. world ski news : World Heli Challenge kicks off this weekend (+VIDEO) - 26 August 2009 - 14:55
Perfect snow conditions await the athletes who have traveled around the globe for the resurrection of one of the worlds most explosive snow events, the World Heli Challenge.
The return of this internationally acclaimed helicopter accessed ski and snowboard has been most welcomed by athletes and media around the world. Warren Miller Entertainment, Channel 10 Australia, ONE HD, Fairfax Digital Media, Bigpond TV, Mountainwatch.com and Quattro Media are among the hundreds of media outlets have embraced this events return to the annual snow sports calendar.
The World Heli Challenge brings together a host of athletes representing various backgrounds in ski and snowboard disciplines. A cross breed of alpine racers, terrain park, half pipe athletes and all round free skiers and freeriders meet together where their ability is pushed to limit across three days of helicopter accessed snow sports competition. The event is held in the Mt Aspiring National Park, adjacent to the magnificent Lake Hawea and Makarora Valley near Wanaka, in New Zealand's South Island.
The three major events are:
The "Big Mountain" event tests an athletes ability on very steep terrain where huge cliff drops and technical prowess provide a "wow" factor unlike any other discipline in snow sports.
The "Freeride" event is held on undulating terrain where freestyle and aerial maneuvers tests the acrobatic skills of an athlete - basically the person having the most fun is certain to take the most points.
The "VnC Cocktail Downhill" event is the grand finale of the competition where athletes races head to head together down the mountainside, the first to the bottom and across the line wins.
The concept of adding together an athletes score across three distinctively different days of competition will find out who is the best "all round" skier and boarder in male and female genres of the event.
"The World Heli Challenge is more then just three days of competition of a two week period, its an adventure packed two weeks where athletes take on a vast array of adventure activities that New Zealand is renowned for when they are not competing" says event creator Tony Harrington. "There is certainly time out as well, as we'll cruise Lake Wakitipu on the TSS Earnslaw, visit Milford Sound, play golf, go surfing on the West Coast and kick back lakeside of the magnificent Lake Hawea and Lake Wanaka foreshores."
VnC Cocktails are excited to announce their involvement with the World Heli Challenge 2009, kicking off in Wanaka New Zealand this week. The New Zealand Company making ready to enjoy cocktails has valuable synergies between their brand and the event, Communications Manager Alex Badger says, "VnC Cocktails are made in New Zealand from 100% natural ingredients and this is reflected perfectly in the setting of the World Heli Challenge, why use artificial ingredients when you live in a country full of the real thing." Ms Badger goes on to say, "At VnC Cocktails we like the challenge of taking on the world, so what better event to get involved in than the World Heli Challenge with guys who share the same outlook as life as we do. We are proud to support anyone who is mad enough to strap on some skis, point themselves downhill, scream "Bansaiiiiiii!!!" and get to the bottom in time to party!"
The start list includes an array of some of the world most finest and respected athletes, as well as a young gun crew who are out to keep the big names honest.
A short list of athletes include World Champions in Big Mountain Snowboarding Matthew Annetts and Susan Mol, skiers Ted Davenport, Ingrid Backstrom, Mike Wilson, Tim Dutton, Jackie Paaso from the U.S., former North American Champion, 2 x World Heli Challenge Downhill Champion and last weekends winner of the Volkl NZ Freeskiing Championships Geoff Small and Janina Kuzma, Australia's Chris Booth, Russ Henshaw, Andrea Berchtold, 7 X World Speed Snowboard Champion Darren Powell and a host of others.
A full event start list and athlete bio can be found at www.worldhelichallenge.com
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