Brett Roberts’ Elingamite property is being repaired following the St Patrick’s Day fires which tore through the south-west.

He joined older brother Peter and teenage nephew Thomas competing in the Australian Barefoot Skiing Championships on Adelaide’s Torrens River.

Peter won the seniors section and Brett was third in the men’s 1 category.

Cobden Tech School student Thomas, 13, scored personal bests in the slalom and trick sections.

Peter, 43, said the championships gave Brett, 33, a chance to relax after the fires.

“Brett’s farm was impacted. He lost a couple of hay sheds and 250 acres was burnt, so we weren’t sure if we’d make it to nationals because of all that was happening,” he said.

“But we decided to get away for a week. Brett’s still got fences and stuff to fix. It was a bit hard to get away but it was good to get a bit of a break.”

Peter, who lives on a farm at Glenfyne, said weather impacted the nationals with three days of the six-day event deemed unfit for competition.

But he did enough to score second in his slalom section and first in the jump category which propelled his to first overall in his age group. “

The third category is tricks. It’s what I like doing best but I didn’t have a good trick run,” Peter said.

“It’s probably my strong suit and I was a little disappointed with my trick points.

“The water was really rolly and there was backwash off the boat. It was throwing people off a bit.

“I ended up coming off but I wasn’t the only one.”

Peter said the highlight of the week was a demonstration on the river as football fans wandered across to the AFL match between Adelaide and Collingwood.

“The crowd was heading over to the football game so there was a lot of people around,” he said.

Brett scored second in slalom and tricks in the men’s 1 section, while Thomas finished fifth overall in the sub-junior boys’ category.