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UPDATE, TUESDAY 9am: The Victorian government will await the findings of a coroner’s report into the death of a Southern 80 competitor on Sunday before reassessing its funding commitment to the ski racing event.
The state government is listed as a major sponsor on the event’s website, providing the event $150,000 from its regional events fund in the past three years.
Tourism and major events minister John Eren said yesterday the death of 50-year-old David Morabito was a “tragedy”.
“Our thoughts go out to Mr Morabito’s family, and to the others who were injured,” he said.
“Safety is the number priority.
“We'll consider any future funding arrangements following the coroner's report.”
EARLIER: Southern 80 organisers hope the water skiing race will continue despite a competitor being killed for a second consecutive year.
The 2017 event was cut short on Saturday after 50-year-old New South Wales man David Morabito was killed and four others seriously injured while racing on the Murray river.
He is the fifth participant to die in the Southern 80 since 2007.
Moama Water Sports Club spokesman Chris Heverin described the man's death as "very sad" and said a review of the event would follow.
But he hoped the incident would not spell the end for the boat race.
"Over the weekend there's been hundreds and hundreds of boats that have gone through safely," Mr Heverin said.
The club would offer counselling to all those affected by the weekend's events, he said.
He also said rules and regulations changed following the death of a participant in the 2016 event, allowing emergency services to respond quicker and better to incidents on the water.
"Our processes are much tighter and certainly the response from the paramedics and so forth was exceptional," Mr Heverin said.
"It heightened everybody's awareness of what had to be done."
Campaspe mayor Adrian Weston told Fairfax Media he was confident racing organisers did everything they could to ensure this year's race was as safe as possible and said the future of the event was "in their hands".
"But there would be very few sports where there's not some risk," Mr Weston said.