Halifax hosting 2011 Canada Winter Games

Halifaxhas beat outTruro and Antigonishto host the 2011 Canada Winter Games.

Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonaldconfirmed the winner Friday morning at a news conference in Halifax.

The provincehad already been awarded the two-week event, and the Halifax Regional Municipality was competing againstHub Central Nova (Truro) and the Highland Region (Antigonish).

The bid review committeescored eachcommunity on categories including venues, volunteers, preliminary plans and revenue generation. Halifax had the highest score.

Sue Hylland, president and CEO of the Canada Games Council, said Halifaxhas ahistory of hosting world-class events, but the committee was also impressed with the plan for athletes.

Instead of a university dorm, athletes willstayat four downtown hotels that are connected to the Metro Centre.

"That was different,"Hylland said.

A new fieldhouse will be built on the Mainland Commons in Clayton Park, and otherfacilities will be upgraded.

To host the Games, a communityhas to be able to accommodate 3,600 athletes and coaches, as well as 6,000 guests and close to 1,000 technical officials and media personnel.

'We could have caught this fish'

Irene MacLeod,co-chair of the Highland bid representing the Antigonish, Port Hawkesbury and Guysborough areas, understands why Halifax won, but said she has no doubt the regioncould have pulled it off.

"We couldhavecaught this fish,"MacLeod said, "but the reality is that the kind of work it would have taken for us to do it … maybe just didn't seem to be in the right ratio for them."

Barry Barnet, the province's minister of sport,said the Highland and Truro bids were not in vain.

"I don't think this a negative at all for anyone,"Barnet said. "We had three strong communities that have demonstrated their abilities and my expectation is, over time, we'll see other major sporting opportunities."

Truro bid co-chair Dwayne Rath is counting on it.

"I think they have to realize they have to do what they can do to benefit the whole province and not have it all centred in one location,"Rathsaid.