Grassmere family Glen, Lee and Tim Martin will compete at the Moomba Masters this weekend.
A GRASSMERE family will vie for Moomba Masters’ honours.
Lee Martin, 51, and sons Glen, 24, and Tim, 22, will test their water-skiing ability against a world-class field.
They will compete on the Yarra River in Melbourne as part of the annual Moomba Festival, which starts on Friday and runs until Monday.
Lee is entered in the ‘Big Dawg’ over 35 slalom division, while his sons will compete in the open jump section.
The proud father said competing at Moomba was a huge honour for the trio.
“It is a world-recognised event, the best skiers in the world come from all over,” he said.
“Glen was the first one who got invited because of his jump score and we were pleasantly surprised when someone pulled out and Tim actually got included in the jump as well.
“I just got the word that I have been accepted in the Big Dawg.
“I don’t know if there is any records or not but there is no way known a father and two sons would ever had skied at the Moomba Masters before.
“The Moomba Masters is the pinnacle. I can remember as a kid sitting there on the banks of the Yarra watching the Moomba Masters on the long weekend and thinking ‘these guys are just my heroes’.
“And now I am getting to ski there myself and not only that, with my two sons. It is unbelievable, it’s unreal.”
The Martins, who train regularly on the Loddon River at Bridgewater, three hours from Warrnambool, have competed in tournaments for six years. “We’ve had some pretty good success in that time, Tim in particular,” Lee said.
“He’s won the under 21 and over 21 Australian championships in slalom and I have come second in jumps in my age category in Australia a couple of times.”
Glen is living in London and teaching at a ski school, while Tim still lives in the south-west.
“Glen is back until the end of Moomba and then flies back to London and Tim is going back to North Carolina to a place called Cobles Ski School for five months at the end of this year,” Lee said.
Lee has also skied internationally, competing at the over 35 world championships in Mexico last year.
“Glen was appointed as the chief driver. For a 24-year-old to be selected as a chief driver at a world tournament is unheard of,” Lee said.
“Glen said to me ‘Dad, I got the job’. He said you’ll have to come over and I said ‘what to watch you drive up and down a bank?’.
“I looked into it and the Australian team had already been selected but I found out that there was five wildcard entries available so I applied for a wildcard and got it so I actually got to ski as well.
“My other son Tim said ‘well if you’re going I’m coming’ so it was another fantastic thing to do together.”