6 May 2023

NZ Winter Games gets $6 million funding boost

12:03 pm on 6 May 2023
The North Face Frontier at the Remarkables.

The North Face Frontier at the Remarkables Photo: Winter Games NZ/ Neil Kerr

The government is giving the New Zealand Winter Games up to $6 million for the next five years, after organisers came under pressure during the pandemic.

The annual South Island international sports event, considered to be the largest of its type in the southern hemisphere, has been held at various spots across central Otago since 2009.

Sport and recreation minister Grant Robertson said the funding would ensure New Zealand snow sport athletes could compete in a significant competition in front of a home audience.

He added that it was where Olympic gold medalists, freestyle skier Nico Porteous and snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott got their start.

Robertson said the money from the government's Major Events Fund would give organisers security.