The Echuca boat became just the sixth in Southern 80 history to clinch back-to-back titles, taking out Sunday’s main event in an action-packed finale to the great ski race.
After placing second in Saturday’s Bakers Blitz, driver Tim Pickford, observer Brian Griffin and skiers Aiden Cuff and Lachy Nix ran a time of 30 minutes, 41 seconds in the gruelling 80-kilometre run from Torrumbarry to Victoria Park boat ramp.
While not quite as quick as last year’s winning run of 30.09, it was a remarkable win considering the team titled Sapphire 21s this year was using its back-up boat — news it had to deal with on the Wednesday before the race.
“(Winning the Southern 80) is something we didn’t think was going to happen earlier in the week,” Pickford said.
“We had to use the spare boat, and talking to the boys I said ‘park it up, it’s not going to work for us’.
“The whole team just kept pushing, pushing, pushing. The boat got better.
“(The Bakers Blitz) was a big achievement, we were six seconds quicker than last year.
“The boat was maxed out at 115 miles per hour, so we were up against it.”
Starting from second, Pickford said conditions were difficult early trailing Bakers Blitz winner TR.
That was until TR, one of the red-hot favourites in its first event since 2020, failed to finish the race after an early incident.
“Conditions were a bit tough early obviously following the boat a minute behind,” Pickford said.
“After we passed them, though, the water was glass.
“Lachy struggled a bit towards the end, obviously, coming off a broken back and this being his first big river race.
“Both skiers did an unbelievable job.
“Aiden runs the show from out the back.
“My job’s easy — they do the hard bit out the back.”
Pickford paid tribute to his back-to-back title-winning teammates, saying it was more a family than a team.
“Our team’s not just a make-up of guys from all around Australia,” he said.
“We socialise together, we ski together, all the families are close, so we’re a tight-knit group.
“I want to look after the boys. The last thing I want is to hurt one of my mates.
“We look at it like we’re family.”
Echuca’s Brian Griffin also joined rare air in the history of the great race, becoming a three-time winner after previously winning with Mistress (2016) and now twice with Sapphire.
Racing since 1992, Griffin said he hoped to continue his winning run after a tough early start to Sunday’s action.
“It was tough behind TR. Their water wasn’t what we were expecting,” Griffin said.
“The boys gave everything chasing them. I thought we might have been cooking them early, but they were good.
“Lachy and Aiden worked so well together.”
The skiers have sealed a rare slice of history for themselves, including young Nix, who returned from a broken back.
“It was a tough run,” he said.
“Eight months ago I broke my back. I had surgery and I was sidelined for four months.
“I just got back on the ski in the last month or two.
“The best thing for me is the crew that I’m with. They don’t do anything stupid, we go out and we have fun.
“If we don’t have fun, what’s the point in racing?”
Sapphire finished ahead of Mistress and unlimited outboard boat Temper 2.
22°C