FIVE Hawkesbury teenagers will represent Australia in August, when they travel to Seattle for the World Water Ski Racing Championships.
Brock McMillan, Grace Jones, Nellie McMillan and Michael Boylan, who are pictured above, along with Luke Harrison, pictured right, will water ski for their country.
The five have all been picked in the Australian junior team, after undergoing the qualifying process over the past six months.
Nellie McMillan, 12, is the youngest ever skier to be selected for the world series, and as far as anyone can tell, Nellie and brother Brock are the only brother and sister pair to be on the same team.
Nellie, who lives at Ebenezer, said she was excited and honoured to be picked in the team.
“I can't wait to get over to Seattle with all my friends and do some world title racing,” she said.
“I'm very proud because I am the youngest member of the Australian team and it means a lot to me.
“I'm also happy that my great grandmother Mary McMillan, who is a legend in our sport, is able to see me in the Australian team.”
Nellie said she wanted to learn as much as she could at the championships, because she would get two more attempts to qualify for it in the future because of how young she is.
Brock, 17, said there was a lot of tough competition in qualifying, and he was relieved to have made the team.
“Australia has by far the best competition in the world, so our standard of racing is very high which makes it difficult to achieve your spot on the Australian team,” he said.
“This trip means a lot as I have been working towards this for a number of years now.”
Michael Boylan, who is also from Ebenezer, said he had set his sights on achieving this for a long time.
“I was honoured to be able to wear my country’s colours and I am very thankful to everyone that helped me out along the way,” he said the 16-year-old.
“This trip means I get to wear the green blazer that I have always dreamed of since I started racing at the age of five.”
East Kurrajong’s Grace Jones, 15, said she could not wait for the championship.
“Its been a very hard journey to get selected into the Australian team and I feel very honoured,” she said.
“This trip means a great deal to me as I have worked very hard to get to this point and I just want to go to Seattle and give the world championships my best shot.”
The Australian junior team totals eight skiers, with three boys and girls each, along with one reserve each. with the Hawkesbury making up more than half of the team.
