Mercury helps Region V show juniors the joys of our "great sport"

29.10.2009

No doubt the ranks of Australian water ski racing have been boosted further, with NSW's famous Region V Club hosting a hugely successful free Junior Development Course on the Hawkesbury River at Ebenezer.

The club, known as a breeding ground of national and international ski racing champions, hosted 64 children for the three-day course which covered fitness, health, safety, skiing equipment and techniques.
"We had six boats - all powered by Mercury - towing the kids around for three days non-stop," said the club's Junior Development Officer, Bobbette McMillan.

"We had 23 Juniors on fence palings for the first time and six Under-12s on freeboards for the first time, but if you judge success by the amount of fun they had and their willingness to take part, then it was a real winner."

The fence palings are used in the Marathon event, in which competitors race on seven different types of skis. These skills in turn help them learn excellent control when racing on their race ski.

"By the end of the weekend, most of the children who aren't competing made it very clear to their parents they want to race," Bobbette laughed.

The Region V volunteers were nothing if not organised, with most of the children having 10 skis per day.

Mercury Marine had a hand in the event's success - Shane Wilson, Mercury's Territory Manager NSW, kicked things off with a session on race rules. Mercury also donated 40 litres of Premium Plus Oil to keep the Club's outboards purring for quite some time.

"And we can't thank Mercury enough," Bobbette said. "The boats barely stopped for a minute."

"The three days were hard work but really satisfying, generating plenty of excitement and driving home the need for fitness, being healthy and playing it safe within our great sport of water ski racing."