Grand Adventure Part 5 (Isle of Man)

We (Paddye and I) got to work right away on finishing up event entries and worked until it was time for opening ceremonies. It was a wee bit chilly but pretty cool to see all the young athletes parade into the opening. Some of them were so little (gymnasts)! It was a pretty impressive show; of course, youth driven. All the performers, dancers, and parkour artists were youth (except for the Vikings, that is ... whom we learned were actual members of a local Viking club).

The grand finale of the opening ceremonies. 

The following days were filled with results. We based ourselves at the NSC where badminton and swimming were taking place and the track was right next to it. We found a little corner in the cafe and called it home for about 12 hours each day ... to the point that a few volunteers came to see us each day to say hello and have a little chat!

Achini and Upuli - Sri Lanka Womens Doubles Team (white) in action against the Aussies;

The volunteers were remarkable. Everywhere we went they were so friendly and so helpful. If they didn't have an answer, they were certainly going to find it. If we looked alone, they'd sit with us to chat and tell us all about the Isle of Man. I love volunteers!



I wish I could say that I witnessed some pretty amazing sport performances, but truth was that we barely got any time away from our computers. I did manage to sneak away and see the final few points in the badminton match which Sri Lanka won the bronze medal in women's doubles. We got glimpses of the track as there were floor to ceiling windows in the cafe. It's amazing how disciplined, intense, and in shape these young athlete are! I most certainly was not at that point when I was 16 and maybe it was just that I didn't know what high performance sport really meant.

Everyday, having arrived with little rest, we got more and more exhausted. Our giggles and uncontrollable fits of laughter got more frequent as some of the littlest silly mistakes or forgetfulness became hilarious. There were times we laughed so hard I couldn't remember the last time I was in stitches like that! The long hours glued to our computers resulted in some pretty rewarding moments though. When we ran our first report to look for mistakes it was amazing how much data we had entered and how easily we could manipulate it in Zeus. Even cooler was that even as we were updating throughout the days of competition, someone at CGC was able to see our updates real-time while she was looking for Canadian results. Basically, any CGA using Zeus had access to these results as soon as we could enter them and run their own customized reports for their needs. Additionally, these results automatically updated to their databases of athletes so they don't have to do any data entry. The results are linked to the athletes forever so if an athlete competes these results stay with that name in Zeus. Cool, eh? Maybe not ... but I'm a bit of a geek.

And for your enjoyment, some photos!