By Jonathan Leask  February 6 2010

Rachel Donaldson is making a habit of breaking records.

She currently holds the under 17 record for the jump and trick sections, and has come within one buoy of breaking the slalom record.

 “I’m just one second off the (slalom) record, just one buoy away,” Donaldson said.

 Recently she attended the tournament which was the first time that the New Zealand Open and the Australia-New Zealand Challenge were run together.

 “I was in the under 17s but my scores counted in the open tournament as well.”

 It was a successful weekend for the 16-year-old. She broke the Canterbury under 17 and Open women’s waterski records to become ranked as the top South Island woman in both tricks and jump.

 Donaldson claimed the gold in the under 17 trans-Tasman challenge, and placed third in the New Zealand Open, but was the highest placed New Zealander.

 Going into the tournament her personal best was 29.8m in the jump and she was determined to break the 30.3m mark to break the record.

 Donaldson didn’t get off to the best of starts as she crashed out, with the resulting impact ripping her helmet off.

 “I flipped over and landed on my head. It was just that it was a really funny ramp. You would either go really far or crash out,” she said.

 After the crash she got straight back into her skis and completed her second jump.

 She nailed the third jump to score 31.2m to give her the record.

 On her way to the third place finish overall she managed to break her own trick record.

 These scores are the result of the amount of time and effort that she has put into her skiing.

 She started waterskiing at age seven, and entered her first nationals two years later and has been competing ever since.

 But over the last year she has really turned it up a notch.

 The outstanding results can be put down to a rigorous training regime from a dedicated athlete.

 Donaldson went to America to train for eight weeks in Florida last year with top coach Will Coughey.

 The summer has been spent in ski schools at Lake Hood, with just a few days off over Christmas before heading up to Rotorua for more training under Coughey.

 She may be only one second of securing the treble of Canterbury records, but reaching the national records is a different story.

 “I’m pretty far away from those. The jump and trick records have been held by the same person for about 10 years. They are pretty extreme.”

 Although she holds records in two of the three events and is close to the third, the young water-skier is torn between which is her favourite discipline.

 “Probably tricking but I guess jump as well but not slalom at the moment,” she said.

 Over the coming months she may find out which is her favourite as the competitive season begins.

 The first stop will be the junior Moomba tournament on the Yarra River in Australia in early March.

 The Moomba tournament is one of the biggest in the world, with professional skiers from around the globe converging on the river.

 Upon her return from Australia she will then have the Canterbury regional’s at Lake Crichton, with the nationals a week later at the end of March.

 Gold at the nationals on Lake Wiritoa could see her make the New Zealand team to compete at the worlds.

 “It’s between two of us at nationals but hopefully it’ll go all good there.”

 All the training will be put into practice with busy few months ahead that could see her break the slalom record and extend her own records in the jump and trick.

 “I’ll hopefully extend the trick one because I haven’t had my run fully counted yet and I’ll be pushing for the slalom one soon.”

Pictured: Rachel Donaldson demonstrates the moves that earned her the Canterbury trick record. - Photo Sarah Chamberlain 010210-CR-134