August 20, 2009 (Queenstown, New Zealand) – With just a few days to go and the excitement is reaching fever pitch as inaugural 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games kick off on Friday, August 21 with the spectacular Opening at Earnslaw Park in downtown Queenstown. The games will be officially declared open along with skydivers, traditional powhiri welcome by members of Kai Tahu and other special programs.

The sports competitions will take place at Coronet Peak, The Remarkables, Cardrona Alpine Resort, Snow Farm, Naseby and Dunedin from 21st-30th August 2009. The schedule will feature the disciplines of Alpine Skiing, Cross-Country Skiing, Freestyle Skiing, Snowboarding, Curling, Ice Skating and adaptive snow sports as well as the demonstration sports of winter Triathlon and natural Luge. The action-packed program includes 24 events, and has been designed to give athletes the chance to get valuable competition experience in top environment before the 2010 Olympic Winter Games next February.

Many disciplines boast star-heavy fields, from Alpine Skiing where Anja Paerson (SWE) is leading a line-up also including Fabienne Suter of Switzerland, and on the men‚s side, Paerson‚s teammates Markus Larsson, Andre Myhrer and Matts Olsson. Other nations competing in the three alpine events include Australia, Belgium, Canada, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway and the United States. Along with a who‚s who of Snowboarding (see the above article) entered for the half-pipe event, the starters in Freestyle half-pipe competitions include Kevin Rolland, Xavier Bertoni, and Anais Caradeux of France and Megan Gunning of Canada.

For more information visit www.wintergamesnz.com