Moama Water Sports Club has begun planning for the 2025 Southern 80, even though Ski Racing Australia has announced all events have been suspended until further notice.
Photo by
Steve Huntley
Moama Water Sports Club (MWSC) has announced that it is still planning to celebrate 60 years of the Southern 80 race, with plans for the 2025 event now under way.
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This comes after Ski Racing Australia’s board voted to suspend any further racing in Australia until their safety review was complete, following three deaths this season in various competitions, including one at the Southern 80 in February.
SRA announced that they were focusing on racing recommencing as soon as possible to ensure that the community is back together competing on the water.
Yet that hasn’t stopped MWSC from planning their annual Beehag 100 in November and the Southern 80 event, the date of which will change from February to March 21 to 23.
The new dates for the Southern 80 have come after a collaboration between MWSC and the local emergency services team, which wants to try a later event due to weather concerns.
“We are trying to assist our emergency services team; February is a very hot month, and we are just trying something different,” MWSC President Steven Shipp said.
“We ran in March a few years ago, and they’ve asked us to consider trialling it, so we said we’d do it.”
Shipp also addressed the statement made by SRA regarding event suspension. He remains confident that their events would go ahead after some safety reviews.
“SRA put that notice out, but it is not long-term; we are planning for our Beehag 100 in November and our Southern 80 in March; we are confident it’ll go ahead,” he said.
“With the things that have happened this season, SRA felt that they needed to go through some safety and risk issues, so they wanted to hold all the events for a while until they could get their head around it.
“As a club, we think that is a good thing to do.”
Moama Water Sports Club president Steve Shipp.
Photo by
Steve Huntley
While it is still in its planning phase, the 2025 iteration of the Southern 80 will commemorate 60 years since the first race was held in 1965.
MWSC has already begun planning special events for the weekend, including a showcase of previous boats involved in the race alongside those of today.
The celebrations will also acknowledge those who have contributed to the Southern 80's success, making it the world-renowned event it is today, with more inductees into the Hall of Fame in 2025.
MWSC is seeking information from the ski racing community about people worthy of nominations to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, joining the 12 individuals already in the illustrious group.
If you have any photos from the past 60 years of the Southern 80, please send them to the Riverine Herald.
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