The tally is in and the Iowa Games set a new record with 18-thousand-719 athletes participating in the 2003 Summer Iowa Games — breaking the previous record of 17-thousand-636 set in 2000. Games executive director Jim Hallihan says spreading the events over two weekends gave them more room to play. He says it allowed them to use less fields, but have more fields available. Hallihan says the participation always has it’s ebb and flow in different sports each year. He believes the future growth of the games is in adult Iowans because of all the competition available for young athletes. The 17th annual sports festival offered forty-five sports in 2003, including the additions of figure skating and sand volleyball.