Pickleball players from around the province flocked to Vernon for the Royal Lepage Frostbite Men's Doubles Classic Saturday, March 15. 

The early-season round robin tournament, hosted by the Vernon Pickleball Association (VPA), saw a total of 61 teams and 122 players compete in a number of different divisions and age groups. 

"It's a fairly high standard. We have a full referee contingent and a really great organizational team here," said tournament director Richard Chambers as the action got underway Saturday morning. 

With athletes from the Lower Mainland, the Interior and a tonne of locals, the Frostbite Classic was one of the first tournaments in the province and organizers were pleased with the sign-up, as well as the level of play, especially in the higher skilled divisions. 

"The hand-eye coordination, the speed, and the dexterity of soft shots and hard shots is pretty impressive," Chambers said. 

The tournament was made possible with the work of 30 volunteers, who among other functions manned a command centre keeping track of the many scores that came in, determining the playing schedule and assigning referees. 

"There's a bunch of complexities to it and we've just got a terrific group of volunteers," Chambers said. 

Ten divisions meant 10 gold medals were awarded at the end of the tournament; the higher numbers indicate the higher skill level divisions. Here are the results:

Skill 3.0 Age 13-59

• Gold: Brad Tomlinson, Bobby Tomlinson

• Silver: Darren Wright, Marshall Melnychuk

• Bronze: Mark Jakovcic, Bowen Assman

Skill 3.0 Age 60+

• Gold: Garth Rowe, Ken Wright

• Silver: Paul Couch, Duncan Cameron

• Bronze: William Farmer, Peter Love

Skill 3.5 Age 13-55

• Gold: John Marollano, Danny Lasante

• Silver: Jesse LaFountain, Marc Desrosiers

• Bronze: Jens Lohmann, Periklis Vitoratos

Skill 3.5 Age 56-66

• Gold: Gordon Penn, Gary Edwards

• Silver: Ken James, Sandy Steinley

• Bronze: Bruce Kinshella, David Ringham

Skill 3.5 Age 65+

• Gold: Douglas Hogg, Brock Waldron

• Silver: Lionel Gray, Colin Greveling

• Bronze: Juerg Feldmann, Mark Forsythe

Skill 4.0 Age 13-49

• Gold: Rocco Hoeller, Blake Culbert

• Silver: Vij Mathew, Trevor Miyazaki

• Bronze: Mike Gomes, Raymond Ong

Skill 4.0 Age 50-57

• Gold: Sergio Da Silva, Jared Enns

• Silver: MG Kong, Storm Moore

• Bronze: Mike Macintosh, John Desaulniers

Skill 4.0 Age 58+

• Gold: Kevin Thomas, Steven Johnston

• Silver: Winston Seto, Rick Klein

• Bronze: Sean Kennedy, Paramjit Gill

Skill 4.5 Age 13+

• Gold: Thomas Elwell, Carlos DaRosa

• Silver: Rob McMillan, Chayton Hauberg

• Bronze: Dale Rourke, Anton Venter

Skill 5.0 Any Age

• Gold: Bob McIntosh, Matthew Seward

• Silver: Kyle Crowder, Brett Forsythe

• Bronze: Brett MacPherson, Kalvin Burgess

Coming up at the Vernon pickleball facility, the annual Royal Lepage Women’s tournament takes place on April 12. There is also a mixed tournament on May 10 (a sanctioned event), and the BC Pickleball Championships take place July 24-27.