Merino Muster

On the 2nd of September, New Zealand’s local cross country skiers will be racing alongside Winter Olympians and Worldloppet Masters from more than 25 nations for the 22nd annual Merino Muster at Snow Farm near Wanaka/NZL. The 3rd Worldloppet event 2016/17 takes place in the heart of New Zealand’s Southern Alps following last weekend’s Kangaroo Hoppet in Australia.

Racing begins at 10 am (local time, means tonight in Europe) with the start of the full distance 42 km Merino Muster followed by the 21 km Snow Rake, 7 km Straggle Muster and 1 km Mini Muster for under-10s.

Olympians from US as stars

Entries for the longer races include members of the US and Korean national nordic ski teams who are using Snow Farm as their training base ahead of the northern hemisphere season. Winter Olympians Jessie Diggins, who also won gold at the 2013 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships and is the current US 30 km Classic national champion, and Noah Hoffman will be among the names to watch in the women’s and men’s race respectively. The home crowd will be hoping for a strong performance from its junior skiers in the Straggle Muster after four development athletes – siblings Campbell and Daniel Wright and Louis and Olivia Jones – scored impressive results across the Tasman last Saturday at the Kangaroo Hoppet, Falls Creek. 

Other nations represented in the various race distances include Australia, Finland, Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic, Estonia, Israel, Argentina, Venezuela and Japan. A group of nearly 30 Norwegians have made the long trip south especially to race the Kangaroo Hoppet and Merino Muster on consecutive weekends.

Race committee member, Mary Lee said everything was on track for a great event:

“The weather is looking fine for some great racing tomorrow. You don’t have to be an experienced cross country skier to enjoy Muster Day and you can still hire gear and enter up at Snow Farm on the morning. The shorter distances are a great way for families to enjoy themselves in a fantastic race day atmosphere,” she said.

With the Merino Muster also the second episode of Worldloppet-TV season 2016/17 is coming. So be prepared on Sunday 8:00pm CET to see the highlights of New Zealand’s Worldloppet. 

Anyone wanting more information about the race should visit www.merinomuster.com. For directions and more information about Snow Farm NZ visit www.snowfarmnz.com.