EGLSF Does Not Want It to End

On behalf of the board of the European Gay and Lesbian Sport Federation (EGLSF) Conny Schälicke welcomed all of us to "the Opening Ceremony". The audience laughed wholeheartedly at this since she was speaking at the Closing Ceremony. She said time was going so fast she would not mind if it lasted four more days.
A nice compliment to all of the volunteers, participants and visitors of EuroGames Utrecht 2005.

Walking through a long gallery filled with balloons the entire hall was soon filled with all the participants, visitors and volunteers. On screen a huge clock was projected that transformed into the Domtower and a huge bell from which the sound echoed through Tivoli.

A djembe band accompanied a procession of flagbearers that brought in the rainbow colors while the previous host cities of the EuroGames were projected on a screen to end with the city Utrecht.
Accompanied by a piano the Utrecht chorus Cantatori del Duomo gave an outstanding performance.

The board and executive office of the EuroGames were called on stage and they received a warm thank you from the audience.
On behalf of the Board Evert van der Veen thanked all of the volunteers, sponsors and especially the Lady Mayor of Utrecht for all their effort and support in making all of your and our fairytales come true. As with all fairytales it all started a long long time ago (not really because we did it in just one year) and the organization of this event has cost us all blood sweat and tears, but it was all worth our while.

The Lady Mayor of Utrecht Misses Annie Brouwer-Korf was at the Closing Ceremony to thank everyone for a good sports tournament that has been played in a wonderfull atmosphere. Even the Utrecht police was very pleased with how everything turned out. The EGLSF flag was returned to the EGLSF and they called out for candidate cities for 2007.

Among the receivers of the Challenge Cups of the EGLSF a special mention was made to Elizabeth Bellinger from Manchester who won the 100 mtr Free-stroke and Butterfly. And SC Aufruhr from Volleyball got a special award for the most remarkable team.

Mark Tewksbury of the Montreal 2006 organization congratulated the Aussie Hockey team Boomerang from Bentstix on winning back the title for Australia from the Dutch. This would not haven been possible next year because neither Montreal nor Chicago will have field hockey in their program. And ofcourse we were all invited to Montreal for 2006.

Swinging and dancing on "Are you ready to go" the organization of EuroGames 2005 said good bye to the audience in Tivoli. With balloons falling from the ceiling the party ended.
It's sad to say goodbye but we have enjoyed it very much and do hope all your fairytales came true.