Masters concept taking hold

Plans for an international Winter Masters Games tournament spanning Otago - possibly attracting 2000 competitors to the region - will be put to the Dunedin City Council within the next two months.

New Zealand Masters Games director John Bezett, also a Dunedin city councillor and chairman of the Dunedin Masters Games, said he had received a "very positive" reception when discussing plans for the event in recent months.

It was expected a detailed proposal including an events programme and business plan would be put to the council in October or November, he said.

If approved, approaches could then be made to Sport and Recreation New Zealand (Sparc) and other funding agencies, he said.

The aim would be to organise an inaugural event to be staged in conjunction with - or immediately after - the separate Winter Games New Zealand in 2011, he said.

That would allow officials and others in the region for the Winter Games New Zealand events to compete in the Masters tournament, he said.

It was expected the Winter Masters Games would start small, with "five or six" sports next year spread between Queenstown and Wanaka's skifields, ice rinks at Naseby and Dunedin and on Lake Dunstan, he said.

Possible events could include cross-country and downhill skiing, ice hockey and a multiday race on the Central Otago Rail Trail, he said.

Plans were also being drawn up to include golf in the games, hosted at three top Queenstown golf courses, but no further details were available, Mr Bezett said.

Plans for the games were first confirmed in June, with Mr Bezett predicting they would be a "true international event" for up to 2000 competitors from around New Zealand and abroad.

Yesterday, he said a revised timeline meant organising the games to begin next year was "going to be tight", and it was possible the inaugural games - if approved - would not be held until 2013, and then every two years after that.

"It's looking quite good at the moment. The only thing is it's going to be tight for us to be able to do it next year.

"But, hopefully, we will have a number of just maybe five or six sports next year, just to start it off just to get the inaugural event under way," he said.

It was not yet known what the event would cost, he said. The council would have an important role to play in organising the event, but would "not necessarily" fund it.

Mr Bezett said he would be "confident" of securing external funding by early next year if the council approved the project.

• Any chance of Dunedin and Queenstown hosting another major event - the World Masters Games 2017 - appeared to be ruled out by Sparc yesterday, NZPA reported.

The Government is searching for a New Zealand city to nominate as part of a bid to host the event, but a report by Sparc found only Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch were capable of hosting it.

The host city would have to stage 28 sports and accommodate 23,000 participants and supporters, and the Sparc report found Dunedin and Queenstown together would not meet the requirements for a single city.

- chris.morris@odt.co.nz