Stawell Gift in Stawell, Victoria | Sports

Stawell Gift

Locality: Stawell, Victoria

Address: Powercor Stawell Gift. Easter Long Weekend, Saturday April 3 - Monday April 5, 2021 3380 Stawell, VIC, Australia

Website: http://www.stawellgift.com

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23.01.2022 PEOPLE OF PRO RUNNING - By David Griffin The Pain of the Stawell Gift It’s Good Friday and an empty Easter beckons for Pro Runners. Until something is gone, you... don’t miss it. We all grieve for the Stawell Gift. In normal times the pro running fraternity gather this holiday weekend to compete ferociously, embrace and celebrate with the good people of Stawell. These are not normal times and a hollow, sinking feeling exists. It’s a feeling you can’t put your finger on. As a community we hurt. The Stawell Gift doesn’t discriminate, and everyone is welcome. There is no racism, ageism or sexism in a pro running race. It matters little how much money you have, where you live, or where you come from. At the starting line, blue collar tradies line up next to white-collar corporates. Mates become enemies for as long as it takes to race, and family members do battle in public. We are all equal at Central Park and there is nowhere to hide. Its why I love it. If you do the work, you have a chance they say. Doing the work is agony but it’s that same pain that brings us together every year. There is no secret, the road to Stawell on Easter Monday is well worn and it hurts like hell, but for some reason it aches a whole lot worse not being there. * Craig Rollinson is hurting. He won this year’s Parkdale Open 400 metres and Maryborough Master’s 300 metres. He is a very good athlete, the type you stop to watch. The 2011 Rye Gift winner was feeling good after having a great season. Like 1000s before him, the Stawell Gift hasn’t been kind. Maybe this Easter things were going to be different. He’ll never know. He trains alone. In Warragul there is nobody else around. His dad, a former pro runner, paces him on the bike sometimes. Rollinson read the story about Rupert Lugo a few days ago. He was surprised to learn Lugo sometimes trained late at night under streetlights. He does the same thing. Rollinson wrote because simply he wanted to get his thoughts out of his head and onto paper. He writes well. He doesn’t belong to a stable, he does what he does solo, but this is his community and he belongs. EPISODE 7: CRAIG ROLLINSON I wasn’t always a pro runner, but then again, maybe I was and I just didn’t know it. Dad was a footballer in the 70’s. When he retired from footy he started running. He couldn’t run amateurs due to the divide of professional and amateur sport at the time, so pros it was. As kids we had three family holidays every year, Wangaratta, Bendigo and Stawell. Each long weekend we’d load up the station wagon and up the highway we went. We were never dragged along, we wanted to be there and had a genuine interest in it. When I was 16 we moved from Hastings to a farming area near Warragul. Dad started cycling and I played local footy, athletics was no longer a priority in our house. After a while I started running again at a Gippsland club with varying results. One day a friend thought it was a good idea to go to Stawell on Easter Monday, so off we went. We parked at the train station (where we did when I was a kid). As I locked the car, I heard the starters pistol, my eyes widened. We walked towards the gate as I listened to the race caller. As I looked through the fence I saw the track and the crowd, I instantly got goosebumps as all those childhood memories came flooding back. I don’t know how long I stood at the fence that day, but for me, time stopped. I registered with the VAL later that year for the new season, inevitably, I was now a pro runner. In 39 years, I have missed maybe nine or 10 Easters at Stawell, even when not running due to injury it was always a priority to be there. It was never a question of are we going? It was always what time are we leaving? This year will leave an empty feeling in me and will lack a sense of closure on the season, but an Easter egg hunt on home turf could be a strange novelty.

22.01.2022 It may be 20 years since Cathy Freeman stopped the nation at the Sydney 2000 Games, but we're a little biased and think that this maybe Cathy's greatest run . Fantastic to see this clip of Cathy's 1996 400m Stawell Gift final going viral again this week! - #StawellGift #400m #CathyFreeman

21.01.2022 Hello everyone, phone is back up now but we are still having trouble with the internet. Hoping to have this rectified soon.we apologise for any inconvenience.

