ARAFURA GAMES HAS CITY BUZZING
AFTER an eight-year hiatus, crowds have turned out in droves for the return of the Arafura Games.
Swimmers and spectators filed into Parap Pool from early yesterday morning as the starter’s gun signalled the beginning of official games competition.
Marquees, team officials, volunteers and athletes from here and abroad filled the arena with bright colours, cheers and a general buzz of excitement.
Leeroy Guzman, a team official from the Philippines, was in awe of Darwin at his first Arafura Games.
“This place is amazing and the food is amazing too,” he said after trying “a sausage burger from the barbecue”.
Megan, Amie and Emma Lawton, of Nightcliff, were keeping a keen eye on the swimming times.
“A lot of the races have been really close — milliseconds apart,” said Amie, a junior swimmer at Nightcliff Swimming Club.
Amie said the best race was the 50m freestyle because the finishes were close and the times impressive.
“If you blink, you miss it,” she said.
“The atmosphere, the music, the commentary — it’s brilliant.”
“We even saw a record break.”
Over at the Darwin Convention Centre, the first medals of the games belonged to the weightlifters.
Papua New Guinea’s Loa Dika Touam, an 11-time Oceania gold medallist and threetime Commonwealth Games medallist, took out gold ahead of Aussie Mary Barter.
“It’s great to be back. This competition and setup is world class,” Touam said.
In the centre’s main arena, locals Trudie Duncan and Kerri Savidge were cock-ahoop about the 3X3 Pro Hustle basketball competition. “We love it,” Duncan said. “The atmosphere, the music, the commentary — it’s brilliant. We can sit and watch all day.”