Doing it for Sarah

But on Sunday on the banks of the Hawkesbury River, the crowd gave the biggest roar to the three teams skiing in memory of Sarah Teelow.

Teelow lost her life after crashing in last year’s race, and her friends, led by Trudi Stout, planned to honour her memory by taking part in a memorial challenge to raise funds for Royal Rehab and the Starlight Children’s fund.

The three crews were Nordic (Madeleine Brien, Ashley Cropper, Trudi Stout and Emily Rains), Team Paradise (Darren Osmotherly, Ken Hoy, Gavin Robertson and Steve Price) and members of Sarah’s family skiing in Tuff N Ruff (Christopher Teelow, Darren Cook, Jarrod Teelow and Tania Teelow).

For Stout and Rains, the gruelling 112 kilometre event was made even harder when they decided to ski on a fence paling and freeboard respectively because Sarah would often train with them to sharpen her skills.

When the three crews came across the line together after an hour and 40 minutes of skiing, the emotions and tears began to flow.

‘‘It was very emotional towards the end when we all met up together,’’ Stout said.

‘‘I couldn’t believe it, looking back at the crowd and they were all smiling and were proud of us.

‘‘It was a spectacular finish.’’

Stout said despite the fact emotions were running high, she and Rains still had to draw upon all their skills to get through the race.

‘‘We race on them [palings] a few times a year but only really a two-kilometre lap on them so it’s a long way on a paling. 

‘‘Usually we’re only on them for five or 10 minutes,’’ Stout said.

‘‘We had to focus the whole time because it’s very easy to come off, it only takes a little bump.

‘‘There was a lot of pressure put on us.

‘‘We didn’t think it would be such a big thing then all of a sudden there was a film crew there watching us start.’’

Sarah’s mum Tania Teelow — a former champion skier — struggled to fight back the tears as the crews got off the river and celebrated Sarah’s memory with champagne.

‘‘Everyone loved Sarah and it was their way of showing their respect to her,’’ Teelow said.

‘‘It’s a huge thing for all of us and it was very nice.

‘‘Thinking about what she would be saying would be something like ‘oh my God, all that for me’. 

‘‘That’s just her, she was so humble.’’

Stout, 23, recently retired from competitive water-skiing, but said she still loved the sport and was inspired by Sarah to still get out on the water.

‘‘The whole reason we were there was for Sarah and she was on our minds the whole time,’’ Stout said.

‘‘She wouldn’t want to see everyone giving it up and we still wanted to come and be a part of it and still get involved.’’