The team from Australia took home the trophy at the Junior Men's Softball World Championship in Prince Albert. The city says it's eyeing more opportunities in sports tourism following the successful event. (file photo/paNOW Staff)

By Charlene Tebbutt

Sports Tourism

City representatives in Ottawa see opportunities in sports tourism

Mar 21, 2019 | 1:03 PM

They didn’t win the award, but representatives from the City of Prince Albert visiting Ottawa this week say they are still happy to have been able to take part of the annual Canadian Sports Tourism Alliance PRESTIGE Awards.

Prince Albert was in the running for a Canadian Sports Event of the Year award for events with a budget of less than $1 million for hosting the successful world softball championships last July. The PRESTIGE award went to Saint John, N.B. for its 2018 event, the Canada 55-plus Games, but Jody Boulet, director of community services with the City of Prince Albert, said the awards event was still a great way to highlight the community and other opportunities in P.A.

“It was very much a tremendous honour to have Prince Albert, Saskatchewan recognized alongside all of the other major centres,” Boulet said from Ottawa this week. “Our sports tourism industry is something that we’re going to continue to promote and also continue to congratulate our volunteers when they do an outstanding job as they did with the world junior championships.”

City representatives also had the chance to meet with officials from other national sports organizations while in Ottawa for the awards, including Golf Canada and Canada Soccer. Sod will be will laid this year on the new soccer outdoor soccer pitches at the Alfred Jenkins Field House this spring, and Boulet said the city also has the facilities available at Cooke Municipal Golf Course to host a national golf event as well.

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Boulet said the work by volunteers and the local softball association to bring the WBSC Junior Men’s Softball World Championships has opened the door to future events as well.

“They had a vision and they had a goal to host a world championship in our city and over four years of significant investments in our facilities that will serve as a legacy to come, not only for many other championships, but also for our local athlete development,” he added.

The City of Prince Albert is also up for another award for its work on the softball event. Prince Albert is a finalist for the Tourism Saskatchewan 2018 Marquee Event of the Year award.

The awards will be handed out April 11 in Saskatoon.

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Charlene.tebbutt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @CharleneTebbutt