Catherine Wellington

After narrowly missing Winter Olympics qualification four years ago, Wanaka skeleton racer Katharine Eustace is channelling all her energy into making it to the starting blocks at Sochi.

Badly-injured skier Toby Kravet warded off hypothermia and death by repeating four sets of exercises over the 17 hours he lay in snow near Treble Cone.

New Zealand team Seagate has completed an epic, six-day mission with a hard-earned second place in the Ecomotion World Series adventure race in Bahia, northeast Brazil.

Putting in a tentative bid has paid dividends for the Wanaka Rodeo Club, which has been chosen to host the New Zealand National Finals Rodeo on March 8 and 9 next year, for the first time since 2001.

The winners of last year's World Heli Challenge, Wanaka couple Will Jackways and Abby Lockhart (above), are hoping one day will be enough to repeat their success following the cancellation of the second scheduled day.

Worldloppet Ski Federation inspector and race organiser Estonian Epp Paal will be able to report back first-hand on how well the 19th annual Merino Muster, at the Snow Farm, is run today.

Wanaka has been both home and training ground for two of New Zealand's most successful adaptive snow sports athletes, Carl Murphy and Adam Hall.

All banter aside, the four Wells boys from Wanaka really are a tight band of brothers.

Turning the vacant former Wanaka Medical Centre at 21 Russell St into a 40-bed backpackers accommodation has been proposed.

Wanaka freestyle skier Fraser McDougall, photographed by Mickey Ross, gets inverted as part of the World Heli Challenge Freestyle Day at Mt Turner in the Wilkin Valley, near Makarora, on Monday.

Perhaps his memories of growing up in a small Alberta town are why top Canadian freestyle halfpipe skier Mike Riddle feels repeatedly drawn to Wanaka.

Racing the ''fast and furious'' 1.6km cross-country sprint in the opening Winter Games event today is another rung in Sarah Murphy's 13-year climb to get to Sochi.

While much of August is being dominated by two-legged athletes competing in the 2013 Winter Games, by the end of the month it will be time for four-legged competitors to shine on the snow.

The Oamaru Licensing Trust has withdrawn its management contract from Millennium and Copthorne Hotels New Zealand Ltd as part of a mutual agreement, chairman Ali Brosnan says.

Despite battling a double dose of the flu, Balclutha's Rhys Gardner and co-driver Alex Ramsay managed a creditable fifth place in Sunday's Rally of Canterbury.

Timely extra snow over the weekend has ensured the Queenstown Lakes mountains are looking their best the week the 2013 Winter Games begins.

Australian V8 Supercar driver Shane van Gisbergen paid Highlands Motorsport Park a debut visit yesterday and the amiable Kiwi was seriously wowed by what he saw.