The Vosseler Shield is arguably one of New Zealand’s toughest interclub races on the winter calender. Held annually on Mt. Victoria, the event features over four hundred athletes from various clubs across the lower North Island. The shield was named after Frederick Vosseler, a prominent Wellington businessman who helped found the Wellington Harrier club in 1903. In 1923 he presented the Vosseler Shield to his old running club for the annual cross-country fixture. In its early days the Vosseler Shield race started from Lyall Bay and went around the hills above Moa Point. It became a Mt Victoria event in the 1950s, when Wellington Harriers relocated to Alexandra Road.