For 34 hours this weekend, ultimate frisbee players across Canada will join forces on the field of play in the Great Canadian Ultimate Game.
The coast-to-coast event starts today at 2 p.m. PT in St. John's, Nfld., and ends at midnight Sunday in Victoria, while the Prince George leg of the game runs from 7-8 p.m. tonight.
Players in each city on the game schedule play for one hour, representing the Red or White teams. At the end of each game, the finishing city will text the score to organizers of the game in the next city on the schedule and they will pick up where the previous game left off. That continues every hour until the last city, Victoria, plays its game to determine the final outcome.
Money raised from player donations collected before each game will be used by Ultimate Canada to develop the country's youth ultimate programs.
Locally, the game will be played at Spruceland elementary school field, where Prince George Ultimate has its league games Tuesday and Thursday nights until June 28. New players are welcome to join.
"Some communities have designated teams but we're pretty ad-hoc in Prince George and we just match up the teams so they're equal," said Greg Jonuk, president of Prince George Disc Sports.
"We ask people to bring red and white shirts."
P.G. Disc Sports is hosting a tournament on Saturday, June 25, which Jonuk says is open to drop-in players, as are the league games during the week. The club currently has about 50 players who are divided into four teams.
To try to keep the teams evenly-matched for the Thursday games, the club has started a parity league. Each player is assigned a salary value, based on ability and statistics which are recorded on a spreadsheet. Teams are restricted by a salary cap and when a team goes over the cap, trades are made to reduce the mock payroll.
For more information go to the club website at pgultimate.bc.ca.
