Tubod, lanao del Nore – More than 5000 athletes and official delegates attend the opening ceremony of the Palarong Pampook 2011, otherwise known as Northern Mindanao Regional Athletic Association (NMRAA) Meet held at the Mindanao Civic Center Sports Complex, Tubod, this province on February 2, 2011.


“We are very happy for the huge number of athletes, coaches and delegation officials who have come here in our province to compete for this year’s NMRAA” Gov. Khalid Dimaporo expressed.


There are 13 contingents representing the 8 cities and 5 provinces of region 10 who are seeing action in the five-day sports competition. Participating in the on-going regional meet are the cities of Valencia, Iligan, Tangub, Oroquieta, Cagayan de Oro, Malaybalay, Gingoog, Ozamis and the provinces of Bukidnon, Misamis Occidental, Misamis Oriental, Camiguin, and host Lanao del Norte.


Among the contingents, Bukidnon and Iligan City have the highest number of delegates with 589 and 584 respectively.


Even with the threat of rain looming over the event during opening day, both the grand parade around the capital town of Tubod and the opening rites continued on without a hitch.


“With the unpredictable weather these past days, we have already identified alternative venues so that the games can continue rain or shine”, Information Officer Lyndon Calica said.


On the evening of February 1, Governor Dimaporo visited all the contingents as their host municipalities sponsored a Welcome Night for the visiting delegates.


After the opening ceremony, the provincial government also hosted a “Governor’s Night” at the sprawling MCC gym.


The special event was highlighted by an exclusive concert of Bossa Nova Diva Sitti Navarro who entertained the delegation heads, officials and athletes with her relaxing and soothing music.

Governor Khalid Dimaporo also gave out laptops, USBs and mp3 players to lucky raffle winners during the evening’s affair.


To cap off the day’s festivities, the Provincial Government put on a dazzling musical fireworks display that left the athletes and spectators awestruck and mesmerized. VNL/PIO-LDN