Ballarat Gift in Ballarat, Victoria | Sporting event

Ballarat Gift

Locality: Ballarat, Victoria

Phone: +61 400 337 575

Address: City Oval 3350 Ballarat, VIC, Australia

Website: http://www.ballaratgift.com

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25.01.2022 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

12.01.2022 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.

06.01.2022 PEOPLE OF PRO RUNNING - By David Griffin The Richest professional footrace in the world has long been an attraction for international sprinters. Adding colour ...and prestige to the time-honoured event, the road to Stawell is well worn by athletes from faraway lands trying their luck. One of the great Stawell Gift wins by an international athlete came in 1975 when two-time Olympian Jean-Louis Ravelomanantsoa from Madagascar flew down the track from the scratch mark. Warren Edmondson from the US won in 1977, and who can forget the Scottish flyer George McNeil winning in 1981 after ten attempts. There have been others of course but overall, the grass and handicaps of Australia’s premier gift has been a tough nut to crack for the visitors. Olympic stars like John Drummond, Asafa Powell, Kim Collins, Michael Frater and Obedele Thompson found the going tough on the cosy confines of Central Park. English Olympian Jamie Baulch visited Stawell in 1999. The quarter mile specialist was fresh off his win in the 1999 world indoor 400 metre championships and was in Australia training with Olympic 100 metre gold medallist Linford Christie. Baulch was part of an elite British travelling group that included the ‘who’s who’ of British athletics. Now living in Cardiff, the Welsh 46-year-old reflects on the Stawell Gift weekend and his only professional race in Australia. EPISODE 12: JAMIE BAULCH I was in Australia training with Colin Jackson, Linford Christie and Darren Campbell and the rest of the group. We decided to stay and train in Australia for three months. We did it every winter to get into the warm environment. Australia always used to look after us and I loved it there. We were there training for the Olympics and the world championships. I must have stayed there for about six years on and off and it’s a great country. I didn’t know where Stawell was before going there but I was really pleased to have been asked to get involved. It was such a great occasion. My old running coach called Jim Anderson was a Scottish sprinter back in the day. I knew about the professional races from him, so it was a great honour for me to be there. I remember it being a great crowd but just so hot. I am sure the day I ran it must have been 40 degrees! I used to run on grass as a kid so that wasn’t a major issue but I remember the bends being long and the straights were short, which was weird. I was in heat four or five of the 400 meters and the winner of the early hearts were winning them in 44 seconds and I thought I haven’t got a chance. I remember thinking not even Michael Johnson could win this. I thought, well I can’t run 44 seconds and I especially couldn’t do that on grass, so my tactic was to go as fast as I could for the first 200 metres, get in front of everyone and try to just stay there. Oh my god, when I go to about 270 metres the lactic set in. I remember going down the straight doing about one mile an hour, and I could hear Linford and Darren Campbell in the crowd laughing at me. I crossed over the line and literally puked up everywhere. It was a crazy occasion for me and it was only a few days after I had won the world indoor championships as well, which made it especially worse because I was current world champion at the time. My pb for the indoor 400 metres is 45.39 which I did in Birmingham. Its still a British record. My PB for the 400 metres is 44.57 outdoors which I ran in Switzerland. My greatest moments in my athletics career was the silver medal at the Olympics in the 4x400 relay which was amazing, and also winning the world indoor championships in Japan was a highlight. I have got two children Jay who is 24 and Morgan is 17. These days I run a silent auction company all around the UK and Europe and its raises money for charities. Its very fulfilling because I raise money and I feel great about that. Stawell was the only professional event I did, and it was the only major event I did on grass and absolutely loved it. Great memories and I remember it like yesterday. Maybe one day I will get to go back to Australia, and I will get to watch it again.

