Firefighters Fighting Muscular Dystrophy

Originally organized in 1979 by the Mesachie Lake volunteer fire department, the first
tournament was held to raise funds for an upgrade to the local fire hall. Participants enjoyed themselves so much that the tournament became an annual tradition. In the early 1980’s, the fire department adopted Muscular Dystrophy Canada (MDC) as the event’s official charity because of MDC’s historic association with fire fighters across Canada.

Soon after, the tournament took a significant turn. Two local fire fighters, Nick Sohye and Doug Robertson, and their families were told both their sons were diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. This brought their fundraising efforts closer to home. “When we found out about our son, Adam, and Doug and Debbie’s son, Grady, participating halls adopted the boys as their own and the tourney took on a whole new meaning,” recalls Sherry Sohye. “Everyone has since been committed to raising money to fight muscular dystrophy, and as some of us have gotten older, new members have banded together to keep the cause alive.”

In 2004 after 25 years of running the Tournament the Mesachie Lake Firefighters helped form the Mesachie Group to take over the running of the event as it was getting to much to plan for one small department, now all 8 departments share the responsibility of running the weekend tournament with the ladies from Mesachie Lake Fire Hall running the auction.

Visit the Mesachie Group website.