On Saturday 11th April 1998, Jon Drummond ran 12.08 to win heat 9 of the Stawell Gift.
He was installed 5/2 second favourite after (eventual winner) Dale Seers won the 3rd heat in 11.97s.
Unfortunately Drummond was run out of the 3rd semi final by Anthony Martin in 12.38. The track was softer on Monday, but no doubt Jon didn’t run as well as he did in the heat.
Drummond returned to Stawell in 2000, again running off scratch, winning his heat in 12.45.
He finished 5th in the first semi final won by Queensland beach sprinter Kip McFarland, running 12.50 off 4.75m.
Both in 1998 and 2000 Drummond ran better in his heat than he did on the Monday in the semi final.
I had a brief chat with Drummond in the National Hotel on the Monday night after the Gift in 2000. He was loud, funny and not short of a word. He kept asking me “man how do you win this race”. I suggested if he was ever serious about it to come to Australia a few months before and he could do a more ‘traditional’ Stawell prep. He said now that he’d been to Stawell, he had a lot more respect for the race and those who dedicate their lives to winning it.
Great man JD.