Veronique and Vicky Carriere only started BMX racing a month ago. Now they are representing Gatineau at the Quebec Games. (Kate Porter/CBC)

Up to 30,000 visitors are expected to descend on Gatineau for the 45^th annual Quebec Games. The opening ceremonies kicked off Thursday night at Leamy Lake.

Four thousand teenage athletes from all over Quebec will compete in tennis, soccer, water skiing and other sports over ten days. Their families and other spectators are expected to spill into the region as well.

Gilles Picard of Outaouais Tourism is excited about the visitors. “We’re talking about a $10 million economic impact for the city and the region,” Picard told the CBC.

The Games have been three years in the making, and millions of dollars have been invested to upgrade and build sports facilities. Three schools have been transformed to accommodate an athlete's village, with music, an arcade and even an ice rink set up to entertain the young competitors.

The largest to Gatineau's sports facilities is a new $50 million sports centre capable of hosting swimming, basketball and volleyball events. But there are other new facilities as well, including a new dirt track for BMX riders in the sector of Masson-Angers.

It is the first year BMX bike riding will be a sport at the Quebec Games. Eleven-year-old twins Veronique and Vicky Carriere are two riders with the Gatineau BMX club. They said it will be an honour to represent the region — and their new sport — at the games.

The twins said they are looking forward to hosting events at their new track after the games are over.

The Quebec Games will run until 6 August.

With files from the CBC's Kate Porter