Lake Wanaka plays centre stage in winter sports

Lake Wanaka plays centre stage in international winter sports

LAKE WANAKA, New Zealand (2 September, 2010) – This week’s announcement by Winter Games NZ that 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games will take place from 13 to 28 August 2011 will once again put Lake Wanaka at the forefront of international snow sports.

Lake Wanaka will host all the Games’ freestyle and cross country events at three of its four ski areas. In the provisional programme, Snow Farm will host winter triathlon together with adaptive and able-bodied cross-country skiing. Snow Park NZ will take on the ski and snowboard slopestyle events while across the valley at Cardrona Alpine Resort, ski and snowboard halfpipe, big air and gravity cross racing will take place.

This news comes as Lake Wanaka wraps up the inaugural FIS Snowboard and Freestyle Junior World Championships at Cardrona and Snow Park NZ, the first time a FIS World Championships has taken place in the Southern Hemisphere. Earlier in August, the global Burton Open Snowboarding Tour came to town with some of the world’s top names competing in Cardrona’s superpipe and slopestyle course while in mid-September the focus will be on Treble Cone when the world’s top freeskier, Jon Olssen, will make a world record attempt on a massive kicker with the iconic Treble Cone view as a backdrop.

“All Lake Wanaka’s ski areas have earned themselves an excellent international reputation as destinations that can put on world class events,” said Lake Wanaka Tourism general manager, James Helmore. “This not only attracts more and more northern hemisphere athletes to the region to train and compete but also allows regular visitors to ride and ski the same slopes along side the world’s best, and watch top international events for free! The importance of sports tourism can not be underestimated and we will continue to work with all the major events to ensure the region continues to benefit from this valuable market sector.”

For further information, visit www.lakewanaka.co.nz

ENDS

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