The popularity of cross-country skiing in Norway and Sweden matches that of rugby in New Zealand, which makes competing in the discipline from this part of the world an uphill battle for Andy Pohl.
Not that you will hear the 26-year-old Snow Farm general manager complaining about it.
He is philosophical about the Nordic teams turning up to world cup races with ''massive wax trucks'' and hordes of technicians waxing the racers' skinny cross-country skis.
He usually arrives in a ''tiny little rental car, packed to the rafters'' and takes care of his own gear.
At the world championships held over 10 days in Sweden this year, 250,000 people attended.
The sides of the trails were packed with spectators and fans filled the purpose-built grandstands at the start/finish line.
''It's what they do,'' Pohl said, referring to cross-country skiing's appeal in the Nordic countries.
When he competes in these international events, he is not expecting victory.
His best result is 44th in a world cup race, and he can afford to attend only two or three world events out of about 10 in a season.
What he has had, though, is an incredible travel itinerary for the past seven years.
Pohl, who grew up in Dunedin, first travelled to Canada on a skiing scholarship at the University of Alberta.
He returns each northern hemisphere winter and competes all over Canada and Europe in world cup, Nor-Am, world championship and international Loppet races.
He bases himself (training and work) at the Snow Farm in the Cardrona Valley over the New Zealand winter.
It means he can be on his skis at 6.30am to hit the trails for 90 minutes before he begins his working day.
''Then sometimes I can squeeze in another one or two hours after work,'' Pohl said.
Cross-country skiing is one of the most physically demanding sports. Typically, those participating regularly will have an extremely high VO2 max (measure of the maximum volume of oxygen that an athlete can use).
''In terms of fitness, it's reputably the most aerobically demanding sport out there,'' Pohl said.
He cross-trains by riding his (mountain and road) bikes, running, competing in triathlons and utilising his sports technology degree to understand the physiology and biomechanics behind the sport.
Pohl finished third in the recent Merino Muster 42km cross-country race at his Snow Farm home grounds.
These longer marathon-style races suit him best and he describes himself as a ''distance specialist''.
Pohl is also adaptable, as his Winter Games event programme signifies.
He will race in the short, sharp 1600m cross-country sprint on Friday.
The next day, he switches from skate skiing (pushing alternating skis away from one another at an angle, similar to ice skating) to the classic style (where each ski is pushed forward from the other stationary ski in a striding and gliding motion) to compete in the mass start classic 15km race.
Next Sunday, Pohl will race in the 10km individual start (skate style) race.
