The Championships saw over 1,000 athletes from 70 countries compete in the nine-day competition at the 20,000 capacity QEII Stadium.

The undoubted highlight of the event was the men's T44 100 metre final which saw South African Oscar Pistorius beaten for the first time in the event for seven years as American rival Jerome Singleton piped him to the line in a photo-finish; Pickering claims that the quality of action such as this at the event has helped to get the New Zealand public behind Paralympic sport.

"We saw the Championships as an ideal opportunity to showcase what Paralympic Sport is all about to a wider audience," said Pickering, who was also chair of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the event.

"By doing so, we can now attract more people into the sport either as participants, spectators, volunteers or sponsors.

"It's given us a real opportunity to increase and grow our revenue streams as well, which will be of huge benefit for years to come.

"Hopefully the New Zealand general public now knows a lot more about our athletes and what can be achieved by people with a disability."

Following the Christchurch 2011 IPC World Athletics Championships, it was announced that the event will be held every two years as opposed to every four, meaning that the next Championships will be staged in 2013 with the bidding process set to get underway by the end of the year.

The 2011 competition is said to have injected around $12 million (£5.8 million) into the Christchurch economy showing that the event is the most profitable Paralympic sporting competition outside of the Paralympic Games.

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