Ottawa loses bid to host 2021 Canada Summer Games

Ottawa will not be hosting the 2021 Canada Summer Games.

The games were awarded Thursday to the Niagara Region, bringing to end the city's bid, which was officially launched earlier this year.

• Ottawa readies 2021 Summer Games bid
• Canada Summer Games bid team gearing up to show off local support

On Twitter, Mayor Jim Watson expressed his disappointment with the outcome.

The Canada Games began in 1967 andattractthe country's top amateurs in a wide varietyof sports every twoyears alternating between winter and summer events with athletes representing their province or territory.

Ottawa's bid committee foresawusing the Terry Fox Athletic Facility at Mooney's Bay for track and field and rugby, while Lansdowne Park and TD Place would have hosted basketball, beach volleyball and soccer.

The pool at the Nepean Sportsplex would have served asthe location for swimming events. Many city sporting facilities would have been in for major upgrades if Ottawa's bid was accepted.

Along with the Niagara Region, Ottawa was competing againstSudbury, Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph and Cambridge for the right to host the games.

Ottawa would have been the largest city ever to host the games.