04.01.2022 PEOPLE OF PRO RUNNING - By David Griffin There is a mysterious athletic society in Ballarat. It's in plain view, everybody knows about it and all are welcome. T...hey call themselves the POD squad and training hard is its only entrance criteria. POD is an acronym for Peter O’Dwyer. A very successful athlete himself, Peter has been coaching Ballarat sprinters since 1996. Like a well drilled team and with the distinctive navy and yellow running singlets, they swarm professional running meetings and are arguably the most successful stable in the sport. Tara Domaschenz is a veteran POD squad member in a group that has now ballooned to over 60 runners of all ages and abilities. The ‘tough as teak’ Domaschenz could very well be the Jekyll and Hyde of Pro running. With a big smile and an easy going nature away from the track, she becomes super charged and competitive on it. The long striding 28 year old is one of the best female athletes on the circuit and proved it this year with an outstanding win in the Bendigo Black Pearl. EPISODE 11: TARA DOMASCHENZ I’m a Teacher in Ballarat. I am Head of Sport and the Year Eight Coordinator. I have lived in Ballarat my whole life. I like to think I am one of the originating members of the POD Squad. When I first started training in 2005, I was one of only two female athletes in the group. Our squad had less than 10 athletes. Now we have over 60 athletes with a junior squad training with us one night a week to ease their transition into senior athletics. As a squad we train five to seven times per week. We incorporate speed endurance training, lactic tolerance, weights, strength and conditioning, plyometrics, pilates and recovery sessions depending on what phase of the training program we are in. In my first season in 2007 I came second in the Women’s Stawell Gift. I would have been the youngest female to ever win the gift if I had won. I didn’t realise its significance at the time. I was so happy just to come second. I have made another two Stawell Gift finals since but my chance to join the Avenue of Honour may have past. My greatest pro achievements would be going back to back in the Women’s Stonnington Gift in 2012 and 2013. At the time they were the richest women’s pro races. In 2012 I also won the Women’s Stawell 400m. Any win at Stawell is special. This season I was lucky enough to take out the Women’s Black pearl 400m final in Bendigo. The Black Pearl has certainly been on my radar for some time. The 400 metres is a tough race, you need to master every section. I remember getting ready and being so nervous because I knew I had some hard work ahead of me. I was lucky to have some distance between me and the girl in front of me (Layla Watson) at the start so I made it my goal to catch her as quickly as I could. Once I did this I tried to relax and progress to the front having to run wide around the bend (any 400m runner can relate). When I got to the front straight being in front of the pack, I remember telling myself you’re not losing this race now. I knew I had the speed endurance to hold the girls off at the end, but after having tried so hard for the last 300m I was nervous. When I crossed the finish line, I was so relieved. So happy with myself. It had been a long time coming. It was awesome to run under lights, with the atmosphere of the crowed. There is something special about running at night. I enjoy helping coach some of our younger athletes in our squad, encouraging them to compete in the pro running circuit. Its family friendly and caters for a range of abilities. When I was little my parents and grandparents would come to every event I competed at. I took it for granted at the time. Now as an adult I am so grateful when my family gives up their weekend to come and watch me race. When my family isn’t on the sidelines, it is the POD Squad, my second family, who support me and they’re the reason I am still racing competitively. The inclusive and positive culture of our squad keeps me motivated, especially with such a strong female sector in our group. The POD squad are great advocates of this promoting women in sport. But the best thing about our squad is the amount of support we receive as athletes from not only our coach, mentors and other members of the group, but also their families. I am a pretty open book, what you see is what you get. I don’t have any secret talents; however, I am very competitive, in every aspect of my life. I will make sure I beat all the girls in our squad at challenges (push ups/ plank offs). Pilates is a newly discovered passion of mine. I joke with some of my training partners that we should open a clinic one day. Within our squad we have an osteopath and others’ studying to be doctors, physiotherapists, osteopaths, and chiropractors. By the time they’re all qualified I will be looking to start a family, so I can run the mums and bubs classes!

