Zoi Sadowski-Synnott Donates Olympic Gold Snowboard To Fundraiser For New Zealand Snow Sports Athletes

Wānaka, NZ (31 October 2022) - Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has donated her personally signed Olympic & X Games gold medal winning snowboard to the Wanaka Snowsports Club to be auctioned off online as part of their Snowmelt fundraiser. This is the very board she rode to victory at the Beijing Olympics in February, claiming New Zealand’s first ever Winter Olympics gold medal.

Zoi’s board isn’t the only prestigious item on offer as part of the online auction. Other items donated by the snow sports community include a pair of Atomic skis signed by fellow Winter Olympics Gold Medalist, Nico Porteous; heliskiing packages; a day filming with renown videographers The Beards; a day skiing with World Cup ski racer Piera Hudson; holiday getaways; ski equipment; Lego and more. The auction is held via Charity Auctions Today and is due to finish on Sunday 13 November.

Wanaka Snowsports Club president, Flick Wallace said, “The club is incredibly lucky that Zoi and other top athletes are prepared to be so generous with their time and memorabilia so we can continue to support the next generation of Snowsports athletes in our region.”

The members of Wanaka Snowsports Club are no strangers to fundraising. Each year the club makes valuable contributions to snow sports in New Zealand, from helping foster snow sports athletes at a grassroots level all the way through to supporting Olympic and World Champion level athletes.

The Club’s current fundraiser, Snowmelt, is focused on helping ease the financial burden for up and coming and elite athletes travelling to the Northern Hemisphere in 2022/23 for a long winter of training and competitions. These competitions include World Cup freeskiing, snowboarding and alpine racing, X Games, Freeride World Tour, Europa Cup and Continental Cup events and a range of elite national and regional competitions. Many athletes rely on donations and grants to fund the extensive travel required, which is made all the more difficult by the rising cost of overseas travel.

Last year the Club’s Northern Hemisphere grants supported a large number of New Zealand’s snow sports rising stars such as Finn Bilous, Ben Barclay, Ben Harrington and Gustav Legnavsky who attended the Beijing Olympics. Other recipients attended the Junior Freeski and Snowboard World Championships in Leysin Switzerland - gold medalist Gustav Legnavsky and silver medalists Luca Harrington and Cam Melville Ives - and the Freeride World Tour, Spain bronze medalist Craig Murray. Many other up and comers were supported with funding, notably 13-year-old Isabel Watterson who won the highly prized Grand Prix Migros alpine race series finale in Switzerland.

Many of the Wanaka Snowsports Club members are named in the NZ Alpine Teams for 2022-2023 and financial assistance is needed to support them: Snow Sports NZ Alpine Ski team members - Piera Hudson and Mikayla Smyth; Snow Sports NZ Alpine Junior FIS Squad - Calder Bain, Sam Hadley, Jesse Mutton, Hemi Meikle; Snow Sports NZ Alpine FIS Youth Squad U16 - Charlotte Wiggins, Mathilda Watterson, Kezik Magill, Bailey McDonald; and U14 - Isabel Watterson, Jarred Ferguson. National Women’s Para Alpine Champion, Kirsty Fairhurst is also a member.

Live event and auction held

Last Saturday, 29 October, the club held a very successful get together with a live auction and raffle as a curtain raiser to the online auction. The most sought-after prize on the night was a day skiing with current Freeride World Champion, Jess Hotter and fellow Freerider Ben Richards. Many other athletes donated ski/snowboard experience days including Ben Barclay, Ben Harrington, Luca Harrington, as well as up and comers Rocco Jamieson, Cam Melville Ives, Liam Richards and Fin Melville Ives. A Cardrona-Treble Cone season pass, and a Weber BBQ donated by local company Selectrix, were also snapped up on the night.

The money raised by Snowmelt will be put directly to club athletes who are travelling to train and compete in the Northern Hemisphere winter 2022/23.

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