20.01.2022 Another great story in the People of Pro Running series by David Griffin.

19.01.2022 Absolutely outstanding work, Jay!

16.01.2022 Last night Rob McIntosh was presented with his Life Membership at the Stawell Athletic Club for 20 years service to the Club. Pictured is Rob accepting his certificate and life member badge from President Neil Blizzard. Congratulations Rob.

15.01.2022 Below is the link to the funeral of our dear friend Hughie Peucker. Thursday 10th September at 11.15 am. https://www.davidwbull.com.au/funeral-n/edwin-hugh-peucker/

14.01.2022 The Stawell Athletic Club extends its most heartfelt sympathy to the family of D.A.J John McLaren. John was a past runner, trainer and friend of Stawell. John won the 880 yards here at Stawell in 1959. He will be sadly missed by us all.

14.01.2022 The old Stawell Athletic Club ticket box has had a bit of a face lift. Thanks to NGCS, it looks great.

13.01.2022 PEOPLE OF PRO RUNNING - By David Griffin Most of us don’t get to experience a Stawell Gift weekend having qualified for the Semi final, let alone feel what it’s... like to be an outright favourite at unbackable odds. 21 year old Matt Rizzo did just that in the 2017 Stawell Gift. As a raw 18-year-old, he was an early favourite to take the time honoured event. Trained by Matt Carter, rumours spread like wildfire around the Victorian athletic league, after Rizzo won the Northcote Gift earlier in the season. Some said he couldn’t be beaten. Older heads had seen it before. The past is littered with stories of favourites who succumbed to the pressure cooker atmosphere of the world’s richest footrace. A Stawell Gift weekend can crack the strongest of minds. History says Rizzo withstood the expectation and won the 2017 Stawell Gift in fine style. This is his story. EPISODE 9: MATTHEW RIZZO The year I won Stawell, I came out and won the Men’s 100m Northcote Gift. I did this after being away at schoolies for the whole week with my friends, which looking back now wasn’t probably the smartest idea. After Northcote, my crew did some quick calculations and figured out that from my new handicap mark of 7.5m, I would be super competitive come Easter. Matt Carter told me it wasn’t going to be easy, but that’s when the plan and focus on winning the Stawell Gift was hatched. My last race of the season before Stawell was the 70m Open at the Rye Gift. I put on a strong performance and walked away with the win. I think the ‘cat was out of the bag’. I was having a crack at trying to win the Stawell Gift. That’s when I shut it down on the VAL circuit and I just continued to train and trial in the lead up to the 2017 Stawell Gift. The whole weekend was a complete blur. The three days of racing all seemed to flood into the Monday. The only thing I remember was getting in my blocks and then crossing the finish line first and then I saw my family, friends, coaches and my squad running towards me. That’s when it sunk in, I had achieved a dream. We planned to get me as fast as possible for the first 70m and hopefully gap the field, as the back end of a race wasn’t my strong point. I didn’t feel the pressure, and this was mainly because of the support crew and squad I had around me. I had tunnel vision the whole weekend. Honestly, I was more nervous talking to Jason Richardson and talking on TV than I was about running the Stawell Gift Final. Matt Carter kept me level-headed throughout my Stawell Gift campaign. He told me to go out there, enjoy running and focus on my own race. He said you might be the favourite, but don’t let that pressure get to you. We all know if you execute the race how you have been training and trialling, you’ll smash it. Once I received the prize money, I paid back my mother and older sister, who had lent me money during my training and preparations for the Stawell Gift. They played a massive role in helping me get to Stawell, and I wanted to pay them back straight away. I am really thankful for their kindness and support to this day. It also helped pay for a few other things. I bought a car for myself. I got my coach a gift and then saved the rest of the money. The prize money has gone right back into my athletics career and did help change my life. However, for me, it’s never been about the cash and always been about the Stawell sash. The history and prestige around the Stawell Gift is something I wanted to edge my name into. I wanted to be a part of the special group of individuals who came before me who sketched their names into the Stawell History books. We could be running to win a pig again, like it once was back in the day, and I would still want to win the iconic event. I’ve got unfinished business at Central Park’s Stawell Gift and will be competing and supporting the event for many years to come. Matt Carter and Bruce Gulliver have both been a major influence in my life, on and off the athletics track. They have both helped me develop into the man and athlete I am today. I work part-time in the electrical department at Bunnings. I’m also currently studying Primary and Secondary Health and Physical Education at Monash University. I have always had big ambitions, and the Commonwealth Games and Olympics have always been part of my career goals. This goal isn’t an easy one and takes hard work and dedication to achieve it. Athletics can be a long hard road, but with patience, dedication, and commitment I believe these results and opportunities will come. Until then, all I can focus on is building a bigger engine each season and staying humble.

