Media Release For further information contact: Fringe Games Organizing Committee Tel: 64 4 479 5563 or 64 4 388 9328 Fax: 64 4 479 7974 Email: fgoc@fringegames.org New Zealand launches new games for the new Millennium ===================================================== Media Release: A major international sporting event focusing on new and experimental sports is to be held in Christchurch, New Zealand, one week before the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. To be called the Fringe Games, it aims to move beyond traditional sport in an exploration of human potential. "There is a hunger for new and exciting events," says Fringe Games creator and international best selling author, Burton Silver. "People are going to be able to watch formation running, the 100m slalom and mechanized running for the first time, plus a host of other dynamic sports that have never been staged on an athletic track before." Other events include the freestyle long jump, the freestyle high jump and open design cycling events. "Many people don't realize that athletes are constrained by traditional rules of limitation and that there are ways of jumping higher or further, or cycling faster. The Fringe Games will allow us to celebrate our true potential by removing those constraints and we confidently expect to see many new records set at these inaugural games," says Fringe Games spokesperson Burton Silver. Experienced New Zealand event organizer, Arthur Klap, who has been enlisted to help put the first games together, says that the Fringe Games will stretch orthodox perceptions of how sports events can be run. "This will be one of the most exciting games imaginable," says Klap. "The open approach will allow athletes to reach new levels of skill and performance which have not been possible in international competition until now." The Fringe Games are likely to be staged around the time of major international sporting events in order to highlight other possibilities in sport, just as fringe arts festivals highlight alternative movements in the arts. Future Fringe Games will be held in countries which are "fringe" to countries holding major sporting fixtures. International and local interest in the games has been instant. "The concept has already been run past international broadcast consultants and potential sponsors and we have been delighted with the interest in it," says Silver. "What is of particular interest is how people we have been speaking with overseas have all said how appropriate it is for the Fringe Games concept to be coming from New Zealand. We seem to be well known for innovation and invention. Sir Edmund Hillary's name inevitably comes up, as well as bungy jumping, zorbing and jet boat racing. Several have mentioned New Zealand's leading international yacht designers, and, of course, the All Blacks." The first Fringe Games will be held at QEII Park in Christchurch between the 8th and 11th of September 2000. This is a week before the Olympic Games, although the organizers point out that there is no association between the two events. More information about the Fringe Games is available on the Fringe Games web site at http://www.fringegames.org For further information contact: Fringe Games Organizing Committee Tel: 64 4 479 5563 or 64 4 388 9328 Fax: 64 4 479 7974 Email: fgoc@fringegames.org ____________________________________________________________________________