01.01.2022 PEOPLE OF PRO RUNNING - By David Griffin Professional athletics is a lot about family. Handed down over generations, kids spend hours with pro running parents a...t far flung ovals all around the state. Almost like osmosis, the sport infuses itself into family life. Listening to mum and dad talk about race tactics, injuries, new stretches and training is typical dinner table conversation. Family holidays and weekends away are planned around race meetings and for Pro running families there is only one place to be at Easter. 47 year old Sue Anderson has been running since she was a kid. For the mother of three, Pro athletics is a family affair and it’s the reason she loves it. Introduced to the sport by her father, she now competes against her daughter Cleo and has two more children embarking on Pro running careers. A published author, Anderson has an interesting view on a sport that becomes a ‘rusted on’ part of life for many families. EPISODE 13: SUE ANDERSON The last two seasons I ran some women's 400m and was lucky enough to run against my 21 year old daughter Cleo in some heats, and also some finals. When we get the race program, I always hope I'm in her heat, and she always hopes she's not in my heat. I can't explain why this is so meaningful for me. It's a lot of fun, and while I hope she beats me at the same time I hope I beat her, just so I can stir her about it. Pro-running is a family affair for us. My 12 year old son, Jarvis Cartledge runs and next season my 11 year old daughter Jaz will join us. My husband Chris comes along to all the meets. He does all the driving, puts up the tent for us and keeps us sane and ready to race. He really is amazing in that he knows exactly what to say in support of us. I work as a coach, trainer, facilitator and speaker - my expertise is in resilience and figuring out people. I also deliver leadership programs, mainly around resilience and emotional intelligence. My first book was 'Unbullyable', was about how to be less affected by bullies. My second book, 'Unshakeable at Work' is about how to be less affected by grumpy customers. I've just started working on my third book, 'Feedback Readiness'. The books basically come from the workshops I run, so they are not hard to write. It's finding the time to pull them together that is the tricky bit. I've been competing in athletics since I was seven years old. I was 12 years of age when I won my first state title for hurdles. I set some state records. I finished second or third every year at Nationals but never won a National title. As a 17 year old, I had my heart set on competing at the World Junior Championships, and missed the qualifying by 7/100ths of a second. I was devastated. The same week I received a letter in the mail from an American University offering me a track scholarship. Unfortunately, I went from winning most races in Australia, to not even making finals at University meets. The competition was a lot tougher than I was used to. My confidence dropped - and in response, instead of working harder, I lost interest in competing. I started partying hard and eventually quit athletics all together. I travelled for six months, then returned to Australia (Ballarat) as a 20 year old. When I was young my Dad would take me to the Stawell Gift on Easter Monday. I was in running heaven, except there were no women's races (or hurdles!!). Even as a young child, I remember being annoyed that women were not 'allowed' to compete. I just couldn't understand it. Then one year we turned up and women were running! I first ran in the women's 120m gift (that was the only event for women), as a 17 year old, and finished fourth. I was hooked. After all those years of amateur racing- this 'Pro-running' was like a breath of fresh air. The smell of the grass, long spikes, the crowd running onto the field, hammering your blocks into the ground with those funny hammers. I absolutely loved it. I experienced some sexist comments and attitudes back then - I'm glad that is slowly changing. I could tell a few stories on the topic. I would like to help promote the sport to more women and encourage them to give pro-running a go. Over the last 30 years I've probably run about half the seasons. Injuries, three pregnancies and surgeries etc have kept me out some seasons. I've had some success, a Stawell sash for the women's 800m and a Bay Sheffield Masters 550m sash. I was lucky enough to run against Cathy Freeman at Stawell one year. As I've got older my motivation has changed from trying to win, to enjoying competing and keeping fit. Now I enjoy looking at the bigger picture. When the marks are released I love seeing who got pulled, who got a lift, who did and did not enter etc. I even have a spreadsheet! I see it as a giant game of chess played out over the season(s). This season I have loved making more connections with other Masters athletes and building relationships with them, learning about their backstories and admiring them just for having the courage to turn up and have a go. As a Masters athlete, it takes a bit to get your head around the fact that you used to be able to run faster. Training on my own suits me best as I have a crazy busy life with work. I travel a lot for work in regional Victoria so my challenge is to find a 'good' oval in small country towns, and avoid the footballers / cricket training times. I will keep running pros as long as I can. It's in my blood. If I'm up the Grampians way for work I'll always stop at the Stawell track - smell the grass, walk a lap and have a nervous wee :)