The month of May was the occasion of the fourth biannual IPA games.
Having previously visited Portugal, Montenegro and Romania, thirty five members of Team UK descended on Poland under the captaincy/leadership of President Karen Duckworth.
The event has got exponentially bigger over the years as more countries and participants get involved.
The host area was the beautiful city of Wroclaw. Described as the Venice of Poland it has over one hundred bridges joining it together over its many waterways and canals which seemed appropriate as it now joined together nearly 1000 competitors from 31 countries mainly across Europe including Italy, Slovenia, Ireland and Lithuania in friendship and sport.
The teams would take part in a variety of sporting events and Team UK had representatives in football, tennis, table tennis, pistol shooting and running (5 and 10k).
The tourist information also describes it as the world dwarf capital as its many tiny, adorable figures grow and can be found in every nook and cranny of the city. This could be compared to the arrival of members of the IPA similarly taking over everywhere.
Following most people's arrival on the Sunday, the Monday was the opening ceremony for the games where everyone gathered either in uniform or representative clothing and paraded through the town with flags to the square for opening speeches and a band.
The following Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday would see all the events and competitions taking part in various locations designated for them.
There was stiff competition all round, but medal success was gained by our ladies football team who had a fantastic run in the groups but were finally defeated by an on form Polish squad in the final. We had representatives in the tennis and again the ladies gained silver and gold medals. The team once again also had great representation in the table tennis.
The standard in the running was very high and although Jeff in the 10k beat his own PB by three minutes its was not enough for medal contention. I had a neck and neck run with a runner from Lithuania, she led the first 5k circuit, then I took over for the second and we ended up crossing the line together. I gave her a T shirt and later that evening at the closing ceremony she came and found me and gave me a gift and patches.
Overall our performance resulted in a seventh position in the medal table.
Activities and social events were arranged for the evenings including an integration party where each country laid out a table of local food, drink and gifts and everyone met up and had a really nice social gathering sampling the wares, swapping patches and creating friends.
Following the end of the games there was a closing ceremony, where all participants gathered to hear speeches of how well the event had gone and enjoy a final gathering and food before leaving the next day.
A decision was left to be made as to who would hold the next event.
Andy Amos (Region 10)
