Early numbers are looking good for the New Zealand Masters Games.
The early bird registration concluded at the end of last month. It enables competitors to pay a lower entry fee.
After the early bird period finished, with a cheaper registration of $65, games organisers had received just under 3500 entries which is slightly ahead of the same period for the 2016 Games.
Games organisers said they were very happy with that figure.
There had been a good mix of entries from all over the world.
There were plenty of entrants from Otago, while other entries had come from around New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, Sweden, India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Germany and Denmark.
There had been some good team entries across various sports.
A couple of teams from Dunedin had entered the basketball, along with teams from Christchurch, Southland, Taranaki and Queenstown.
Registrations for ice hockey teams have now closed with teams from Queensland, Melbourne, Canada, Auckland, Central Otago, Canterbury and Dunedin lining up.
The Masters Games are held every two years in Dunedin and it is a great opportunity for Dunedin teams to compete against teams they would not normally play in Dunedin competitions.
The standard registration of $95 is now in place which runs through to January 8. The late registration is from January 9 with a fee of $125.
People can still enter in many of the sports quite close to the time but need to be mindful of some event deadlines.
The Masters Games run from February 3-11 and the Otago Daily Times is a sponsor of the event.