Tracey Roxburgh

Christchurch's Axel Reiser came up trumps from a field of 27 competitors in Saturday's inaugural half ironman triathlon, held during the Motatapu events.

Running a 42.2km off-road marathon might seem like enough of a challenge for most people.

Anton Cooper, of Christchurch, claimed the honours in the Motatapu mountain bike event on Saturday, smashing the course record previously held by Marcus Roy.

Some sausages, bread, tomato sauce and a red and black themed day at Wakatipu High School on Friday raised about $2500 for the Red Cross Christchurch earthquake appeal.

The Lakes District turned on the weather for the 2011 Motatapu, which raised money for the Christchurch earthquake appeal and Canterbury women recovering from breast cancer through five different events.

A $10 million marketing campaign has been launched in China ahead of the inaugural flight from Guangzhou to Auckland with China Southern Airlines, and Queenstown expects to benefit from the new relationship.

It is undoubtedly the kookiest, craziest, most extreme cocktail event in the world - but do not let the fun and frivolity surrounding the seventh 42Below Cocktail World Cup fool you.

A 10-hour event held at Earnslaw Park on Sunday raised $14,000 for the Red Cross Christchurch Earthquake appeal - a sum that will be matched dollar for dollar by BP Queenstown.

A locally written, produced and directed show will be staged in Arrowtown for a four-night season this month, the first writing and directing foray for local thespian Jo Blick.

A $100,000 donation from the Otago Community Trust to help with the staging of the 2011 Winter Games NZ was announced yesterday.

Fewer than 2000 tickets remained yesterday for Saturday's inaugural Gibbston Valley Winery Summer Concert, featuring Dr Hook and Creedence Clearwater Revisited.

Strangers held hands and hugged each other in the Queenstown CBD yesterday as almost 1000 people observed a two-minute silence, marking seven days to the moment the magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Christchurch.

Pupils in Queenstown dug deep on Friday, doing their bit to help victims of the Christchurch earthquake.

More than 50 varieties of "cottage plants", including historic roses, were planted around the 140-year-old Millers Flat Church on Friday as part of the landscaping plan for the restored building.