Everyone knows of the intense rivalry between the two commonwealth nations over the Ashes, in the summer sport cricket.

Well the same applies at Masters Biathlon and XC Skiing!

For many years, there has been a friendly but still robust competition between our two nations so it became time to formalise the competition with a perpetual trophy instead of simply having bragging rights from year to year.

The trophy was created in late 2018 and consists of a stainless-steel flask, partially filled with the ashes from vegetation of the Mt Kosciuzsko Region (Australia's highest mountain) and laser engraved accordingly.

It is planned to endure for many years to come when biathletes keen as mustard and as matured like a fine Port, battle each other during the competitions which are typically dominated by European and Scandinavian nations.

As in reality, the Brits and Aussies are at least more closely matched!

Click here to read more about the 2019 inaugural Ashes competition and presentation of the Biathlon Ashes Urn.