Special Olympians, from left to right, Barbie Conway, Michael Harris and Marinka Van Hage – photo 250News

Prince George, B.C. – The 23^rd annual Special Olympics Fundraising Golf Tournament is officially underway at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club.

All money raised during today’s tourney will go directly to the 120 Special Olympic Athletes in town to pay for things like meals, uniforms and more.

“There’s no administration, everything is volunteer run,” says event organizer Jos Van Hage. “The money is used for traveling – to regional, provincial, national and international events and for registration fees for things like gyms, swimming pools, etc.”

He says they had already surpassed their fundraising expectations before the golfers teed off at 1 this afternoon.

“We thought this year we’d get to $50,000 and as we speak we’re at $55,000 and then tonight we’ll have an auction so I would say we’re probably going to match last year ($70,000)”.

Van Hage says 15 teams and roughly 60 golfers are participating in today’s event which will be followed by a banquet at 5:30 p.m.