Ecco rewards Chris Billings for ‘Stepping Up’ after raising $200,000 for youth mental health

By: Shelby Dechant

120 hours of curling later, Chris Billings, along with 9 friends, beat the Guinness world record for longest curling match. Their mission was to beat the previous 105-hour long record while raising money for youth mental health.

Billings, a long-time PGA of Canada member and General Manager at Kingswood Golf Club at the time (he’s since taken on a new endeavour as General Manager at the Fredericton Golf Club), is a recreational curler who saw this as an opportunity to give back to his community.

The challenge began on a Monday morning in November at The Capital Winter Club in Fredericton, NB. The group aimed to play a 120-hour match while raising $1000 an hour for a grand total of $120K.

The curlers played in eight-hour shifts followed by a two-hour break where they slept in an old locker room.

Surprisingly, Billings said, it was not as bad as it sounds. “It wasn't as draining as I thought it was going to be. To be honest, I think if they would have required me to go longer, I would have been able to go longer, that's for sure.”

The longest curling match in history came to an end five long days after it started. Saturday morning at 9:30 am, the group completed their challenge and had raised over $200K to show for it.

The money will be donated to high schools in Fredericton to create sensory rooms that help reduce anxiety and to the Family Enrichment and Counselling Service.

Billings was recognized for his contribution to his community by ECCO in the thanks for stepping up campaign, after being nominated by a peer. 

Billings was humbly grateful for the nomination, but believes all PGA of Canada members hold a similar mindset when it comes to supporting their communities.

“At the end of the day, I know across the whole country, a lot of PGA of Canada members are doing things that don’t get a lot of recognition, nor do they really need to be recognized for it. I think it's just something that pros in our industry embody and we all try to support the communities that we live and work in,” said Billings.

The world record holder credited the Kingswood Golf Club for their willingness to allow him to spend an entire week at the curling rink to be a part of the event.