THEY were Echuca’s first winners on Sunday morning, just like they were last year.
The team from Chief — including Echuca observer Daniel Shipp and skier Jake Rawe — claimed back-to-back wins in the Under 16 Boys Expert category.
Following a time of 36.54 in 2018, the produced a 35.20 in 2019, taking more than a minute off their time from the year prior.
Rawe said it was exciting to be the first Echuca win of the day.
‘‘It’s a great start,’’ he said.
‘‘We haven’t had a lot of time to train as a team and prepare, so to get this result and be the first Echuca competitor across the line for the day, I’m really happy with that.’’
Rawe said it had been a challenge due to other competitors to get back to Vic Park, and that made the win a bit sweeter.
‘‘We had to pass a couple of boats from the other categories in front of us, but we had a pretty solid run for the day.
‘‘We pushed pretty hard to get to the time that we ended up with.
‘‘I’m a bit sore coming across the line, but I’m really happy with what we have produced.’’