The B.C. Horseshoe Championships proved to be an eventful weekend for Nicole Dabney and her father Jack from Port Alberni.
Nicole Dabney, from the Dry Creek Horseshoe Club, placed third in the province Sept. 4-5—even beating a new B.C. Horseshoe Hall of Fame inductee in the process.
READ: Port Alberni horseshoe pitchers head to provincial championships
Jack Dabney missed the provincials due to a health emergency. “My dad ended up in the hospital on the Wednesday before the tournament so he wasn’t cleared to go to the tournament,” Nicole said. An unidentified emergency brought him to West Coast General Hospital in Port Alberni for treatment.
“He said he still wanted to come with me and play but then the doctors said he (had) to be admitted another day or two.”
Nicole Dabney made the trip to Abbotsford alone. Her first day competing in the women’s category didn’t go so well, she admitted. “I was in my head a lot…I ended up placing third after having a rough first day but did really well on the second.”
She was in fifth place when she faced Hall of Fame inductee Viviann Fendle of Penticton. She won that match, pitching her up to third place. Fendle ended up finishing second, with Heidi Haraga of Abbotsford winning the provincial title.
Fendle and retiring B.C. Horseshoe Association president Tom Moffatt were both inducted into the BC Horseshoe Hall of Fame during the finals.
As for Jack Dabney, “he’s OK now and recovering.”