Ski Racing Victoria arranges water ski racing events in Victoria, Australia. A point score series is one of these events. Many of the point score events take place at Lake Charm in Northern Victoria. The Robinvale / Euston Ski Race Classic is another event organised by Ski Racing Victoria (SRV)
The Southern 80 and Mildura 100 are organised by the Moama Water Sports Club and Mildura Ski Club respectivley.
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Tasman Challenge
Victoria claims the 21st Trans Tasman cup
On the weekend of the 10th & 11th of April 2010 the Victorian junior ski racing team made the trek over to Lake Taupo in the north island of New Zealand to contest the 21st running of the Trans Tasman challenge.
This was going to be a big one as the New Zealand team had hit hard at Metung in Gippsland Victoria winning the 2009 TT and making the ledger ten all after twenty years of competition.
With Team captain Brett Dominguez implementing some changes leading up to this years event the team was confident of a good result. The weekend started at Melbourne airport at 6.00am on Thursday morning. After a three hour flight the team arrived in Auckland ready to go.
After a day spent travelling down to Taupo in two mini buses the team arrived at the beautiful Huka falls resort and settled in for the evening.
As the sun came up on Friday morning it was clear that we were in for a magnificent clear sunny still day. Friday was spent down at the foreshore checking all the skiers and observers equipment and going through the team tactics for the next two days. After a big pasta cook up courtesy of the team of mums that were there supporting the kids.The night finished up with the traditional boat/skier draw and an early night in readiness for Saturdays racing.
Saturday dawned another stunning day although a little foggy but that was to burn off before racing began. First up were the under thirteen boys & girls. In girls for Australia Tayla Stent was the point score skier and Hannah Frost was New Zealand's charger. Natalia Flexman was the invitational skier for NZ.
After a strong start by all three girls Hannah broke out a about a straights length lead over Tayla who had opened up a good lead over Natalia. In smooth conditions that would be how they finished.
In under 13 boys Jackson Hammond and Callum Armstrong were the Victorian and New Zealand point scorers respectively with Connor Strong doing invitational duties for NZ.
Jackson broke out of the blocks hard and wasn't headed for the whole race. Callum put up a strong chase and earned valuable points for NZ. Connor showed that he will be one to watch out for in future Trans Tasman's.
The next race was Division two under 16 boys & girls. The point score skiers were Ashlee Cuff and Will Groves for Victoria and Hayleigh Frost and Daniel Tuffin for New Zealand. While Amelia Ward and Kane Carter would look after the invitational duties.
Hayleigh set a cracking pace in the girls race and would not be headed for the 25 minute race. Ashlee set a solid pace & stuck with the game plan and earned valuable points for the Vic team. Amelia did a great job to snag third and gained valuable experience in TT racing.
In the boys event all three skiers came out of the blocks hard and the crowd knew they were in for some tough & fast racing. Will made a brake that was enough to get the job done for Victoria. Taking the Win over Daniel who was just over one minute behind. Not far back in third was Kane who did another fantastic job.
Division one under 16s saw Columbia Cox and Matt Strong representing New Zealand as point scorers and Tayla Wright & Dylan Cuff as victorias point score skiers. Maegan Hammond and Mithcell Horan skied as invitational’s
As had been happening all day all skiers were fast out of the blocks and Tayla managed to get the break and hang on for the win over Columbia who gave a strong account of herself again earning good points for team NZ. Maegan skied well and again will be the stronger skier for the experience.
Dylan Cuff and matt Strong had a real grudge match going and the racing between these two was first class. Dylan just holding out Matt at the line. With only thirteen points separating them it was going to be on for young and old on Sunday. And to add to the excitement Mitchell was within ten points of Matt! These boys clearly weren’t there for a hair cut that’s for sure.
Under nineteens was the last race of the day and it did not disappoint. The conditions had remained smooth all day and we were ready for some fast racing. Maddi Boyer and Ben Pearce were the Victorian point score skiers and there competitors were Adelaide Cox & Michael Witherford for NZ. Katherine Dunstall and Jaaron Fritz filled the invitational positions.
The racing between Maddi & Adelaide was fierce and turned in to somewhat of a boat race due to the smooth conditions and the fact these two skiers are so fast. Unfortunately the race ended prematurely with Maddis boat running out of fuel with only a couple of minutes to go. The race was taken back to the previous lap with Adelaide taking the win by the smallest of margins. Katherine was another skier to benefit from having the Trans Tasman experience.
The boys race also became a boat race such was the talent of Ben & Michael. In the end Ben took out the event around eleven seconds in front of Michael. As expected Jaaron (WC) gave an excellent account of himself finishing just shy of Michael & Ben.
