International Gay & Lesbian Aquatics

By Charlie Carson, IGLA FGG Representative

Registration for Gay Games 9 Cleveland + Akron – 9-16 August 2014

Act now! Take advantage of the early registration period before it ends on Monday, 31 December. The registration fee consists of two parts, the base registration fee which goes up on 1 January and the sport fee which will stay the same.

The base registration goes up from US $135 to $165 – so add yourself to your year-end gift giving list and reserve your spot for the next Gay Games now. All you’ll need to think about later is your training! Here’s the linkhttp://www.gg9cle.com/registration/

Aquatics sport fees are geared to a combination of venue costs and number of participants expected:

• Diving – $95
• Open Water Swim – $40
• Swimming – $60
• Synchronized Swimming – $60
• Water Polo – $60

Bidding Process for Gay Games X in 2018 is Under Way 

Five city groups are hard at work preparing their bids for the tenth quadrennial Gay Games. Three finalists will be selected from among Amsterdam, Limerick, London, Orlando and Paris for the final bidding that takes place at the Federation of Gay Games’ annual meeting in early October 2013 in Cleveland.

Currently, the bidding groups have submitted requests for approval of unique sports they would like to hold in addition to the set minimum required sports. The Federation’s Sports Committee reviews the requests and submits any questions back to the respective bidding groups. Final approval of the unique sports is subject to a vote by the Sports Committee on 31 December 2012.

The next important step is the submission of bid materials in February 2013. The Site Selection Committee will send questions back to the bidding groups. Selection of the three finalists by the entire Federation membership takes place in May.

The three finalists will spend the next several months preparing for their in-person presentations. In August, they will each host site inspections by Federation representatives. Ken Heard and I will cast IGLA’s two ballots at the final selection meeting in October, held in Cleveland in the tradition of selecting the next host in the current host’s city.

More details of the bidding process are outlined on the Federation of Gay Games website at: http://gaygames.org/wp/the-gay-games-2/bidding-for-gay-games-x/ The same page also has links to statements and videos from the five bidding groups. Click away — there’s a lot of information there!

This is an exciting time for the bidding groups, full of “what-if?” dreams should they be selected. Sometimes a group wins on their first bid – such as Cologne – and sometimes groups from cities such as Sydney learn much in a first bid that helps them be selected later. Every bid process is similar yet different, and I look forward to updating you as the next ten months go by.