Star: Leilani Cartledge has been named the Victorian Female Skier of the Year for the 2022-23 season.
Photo by
Steve Huntley
Leilani Cartledge has been crowned the Victorian Female Skier of the Year for the 2022-23 season at the Ski Racing Victoria presentation night at the weekend.
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It is the second time Leilani has claimed the award, with the young star having also received the top honour at the 2021-2022 presentation night.
“I was surprised,” Leilani said of her initial reaction to hearing her name called out.
“I thought because I had won it last year that I probably wouldn't win it again.”
It is a remarkable effort by the 16-year-old, who has beaten senior female competitors to the honour in consecutive seasons.
While Leilani claimed the top gong on offer, she also claimed a number of other awards, taking a total of six first-place trophies home.
Behind the Gro Up F2 boat, driven by Alex Handley with Stuart Horne observing, the star skier claimed the overall under-16 girls expert title, having won all five of the point score events throughout the season.
The Julie and Adrian Nix-owned boat towed Leilani to success in the under-18 girls expert title as well, as the young gun claimed the win in four of the five point score events, finishing second on the other occasion.
Team effort: Gro Up F2 observer Stuart Horne, Leilani Cartledge and driver Alex Handley at the SRV awards night. Photo: Supplied
The drive to be the best is evident, as Leilani admitted that second-place finish was a little “annoying”.
“I get on the ski and I just want to win,” she said.
“When I got second, it was really annoying actually, because my rope snapped.
“We had a spare rope in the boat, so we had to get that up and going and get back up, and then try and catch first place, but didn't quite get there in the time that we had.”
In a total domination of the junior categories, Leilani also claimed success in the under-18 two-up category alongside Jake Clancy.
Still six months away from her 17th birthday, Leilani is already an established force in the senior ranks, having finished second in the open women’s point score category, while claiming the outright female highest point scorer title.
In a nod to their outstanding reliability, Leilani and her crew of Horne and Handley were the recipients of the Chairman’s Award for Most Consistent Team, a just reward for the team that finished off the podium just once.
Leilani was not the only Cartledge called on stage on Saturday night however, with brother Kohdi and father Jason both recognised for their outstanding seasons.
Kohdi finished on top in the under-16 boys expert point score series with four wins, and second overall in the under-18 boys expert point score series with one win and three second-placed finishes.
Jason topped the senior men’s point score series, claiming three wins and finishing second in the other two races.
The fact that her family members were able to come away with a trophy of their own was something Leilani was extraordinarily proud of.
“It's really cool that as a whole, we all do really well,” she said.
“We all push each other to do better, so it's just nice to win together.”
Kohdi and Leilani will both be competing in world championships selection races later this year for a chance to represent Australia at the IWWF Ski World Championships, to be held in Gosford on the NSW Central Coast in November.
“I think we're both pretty high up in the people that are going to selections,” she said, with preparations already well under way for the pair.
“We are training with Shannon Fink at FitMob, skiing down at Williamstown Bay in Melbourne, and doing pilates in the morning before school.”
The Australian team selections for the world championships will be held across two weekends, on August 12-13 in Gosford and August 26-27 in Mulwala.
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