passion for the sport and the bowling alley’s always been my second home. Over the past 20 years, I myself have become a competitive bowler travelling across the country attending numerous events similar to this one,” he said.
It's a sport he's always been good at, which helped him stick with it.
"A lot of my friends grew up in bowling as well and it’s just something I truly loved and I was always good at it. Once you’re good at something, you tend to keep up with it,” he said.
He's competed in national championships in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, and coached in Newfoundland. He was even on TSN back in 2007, right before the station stopped airing youth bowling events.
One of his biggest accomplishments came around 2019, when he bowled a perfect game.
“That’s feat that not many five-pin bowlers have. I was lucky enough to do that,” he said.
The schedule for this weekend is:
Thursday, Feb. 15 - High roller event
- 4 p.m. - registration
- 4:30 p.m. - practice
- 5 p.m. - start
Friday, Feb. 16
- 10 a.m. - registration for first qualifying shift
- 10:30 a.m. - practice
- 11 a.m. - start
- 6 p.m. - registration for best ball event
- 6:30 p.m. practice
- 7 p.m. - start
Saturday, Feb. 17
- 7:30 a.m. - registration for second qualifying shift
- 8 a.m. - practice
- 8:30 a.m. - start
- 2 p.m. - registration for third qualifying shift
- 2:30 p.m. - practice
- 3 p.m. - start
Sunday, Feb. 18 - Championship
- 8:30 a.m. - practice
- 9 a.m. - start
Mid-Town Bowl will be closed to public bowling when the competition is on. There is still rock and bowl on Saturday night.