Among them will be Tim Pickford, driver of the reigning Southern 80 champion boat Sapphire, who is keen to put in a good performance.
Speaking at the launch of the 2024 Southern 80, Pickford said he expects the new format of the Beehag to be a really competitive outing with many teams using it to prepare ahead of the world’s biggest ski race in February.
“Obviously, we’ve got the Moama Water Sports Club putting on the Beehag this weekend,” he said.
“That will be a good shootout, a lot of the teams get to compete, I think they’ve got 95 boats doing it this weekend from Torrumbarry to Wills Bend and back.
“It’s a new race for Moama Water Sports, and it will be a good hit-out for a lot of the crews before February.”
Sapphire shapes as one of the main contenders for the race, although superclass rivals TR will head in with the early favouritism.
Pickford will be joined by his regular crew of observer Brian Griffin, a fellow local, as well as skiers Aiden Cuff and Lachlan Nix, who have both skied at the recent world waterski racing championships, which Pickford said is perfect preparation to take on the in-form TR entry.
“It will be a good hit-out this weekend to see where we’re all at,” he said.
“Obviously my two boys have just come off a world’s campaign, so they’re fit and ready to go.”
Moama local Dean Johns will also be racing on Saturday, and echoes Pickford’s thoughts that the increased distance for the Beehag will make for great Southern 80 practice.
“It will be really good, being that it’s a few extra k’s onto what it used to be, I think it seems as though there’s a lot more interstate interest, which is good, it brings a few more people in,” he said.
“It is essentially a great practice run for the Southern 80, if you’re serious about going well at the Southern 80 you really do need to run the Beehag, that’s my opinion, but it should be a ripping event.”
Johns will be driving his Sportspage boat, making the step up to the Naturally Aspirated Inboard class after dominating the Southern 80 earlier this year to win the 8 Litre Expert category.
He will be joined by Echuca observer Anthony O’Reilly, while skiers Brayden Jameson and Liam Forde will be behind the boat.
“It’s old technology now in comparison to some of the new jiggers, but basically those things have been my passion for many years, so that’s just the way I like to race,” Johns said of the 18-foot, Stephens V-bottom Sportspage vessel.
“They’re still competitive certainly down this end of the river where it’s nice and windy, they turn corners really quickly, so we can still be quite competitive with a little boat in comparison to the big ones.
“Once we get up to Mildura and things like that, they’re harder to catch, because they’re fast in a straight line. But a little thing like that goes around corners fast, so all going well, we will be competitive again this year.”
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