The Masters are Coming Town

Every two years there is a phenomenon that occurs in Alice Springs called the Masters Games.  Nick named the friendly games; this multi-sport competition attracts THOUSANDS of athletes from around town and across the country to compete in the following list of sports:

Archery
Athletics - Road & Cross Country
Athletics - Track & Field
Badminton
Baseball
Basketball
BMX
Cricket
Cycling
Darts
Eightball
Equestrian
Football (Soccer)
Golf
Field Hockey
Indoor Beach Volleyball
Lawn Bowls
Masters Mile
Motorcycling
Mountain Biking
Netball
Shooting - Clay Target
Shooting - Pistol
Shooting - Sporting Shooters
Softball
Squash
Swimming
Table Tennis
Tennis
Tenpin Bowling
Touch Football
Triathlon & Duathlon
Volleyball

The entire town gets swept up in the spirit of the games.  Every hotel room is sold out, camp grounds are bulging, restaurants are jammed and essential items will be sold out from every stores in town.  I was in the store today and noticed this end cap near the checkout that was obviously directed toward competitors.

The featured items are: condoms, ibuprofen, hangover cure, band aids, sunscreen, Deep Heat muscle soother, knee, ankle and wrist supports, cold packs and insect repellents.  Everything you need for a week of sports and.........celebrations.

Local legend has it that the first item on the list is general sold out throughout the town by the end of the week and contestants have drank the town out of beer on more than one occasion. Looks like the correlation between the consumption and the use of those to items holds true regardless of the age of the participants.

The minimum age for competitors is 35 for most sports, with some as low as 25. The great part of the games is that it’s not uncommon to encounter competitors that are 60, 70 and beyond.  Team sports are played without taking age into consideration, but most individual sports have age brackets.  While cruising the games website, I noticed the top age bracket for archery was 76 and above.  Although medals are awarded and even coveted, the spirit of these is the camaraderie and fun had by one and all.

I'm hoping that the Russian and I can take in a few events and I'll hopefully have some pictures to share.