Masters Arriving In Force

Early Bird registrations for the 2012 NZ Masters Games suggest next year’s Dunedin event could be one of the best ever.

With the Games Village based at Forsyth Barr Stadium being a major drawcard for visiting athletes, registrations are looking good across a range of new and old sports - and age groups.

Games Manager, Aaron Joy, becomes animated when talking about the new range of sports the event will cover.

“There’s a record number of teams already registered for both Netball and Soccer. We’ve got teams coming from both Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka for the netball and there’s a group travelling here from Pakistan for the badminton.

“How exciting is that!”

On-line registrations account for 71% of the total with the biggest number of entrants coming in the 45-49 age category.

It’s expected that up to 7,000 people will take part in the 70 sports events scheduled for 4-12 February 2012 with half of that figure coming from out of town.

It is customary for participants to travel with family or friends so visitor numbers to Dunedin could be boosted by a further 1500.

Standard registrations close 6 January 2012.