Welcome for racers

Athletes competing in the Merino Muster races at the Snow Farm on Saturday were treated to a Maori welcome for the first time in its 25-year history.

As local and international competitors lined up at the start of the 42km cross-country ski race Joe Waide, of Wanaka, delivered a mihi whakatau to the athletes and a wero, or challenge.

Mr Waide grew up in Dunedin. but his great-great grandparents on his father's side lived in Tarras and Wanaka in the 1870s and 1880s.

In his welcoming ceremony he said the athletes were no longer visitors and were now "connected to the tangata whenua", the people of the land.

American cross-country skier Jessie Diggins accepted the wero from Mr Waide on behalf of the Merino Muster athletes.

Nearly 300 skiers competed in the 42km Merino Muster, the 21km Snow Rake, the 7km Straggle Muster, and the 1km race.

As this year also marked 30 years since the Snow Farm opened, its founder John Lee signalled the start of each race by ringing a cow bell from the sidelines.

The perfect weather and ski conditions attracted many spectators, including Pisa Alpine Charitable Trust patron and former prime minister Helen Clark, and husband Peter Davis.

A cross-country skier for nearly three decades, and a regular visitor and great supporter of the Snow Farm, Miss Clark said she had been to many skifields around the world and the Snow Farm was of international standard.