The 2025 KAC CROSS COUNTRY CLASSIC

4th August 2025 10:00am

In 2025 The KAC Cross Country Classic was run on on its traditional course from Perisher Valley to Charlotte Pass.

More often than is really warranted, we associate The KAC with strong winds, indifferent snow, and a poor sound system at The Chalet presentation (and, for those like me who are amongst the last to arrive at the finish, no hot soup). This year, however, we were in luck with great weather, the best snow cover in many years, excellent tracks for those who needed them and, for most competitors, delicious hot soup.

The biggest news from the event was the presence of the Australian National XC Team on the start line. It was a great pleasure to watch some seriously good Australian skiers take on the course. We are extremely grateful to the skiers and their coaches for their participation.

The overall winners were Rosie Fordham and Seve de Campo. Rosie is the current World Under 23 Silver Medallist in the 10km and Seve is the leading Australian man. Both are hopefully heading to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. Seve’s speech at the presentation was worth bottling as an example of how to be a winner.

The course was the traditional one with plenty of space to test yourself against your chosen “opponent” and enough downhill runs to ease the aching limbs and lungs after the climb to Perisher Gap. The track was well set by the 4Site groomers in their first year after Peter Ward had marked out the route. Fortunately, this year we had no injuries, no dropouts, and no protests to trouble the Jury. The timing by Alpine Timing worked well and results were quickly on hand for the presentation.

Apart from the National Team, we were joined by quite a few ‘stars’ from previous years, including David Hislop, Tom Landon Smith, Alina McMaster, Anthony Evans, and the irrepressible Ken Baxter skiing his 52nd event.Ken won the KAC in 1976 and for many years set the course for the race. Ken’s tussles with the likes of KAC’s own Ross Martin, Andrew Horsley, Ian Bradley, Mike Bentley, Jim Box, and others back in the 1970s and early 1980s is part of the event’s folklore.

Graeme Hearl, Chief of Race

In 2025 results and timing were coordinated by Alpine Timing - for full results, entrant details and finishing photos please follow this link:

CLICK HERE for 2025 KAC Race Results