Cross Country Director Update - October 2025
Published Thu 16 Oct 2025
Dear XC Skiing Community,
What a great winter we've had, particularly after the two short seasons of 2023 and 2024. Plenty of opportunities for training, racing, back-country adventures and spring skiing! Many thanks to all the volunteers and officials who make all the events possible, as well as the groomers, managers, ski schools, retailers, teachers, sport administrators etc., who play essential roles in Australian cross country skiing.
From the National Team side, planning is in full swing for the northern hemisphere winter. It will be a big season as always, with the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics in February and the usual annual events such as World Cup, World Junior-U23 Championships and World Masters providing a focus from November 2025 to March 2026. From late November, tune in to Snow Live to see the FIS live streaming and (hopefully) the Aussie skiers in action. We will also aim to provide regular updates via these E-news reports and our athlete-driven @ausxc Instagram posts and reels. A more detailed season preview will be included in the next XC Community Update.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Falls Creek, the long-time host of the XC National Training Centre, for their incredible support of the National Team since 2004. Falls Creek's financial contribution over this time has enabled us to provide year-round coaching and build the program to what it is today. Though the team sponsorship is now coming to an end, we look forward to continuing to work with Falls Creek and all resorts in providing quality training and racing opportunities.
Fortunately for our international program, we have two new supporters arising from community connections coming on board to support the team racing and preparing for Milano-Cortina. Please welcome Colormaker and Peak Learning Adventures, whose contributions are targeted towards our team's land transport in Europe. Combined with funds raised from the Sundeck Cup and the Kangaroo Hoppet waxing, this support is helping us keep athlete expenses down and enabling the skiers to focus on training. Additional tax-deductible donations to cover team expenses can be made via the Australian Sports Foundation.
Planning for after the Olympics, please save the dates of the weekend of April 11-12 for the 2026 Australian Rollerski Championship and AUSXC Awards in Jindabyne. This is the first event in the 2026 AUSXC Race Calendar, linked below, which also includes new dates for the Kangaroo Hoppet and national championship events. Join us for a weekend of racing on the new Jindabyne rollerski track and to celebrate the efforts and achievements over the year.
Wishing everyone well for the rest of this spring, save travels for those heading overseas and good luck in avoiding magpies on daily commutes or training sessions.
Best regards,
Finn Marsland
Cross Country Skiing Program Director
Included in the update:
- Provisional 2025-2026 XC Team Selection
- New Chapter for XC National Team
- Colormaker Industries Joins as AUSXC Supporter
- Peak Learning Adventures Supporting the National Team
- Aussie Olympic Hopefuls Take Double Gold at the 2025 Kangaroo Hoppet
- Draft 2026 Calendar Released
- Nominations Now Open for the 2025 Snow Australia Community Sport Awards
- Save the Date - 2026 Snow Australia Awards
