The 12th Annual QC Ice Bowl, set to take place Saturday, Feb. 20 at Camden Park, Milan, again will benefit the River Bend Foodbank, Moline. The goal for this year's QC Ice Bowl is to collect at least 1000 pounds of food and raise at least $1000.

The Ice Bowl is for all those disc golfers gutsy, crazy, desperate or fun-loving enough to join together in an act of disc golf solidarity. Regardless of the weather conditions, the idea is to have fun, raise funds and food for a local food bank and dispel the gloom of winter. There are mandatory Ice Bowl Rules: No. 1 - Under no circumstances may an Ice Bowl be cancelled or postponed because of weather conditions. No. 2 - No wimps or whiners are allowed. No. 3 - There are no excuses for not attending ... Either be there or be a wimp! To learn more about Ice Bowls across the globe, visit Ice Bowl HQ

Registration for the Ice Bowl runs from 7:45 to 9 a.m. at the Lodge at the top of the sledding hill. Tee off is at 9:40 a.m., following a short player's meeting. Chili, beverages and snacks will be sold between rounds. The entry fee is $15 plus 5 canned goods. All players are welcome regardless of ability and the field will be split into three categories: Recreational, Intermediate and Open. Trophies will be awarded to the top three finishers in each division.

All proceeds and canned good goods collected will go to River Bend Foodbank, Moline. River Bend Foodbank distributes to more than 300 charitable community organizations that support the hungry. The Foodbank's service area includes the Quad Cities and 22 counties in Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois. For more about the River Bend Foodbank, please visit www.riverbendfoodbank.org.

If you own or manage a business, a donation of goods or services to be raffled off not only helps our fundraising efforts, but it also goes along way to promote your business. Contact Brad Ellis at (309) 912-5041 if you're interested.

2010 Ice Bowl At-a-Glance

12th Annual QC Ice Bowl
Where Camden Park, Milan, Ill.
When Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010
Format 2 rounds of 18 holes
Payout Trophy only event
Cost $15 + 5 cans of food
Sign In 7:45-9 a.m.
Player's Meeting 9:30 a.m.
Round 1 Tee Off 9:40 a.m.
Lunch 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Round 2 Tee Off 1:40 p.m.

Ice Bowl History

The first disc golf Ice Bowl was held in January of 1987 at Albert-Oakland Park in Columbia, Missouri. It was an attempt by Rick Rothstein, the Ice Bowl Instigator and current coordinator, to get some disc golfing activity going in the dead of winter. News releases were issued, and on the Saturday night before the Ice Bowl, it snowed five inches. The results were good as both 34 people and the media showed up. There was a picture in the sports section of the Monday edition of the Columbia Daily Tribune - disc golf in Columbia got some great publicity.

Since then, the Ice Bowl has continued to evolve, growing to an Ice Bowl weekend the next year, which led to an Ice Bowl Corridor of six weekends in 2001 to today's Ice Bowl Corridor of eight weekends in January and February. In 1996, charity was added as an important component of Ice Bowl.

Official Ice Bowls are played at courses all over the United States, and in Canada and Europe in a corridor that runs this year from Jan. 6-Feb. 25. Each event is encouraged to find a local charity to support. The fundraising goal for Ice Bowl 2010 is $250,000. It's our hope to have at least one official Ice Bowl in every state and province in Canada, and more countries in Europe. With some 30 events not reporting, Ice Bowl 2009's 190 events drew a total of 7,958 players, who raised $224,162 in cash and 55,599 pounds of food, primarily for local food banks and other charities. While a bit short of our lofty goal of $275,000, this is still a very impressive number, especially because of the lousy economy.

About Disc Golf

Disc golf is similar to golf (disc golfers often call it "ball" or "stick" golf) in procedure, pace and psychology. Instead of clubs and balls, disc golfers used golf discs (smaller, heavier, and aerodynamically superior to the Frisbees used for playing catch). Instead of a cup, disc golfers "hole out" in a disc golf basket or target. Made of steel, it features a basket that is attached to a pole about two feet above the ground and has two chain assemblies above the basket which acts as a backboard that stops the disc's forward motion, causing it to drop into the basket. Disc golfers play the throw from where it lies, and count each throw until the disc lands in the basket or within the chains. Disc golf is a lot of fun, quite challenging and relatively inexpensive to play.