Minority sports are outshining the traditional codes to the surprise of organisers finalising registrations for the Southland Uni Games.

The pinnacle of university sport in New Zealand, the annual event will be staged at venues throughout Invercargill from April 13-16 - the first time is has been hosted in the deep south.

Games director Dene Lynch said registrations were in the process of being finalised, with three major university campuses still to confirm student athlete numbers.

"Many university sports do rely on funding from outside sources to compete and we have several competitors awaiting the outcome of funding applications this week, so that has forced us to accept a slight delay," she said.

"It is disappointing we haven't been able to finalise registrations yet but we certainly don't want to exclude talented athletes from competing at the Southland Uni Games."

Based on the registrations received from 13 tertiary campuses so far, touch, badminton, ultimate frisbee and lawn bowls have proved popular, while the addition of track cycling to the programme has sparked considerable excitement.

"I think it's a reflection of the incredible facilities you have in Southland - you've got an awesome badminton venue down there and the ILT velodrome is simply world-class," Lynch said.

"Stadium Southland is the hub of the Uni Games and it's a fantastic facility to play in and work from."

Around 100 competitors will take to the touch field, 70 will soar in ultimate frisbee and in the badminton ranks 41 competitors will battle it out, with numbers expected to increase further with the addition of the three remaining campuses.

Even lawn bowls has nearly 30 entrants to date, including the Southern Institute of Technology's pairing of Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt and champion Southland cyclist Tom Scully.

"Everyone is keen to challenge themselves against Mayor Tim," Lynch said.

The SIT's 79 athletes will go down in history as the first to represent the organisation at the Uni Games.

Team manager Tracy Simpson said she was confident the SIT would perform strongly.

"We have representatives in 16 events from cricket and volleyball to aquathon and golf - it's going to be fantastic to see the SIT colours compete proudly alongside our tertiary counterparts from throughout New Zealand for the first time," she said.

In total 24 sports will be contested at the Southland Uni Games, where New Zealand's 10 universities are invited to challenge for the prestigious Games Shield.

The Uni Games was secured for Southland by a dedicated local consortium comprising the Invercargill Licensing Trust, ILT Foundation, Community Trust of Southland, Invercargill City Council, SIT, Stadium Southland, Venture Southland and Sport Southland, together with long time supporters of University Sport New Zealand, the Radio Network and the New Zealand Community Trust.