Otago could soon play host to a second international
celebration of winter sports, with plans being drawn up for a
Winter Masters Games, at venues across Dunedin and Central
Otago.
New Zealand Masters Games director John Bezett, also a
Dunedin city councillor and chairman of the Dunedin Masters
Games, yesterday confirmed discussions on staging the event
were under way.
If the games proceeded, he said, they would be at venues in
Dunedin, Queenstown, Wanaka and Naseby in July or August
2011, and could draw 2000 competitors from New Zealand and
internationally.
"We believe it will be a true international event. There will
be no question people will come out from different parts of
the world," he said.
The winter masters event would be scheduled for a week before
or after the separate Winter Games New Zealand, which were
held for the first time in the region in August last year, he
said.
The aim would be to attract older competitors to the region
for the Masters events, alongside younger competitors coming
for the Winter Games.
The Winter Masters Games would start slowly, featuring "four
or five" events spread between Queenstown and Wanaka,
including cross-country and downhill skiing, ice hockey and
"something like rugby or netball", Mr Bezett said.
Curling could be staged at Naseby, kayaking in the Kawarau
Gorge, with a multiday cycling race on the Otago Central Rail
Trail, he said.
A relay event could extend the endurance event to Dunedin,
where "four or five" more events would be staged at the
Dunedin Ice Stadium, he said.
However, the aim would be to grow the event if it was
supported, adding extra events and drawing more competitors,
Mr Bezett said.
"If it's supported by a lot of masters people, and it works
really well, then we can build on that," he said.
"We just have to test the waters."
The games would also help organisers secure key staff, who in
past years had to be "let go" when each summer masters games
ended, he said.
The idea of a Winter Masters Games was first discussed five
years ago, with a feasibility study finding widespread
support.
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