STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Belo Quinto bid logo After a four year absense, and seven years since the previous summer games, the Vexgames returned with abundant excitement and professional preparation. The small city of Belo Quinto, population 400,000, in Porto Capital's central east won the right to host the games, and, on Saturday, October 24th, 309ap, the opening ceremony for the Vth Vexilliad commenced.

Quarantine controversy

Utanian and Rovenian athletes and sports team members arrived in Porto Capital aboard two chartered, Aij Utani, 313-seat VAB-Nordica jets with several passengers having nausea, fevers and headaches. These were taken to a Belo Quinto hospital, while the remaining passengers were shuttled to a quarantine facility on the outskirts of the city. Some of those quarantined were later hospitalised, reinforcing the need for their isolation. Medical personnel quickly established the disease to be Yellow Bay Fever, provided treatment and the quarantine was cancelled after three days of competition.

Understandably, Utanian and Rovenian team management expressed their disappointment vocally and lodged protests with the IVC for its alleged "unnecessary" quarantine. However, from the start, the Organising Committee and the IVC held to their position that it was better to disappoint a few hundred athletes than to risk infection spreading to thousands of athletes, officials and staff, and hundreds of thousands of audience members. While the infection incident was low impact, resulting in few serious infections and low contagion rates, the IVC remained (and remains) resolute that the Vexgames could not justifiably be placed at risk. Particularly when visitors from around the globe at the games could inadvertantly cause another Vexwide pandemic.

However, the IVC resolved that changes were necessary, and announced it would seek to end the practise of teams arriving the day before competition began, as it was placing them, and others, at unnecessary risk. IVC officials suggested athlete team lists would hence need to be lodged months in advance of the games, and finalised when athletes arrived two-to-four weeks before the competition.

While the quarantine did prevent both squads' football teams from participating in the round-robin competition and some athletes from participating in four medal events, the situation did not affect either squads' competitiveness: Utania won a gold and Rovens a silver medal the first day of their competitive participation.

The bidding process

On March 31st, 309ap, the International Vexgames Committee announced it would be welcoming bids from candidate cities to host the next summer games to be held between July 309ap and June 310ap. To date, two bids were received, from Bala, Kemedal, and Belo Quinto, Porto Capital, though four other bids have, at varying times, been considered, including the Rovenian capital, Haastadt, and the Somerish capital, Sibury.

On April 9th, Belo Quinto, a city of some 400,000, in the eastern Porto Capital state of Guetaso, bid to host the 309 summer games in November-December of 309ap, with 92 gold medals to be offered in 14 sports from athletics to wrestling. Two new additions were also being proposed: camel racing and rugby.

The Albalonga Complex, centred around the 60,000-seat Estádio Albalonga and three 6,000-seat gymnasiums, would be the focal point for events, with the Universidade Guetasana grounds, used for some football and Rugby matches, a nearby, almost-complete baseball field, the Jockey Club for equestrian events, the National Peoples' Army 2nd Division barracks for shooting, boxing and wrestling events, and a to-be-developed field for camel racing, all providing supplementary venues. A new suburb, the Parque Mundial, of pre-fabricated homes would be assembled for the international athlete squads, while a five-minute bus service would be created to connect venues, and special traffic rules enacted to ease traffic flow.

The Belo Quinto campaign emphasised that Belo Quinto has been a regional, indeed national, sporting capital for decades, and, despite its size, is the home to first-class football, basketball and rugby teams. While the IVC has queried the merits of a small city hosting the games, it was satisfied the bid campaign had considered all such constraints in its bid.

On April 13th, Bala, Kemedal's second largest city, also announced its bid to host the 309 summer Vexgames over fifteen days between August 16th and 30th, 309ap, with 254 gold medals to be dispensed in 33 different sports. The bid boast that the city of three million, a bustling and expanding metropolis, played host to three major and international sporting teams, and therefore has numerous major sporting stadiums, some of which would be expanded on, to host the games.

The Bala bid centred around the 55,000-seat Two Lakes Park and neighbouring 22,000-seat indoor Two Lakes Arena. The 25,000-seat Nofio Arena would accommodate swimming events, the 16,000-seat Plyman centre would be used for wrestling, martial arts, weight-lifting, fencing, and other indoor sports, while the 60 sq.km Sequanna Lake District, 7km north of Bala, would be used for sports from sailing to Equestrian. Stadiums in nearby cities of Aberban, Bronant, Ffestiniog, Castell Gronk and Glyntawe would host a few football and rugby matches.

The bid proposed the atheletes would be housed in a recently-constructed suburb, known as Taranis Park, on the outskirts of Bala, centred around a 35 acre courtyard, that could accommodate up to 20,000. A motorway would connect the athletes with the sporting venues downtown.

Sibury, the Somerish capital, also put forward a bid in early May to be centred around the 3.75 sq.km Vexgames Park, which included the 85,000-seat Leonmancoren stadium, 21,000-seat Hillom showgrounds, plus seven more indoor and outdoor stadiums with 10,000-plus seating capacities.

Finally, Haastadt, capital of Rovens, announced an intent to bid until the Rovenian government withdrew support, citing falling tax revenues in light of an economic slowdown. Critics of the bid declared Haastadt unready to host the games, with only one major stadium and sporting venues spread city-wide, however, the bid campaign noted the strong freeway connectivity to ease travelling times. It also pointed to the city's beaches, world-class tennis and golfing facilities, high-capacity airport, ample hotel capacity, and excellent boating bay in support of the bid.

The NVCR said it would consider bidding, instead, for the 312ap summer games.