Ski Cross And Snowboard Cross At Winter Games NZ (19-Aug-09)

Lake Wanaka, New Zealand, August 19, 2009 - The snowboard-cross and ski-cross races at Cardrona will be solid gold highlights

The snowboard-cross and ski-cross races at Cardrona will be solid gold highlights of 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games. The two events feature some of the strongest fields appearing at the Games with likely medal winners too close to call.

One of the most exciting winter sports to watch, each heat features four athletes racing at the same time down a tight, undulating course. Thrills and spills are assured as racers speed round banked turns and over jumps to fight for the inside line.

Snowboard-cross kicks off on Monday 24th August. In the men’s event, top ranked Australians Alex Pullin and Damon Hayler face Japan national champion Kohichi Itoh and three of Germany’s top four racers including Olympian and current world number eleven David Speiser. They go head-to-head with Otago favourite and former world youth champ Phil Dominick along with some promising Kiwi juniors.

Among the women riders, New Zealand champion Rene Hollis and former Japan number one Natsuko Doi head a wide-open field.

Ski-cross action hits Cardrona on Thursday 27th August with exceptionally strong women’s and men’s fields. Canada’s top five women including world number three Kelsey Serwa, Aleisha Cline and Ashleigh McIvor take on Japan’s top three plus the number one athletes from Australia and Sweden – Jenny Owens and Magdalena Iljans who has five Winter X Games medals and six World Cup victories under her belt.

In the men’s event, world number two Chris Del Bosco heads the field with fellow Canadians Davey Barr and 2009 X-Games gold medallist Stanley Hayer. They take on former world champion Hiroomi Takizawa from Japan and the best New Zealand ski-cross riders Andrew Wylie, Sam Hazeldine, Matt Johnson and Sam Lee.

A total of thirteen nations are represented across both action-packed disciplines including Great Britain, Ireland, Switzerland, Ukraine, Korea and the USA.

100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games will take place at Coronet Peak, The Remarkables, Cardrona Alpine Resort, Snow Farm, Naseby and Dunedin from 21-30 August 2009 and will feature disciplines of alpine skiing, free skiing, x-country skiing, snowboarding, curling, ice skating and adaptive snow sports as well as the demonstration sports of winter triathlon and natural luge. For further information visit www.wintergamesnz.com.