T he 16th Annual Bytown Golf Classic took place June 15, 2011 at Cedarhill Golf & Country Club under sunny skies and a temperature of 29ºc.

A sell-out crowd of 144 golfers helped make the 16th edition of the tournament our most successful to date. We raised over $22,000 for our two beneficiaries - Youville Centre and Education Foundation of Ottawa.

This year's total also pushed us over the $200,000 mark in monies raised by our tournament over the past 16 years.

Our annual benefit golf tournament began in 1996 with 32 golfers and $1,250.00 raised. Today, the Annual Bytown Golf Classic is a sell-out every year, and has become one of the 'must-attend' tournaments of the season.

Any successful fundraiser relies on the support of sponsors and we have to extend a special thanks to Scotiabank, in particular Mr Dennis Jackson, District Vice President, for their continued support each year. Special thanks also to Air Canada and Mr Pierre Faubert, Regional General Manager, National Capital Region, for their terrific contribution of a pair of tickets Air Canada flies in North America and the Caribbean.

The winner of the Air Canada tickets was Graham Bilton from ST Microelectronic in Toronto - part of the STM team that drives to Ottawa each year to play in our tournament.

The Ottawa Senators provided a suite for 12 as a prize for our putting contest. Sen's Army staff Jessica Stevens and Mark Gillis did a great job running the contest. Congratulations to Chantal Ringuette who won the suite for 12 and also to Frank D'Amato from Retirement Living Ottawa who won the Sens raffle draw of a pair of 100 level seats to a Sens game.

We had 3 hole-in-one competitions - none of which were won. Our 50/50 winner took home $842.00 in cash which means our beneficiaries also received $842.00. Therese Boisclair won the ladies' longest drive and "Bud" Fisher won men's longest drive.

Thanks to our travel industry partners and hoteliers that provided sponsorship and participated, and to our corporate clients and business community friends that helped make it a wonderful success.

Our 17th Annual Bytown Classic is on Wednesday, June 13th, 2012. Watch your e-mail and Byways Travel News for details.