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New horseshoe club location either a go or a toss up

Sooke horseshoe club to build pitches on Sooke River Road site

The Horseshoe Pitching Association was somewhat relieved to hear it may be getting a space for itself - eight pitches worth - in Sooke River Park, but when exactly that will be is yet to be seen.

At least, that’s how Ron Dumont, team captain for Belmont Collision, feels about it.

“Soon as we sign that lease, we can go ahead and start the process,” he said, but noted that getting people interested in a sport without a solid place to play so far has been difficult.

“It’s been five years since we began putting this together… it was hard to keep people interested when they were switching us back and forth from Sooke River Road to John Phillips Park and back to Sooke River.”

The eight-member-strong club - which extends its network of participants towards every corner of the island - is to receive a two-year lease, along with a two-year extension. That, in total, would give the Association four years of playtime as long as the current council remain in place.

Given the club’s previous brushes with city council on the matter however, Dumont is cautiously optimistic.

“Years ago we got all the green lights and donations to help with the clearing for a place of our own, then all of a sudden the new council came in and nicked the whole thing,” he said, adding that it took a lot of work just to be heard.

“We kept pestering them so they were going to put us in the John Phillips Memorial Park, then the council changed and so did our location again.”

Still, things are looking up for the up-and-coming Sooke Horseshoe Pitching Association.

“If we get the pits and things and people start using them, then it’ll be hard to change the policy and toss us around again,” Dumont said.