13.01.2022 PEOPLE OF PRO RUNNING - By David Griffin It's Easter Saturday 2020 and its all quiet at Central Park. For the first time since the war, there is no Stawell Gif...t. For the people of the town it's an empty, eerie feeling. I find myself thinking of better times and remembering the legends of days gone by. McNeil, Capobianco, Ravello, Ross and Howard are well known names. Some I saw run and some I didn’t. Not all heroes of the Stawell Gift are as obvious though. Some quietly go about their business with little fuss or fanfare. John Dalziel’s laugh is legendary. So is his smile and happy go lucky nature. He is typical of Stawell people. He has been a bit under the weather lately. You wouldn’t know it though. A Stawell man through and through, Dalziel's first memory of the gift was in 1955 when John O’Donnell won. He has seen the best come and go and remembers them all. The 73-year-old ran as a pro for 18 years. He got close to his dream sash at Stawell in ‘77. He ran third in the 400 metres. This Easter was to be his 35th on the Stawell Gift Committee. Like everything, that celebration is on hold. Remarkably there has been a member of the Dalziel family at the Stawell Gift since its inception in 1878. That tradition is likely to continue. Dalziel has nine grandchildren. They all love Easter at the gift. The Stawell Gift will resume one day, and Pro runners will head back to Central Park. The town will come alive again and there will be a chance to celebrate not only John Dalziel but every other person behind the scenes that make this event great. ESPISODE 8: JOHN DALZIEL I am an ordinary bloke, but I just love the gift. It’s the highlight of the year for me and my family. We have a house full of visitors, meeting up with old mates and former athletes. The whole town comes alive but it’s just not the same this year obviously. This year it feels terrible. It's lonely and it’s a very strange feeling. I don’t really know what to do. It doesn’t feel like Easter. In the lead up to this weekend we are normally putting up tents, setting things up, watching the track get cut and putting the lines on the oval. My family has been involved at Stawell forever. My great grandfather John was a foundation member. He was the mayor of Stawell. His blacksmith shop was in the Central Park gardens. His son Alan Dalziel was president in 1933. My father Jack was president for the 100th year in 1981 and I was president for the 110th Gift in 1991. This Easter I would have been on the committee for 35 years. 32 of those years I was a judge. I remember when Bob Goldsworthy used to bring his stable to stay at my Grandmother’s home in Stawell. I watched them train, have rub downs. I just loved it. I retired as a runner in 1981 but one of my great memories from Stawell was in my second season. I ran in the white colour next to Bill Howard who went on to win his second Stawell gift. I had a great view of his brilliance, the best view in Stawell you might say. For me its always been about family. There was a time when there was three generations on Central Park. My father Jack was on the committee, I was timekeeping and my kids Wayne, Lisa and Amanda were collecting the colours. All my grandkids, Ashley, Luke, Jesse, Chloe, Emily, Madison, Angus and Imogen have been colour kids. Jade is the youngest at seven years old and she might do the colours next year. I have loved watching my son Wayne compete. He has had a lot of setbacks with illness and injury but has lots of courage and has never given up. I am proud of the fact he is still going, and he loves it. He has had a second and third at Stawell in the 550 metres. His daughter Emily is now running and is progressing well. Watching my grandson Ash Cowan win the Backmarkers 1600 and the Victory mile was a highlight. The best Gift run I have ever seen run was Ravelomanantsoa in 1975. He ran 12 seconds dead three times and won on a wet track. He was amazing. He warmed up on the concrete near the scoreboard. Harry Downs from Portland was a terrific athlete. He ran a four-minute mile off scratch almost every time he ran. One year they ran him behind scratch. One of the best races I ever saw was by the American John Smith in the 400 metres. He ran 46 seconds from scratch, on grass, going around the field. They called him the quarter horse. Then you have the likes of Cathy Freeman running from scratch and winning. Amazing run. So many great memories. Stawell has meant a lot to my family, but it means a lot to many families. I feel very honoured to be part of this club. It has history and it’s a unique part of Australian sport. Stawell Gift

