Dunedin ratepayers will foot the bill for 110-thousand dollars going to two major events - to bring visitors into the city
Dunedin ratepayers will foot the bill for 110-thousand dollars going to two major events - to bring visitors into the city 10 June 2021
A council grants committee dished out 75-thousand to next month s New Zealand International Science Festival, and the rest will go to the New Zealand Masters Games in February.
They re considered to be excellent Dunedin events which attract many people to the city.
While there, the visitors contribute to the local economy by spending on hospitality, accommodation, retail, transport and other activities.
A former Olympic cyclist says Whanganui will miss a huge opportunity if it chooses a tin-shed option for roofing the city s velodrome.
Former Olympic cyclist Gary Anderson, Whanganui Regional Velodrome Trust members Leigh Grant and Bob Smith.
Photo: Robin Martin
Closed since February over track-safety concerns, the council is consulting with the public over the future of the velodrome as part of its long-term plan.
The Whanganui velodrome, with its Malaysian hardwood track, was considered one of the fastest in the world when it was built in 1995 and several New Zealand records were set there.
But the track was never covered and it s now a rotting patchwork of repairs.
Tin shed option a missed opportunity for Whanganui Velodrome - Olympian nzherald.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nzherald.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Downer NZ Masters Games organisers already looking towards next event
15 Feb, 2021 04:00 PM
4 minutes to read
Crowds gathered at Wembley Park for Masters football over the weekend. photo / Bevan Conley
Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chroniclemichael.tweed@nzme.co.nzWhangaChron
Organisers of the 2021 Downer New Zealand Masters Games breathed a sigh of relief on Sunday evening, after the week-long event wrapped up an hour after new Covid-19 alert level 2 restrictions were announced. Whanganui Masters Games Trust chairman Leighton Toy said he was really pleased with how the event ran. The whole village environment was really good, but also the support that you get from local businesses and sport co-ordinators was just brilliant, Toy said.
It s a philosophy not lost on games manager Rachel O Connor. It could be anyone from your well-trained athlete to just somebody getting out there for the first time. Our first time entrants this year are about 39 percent of our overall entries, so just short of 2000 so it s fantastic to see them giving this event a go, but yeah it s literally anyone and everyone.
And they re not all old-timers. So each sport has a minimum age. We ve got a couple of sports that start at 20 otherwise around that 30 to 35 mark, so it s a lot younger than you would expect. And we ve had a huge growth in the 30 to 39 which we ve been targeting as our up coming masters, so it s good to see people are realising they can compete which has been fantastic.