oh man, you are so deep in it now… nah, I wish everybody would post what they find. Then I might have more time to actually read the stuff:p
Jamieson’s Run to Victory at Stawell
Pre-race favourite Sam Jamieson is $40,000 richer after winning the 127th edition of Australia’s richest footrace, the Australia Post Stawell Gift.
Jamieson, running off a mark of 6 metres and paying $1.30 with the bookmakers, scored a convincing two metre victory over the 120m race. The 21-year-old first year exercise science student stopped the clock at 12.09 seconds in a memorable victory.
“I’m over the moon at the moment, it’s all so surreal,” Jamieson said immediately after his win.
“It’s probably going to take a while for it to set in.”
Jamieson was quick to praise his coach Nick Fiedler, who has been coaching athletes at Stawell since 1993.
“He is so meticulous with what he does with his runners. Right from the start this is what we wanted to achieve.”
Jamieson’s dedication and trust in his coach has seen him travel several times a week from Williamstown on the western side of Melbourne to the outer eastern suburb of Ringwood to train in preparation for the Gift.
Jamieson has a strong pedigree for pro-running, with his family having been involved for decades. His former coach, the legendary Jim Bradley, the man who guided Steve Brimacombe to victory in the Gift in 1991, was instrumental in his development at Williamstown and was at Central Park to support his former athlete.
Trainer Fiedler was full of praise for Jamieson and the early influence of Bradley on his career.
“He has beautiful biomechanics. Although he’s wiry, he’s very powerful and he loves it.
“Nothing he did surprised me this weekend. We simulated this weekend at training. The results and the times suggested he was going to run very fast,” said Fiedler of his first Stawell Gift coaching success.
Jamieson is unsure of how he will spend the $40,000 winner’s prize.
“The bank balance was getting a bit low the other day, so I’ll probably just put it in there!”
The minor places were filled by Sydney’s Richard Hankin (12.25 seconds) and boxer Ben Vickery (12.30 seconds), who held off a fast finish from Australian 100m champion Otis Gowa (12.33 seconds).
Catherine Brennan became the youngest ever winners at Stawell by winning the Provincial Victoria Strickland Family Women’s Gift. The 15-year-old year 10 student at Layola College, who started off a mark of 4.75m, finished strongly to take victory ahead of Sally Jamieson, the sister of the Stawell Gift winner.
Beijing 4x100m relay aspirant Aaron Rouge-Serret made up for the disappointment of not progressing through to the final of the Gift by winning the Backmarkers 120m Invitation. The Victorian champion finished ahead of some of his rivals in Australia’s rising sprint squad to claim the $4000 prize with a run of 12.30 seconds off 2.25 metres.
Three runners hit the line together in the closest event of the day, the Endura Sports Nutrition Lorraine Donnan Women’s 400m. Victory went to Fiedler trained Alice Platten by a margin of one hundredth of a second.
Other winners on the final day of the Australia Post Stawell Gift were:
University of Ballarat Arthur Postle 70m – Scott Antonitch
Necropolis Florist & Café Hank Neil Veteran’s 100m – Robert Duynhoven
Stawell Gold Mines Bill Howard 100m – Edward Ware
Bank@Post Invitation Elite Athletes with a Disability 120m – Neil Fuller
Footballers 120m Gift – James White (Nhill Football Club)
WHK Jack Donaldson 200m – Andrew Howell
Central Park 400m Frontmarkers – Christopher Brown
Asics Bill McManus 400m Backmarkers – Lachlan Taylor
ACE Radion 800m – James Dean
Town Hall Hotel Grampians 3200m – David Spence
