Historical information

The Kangaroo Hoppet is Australia’s premier long distance cross country ski race, and a member of the Worldloppet series of international cross country ski events.

The first race at Falls Creek was held in 1979 under the name of “Australian Birkebeiner”. It was a 21km race with about 80 participants organised by the Birkebeiner Nordic Ski Club of Mount Beauty. The course started and finished at Falls Creek Alpine Resort and took participants out into the Bogong High Plains.

After running the event for 10 years, it was decided they should become part of the Worldloppet series of marathon ski races. Representatives from the Birkebeiner Nordic Ski Club and the Australian Ski Federation attended the Worldloppet Annual Meeting in Finland in June 1990 to put the case for the acceptance of an Australian event into the Worldloppet series. Before being admitted, they had to demonstrate that the Birkebeiner Club could run a world class event, so three months later in August 1990 a 42km event named the Australian International Ski Marathon was held at Falls Creek together with a 21km Birkebeiner race and a 7km event called the Birkebeiner Lite. The event was approved by delegates from USA, Norway and Austria, in 1991 Australia became the 12th member of Worldloppet, with the condition that there had to be a name change. After some late night discussion allegedly involving red wine from North East Victoria the main event became the 42km Kangaroo Hoppet, with the minor events being the 21km Australian Birkebeiner, and 7km Joey Hoppet.

In the winter of 1991, the first Kangaroo Hoppet was held. It was a great success and has been a regular fixture on the international ski calendar ever since. It features the main 42km event as well as a 21km event and a 7km event. The Hoppet brings the Australian snowfields to an international audience.

In 2006 the Men's Winner was Ben Sim from Australia in a time of 1:13:17. The winner of the Women's event was Natascia Leonardi-Cortesi of Switzerland in a time of 1:23:20. This was a very poor snow season with no snow in the Nordic Bowl, on Heathy Spur or on the trail around the Lake so the course had to be modified.

Significance

This poster is significant because it documents an event which brings international attention to Falls Creek and the surrounding region.

Physical description

An image of a large group of skiers in reddish tones on white-blue snow. All writing is in blue text. The logos of Tourism Victoria and Worldloppet are on the right hand side in red tones. A blue fish is beside the text at the bottom.

Inscriptions & markings

Beneath the image: KANGAROO HOPPET 16
August 26 Falls Creek Australia 2006
EMAIL [email protected]
WEB www.hoppet.com.au
PH +61 3 57541045
03 57541045
POST P.O. Box 400 Mount Beauty 3699
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