ROCKY MOUNTAIN STATE GAMES ATHLETE PARTICIPATION RECORD SHATTERED AS MORE THAN 10,580 COMPETITORS CHASED THEIR DREAMS
| Colorado Springs—- The 2018 Rocky Mountain State Games in Colorado Springs, Olympic City USA, have carved out a place in the record books.
During a summer of spectacular sports events in the city, including the record-breaking Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and the 2018 U.S. Senior Open Championship at The Broadmoor, the Rocky Mountain State Games Colorado’s largest multi-sport festival attracted more than 10,580 athletes of all ages and abilities from across the state and numerous others, breaking the previous mark of 10,513 set in 2016. "Congratulations to each of the athletes who participated in this year’s record-setting Rocky Mountain State Games," said Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers. "As Olympic City USA, we are proud to host the state’s largest multi-sport festival, and 2018 certainly did not disappoint. As always, the Colorado Springs Sports Corp delivered an impressive event, and we look forward to hosting just as many athletes in 2019," added the Mayor. That figure will go even higher as the Games officially conclude September 14-16with the Figure Skating competition at the Monument Ice Rinks. The skating event will include as many as 350 athletes with registration open until August 5. "The Rocky Mountain State Games are yet another reason we can tout Colorado We’re proud to be a part of the festivities and look forward to enticing even more competitors in the future," said Colorado Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau Director of Special Events Cheryl McCullough. In addition to the spectacular year for the Rocky Mountain State Games, senior athletes from across the state competed and qualified for 15 sports under the Rocky Mountain Senior Games as official qualifying events for the 2019 National Senior Games in Albuquerque, NM. |
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| 2018 State Games Participation Leaders:
Lacrosse (75 teams, 1,770 athletes) The Great Inflatable Race (1,624 participants) Color in Motion 5K (1,394 participants) Taekwondo (967 participants) Basketball (60 teams, 566 players) Track & Field (389 participants) Slow Pitch Softball (29 teams, 377 players) Swimming (363 participants) Volleyball (334 participants) Pickleball (340 participants) Sports with historic participation include: Air Hockey, Pickleball and Roundnet |
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The Games recorded a reach of 1.28 million people through social media outlets and more than 12.3 million more in news media coverage, including Hawaii News Now (1.8 million), ATT.com (1.8 million), Colorado Springs Gazette (1.1 million), and Denver’s 9News (494,827).
Over the last several years, athletes from as many as 120 cities and towns in Colorado have made their way to Colorado Springs to take part in this unique sports gathering. Kids from four years old to swimmers, runners, and orienteerers in their 90s have won Rocky Mountain State Games medals, or just competed for the simple reason that they could. "We are thrilled, as you might expect, with these numbers," said Colorado Springs Sports Corp President & CEO Tom Osborne. "Our team of staff, sport commissioners, volunteers and sponsors has worked hard to make this something special each summer, and it just gets better each year for athletes from across our region." Since inception in 2002, the RMSG has attracted more than 186,000 spectators and more than 124,000 athletes, more than half of those athletes have come from outside El Paso County, reiterating The Sports Corp’s mission of driving economic development in the region. |
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| Rocky Mountain State Games Participation Numbers: |
2002: 2,016 2003: 3,194 2004: 4,838 2005: 5,729 2006: 6,164 2007: 6,887 2008: 6,891 2009: 6,809 2010: 6,623 2011: 7,067 2012: 7,103 2013: 9,001 2014: 10,346 2015: 10,133 2016: 10,513 2017: 10,385 2018: 10,580* *Registration is still open for 2018 RMSG Figure Skating. Full results for the 2018 Rocky Mountian State Games are listed at RockyMountainStateGames.org.
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