The 2009 World Masters Opening Ceremony

The count down was started on the big screen at the Sydney Showground where we all congregated.

Many teams dressed up for the occasions. Some in official team colours and dress. Others were just out to have lots of fun.

Teams from all around the world were present.

Age is no barrier

Neither is height – I almost had a heart attack when I thought I might have to play the guy on the left in football. Thankfully he is playing basket ball. I breathed a sigh of relief when I found that out.

Finally our time to start marching arrived.

We left the showground and started to head down to the stadium.

Just because we were marching didn’t stop us from meeting people from around the world.

I even caught a glimpse of the REAL 703 team!

There were spectators cheering us on along the way.

We had to wait a few times on the way to allow those ahead time to enter the stadium. This didn’t dampen the atmosphere and was seen as another chance to meet other people from around the world.

The NSW Police were there, but had a fairly quite time as far as I could tell.

And the hard working and always happy volunteers did their thing.

We reached the Stadium and started our entry. I think these guys needed a rest (or maybe they were just waiting for some of their team to catch up).

And entered into the arena.

The Competitors just kept on coming! Over 26,000 competitors have entered the 2009 World Masters.

The opportunity to meet others from around the world continued.

The Ceremony started and the flags representing all the nations with competitors present were paraded. I lost count.