Farewell to latest special Masters

AND so we bid a fond farewell to our 3000-plus guests, and to another Masters Games.

There have been plenty of plaudits for Wanganui and for all those involved in the Herculean task of hosting this huge sporting extravaganza.

Numbers were slightly down this year, and some events had to be cancelled due to lack of participants, but that doesn't take away from the success the city has achieved in staging the biennial jamboree.

There are always lessons to be learned with such undertakings. Popularity of some events waxes and wanes; what worked a couple of years ago might not go so well now; new things are tried - some hit the sweet spot, others fall by the wayside.

All those involved will take those lessons on board and start honing things for when the Games return to the River City in two years. It is an ever-changing feast.

Several things stand out from this, the 26th running of the 'goodwill Games' ...

-The sportsmanship and sheer good manners of the competitors at a time when too many professional athletes fail to do the decent thing.

-The atmosphere of the Games Village - a strange canvas city, complete with straw-bale seats, that seemed to spring up out of nowhere.

-The estimated more than $3 million that the event brings in to the local economy in one welcome dollop.

But more than anything, I will think of the hard work of the organisers battling logistical nightmares behind the scenes, and the tireless and unfailingly cheerful efforts of the volunteers front-of-house. Those warm, welcoming folk in the blue 'Howdy' T-shirts played such an important role in making the Games special and memorable.