Eye on the bull’s-eye
MacNevin still on a high after winning national crown
Darren MacNevin of Charlottetown has his eye on the bull’seye again.
MacNevin is aiming for more success at the Potato Open, a nationally-ranked dart tournament in Summerside in September.
He’s fresh off the biggest win of his life, capturing the national title in May at the Dominion Dart Championships in British Columbia, also known as the Royal Canadian Legion dart championships. Each province sends a four-man team.
“Unreal,’’ MacNevin said when asked to describe what that victory was like. “It’s the biggest tournament I have ever won. I screamed, I jumped around. It was pretty emotional for myself. I had never won anything like that in my life.’’
But it didn’t really hit him until he called home to tell his wife.
“You start talking and things get emotional. It’s a pretty big deal for myself.’’
Until that point, MacNevin’s biggest achievement was reaching the semifinals at a worldranked tournament in Halifax one year.
Most dart tournaments are straight forward. Throw the dart at the board and accumulate a high score. However, MacNevin was playing a double-in, double-out game.
That means to start the game, players have to hit those narrow slits along the outer edge of the board before they can start scoring and then it’s the same thing at the end.
MacNevin, who also serves as president of Darts P.E.I., was tied for first at the end of the tournament with a player from Manitoba and won the national title in a sudden death playoff.
“There’s all sorts of pressure. I just kept plugging along. I had no idea where I was in the standings. I just did my thing.’’
The game has changed over the years, declining as a fun sport but growing in prominence as one those who play it take very seriously.
“The stigma with darts was always a bar drinking sport. Well, it has evolved to much more than that.’’
The world’s best play for millions of dollars each year.
“It’s played in hotel ballrooms and there’s more on the line (such as) trips to Europe and the world championships. The caliber of the game has risen to beyond what it was when I started.’’
Until May, MacNevin might have been able to fly under the radar but that’s changed with his win in B.C.
Now, as MacNevin takes aim at the bullseye, there will be a lot more eyes focused on him.