LAKE WANAKA, New Zealand (May 25, 2011) - The Southern Hemisphere’s largest snow sports event, 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games is officially launching in Auckland at the Air New Zealand Holidays Auckland Snow Show on 4/5 June.

Aucklanders will be able to experience a piece of the Winter Games action with the gravity-defying Skullcandy Big Air, an event that will also take place on the closing weekend of Winter Games NZ in Methven as part of Downtown Sessions. Downtown Sessions is a full off-snow festival programme featuring an Adventure Film Festival, live music and entertainment and Adventure Expo, as well as bringing the mountain downtown in a series of big air and rail jam extravaganzas in Queenstown, Lake Wanaka, Dunedin and Methven.

Visitors to the 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games stand at the Auckland Snow Show will get the opportunity to test their skills on Shaun White’s latest Playstation game as well as get their photo taken in an extreme snowboarding environment. They can also learn more about how Winter Games NZ attracts more world champions, Olympic medallists and world cup winners than any other New Zealand sports event.

Running over sixteen days from 12-28 August 2011, Winter Games NZ will feature 22 sports over 38 events with 1,000 of the world’s elite snow and ice sports athletes from 50 nations, all watched by an audience of millions around the world.

100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games is the ultimate testing ground where elite athletes can experiment and explore performance limits against world-class competition. The programme includes World Cup and Continental Cup level events and will act for many as the starting point on their journey to the 2014 Winter Olympics.

“Winter Games is the only event of its kind outside of the winter Olympics, bringing the world’s best winter sports athletes together to compete at the highest level,” said Winter Games NZ CEO, Arthur Klap. “With New Zealand as the host country it allows our athletes to compete at a world class level without having to travel offshore and the general public can watch some of the most spectacular competition, right on their own doorstep, and even better, it’s free!”

100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games will take place at Coronet Peak, Cardrona Alpine Resort, Snow Park NZ, Snow Farm, Mt Hutt, Naseby and Dunedin from August 12-28 2011.

For further information, visit www.wintergamesnz.com

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