Kiwifruit industry gears up for Anchor AIMS Games - Nearly 3 tonnes of Zespri SunGold Kiwifruit to be handed out
Media Release
25 Aug 2019
Zespri SunGold Kiwifruit is the perfect combination of taste and great nutrition and provides essential vitamins and nutrients for active, healthy minds and bodies. In fact one Zespri SunGold contains all your daily vitamin C requirements.
With this in mind, Post Harvest Kiwifruit Suppliers have allocated funds to support this year’s Anchor AIMS Games as a sponsor under the Zespri brand.
The Anchor AIMS Games attracts over 11,500 intermediate students from 369 schools across New Zealand and the Pacific to Tauranga for a week of sporting competition. This year's tournament is comparable in numbers to the 2016 Rio Olympics and will have more athletes than the last Commonwealth Games.
AIMS Games participants and supporters will be able to start their day with a piece of Zespri SunGold Kiwifruit – with over 25,000 pieces being sampled.
Zespri’s Head of Communication and External Relations Michael Fox says Zespri is excited to be partnering with Post Harvest Suppliers to support the event and promote the health benefits of Zespri SunGold Kiwifruit to the young athletes and their families.
“The AIMS Games provides a great opportunity to raise awareness of the availability of Zespri SunGold in our domestic market while also educating students, parents and teachers about the nutritional value and health benefits of including Zespri SunGold into their daily diet. Given the tournament is in the heart of kiwifruit country it’s also a great chance for us to showcase the quality kiwifruit grown in this region and support a local event,” he says.
There will be two Zespri branded activation marquees at the AIMS Games – one at Blake Park and the other at Gordon Spratt Reserve, hosting fun activities, games, and a chill out zone.
At Blake Park, students can learn about vitamin C in the Zespri SunGold Lab or earn points for their school in a “Throw for Gold” game – where they throw a kiwifruit hacky sack into targets. Each target represents a part of the human body that benefits from the nutritional elements of Zespri SunGold. Points earned for each school will be tallied up on a leaderboard at the end of each day, with the winning school at the end of the week receiving a $1,000 voucher for sporting equipment.
At Gordon Spratt Reserve, students can ‘Hit their daily dose’ by hitting Zespri SunGold Kiwifruit off a vine in a virtual orchard with a giant biospife*, or create a kiwifruit smoothie on Zespri smoothie bikes.
Across the course of the week, there will be roaming sampling of Zespri SunGold with nearly three tonnes of kiwifruit handed out to AIMS Games participants, teachers, parents and supporters.
Zespri Innovation Leader – Health and Nutrition, Dr Paul Blatchford is excited about putting Zespri SunGold into the hands of athletes and supporters from across New Zealand. “We know that SunGold not only tastes great, it provides a great source of vitamin C and is one of the most nutrient-dense fruits available.
“We have some fun and entertaining activities planned as part of this sponsorship that will help entertain AIMS Games participants and spectators between games, and help them learn more about the health benefits of kiwifruit,” Dr Blatchford says. The Anchor AIMS Games run from 8th – 13th September. Thirty-two different sporting codes will be represented, ranging from BMX racing to yachting and everything in between. Information about Anchor AIMS Games can be found at nzaimsgames.co.nz.
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Kiwifruit notes:
- Zespri SunGold Kiwifruit are rounder than most of the green kiwifruit that are seen in New Zealand fruit shops and supermarkets
- Zespri SunGold Kiwifruit are smooth, with a hairless skin which is bronze in colour (does not have the fuzz of the green kiwifruit)
*A biospife is a spoon+knife utensil, made from kiwifruit residues combined with polylactic acid to form a bioplastic. It is re-usable, renewable and industrially compostable.