Some Elks will be lining up this week to take a shot at their own targets for a change.
The Okotoks Elks Club No. 31 is hosting the national service group’s Canadian Darts Championships from May 23-26 at the Elks Hall in Okotoks.
“There are going to be 85 players from B.C, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon-N.W.T, Ontario and Nunavut,” said Sam Young, Okotoks Elks Club dart spokesman. “There are a lot of good dart players coming here and anybody can win it on any given day.”
The Okotoks Elks make up nearly half of the 16-person Team Alberta. The club was also well represented last year on the team, which finished third in Yellowknife.
“B.C. won it last year, but I think Alberta has a good chance this year,” Young said.
The tournament will consist of the players on each team — eight men and eight women — playing in five different matches including singles, doubles, mixed doubles, mixed quadruples, and men or women’s quadruples. The playoffs will be on Saturday afternoon at approximately 3 p.m.
The games will be 501 where each player or team starts with a score of 501 and points are subtracted from the total of each turn of three darts. For example, if player opens with a score of 26, their new total is 475.
The game ends when a player “doubles out” making his total zero. For example if a player has 20 points remaining, he can hit “double 10” — the outer frame of “10” — to end the game.
A player can also double-out with a 50, which is bull’s-eye.
“A perfect score — the highest you can get is 180 — that’s three triple 20’s,” Young said. “You can start to double out at 170 — two triple 20s and a bull’s-eye.”
Young originally was a spare for the tournament when he finished ninth at the provincials in March. He lost in a playoff when Okotokian Roy Andreason went out by hitting a double 10.
However, Young got back in when an Edmonton player could not make it due to a family commitment.
“I was telling everybody I will be too busy helping at the tournament, I’m not going to be a spare,” Young said with a laugh. “Now I have got to play.”
There is a pool of spare players supplied by the host club for teams, such as Nunavut, which may not be able to bring a full contingent of 16 players.
The other members of Team Alberta from the Okotoks Elks are Nadine MacLean, Pat Riehl, Priscilla Caines, Richard Galico, Roy Andreason and Joel Turcotte.
The tournament will start at 9 a.m. on May 23 with Okotoks Mayor Bill Roberson throwing out the opening dart.
For more information concerning the tournament go to www.elks-canada.org and scroll down to National Sporting Events — 2012.
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Dart facts
Diameter of dartboard - 18 inches Height of board from floor - five-feet, eight inchesDistance from bull's-eye - seven-feet, nine inches"Bacon and Eggs" - a score of 26. Not good. It is when, a player aims for triple 20 with all three of his or her darts. Instead they hit a single 20, and the neighbouring numbers 1 and 5.
