A club that has promoted fun, active swim and social meetups in Edmonton since 1999 has been granted the opportunity to showcase its city, its world-class facilities, and all-encompassing hospitality. International community swimmers from around the world will be welcomed to the largest international gay sporting event to ever take place in Alberta.
August 8th to 14th, 2016, Making Waves Swim Club will host between 800 and 1000 competitors (as well as their partners, officials and volunteers) in a contest of open water swimming, water polo, diving, synchronized swimming, and the unique Pink Flamingo event.
"The best way to describe it... ‘a fun and campy display of aquatics and entertainment’," says Mike Stansberry, Making Waves Swim Club Organizing Committee co-chair and one of its founding members. "So teams will perform a number to music, and it will involve outrageous costumes (no glitter or feathers allowed because they clog up the pool filters) – a lot of fun for spectators."
All events will be free to come watch throughout the week, while the finals and main attractions to take place on the Saturday will involve a nominal entrance fee or donation, which will be donated to a selected charity.
"We’re very excited to be hosting this event," Stansberry says. Watching the club’s promotional video, and reading through their comprehensive final bid package, it’s not difficult to see why Edmonton received half of the 52 votes given at the deciding AGM that took place last August at the Gay Games in Cleveland, Ohio (Toronto came in second, garnishing 15 yays, and Auckland third with 11 votes).
Securing a $25,000 grant through Edmonton Tourism was likely a big help in forecasting a solid working budget for the event.
"Tourism Edmonton is very interested in promoting sports tourism... [in showcasing Edmonton] as a city that can host high quality, high performing international events," Stansberry says.
The International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics Championships (IGLA) takes place every year the Gay Games does not. This means that members of the Making Waves Swim Club have become avid travelers.
"Personally, my first IGLA competition was in 2001, in Toronto, followed by the Gay Games in Sydney, Australia in 2002," says Stansberry. " Members have been to Washington, DC and a number of other wonderful cities around the world."
His list goes on, ending with last year’s IGLA held in Seattle. He, and other members of the club, will next head to Sweden in August to attend the EuroGames Stockholm and 2015 IGLA Championships. Playing the role of flies on the wall, they will observe the games keenly, making notes on how to make their own games and events run smoothly when they are hosts.
In addition to the competition itself, holding the IGLA also means putting on a variety of social events.
"There is a big community partnership that is part of organizing this... making sure this is a community event," he says. "Some social partners include Pure Pride, the Fruit Loop, Evolution Wonderlounge, Buddy’s and Woody’s."
Moving forward, Making Waves is seeking more volunteers, more participants, and more sponsorship. The more funds raised, the more entrance fees to participate in the games can be lowered, and the greater amount of people can attend.
"Getting sponsors and other grants is really critical to help lower costs, and that increases participation," he says. At current, there are roughly 60 to 70 members in the swim club, and not all are from the community.
"[The club has] some fabulous straight allies that are members as well," Stansberry says.
Not in a club but love to swim? That does not need stop interested participants.
"There are individual members that come from other countries in the world that may not have a specific swim club," he explains. "I know a few swimmers in Grande Prairie, or Saskatoon, or other parts of the province [where there is no swim club] that come... everyone is encouraged to participate."
While IGLA teams are primarily registered in America and Western Europe, Iceland, Greece, China, Australia and New Zealand also have teams. A full team map and list of upcoming events can be found at http://igla.org.
The destination for 2017’s IGLA will be determined in Edmonton in 2016.
