August 26, 2011 The 21st annual Kangaroo Hoppet will be held at Falls Creek in north east Victoria on August 27, 2011. The 42km  Hoppet is the opening event of the 2011 / 2012 Worldloppet series of long distance cross country ski races. Also held on the same day are the shorter 21km Australian Birkebeiner and 7km Joey Hoppet events.

Unusually warm weather over the last four weeks has affected snow conditions on lower and exposed sections of the normal track for the event. With fine weather  expected for the next week it has been decided to use an alternative course on the plateau above Falls Creek village.

This course has been used three times in the last twenty years, most recently in 2006.

Worldloppet Masters at the Kangaroo Hoppet 2011
Completion of any race in the Worldloppet series is an achievement in itself, and travelling around the world to take part in other events of the series has become a popular goal for many skiers. A Worldloppet Passport is available for skiers to record their first completion of each race in the series, and a special award, the Worldloppet Master, is given to skiers who complete ten different races. Around the world there are 11,810 Worldloppet Passport holders, 2,606 of whom have achieved their goal of becoming a Worldloppet Master.

The Australian Perspective
The award has no time limit, which is just as well for Australians given the amount of travel needed to get around nine northern hemisphere events. After getting a stamp at the Hoppet it is possible to do nine different events in the northern winter and last year two Australians managed to do just that.

Malcolm McKinnon did it the ‘easy’ way and confined his travel to Europe, while Marg Hayes and partner Bruce Wharrie included a round the world ticket in their plans and after starting the season in Europe, flew off to Japan USA and Canada before finishing back in Europe. Spare a thought for Bruce who managed an injury after the Japanese race and had to spend the rest of the trip as support crew.

At the other end of the time scale, Australian Craig Alexander finally achieved his master medal this year almost thirty years after he started. The first eight entries in his passport are from 1982, 83 and 84, long before the Kangaroo Hoppet was even thought of.

While Hayes is now the top Australian on the Gold Master multiple awards list, she still has a few air tickets to buy before catching up with the international leaders. The top four are Hannes Larsson (21 awards), Jan Vadlejch (17 awards), Jan Jasiewicz (16 awards) and Robert Palliser (13 awards).  All four legends of our sport are entered in this year’s Hoppet.