Glasgow’s bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games is awaiting the arrival of a delegation of voters from the Oceania region of the Games Federation who will be in Scotland next week for a four-day tour as part of the assessment process.
Oceania covers the South Pacific and the delegates are from the Cook Islands, Fiji Republic of Nauru Tuvalu Niue, Republic of Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Norfolk Islands and Australia.
The Evening Times reports that Glasgow 2014 bid director Derek Casey said he was confident in the package Glasgow had put together to host “a really amazing games”, but he added, “the period we are entering now is absolutely critical as the people who will cast their votes in November see for themselves what we can offer”.
The group will be given an extensive tour of the proposed venues, there will be bid presentations, and the delegates will meet senior representatives from the Scottish government, the city council, and the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland.
During the next few months voters from Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, and the Games Federation’s executive board, will be arriving in Glasgow. Voters from the European region visited the city last October.
Casey said, “over the past few months we’ve been telling the technical story about how we would order these games. Now what we are showing the visitors is just what an extraordinary city Glasgow is and what an exciting and wonderful time the athletes will have here during the Games”.
Meanwhile the group responsible for Halifax’s failed bid says Canadian cities need at least three years lead time before going head-to-head with international competitors for the Games, reports CP.
The Halifax 2014 Commonwealth Games Bid Society, which officially dissolved Friday, included the recommendation in its final report.
Society president Fred MacGillivary said his group “could never get ahead of the process” after being selected the representative for Canada for its Commonwealth bid in December 2005.
