With the arrival of Summer came the beginning of the IAC, Animalia's answer to the Olympics. It was something that prevented a large scale colony tour for Animalia Ambassadoria, largely because of the need to be there for covering many of the events. The Greco-Roman Wrestling matches, track and field events, and other various competitions would have some measure of competition that went along with it, and since these events were intended to run through to nearly the end of the summer the new human members that had been part of the graduating class of 2019 at WSA would eventually need to transition toward going to college. Most of the travel for the Animalia Ambassadoria members was planned to be part of specific events that were connected with the IAC, and even that might be limited to select members because of all the events that were part of the IAC in Lyre and Animalia. The tour of the newly opened Dino City was expected to be done solely by Sophie and Roland, for example.
But the start of the IAC was still a big event and the opening ceremonies were still to be a relatively big part of the kick off for the contest, especially as there was much that went into them. Tickets to the IAC events that were bought and sold, particularly to those outside Animalia would serve to pay for many of the prizes and certain amounts would go to help pay for causes that Lyre and Animalia had favored. This included relief for ranchers and farmers in the Midwest dealing with flooding and unusually wet weather as well as supporting causes for equal rights and so on. This in turn attracted a large number of people, some coming even before the competition started. Thankfully though, there would be "political visits" for the IAC. The US President was busy dodging questions over his actions and policies while his challengers for the 2020 Presidential election were off campaigning in their primaries, leaving Animalia largely alone.
That then let Animalia Ambassadoria set up shop for the opening of the IAC in one of the television booths in the Claw Coliseum that was overlooking the arena. For the moment the main arena decked out in flowers with Clara and Robbie standing on a modest platform that had a red ribbon that was wrapped around a big sign that read IAC. Most were dressed fairly comfortably, as now by early June it was part of the summer break from school, though Abby was dressed in a track suit. Ronald set up the camera on a tripod that they were using and then gave a thumbs up to the rest of the group, which would essentially livestream the show to cover the IAC opening. He made his way toward the line and arrangement that had him next to JC. Abby meanwhile moved to introduce the segment and show what they would up to.
"Welcome all viewers of Animalia Ambassadoria and all visitors to Lyre and Animalia," Abby spoke confidently, "we're now into early June, which means that for Lyre and Animalia, school is out for the summer and it is now time for the IAC. Animalia's porting challenge, letting armature athletes compete and shine."
She then stepped forward and displayed her track suit.
"Including me," Abby gave a smile, "training has been a bit rougher with some of the schedule changes that we've had for Animalia Ambassadoria since the last IAC... but I've managed and look forward to the Triathlon event... which I've been told will have a fair amount of attention, given how close the race was in the last IAC."
"There are also some specialty events that have been designed to show how and why the IAC is Animalian specific, as a couple of Human Olympic Caliber athletes will have some special challenges with certain Animalian Athletes in specific events," Courtney added, "addressing some trolling comments that the events are "racist against Humans." We're all for Humanity and Animalia living together in harmony, but there are going to be some cases where certain adaptations will give Animalians an edge. So look forward to them."
"We'll also have some special events, like the formal tour of Dino City down in Texas," Sophie smiled.
"And showing how the Dinotopians are getting their colony organized," Roland answered, "and thus the changes their move will mean for Lyre and Animalia... and potentially for the world as well."
"And speaking of the Dinotopians, this year's IAC will also hold a special "fight" between Heather Green and Regina Ryan to open the Mesozoic Fight Club," Ronald asked, "to see if the "Indominus" can beat the Spinosaurus." As well as highlighting the steps that Mrs. Green has gone through since first coming to Lyre."
"Showing that all can change for the better," JC added.
With that the group then parted in the middle to give their camera an open view of the window while Ronald slipped out of the shot to get the camera and move it forward. He carried it so that he was holding as close to the window as he could and then flipped a switch to focus the lens in on the platform with the focus being on Clara and Robbie as they raised a pair of symbolic scissors to cut the ribbon.
"And now to turn things over to Animalia's Mayor and Deputy Mayor, Clara and Robbie to open the 2019 IAC!" Sarah gave a cheer.
And they watched as on the platform Clara and Robbie cut the ribbon which then fell to the base of the IAC "sculpture." As they did so, the two spoke together, "we declare this year's International Animalia Competition open!"
And this year the competition would be truly international as there would be at least one set of events at Mieni, Vilcabamba, Maelewano, and New Zerzura. The tight schedule and some other rules might make the exact Animalia Ambassadoria assignments for these events a bit tricky, as they could all go to all of them, but most of the events in Animalia's colonies would actually come later in the summer, so there was time to put together the plan for it.