Harrison Kerr has won the Stawell Gift for the first time in 27 years, clocking the fastest winning time in the event’s history. On a frigid Easter Monday at Central Park, the red-hot Victorian fulfilled his pre-race favoritism by dominating the final.
Kerr surged to victory in 11.85 seconds off a 9.25m mark, the best winning time in the storied 120m handicap event since Glenn Crawford (11.79) in 1995.
The women’s Stawell Gift was much closer, with Carla Bull (6m) of Queensland winning in a photo finish in 13.77 over Clare De Salis and backmarker Mia Gross.
Kerr, 22, has been a regular at Stawell for the past eight years, but it wasn’t until recently that he genuinely believed he was ready to compete for significant prizes.
“I’ve had family compete here, and my brother lives nearby, so I’ve been up and down [to Stawell] a few times,” the final-year engineering student explained. “I just wasn’t ready until now; I wasn’t going to be able to run those kinds of paces.” I only needed the correct preparation to get ready.”
In May of last year, Kerr had to undergo reconstructive surgery after injuring his shoulder in a suburban Australian Rules football match.
“I had to take two months off running due to that,” he explained, “so I was confined in the gym doing cycles and core training and all the awful stuff.” “I knew I had time, but I had to make sure I did everything well.”
In 12.01, Hamish Lindstrom (7.75m) was second, Jesse McKenna (son of former West Coast AFL great and ex-Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna) was third, and scratch marker Eddie Nketia of New Zealand was fourth.
Kerr and Bull, the winner of the women’s Gift, each received a $40,000 winner’s prize. On Friday, the 19-year-old Bull gave her camp a worry when she caught a sore throat traveling from Brisbane to Melbourne.
“I was a little concerned about the next day,” she admitted. “But I simply rested, drank plenty of water, and did everything to prepare.” You may have heard my voice yesterday because I wasn’t feeling well. But today, I felt a little better, which was good.”
Bull faced a significantly stiffer challenge in the final after dominating her semi-final, and she was initially unsure if she had crossed the finish line first. She was eventually declared the winner, narrowly defeating De Salis (13.79) and Gross (13.79). (13.80).
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“To the final, everyone offers their best,” Bull stated. “At the halfway point, everyone was close, and all I could think about was ‘concentrate on the end, focus on the end.’ That was the only thing that sprang to mind.”
Bull relocated to the Gold Coast from her hometown of Hervey Bay two years ago to pursue her physiotherapy studies and train with renowned sprint coach Brett Robinson.
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On Monday, Georgia Griffith, a Commonwealth Games 1500m finalist from the Gold Coast, won the women’s 1000m invitational final with a strong performance. Griffith took the lead coming off the penultimate turn after starting from a 7m position.
Abbey Caldwell placed second, and Linden Hall, the Australian 1500m record holder, was third.
