Merc Force – of which Cowra skier Kris Knights is a member – has blasted to a famous victory in the 45th GTS Freight Management Mildura 100 ski race classic on the Murray River, crushing their rivals by more than 90 seconds in 31:11.23.
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The race, that is broken into two equal legs, from Mildura Ski Club to Wicketts Point and return, is billed as the fastest water ski race in the world and saw more than 150 boats and crews take on the 100km event on April 15.
The Merc Force team of driver/owner Don Gulley, observer Kevin Boylan and star skiers Jake Tegart and Knights – now of Cowra – put together close to a perfect performance, the culmination of almost five years of working hard together.
Second overall in a thrilling battle for the minor places was rising local crew Pigs Arsenal (32.47.71).
It was a huge day for the Merc Force team with Merc Force 1 comfortably taking out the expert women’s event from Superbad and Recoverys Reflection.
The race record appeared to be under threat in the men’s event.
Leaving the starting point at the Mildura Ski Club in first position on the grid, Merc Force led at every check point of the first leg and raced to Wicketts Point in 15 minutes 30.88 seconds.
At that point, they had Hellrazor’s race record of 30mins 58s in sight but in the end, they fell just 12 seconds short.
Merc Force have already claimed the Sydney Bridge to Bridge and Southern 80 in what has been their best season.
Knights said it was great to record another big victory.
“It’s good to knock the three wins off this year and this was the last one that I sort of wanted this year,” he said.
“The (Barrie) Beehag would be nice, but if it doesn’t come off, we’ve got the three big ones so I’m happy.
We’ve been together for five years now. It doesn’t just come over night and we’ve put in a lot more preparation than other years.
- Kris Knights
“We’ve been working hard and it’s taken a while to get to here.
“We’ve been together for five years now. It doesn’t just come over night and we’ve put in a lot more preparation than other years.
“We are trying to adapt to most things. We didn’t expect to win at Echuca (Southern 80) starting as far back as we did but now to get this one, the fastest one, we’re all pretty happy too.”
Kris’ success in the Sydney Bridge to Bridge earned him the Sportsperson of the Year monthly award for November.
