RED ROCK 2026 - Success
The 4th edition of the Red Rock Open has already come and gone, and it was an awesome event! No less than 234 players came to the Rodd Royalty in Charlottetown to compete and every event was a fierce competition! Considering that more than half the Executive board had just been elected 2 weeks before this event took place, I can honestly say that the whole team knocked it out of the park with how smoothly things ran all weekend long.
First, I would like to congratulate all the winners of our different events:
- Mixed Doubles – Nick Smith and Ashley Foster
- Women’s Singles – Tina Ouellette
- Men’s Doubles – Nick Smith and Drake Berry
- Mixed Triples – Drake Berry, Nick Smith and Brianna Robia
- Women’s Doubles – Ashley Foster and Brianna Robia
- Men’s Singles – Tom Holden
A huge amount of congratulations also goes to our local PEI players who proudly represented us on stage during the weekend: Reece Williams falling short in the Women’s Doubles finals with her partner Tina Ouellette and Dylan Jenkins shooting a very respectable 78 average in the final match of the Men’s Singles against Tom Holden, eventually falling to Tom 5-3. Great work Reece and Dylan!
One of my favorite things from this past weekend is the number of Youth players that participated in the event, and they didn’t just come to play, they showed that they can compete with the adults and they had awesome results! Abby Harty and her partner Cole Morrison made it to the Mixed Doubles finals Friday night. Abby came back with a great performance in Women’s singles on Saturday, making it all the way to the Semi Finals. Peyton Sibbick-Burnett had previously made the Quarter Finals against Abby. Peyton later made it to the stage in the Mixed Triples with her partners Rob Sibbick and Debbie Saunders. Let’s not forget Rhyder Oliver and Eddie Hebert who made it to the Semi Finals in the Mixed Triples. And last but not least, Rhyder made it all the way to the Semi Finals against Tom Holden in the Men’s Singles on Sunday! How is this kid only 13 years old??? Wow! Needless to say that the youth players of the Maritimes definitely can be proud of all they accomplished this weekend with the quality of players all around the room. Congratulations to each and, every one of you!
I want to thank my team of board members: Andy, Shawn, Anne, Darla and Carson for all the work accomplished. Each and, every one of you made sure that you were in the right place at the right time throughout the weekend to allow the event to run super smoothly from beginning to end. To Chris, our new VP in charge of running the event through DartConnect: you have learned a great deal this weekend and you showed that you can take over these events and will do a great job running them in the future. High five to you for all the great work you did! Ricky, our newly appointed equipment manager did an awesome job with the setup and tear down. The whole process would not have been as efficient without you and I am grateful for having you on our team! Thank you to Gerald Gillcrist for being there for the full setup and tear down process, your help has definitely not gone unnoticed. Andrew Brown and Mark MacEachern also deserve a high five for helping out with the setup and tear down. Thank you!
I cannot go without thanking other special volunteers that gave their precious time during the weekend: Erin Chaisson and Melissa Muttart for doing the 50/50 and the Quad board and Colleen Belanger and Sandra Williams for helping them out. These ladies did a great job and it is greatly appreciated! Jennifer Silliker and her daughter Paige who were there for tear down and helping out any little way they could during the weekend, thank you for being there!
Shoutout to Steve Foster and Phoenix for doing a quick fundraiser for our Youth players this weekend with a raffle for a dart shirt. This allowed us to raise close to $200. Thank you, Steve.
Thank you to Owl's Hollow in Charlottetown for their contribution and supporting our event.
Last but not least, I cannot go without thanking my better half Sandra and her daughter Reece. Without them, all this wouldn’t be the same. Sandra helps me keep my sanity through all the stress and always has the right words to figure out how to calm me and help me refocus. And Reece. Watching you progress in darts is absolutely awesome, but being at the oche is never enough for you. You’re always around to help with hauling equipment during setup and tear down. Thank you for all you do for darts, both at the oche, and behind the scenes.
Thank you to the Rodd Royalty for hosting us again this year.
Thank you to all the players who came as far as Quebec and Ontario to play because without you all, none of this would be possible.
We look forward to seeing everyone again at the East Coast Open in April!