An estimated 10,000 people crammed into central Queenstown last night to watch the once-in-a-year spectacle of 400 merinos being mustered through the streets.
The 'Running of the Wools' capped off the first day of the second annual New Zealand Rural Games, a festival of rural-themed sport, centred on the resort's Recreation Ground.
The town centre came to a standstill as a mob of rams and ewes from Bendigo station were coaxed along Camp and Beach Sts by a squad of shepherds and their dogs.
To the delight of many in the crowd seeing the high country breed up close for the first time, the rams sauntered belligerently along in their own time, eyeballing their canine adversaries. The ewes, on the other hand, skipped, galloped and jumped their way along the course at a steady clip.
Two curtainraiser contests were held on the same course. The Arrowtown Rugby Club won a coal shovelling race that also featured teams from the resort's police and volunteer fire brigade, stokers from the TSS Earnslaw, West Coast coalminers and the Wakatipu Rugby Club.
That was followed by the 'Man and Mutt Race' in which young, gumboot-wearing farmers of both sexes raced each other and their dogs along the length of the course and back.
Earlier in the day, good crowds basked in hot weather as they watched some high-calibre sporting contests, including the Transtasman Wood Chopping Championships, the New Zealand Speed Tree Climbing Championship as well as national championships in speed hand milking, wine barrel racing and speed gold panning.
● Today's schedule begins at 9.30am with the South Island Gumboot Throwing Championship.
