North Bay falls short in Ringette Worlds bid

Ringette Canada announced today that the City of Ottawa has won the bid to host the 2007 World Ringette Championship over three other finalist cities including North Bay, for the event that will take place in November of 2007.

North Bay was the smallest city bidding to host the event, however, the fact that the sport was originated here was the biggest selling point.

The bid even had support from the first family of Ringette; as Bruce Jacks, the son of Agnes and Sam, felt North Bay would be a perfect fit for the World Championships.

“Knowing the effort my Dad the founder and my Mom the ambassador put into this it would be very special to have the worlds here in North Bay. It re-emphasizes the birthplace of Ringette and it would put us on the sporting world map and it highlights the city,” said Jacks in a message which was on a DVD which was played in front of the bidding committee back in early April.

However Ringette Canada admits it was a tough decision to make.

"Ringette Canada is thrilled to be hosting the 2007 World Ringette Championship and are looking forward to welcoming elite international ringette athletes to our country," said Joanne Dearden, president of Ringette Canada in a press release issued on Tuesday.

"We were extremely pleased with the quality of the presentations from all four bidding communities, Kelowna, London, North Bay and Ottawa. It was a difficult decision and, in the end, it proved to be a case of choosing what we felt best fulfilled our requirements. We are confident that Ottawa has the experience, capability and plan in place to deliver an outstanding event."