Sudbury makes its pitch to Canada Summer Games officials

Officials with the committee trying to bring the 2021 Canada Summer Games to northeastern Ontario have made their pitch to organizers responsible for choosing who will host the multi-sport competition.

"I hope that the evaluation committee sees how incredible the people of Sudbury are and how great our city is," said Amanda Schweinbenz, the co-chair of the Sudbury bid team.

"I just really hope they recognize that we are the best choice."

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Sudbury is in a race with Kitchener-Waterloo, Niagra and Ottawa to host the 2021 games. National organizers are expected to announce the winner on March 30.

Local officials hosted a team of seven voting members on Monday. They were shown around the city, including a snowshoe walk on Ramsey Lake, a tour of various sporting venues and the site at Laurentian University that would be used as an athlete's village.

While a final decision isn't expected for about a month, national committee chair Wayne Carew shared some positive first impressions, including the Northern Water Sports Centre. Officials said that some local facilities like baseball diamonds and tennis courts will need to be upgraded.

Those upgrades will leave a legacy, Carew said.

"Say if you improve your tennis facilities or your volleyball facilities or your track and field, it allows you to go after some of those national competitions that you haven't been able to put on before," he said.

'You have a beautiful community here'

Overall, Carew said he was impressed with what he saw.

"It's a beautiful area of the country and it's not hard to visualize what that would be like in the middle of the summer," he said. "You have a beautiful community here."

Carew said the fact that all sports that take place on the water can be held within the city on Ramsey Lake is a definite plus in Sudbury's favour.

That kind of positive feedback pleased Sudbury Coun. Mark Signoretti.

"I think we`re coming across excellent," he said. "I think they're showing the passion, the excitement that we want to host this in 2021."

Games officials are scheduled to be in Kitchener-Waterloo on Tuesday, then Niagara and Ottawa later in the week.

Due to the rotational nature of allowing each province to host the summer games, Ontario won't be hosting the cross-country competitions again for another 20 years.