Sprint stars Gout Gout and Lachie Kennedy were eliminated from the Stawell Gift in the semi-finals after being unable to make up sizeable handicaps, as Olympian Bree Rizzo became the second woman to win the Gift off scratch.
South Australian John Evans – who eliminated Gout in the semi-finals – won the men’s final off a handicap of 9.75m, finishing in a time of 11.94s ahead of Jasper Thomas.
Rizzo was able to claim the women’s sash as the back-marker, becoming the second woman to win from scratch after Melissa Breen in 2012. Rizzo’s husband Matt won the men’s event in 2017.
“This one means so much, I met Matt here,” Rizzo said. “To both win it is so incredible, and to win it off scratch, it’s just mind blowing, so special. I’m so proud of myself.”
Her husband – who won the race from a handicap of 7.5m eight years ago – said his wife’s victory wearing the traditional red of a the back-marker far eclipsed his.
“She’s flat out, she’s always got something going on, she’s just incredible,” he said.
Gout ran a strong race in the semi-final to finish the 120m in 12.34s but couldn’t quite catch Evans who had almost nine metres head start on the 17-year-old and won by almost a quarter of a second.
“I thought I was coming pretty hard, and when we had like 20, 10 [metres] left he was pretty ahead of me,” Gout said. “I tried my hardest but he got me at the end. It is what it is.”
After winning the final, Evans said that holding off Gout in the semi-final was a career highlight.
“Once I finished, I looked across and just saw him next to me. I was like, ‘Oh, one or two more steps, he would have had me’,” he said.
“I just run pros [the professional circuit], and I’m not going to be running the likes of Gout Gout and Lachie Kennedy again, so it’s a fantastic opportunity, and I get to tell my kids I did that now.”
His coach Paul Young, winner of the 1985 Gift, said Evans’ handicap of 9.75m gave him confidence.
“He’s never not tried, he’s never fudged his mark or anything, he tries every time he runs, and the handicapper, to his credit, has finally given just a little window of opportunity to have a crack,” he said.
Kennedy finished his semi-final in 12.26s but it wasn’t quick enough, as he placed second to Dash Muir, another 17-year-old in the field, by less than a tenth of a second. Muir finished fifth in the final.
Only the winners of the six semi-finals reached Monday afternoon’s final. Gout and Kennedy took part in the traditional back-markers’ race to the delight of the thousands of fans, though neither were close to winning.
The men’s semi-finals were interrupted by a heavy rain shower that triggered a power failure for broadcaster Channel Seven and forced a delay of several minutes before the final two semi-finals.
Gout spent the time in the rain with his jacket on. “Running in the rain is a bit harder than usual, but you can’t handle the weather, so you just got to adjust,” he said.
Around 5,000 fans jammed into the showground, which officials said was the best attendance in decades. Evans and Rizzo each receive $40,000 for winning.
