The thunder of hundreds of hooves will bring Queenstown to a standstill today.
Ewes herd it here first: find a good vantage point somewhere along Beach St, and at noon you will see 350 merino sheep - most of them trucked from nearby Mt Nicholas Station - run the length of Beach St to Earnslaw Park.
The ''Running of the Wools'' will launch the inaugural New Zealand Rural Games, a festival of rural-themed sports, entertainment and local food and wine.
Based at the Queenstown Recreation Ground, the games will feature ''sports that built the nation'', including Young Farmer Contest-type agri-sports, sheep dog trials, cherry-stone spitting, coal shovelling, speed tree climbing, wine-barrel racing and even an attempt at the egg-throw-and-catch world record.
