Inaugural darts tourney attracts 30

The future of darts in the Central Lakes region is looking bright.

The inaugural Central Lakes Darts Tournament was held on Saturday in a purpose-built darts room in a Cromwell packhouse.

More than 40 players from Alexandra, Cromwell, Glenorchy, Queenstown and Wanaka came together for the event in the hope of being crowned Central Lakes champion.

For organiser Darryn van der Velden, seeing his dream come together was "amazing".

"It’s been a lot of positive energy, there’s great excitement for the region and I think everyone’s had a great day."

Professional players Desi Mercer, Darren Dummigan and Tahi Parata were also on hand to wow players with their precision and he hoped they had provided motivation for the local players, van der Velden said.

"It’s been massive inspiration and achievement — they’ve really shown us how to play.

"Their accuracy and skill is another level and I hope people can see that, and hopefully, one day they can be up to par with that as well."

His aim was to grow the sport in the region, Van der Velden said.

"Hopefully, we can encourage all the garage players in the community to come out and join the clubs. We want to get stronger in the region, grow the community and hopefully one day have our own Central Lakes regional team."

John Nicholson, of Gore, playing for Queenstown, said it was "brilliant" to see the region’s darts community come together.

"[Van der Velden] saw it, he had a dream and he did it," he said.

Glenorchy-Queenstown won the teams event.

In the singles, Dummigan, of Invercargill, won the championship final; Kris Bahler, of Alexandra, won the consolation final; while the 2021 Central Lakes champion was Dion Boland, of Queenstown.

 - Shannon Thomson