Merino Muster
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Merino Muster

Wanaka, New Zealand View on map
Aug 22, 2026 (Pacific/Auckland local time)
Skiing

About this race

The Merino Muster is New Zealand's only XC ski marathon, and has been running since 1995. The event is held at Snow Farm, NZ's only cross-country ski field based 1500m above the Cardrona Valley.

Snow Farm’s trails and surroundings have attracted international cross country and biathlon ski teams for many years.

The cross country ski trails roam across the lower part of the Pisa range. Many follow old farm and mustering trails while others were formed to exploit the topography and shaped for snow retention. 

Pick your distance

Skiing

Merino Muster - 42km

Aug 22, 2026 Marathon 9:00 AM
Free
Closed

Snow Rake - 21km

Aug 22, 2026 Half-Marathon 9:15 AM
Free
Closed

Snow Farmer - 5km

Aug 22, 2026 5K 9:30 AM
Free
Closed

Mini Merino - 1km

Aug 22, 2026 1K 12:00 PM
Free
Closed

Typical race-day weather

Based on 2 years of Open-Meteo archive data for this event's race dates in Wanaka, plus the 3 days either side.

Temp (°C)
Minimum temperature (race-week average) 5.2° / Maximum temperature (race-week average) 11.3°
Feels Like (°C)
Minimum feels like — heat index / wind chill (race-week average) 2.7° / Maximum feels like — heat index / wind chill (race-week average) 10.5°
Peak wind (km/h)
Strongest wind of the day (race-week average)
11.1
Precip (mm)
Precipitation over the day (race-week average)
5.3mm
Humidity
Mean relative humidity (race-week average)
81.0%
Sunrise
Sunrise at the start line on August 22, 2026 (NZST)
Sunset
Sunset at the start line on August 22, 2026 (NZST)
Daylight
Hours between sunrise and sunset on race day
10h 34m

The sun rises at 7:29 AM and sets at 6:03 PM local time (NZST) in Wanaka on August 22, 2026 — 10h 34m of daylight.

Course

No course map published yet.

The organizer hasn't released a route for this event, and we don't publish guesses. If you're the organizer, send us a GPX file and we'll draw the profile.

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Where this page comes from. Race details were last updated on . We re-check listings regularly and again in the week before race day.

  • Entries, prices, waves and inclusions — the event's official registration page
  • Temperature and humidity — Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0)
  • Elevation and terrain relief — Copernicus DEM GLO-90, ESA (CC BY 4.0)

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