12.01.2022 The new Committee of Management is now in place to guide the future of Australia’s oldest and richest footrace, the Stawell Gift. - #stawellgift

11.01.2022 VALE JOHN MCLAREN The Stawell Athletic Club extends its most deepest sympathy to the family of D.A.J John McLaren. John was a past runner, trainer and friend here at Stawell. John won the 880 yards here at Stawell in 1959. He will be sadly missed by us all.

11.01.2022 The 2020 Stawell Gift will not be rescheduled in the 2020 calendar year. The event was postponed in March due to the impacts of COVID-19, and at an executive meeting this week it was unanimously decided to cancel the Gift for 2020. While the cancellation of the iconic race is disappointing for participants, spectators, partners and suppliers, planning for Easter 2021 is already underway and the Gift will return bigger and better next year under the direction of a new Committ...ee of Management. The new Committee will work together to drive collaboration between key event partners, enhance the event experience for athletes and spectators and the local community to grow participation, and deliver greater economic impact for the region. We look forward to welcoming everyone back to Stawell next year for the running of the 139th Stawell Gift. - #StawellGift

10.01.2022 We're thrilled to welcome Powercor on board as the Stawell Gift naming rights partner for the next five years. We're at the start line of a very exciting partnership! - - #StawellGift

09.01.2022 PEOPLE OF PRO RUNNING - By David Griffin It's Easter Monday and it's all quiet in the small Victorian country town of Stawell. Easter 2020 isn’t what it was s...upposed to be. Covid-19 took care of that. Today would have marked the 30th anniversary of a great Australian sporting performance. Dean Capobianco is Australian sports royalty. Trained by Matt Barber, the Western Australian flyer came from nowhere to win the 1990 Stawell Gift, in a race many say is the best ever. In the spirit of great pro stories, Capobianco went into the weekend as an underdog. His camp were keen on the juicy odds offered at the Calcutta on Friday night and backed him to the hilt. In a plunge reminiscent of the early 1900s, the ‘Capo’ camp cleaned the Bookies out on Easter Monday, after he flew home in the last 30 metres to edge Tim Mason and Todd Ireland in a cracking race. With a long career in athletics, many remember Capobianco for his magnificent fifth in the 1993 World 200 metre Championships in Stuttgart. Leading into the straight, Capo was beaten by Frankie Fredricks, John Regis and Carl Lewis. Now 49 years of age, he reflects on a magnificent race and a career that started 30 years ago today, at Central Park Stawell. EPISODE 10: DEAN CAPOBIANCO "Bunbury Gift was my first professional foot race, and my first taste of pro running. I raced the Gift off about 6.5m and thought I'd won but looked across and realised that my training partner Kiaran Finn pipped me at the post. At the 1989 Stawell Gift, I was outrun by David Culbert (the famous French long jumper!) in the final stages of the semi-finals. How does a guy that started in front of me, run me down? That's right, I ran past him early and then he wound me in. I had aspirations of being a great 200m specialist, but being over-run by a long jumper (with all due respect to DC and all longer jumpers ), I realised that I had some work to do to fulfil my dreams. Stawell wasn't really on my radar until I started to get serious about running at 17 years of age. Pete O'Dwyer (or POD), who was the WA state 100m champion at that time was instrumental in my decision to get serious. Two weeks before the Stawell Gift was the 1990 National Championships in Melbourne. I knew I was thereabouts to challenge for my first senior Australian title. However, Rob Stone who was just off his fourth place over 400m in the Auckland Commonwealth Games, was in blistering form. Moments before the 200m Final call up, Stoney was nowhere to be seen. Was he injured? Did he warm up somewhere else? Did he sleep in? He was apparently caught in traffic on his way to the track - so he cranked up the heaters and stretched in the car. He just made