So with the scene set for a big days racing on Sunday and only minimal points separating the Victorian and New Zealand teams. Both parties went out for a quiet dinner before retiring early (The kids anyway) in readiness for Sundays events.
Sunday dawned again foggy but still and eventually sunny. It was going to be another day of fast racing. First up were our under thirteens and disaster struck team NZ with Hannah breaking a rope at the start. To compound the problem there was no spare in the boat and the rope just kept snapping. This left Tayla to earn an easy 1000 points for Victoria but it was interesting to note here time was over a minute and thirty seconds faster than race one. Natalia flew the Kiwi flag but as invitational unfortunately no points.
In boys Jackson had the bit between his teeth and held out Callum for the second day in a row. Having sad that Callum did a great job coming home consistently and earning big points for team NZ something that has become a trademark of NZ Trans Tasman teams. Third place was collected by Connor.
Division Two under 16 girls was another stellar performance by Hayleigh taking a good win over the very consistent Ashlee Cuff who also skied over a minute faster than Saturday. Third was Amelia with a good clean run.
When the division two boys came out to play there was starting to be a bit of buzz amongst the crowd. The slight lead that NZ had over night had been eaten in to and Will Groves wanted to capitalise on it. He did just that winning and earning his team a big 1000 points over Daniel Tuffin who again only conceded the bare minimum of points. Third was Kane Carter who was right in the mix as well.
Division one under 16 girls hit the water and Tayla Wright did not disappoint. Just holding out Columbia for the win. But again with Columbia only conceding less than two points there was nothing in the totals. Maegan had another solid day coming in third.
Next up were the boys. In one of the most closely contested races of the weekend Dylan took out the win for Victoria however Matt came in only one second behind to take second place conceding less than one point. Mitchell also did a fantastic job mixing it up with the two point score skiers and coming in third.
Maddi & Adelaide are the closest of friends off the race track but on it they are the fiercest of competitors. Today was all about their team & their countries. The race again turned in to a boat race with Adelaide coming out on top this time. Amazingly Maddi skied the last part of the race with a knee injury but you wouldent have known to watch her ski. Katherine had another good solid performance in third.
With everyone in the crowd and in the pits doing the math in their heads it was clear to everyone that it was too close to call with one race to go. The under 19 boys hit the water with the weight of their respective teams on their shoulders for the last time.
Michael and Ben came out of the blocks hard and at about half race distance Michael had the upper hand slightly. But then all hell broke loose for Team NZ. At the bottom corner at about three quarter race distance the unthinkable happened. Michael went in! This was a disaster for the team. On the bank both teams were disappointed but happy to see Michael with plenty of guts get up & going again.
This left Ben to take the win with a fantastic ski & collect 100 points for Victoria. Was it enough? Nobody could be sure. So the teams packed up and went back to the Huka Falls resort to get ready for presentation that evening.
Presentation was a fantastic evening hosted by the Great man Brad Dutton who did a fantastic job in doing a presentation on the last twenty one Trans Tasman’s and giving a special award to Mike Williams one of the founders of the Trans Tasman all those years ago for his dedication & commitment to the sport in New Zealand.
Well the time came that everyone had been waiting for the points were tallied up and in the end it was Team New Zealand 13846.94 points and Victoria 13887.80 points. The Victorians went wild as the announcement was made and the cup presented for the twenty first time Vic 11 and NZ 10.
The next two days the Victorian team spent working their way back to Auckland via Rotorua where the team went on the luge Tayla & Maddi got slingshoted in to the air and Dylan proved to be the best go carter amongst the team. Then on Tuesday afternoon the flight home where the cup was shown to anyone that wanted to see it on the plane (and some that didn’t)
Trans Tasman’s don’t just happen! They take a lot of hard work by a lot of people behind the scenes on both sides of the Tasman. These include Vic team captain Brett Dominguez and New Zealand Team captain Brad Dutton also Chief Judge Emma Duckworth. From a Victorian point of view we also need to thank in no particular order Graham French, Travis & Susie Cuff, Georgie Pearce, Jenny Wright, Mark Boyer, Rob Henderson, Brad & Vicki Groves, Steve & Jeannine Hammond, Lou Bishop, Gav (pixy) Brennikie, James Hogben and a very special thanks to Cara Jochinke and Pete Proctor (The dingo doctor) who is now an honorary Victorian! For their fantastic support in coming over & helping our young skiers with their wealth of knowledge.
And of course all of our wonderful skiers
Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bisho
This page was updated on August 17, 2010
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