Braving the rain, wind, snow and sleet, 18 people last week competed in an inaugural Rainy River Community College disc golf tournament.

The 24-hole tournament, sponsored by Dynamic Discs, drew participants from all over the state to take on the newly-constructed disc golf course at the college.

“This tournament was a ribbon cutting of sorts for this course and we are very happy to see so many faces from all over the state coming and enjoying this newly-formed course,” said Chris Beyer, tournament director.

Disc golf is a flying disc game, as well as a precision and accuracy sport, in which individual players throw a flying disc at a target. According to the Professional Disc Golf Association, the object of the game is to traverse a course from beginning to end in the fewest number of throws of the disc.

Receiving first place honors in the Oct. 20 tournament was Greg Fagereng of Brainerd; second place was secured by Josh Johnson of Lake Shore; and third place went to Brandon McVey of Coon Rapids. Steve Hanson and Tyler Olstead of International Falls, came in at fourth and fifth place, respectively.

The RRCC disc golf course is open year round and features 12 holes with two tee boxes each for advanced and beginners alike. The course is sponsored by the Koochiching County Board, the International Falls City Council, the Rainy River Community College Foundation, and the RRCC student life fund.

Brad Krasaway, director of student life at RRCC, said the amount of local support the course has received “has been shocking.”

"I have been receiving multiple emails, phone calls and even a few hand-written letters thanking us for getting the ball rolling and establishing a course here in town,” he said. “There have been a number of families, students and people from all walks of life enjoying this course.”

Krasaway noted disc golf is such an enjoyable, inexpensive and healthy sport that is free and open to the public. The Sports Shop, located on Third Street, sells discs for the sport, he said. 

“A lot of people walk for exercise and enjoy the outdoors already, this is just adding a fun, competitive, component to it,” he said. “There is already a couple of groups who get together every week at the same time and meet to play...That is why we wanted to host this course here, it allows everyone to come and enjoy campus and our community in a healthy and fun way.”