Blue Lake delivered everything its reputation promises: fast water, relentless mechanical stress, and margins tight enough to make a stopwatch feel inadequate. The 51st running of the Bryce Newton Memorial 100 Miler was that kind of weekend, one where heritage and horsepower arrived together and neither gave way easily.
The story of how this event came to exist is worth telling again. Founded in 1974 under the name Blue Lake Classic, it began as a 50-mile test, with Glenn Mundell taking the honours as inaugural winner. The following year brought a two-up format, adding teamwork and tactical thinking to raw speed. By 1976, organisers had stretched the course to 100 miles, renamed it the 100 Mile Marathon, and introduced a single-skier-per-boat format that sharpened the competitive edge considerably. That bold expansion also came with New Zealand's richest prize purse for a ski race at the time, $500, which equates to roughly $2,850 in today's money.
That 1976 race holds its own chapter in the sport's history. Skier Arlo Guthrie, driver Ted Taiatini, and observer Nick Harold won it together, powering through the course behind Ted's 140 hp Mercury-engined Side Winder, sponsored by Ted Taiatini Marine Ltd. Nearly five decades later, that pairing returned to Blue Lake for the 51st edition, with Guthrie back on the rope and Taiatini again at the wheel for a ceremonial lap. Few moments in the weekend carried more weight than that one.
Ted Taiatini's connection to the sport runs deeper still. His granddaughters Dani and Brooklyn are now competing themselves, continuing a family line that stretches through their father Mark and back to Ted. The thread running through that family is a large part of why a race like this keeps its meaning across generations.
"The Bryce Newton Memorial 100 Miler isn't just a race, it's a testament to the spirit of New Zealand water skiing," said Nic de Mey, President of the New Zealand Water Ski Racing Association.
Two Australian entries, Player and Pumping Dough, had remained in New Zealand following the Hamilton Bridge to Bridge event earlier in November, bringing a trans-Tasman dimension to proceedings that sharpened the competition and lifted the atmosphere considerably.
Racing opened under settled conditions. The lake carried enough surface texture to keep crews attentive without disrupting the front of the fleet, and the tone for the weekend was set early.
The first major result of the day came in the 50 Miler, where Underfed, the Cyclone Invader 21 imported from the United Kingdom many years ago, produced a near-perfect performance. Jake Alloway skied with consistency and real power while owner-driver Paul Skipper worked the Kevlar-reinforced composite hull to maintain a stable, fast line throughout. Their finishing time of 50 minutes and 17 seconds across all 25 laps placed them just above the two-minute average per lap, and it was enough to take the win.
Just eight seconds back came Joker, with Mark Priestly on the rope. The margin was one of the tightest seen in the 50 Mile at Blue Lake and served as a clear signal that no single boat would dominate the weekend. Graeme Briggs and the well-travelled Australian entry The Player rounded out the top three, confirming its standing as a boat that raises the standard of any fleet it joins.
The supporting classes kept the programme moving. War Machine had suffered a DNF in the 50 Miler but came back to claim the Masters category, with Mark Presnall skiing a sharp and controlled 10-lap race. The 70mph class went to Joker, this time with Peyton Varley on the rope, demonstrating the team's capacity to adapt across very different race formats. The Varley, Priestly, and Morris combination carried that confidence directly into the 100 Miler.
When the flag dropped for the main event, Lucifer and Underfed separated themselves from the field almost immediately. Over 50 laps they traded pace with a precision that exposed the technical differences between a modern Phantom F2 hull and the older, heavier Invader 21 while simultaneously proving those differences meant almost nothing on the clock.
Lucifer, built in 2022 to a Phantom F2 design, was skippered by driver Stacey Mellow with observer Richard Alloway aboard and skier Max Duckworth on the rope. The carbon-infused construction and twin-ballast trim allowed the boat to hold a consistent mid-race tempo without drama, and Duckworth's performance across the full distance was unshakeable. The team carried themselves with the quiet confidence of a defending champion, and they crossed the line first on points to secure Duckworth's second consecutive 100 Miler title.
Underfed had already won the 50 Miler that morning with Jake Alloway skiing. For the 100, Michael Whiteford took the rope while Paul Skipper again drove, this time managing a long-race strategy with exceptional judgement. He pushed when conditions allowed and steadied the boat each time the lake surface changed. The final margin told the story: Underfed finished just 0.95 points behind Lucifer. Across 100 miles, the two boats were separated by less than a handful of seconds.
Australia's Adam Forgacs brought The Player home third overall, reinforcing both the boat's credentials and the trans-Tasman rivalry that has become one of the defining characteristics of the Bryce Newton weekend. Nightfury, with Ashton Vincent on the rope, completed a clean run to finish fourth ahead of Big Bird, Joker, and the remainder of a field that endured an unusually heavy toll of retirements.
Six boats failed to finish the 100 Miler, among them PumpinDough, a Force hull carrying a twin-turbo V8 capable of speeds well beyond 120mph. Grey Matter, War Machine, and Relentless were also forced to withdraw before the finish. The attrition rate was a reminder that endurance racing at Blue Lake punishes any weakness in machinery, tactics, or crew. Protecting the boat, reading shifting conditions, and keeping a skier safe and fast for close to two hours demands as much as the speed itself.
The 51st Bryce Newton Memorial 100 Miler closed with Guthrie and Taiatini reunited on the water and Duckworth, Alloway, and Vincent carrying the sport forward at the front of the fleet. The combination of Kiwi craftsmanship, Australian horsepower, and family-run teams produced a race that honoured where the event came from while making no concessions to the present.
In the end, the headlines belonged to Lucifer and Underfed. Built more than a decade apart, designed under entirely different philosophies, they finished the 51st Bryce Newton ski race separated by almost nothing.
