The next Lindauer Queenstown Winter Festival takes place from July 1 to July 10, 2005.

Big Air and Fast Ducks Mark the Final Day of Festival Fun

Last night’s finale of the BP Ultimate Air snowboard and ski jump competition, hosted at Coronet Peak, was a gripping conclusion to the 31st Lindauer Queenstown Winter Festival.

With a hip hop soundtrack from DJ Endo blasting out across the mountain, huge crowds gathered to cheer their support for a record field of 70 competitors who pulled trick after trick in their attempts to bag one of the top cash prizes of $1,000 and a magnum of Lindauer champagne.

Twenty three finalists were selected by a panel of five expert judges and each had the chance to make two final jumps to compete for a slice of a combined prize pool of $10,000.

BP Ultimate Air Results

Male snowboarding
1st place Stefan Karlsson from Sweden
2nd place Jacob Koia from Wanaka (last year’s winner)
3rd place Anthony Leffelaar from Wanaka

Female snowboarding
1st place Emi Takaku from Japan
2nd place Nabila Piper from Wanaka
3rd place Hana Sullivan from Queenstown

Junior snowboarding
1st place James Watts from Wanaka

Meanwhile, downtown on Queenstown’s Village Green in the TrustPower and Queenstown Rotary Club’s Charity Duck Race, pulses rose as 51 ducks raced down Horne Creek to a watery finishing line. Queenstown photographer Sheena Haywood had the raffle ticket for the lucky duck, winning a luxury weekend break at Wharekauhau Lodge in Palliser Bay, with flights and BMW car hire for the weekend thrown in.

The duck race raised an impressive $40,000 through raffle ticket sales, patron sponsorship and an individual donation. These funds will be gifted to Cure Kids and Heart Children Central Otago.

As the festival came to an official close, manager Leigh Soper said funds raised by the duck race were a welcome result.

“The festival is undoubtedly about having fun and there’s definitely been lots of that, but if we can channel some of that into fundraising events then all the better.”

Destination Queenstown chief executive David Kennedy said he was pleased to see so many visitors in Queenstown during the 10-day festival.

“It’s been another great festival week here, with locals and visitors kicking up their heels and enjoying everything that is great about Queenstown and the winter. The festival marks the start of the winter season and we’re looking forward to seeing more visitors having fun on the slopes and round the town.”

Also announced this weekend were the results from the BP Ultimate Classic Challenge, a series of competitive events running all week, culminating in the BP Ultimate Tug of War on Snow and the Puma Eyewear Suitcase Race.

BP Ultimate Classic Challenge Final Results
1st place: CivicCorp team
2nd place: Cutting Edge Hair Design team
3rd place: The Wharfies team from Wharf Casino

The Lindauer Queenstown Winter Festival is home of the Southern Hemisphere's ultimate winter celebration. The Lindauer Queenstown Winter Festival kicked off on July 1 and closed on July 10.

Fantastic daily images of the festival are freely available to all media. If you haven’t received these, please go to www.ibackup.com, enter UserID: winterfest and Password: fun05. Here you can download high resolution images that are free to use.