N.L. Summer Games kick off Saturday

The cauldron will soon be lit, and the athletes are arriving.

More than 1,500 athletes from across the province are descending on Conception Bay South this weekend as the 2016 Newfoundland and Labrador Summer Games kick off.

The games run Aug. 13-21 with events split up into two sections, with golf, tennis, synchronized swimming, baseball, beach volleyball, female soccer and male ball hockey getting underway this weekend.

The second half of the games will see female ball hockey, male soccer, softball, swimming and athletics.

Participants in the summer games are 12 to 18 years old, on regional teams: St. John's, Mount Pearl, Avalon, Eastern, Central, Western and Labrador, and for the first time this year an aboriginal team made up of athletes from communities across the province will be competing.