the call up and then raced to victory in a swift 20.9 seconds, in very average conditions. That experience only helped strengthen my mindset. Needless to say, the focus and motivation to win at Central Park a fortnight later, was top of my agenda. The bookies were paying 66's and 70's on the Friday night before Stawell in 1990. We took most of whatever money we had collectively and placed a bet. We kept some money aside for food! There was carnage in the ring after the Final, but we walked away with our fair share! Tim Mason was favourite, and Todd Ireland was in great shape too and in the mix as another bookie favourite. Fortunately for me on the day of the finals, the headwinds started blowing, and on that slight uphill gradient at Stawell, meant that all the runners starting in front of me would be out there (maybe) for 0.1-0.2sec longer - just long enough to catch them if I could find another meter in my legs. I remember being very calm and focussed. I was in form and feeling good. Matt Barber was always brilliant at keeping things real and not getting too far ahead of the task at hand. He'd often say, "Just run like you've been running and you're in with a chance". He knew it was up to me to get myself in the situation where I could race and fight for the finish line - that’s where instinct and emotion takes over. When you're running in the red jacket, you have to stay focussed to peg one runner at a time. Steve Hutton in the white was in good shape, so I knew if I got up to him early, I'd have the blue jacket and favourite Tim 'Emu' Mason in my sights. I was on Steve's shoulder by half way and had full view of the Emu, who was motoring through the middle stages of the race. With each stride I got closer, but I had to keep fighting to stay in touch. With about 30m to go I felt the momentum change and I knew I could get between Mason and the gates if I held it together, and also hope that it was also enough to catch Todd Ireland in the pink, who was out in front until the last couple of strides. The victory meant a lot to our squad, and we celebrated accordingly! Part of my prize was also a 'very large' metal esky - made, painted and donated by a local Stawell workshop, that was generously filled with VB and ice. A few of us sat out on the track until late in the night, and gave it a nudge. Very special memories - and I still have the esky! I've always said that Stawell was a pivotal moment for me, not just as an athlete, but also in life and business. It was the one moment in time where I drew on all my training, knowledge, experiences, disappointments, dreams and channelled it all into a performance. Stawell is the most memorable race and was the start of many more great races and special times. There are many favourite moments overall. Inter-school and club trophy victories, my first state to national titles, state and national records in sprints-relays-hurdles, and of course the international circuit to World Championships and Olympics. The Stawell Gift was an amazing personal achievement for me, much more than a win and a pay cheque - it was the moment when I really started to believe in myself." Watch the 1990 Stawell Gift final here: https://bit.ly/3ek7Y2f

09.01.2022 We’re thrilled to be able to continue to showcase Australia’s premier annual athletics event on Australia’s #1 network. The Powercor Stawell Gift is part of Australian sporting folklore and we’re excited that we can call Seven home for another four editions of the Carnival. Learn more >> https://bit.ly/2IofZIn -... - #stawellgift

06.01.2022 The Stawell Athletic Club extends its most deepest sympathy to the family and friends of Life Member E.H Hughey Peucker. Hughey joined the SAC in 1974, was President in 1984 and succeeded Hank Neil as Club Secretary from 1986-1995. Hughey was a loyal servant of both the Stawell Athletic Club and the Victorian Athletic League. RIP Hughey.

03.01.2022 Apologies as the phone line at the Stawell Athletic Club/Hall of Fame is currently down. If you wish to contact us could you please text your name and number to 0408033094. We will update when it is back up and running. Thank you.

03.01.2022 2021 Powercor Stawell Gift