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See the video that helped bring the World Champs to New Zealand!

The video below is hosted on YouTube, and it is the video we played during the ITF Congress to help win our bid to host the 2011 World Championships in New Zealand.

The video is uploaded with the kind permission of Tourism New Zealand, and it uses video footage from Tourism New Zealand, Tourism Auckland, Tourism Auckland and Taekwon-Do Television. Thank you to these entities for their support.

The video was edited by Carl Matthews, based on a storyboard by Mark Banicevich.

Thank you to His Worship Dick Hubbard for his time and assistance, to Jason Allen for filming at Vector Arena, to Vector Arena for allowing us to film there, and to Craig Hannah for filming Master Evan Davidson in New Plymouth.

2011 World Championships in New Zealand

On Friday 1 June 2007 at ITF Congress, delegates voted to accept our bid to host the 2011 ITF Taekwon-Do Senior and Junior World Championships in New Zealand!

This is a tremendous win for ITFNZ. Over the next four years we will need the help of many volunteers to make this happen - if you are interested in helping out, please contact Mr Herbison, ITFNZ Development Officer.

The bid team were Carl Matthews and Mark Banicevich. We would like to express our gratitute to Tourism Auckland - particularly to Anne Bickers who put the bid document together for us - Auckland City Council and His Worship Dick Hubbard, Tourism New Zealand and Tourism Rotorua for their support and assistance.

We would also like to thank Mr Afi Meleisea and the New Zealand team and supporters for taking the 200 bid documents to Quebec for us.

Introducing nine reasons

The 2011 World Championships Bid Team have been working so hard getting the bid together, that we haven’t had time to update the webpage.

Now, with nine weeks before the World Championships in Quebec, it is time for regular updates.

Each week, we will expand on one key reason why you should come to New Zealand for the World Championships of a lifetime in 2011!

The last progress update

Well, it is now 21 May, and in four days we leave for Quebec. There are many more reasons to come to New Zealand, but not enough weeks to tell you them all!

After over six months of work on this bid, it is crunch time. Time to see whether the world agrees with us; whether the 2011 ITF Taekwon-Do World Championships will indeed be held in New Zealand. The bid document is printed, the presentation is prepared.

Wish us luck. Keep your eye on the ITFNZ website on the morning of 2 June, New Zealand time, to learn the result...

Progress update

The presentation is coming together well. We meet with Tourism Auckland on Monday 30 April to work on the document together. We have great photos for the document - photos of New Zealand from Tourism New Zealand, photos of Auckland from Tourism Auckland, and photos of Taekwon-Do from Doug Hanna.

Another small teaser: here is a photo of Carl Matthews and Mark Banicevich from the Bid Team with Dick Hubbard, Mayor of Auckland City. The photo was taken at Vector Arena.

Our progress

Our big break came when Graeme Osborne, CEO of Tourism Auckland, arranged a meeting with Mark Banicevich (V dan, of the Bid Team), Cameron Parr (Manager Recreation and Community Services, Auckland City Council), Belinda Leota (Events Coordinator, Vector Arena) and Heidi Worner (Domestic and Events Marketing Manager, Tourism Auckland).

With the support of Tourism Auckland, Auckland City Council and Vector Arena, we made significant progress.

On Wednesday 7 March, Belinda Leota took Mark Banicevich and Carl Matthews of the Bid Team for a tour of Vector Arena. What an amazing venue for an ITF World Championships! Twelve small changing rooms and two large changing rooms down stairs (the latter suitable for warm-up rooms), separate areas for competitors and spectators, separate umpires room with direct access to the arena, media rooms, and other amazing features. Photos to come in a future update.

Now, with the help of Tourism Auckland, Auckland City Council and Tourism New Zealand, we will get footage and photographs to use in our bid document and presentation. We have access to amazing imagery to show how beautiful our country is. The best is yet to come!

Reasons to come to New Zealand:

Reason 1: the New Zealand dollar
Reason 2: things to see and do in New Zealand
Reason 3: see Australia, too, while you are here
Reason 4: a venue in the centre of New Zealand’s biggest city
Reason 5: everything you need within walking distance
Reason 6: our television experience
Reason 7: webcast the tournament
Reason 8: see the haka performed by the best
Reason 9: visitors visas for competitors

Facts about New Zealand

Visit 100% Pure New Zealand

Geography: between latitudes 34 deg S and 47 deg S, the antipodes of Spain
two main islands (North and South) covering 266,200sq km (slightly larger than Great
Britain)

Population: 4 million people, majority British descent
Maori comprise about 14% of the population
independent nation and member of British Commonwealth

Capital city: Wellington, population 0.5m

Largest city: Auckland, population 1.3m

Official languages:
English (most widely spoken), Maori (official, but not widely spoken) and sign language

Currency:
New Zealand dollar (NZD) of 100 cents, approx 0.7 US dollars, approx 0.5 Euros.

Temperature:
Subtropical, average daily maximum and minimum in Auckland: Summer Dec - Feb, 12 - 24 deg C (maximum between 20 - 30 deg C), Winter Jun - Aug, 9 to 15 deg C

Driving:
On the left
International licences valid 12 months

Distances
Auckland to Wellington is 658km, 9:15hrs drive, 45mins flight
Auckland to Queenstown, 3hrs flight

Drinking water: tap water is fresh and safe to drink

Time difference, approx GMT + 12 hours - one of the first nations to see the sun!

Electricity, 230 / 240 volts (50 hertz), pictured below (image sourced here).

 

 

Reasons to come to New Zealand

Reason 9: visitors visas for competitors

Reason 8: see the haka performed by the best

Reason 7: webcast the tournament

Reason 6: our television experience

Reason 5: everything you need within walking distance

Reason 4: a venue in the centre of New Zealand’s biggest city

Reason 3: see Australia, too, while you are here

Reason 2: things to see and do in New Zealand

Reason 1: the New Zealand dollar

Previous updates

 

 
 
International Taekwon-Do Foundation of New Zealand
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