Winterfest Jazz
Media Release
Sunday 2 July 2006
JAZZ NOTES AND MOUNTAIN FUN AS FESTIVAL WRAPS UP A ‘RESOUNDING SUCCESS’
The Southern Hemisphere's ultimate winter celebration wrapped up this weekend with organisers declaring the Lindauer Queenstown Winter Festival a resounding success.
Saturday’s Family Mountain Carnival got underway to fine and sunny conditions with good fields in all events.
The course in the Browns/Volkl Dash for Cash was tough and fast, quickly sorting the experienced mountain multisporters from the rest. Unbeatable for the fifth year in a row, Geoff Small of Hawea was the first male home picking up a cool $750 for his efforts. First woman was Katie Finlay of Canada who also took home $750 cash. First veteran (over 50) was Jeff Hodge of Queenstown.
There was hilarious action in the Suitcase Race as contestants in fancy dress packed themselves into their suitcases to take on the hard and fast course. Taking the top prize in the male division was Mark Pullar of Arrowtown with Queenstown’s Ingrid Thomas wining the female race. The spot prize went to Hanna McElroy while best dressed went to an unidentified Mexican.
After lunch there was hot competition in the Family Mountain Challenge. The mild enough looking course ended up turning into a surprisingly competitive multisport event for families. Teams of two, generally a parent and young child, faced a series of tasks including racing up the hill, slaloming through poles, sliding down on a sled, dragging child and sled through another slalom course, retrieving lollies and plunging head first into a bucket of water to retrieve an apple with the mouth. 14 teams entered and by the time the winners were established, several dads were looking very much worse for wear!
The $1000 flight voucher was won by Gibbston Valley’s Russell Hall and daughter Charlotte (8) while Aucklanders Maryn Johnson and Issy Campbell (9) took second place picking up a Browns prize voucher. Also taking home Browns vouchers were Queenstowners Anthony and Maya Hill (10) in third place and Malcolm and Keaton McDonald (9) in fourth.
Today (Sunday) the INCA Half Pipe proved a fantastic close to mountain events for the festival.
A strong field of 21 competitors took part in the fun and mellow event, as the music pumped out and MC Luca Soulos kept a good crowd of spectators informed and entertained throughout the day.
The Coronet Peak terrain park crew made it a very different half pipe for competitors on the day, with a fun box on one side of the pipe and a pole actually inside it, so competitors could ‘stall’ on it during their run.
Each competitor had two practice runs, followed by two judged. Winner Mark Anderson took top position with runs that included riding a ‘switch’ lip on the fun box, with a front side 540 melon grab -- and he stomped his tricks. Another standout competitor, freestyle skier Jossi Wells span 720 in the pipe getting inverted as he did so.
Michael ‘Frosty’ Frost from INCA said he was delighted to be involved in the first half pipe competition of the season and said “thanks” to Coronet Peak for getting the pipe in so early.
Results
1st Place Male Board Mark Anderson
2nd Place Male Board Olly Burke
3rd Place Male Board Chance Jensen
1st Place Female Board Marni Wilson
2nd Place Female Board Maria Kuzma
3nd Place Female Board Sheree Aitken
1st Place Ski Open Jossi Wells
2nd Place Ski Open Andrew Wylie
1st Place Junior Board Ski Matt Soundy
2nd Place Junior Board Ski Beau-James Wells
1st Ski Female Janina Kuzma
Festival director Simon Green said the ten-day festival had run extremely smoothly, thanks in part to fantastic weather and snow conditions.
“Visitor numbers appear to have been a little bit down on previous years, but that has only served to emphasise the level of community participation and involvement in the festival,” he said.
“There were almost record numbers at the opening party, and another fantastic turnout particularly in the early part of the evening for the Mardi Gras with people particularly keen to see the Mardi Gras Mayhem Community Parade and the Wakatipu High School Stage Challenge performance.
“It was a real credit to the community that our zero waste policy was widely accepted to the extent that we only found one glass bottle on Earnslaw Parade, the streets were clean by 10.45pm and whereas previously we have taken 60 wheelie bins of rubbish to the tip, this year we were down to six.”
Mr Green said the level of community involvement and support was brought home to him at Saturday night’s Jazz Night, which received fulsome praise for returning to its jazz roots formula and was almost exclusively attended by locals.
“Behind the scenes another highlight has been the fact that restructuring the management team has made the festival a more manageable exercise, and they’re already talking about what’s going to happen next year!”
For further media information or images please contact:
Mary Todd
Media Liaison
Phone: 03 441 2453 or 027 477 9394
Email: mary@winterfestival.co.nz
Reviews / Comments for Winterfest Jazz
No reviews have been written write a review now.
