Funds help three

Press, 29 January 1988, Page 18

Funds help three

Eleventh hour funds have enabled three New Zealand ice-carvers to compete alongside carvers from 29 other countries in the first event of its type in the Calgary Winter Olympics next month. The team left Auckland yesterday for a pre-Olym-pic- event in the United States. Heading the New Zealand team is Steve Randle, of Auckland, who has won several international gold medals for his work including a gold in the Sapporo international show and ice festival in Japan. His fellow carvers are another Aucklander, Trevor Marmont, a packaging designer and graphic artist, and Nicola Guiness, from Northland. She is a student at the Auckland Society of Fine Arts. The team was specifically invited to take part in the event by the Olympic organisers and, according to Randle, it stands a good chance of winning a medal for New Zealand. “We plan to re-create and portray in snow the spirit of peace and togetherness which the Olympic Games throughout history have endeavoured to achieve,” he said. “It would have been a tragedy — both for ourselves and New Zealand — if we had not been able to travel because of a lack of funds.” The team was unable to get money from Olympic funds, but only weeks before the event American Express and United Airlines acted as benefactors, i