THE 2022 Mount Gambier Gift footrace had it all – fierce competition, an Olympian runner and even a marriage proposal.
Held at Vansittart Park on Saturday, the Gift boasted a full day of racing, with athletes travelling from across South Australia and Victoria to contest the annual honours across 15 elite events.
The feature races, the men’s and women’s 120-metre Mount Gambier Gift events, were met by strong competition.
Intensity built throughout the heats, which all boiled down to the two finals.
The Women’s Gift final was won by Tayla Philis, closely followed by Mount Gambier’s Leila Croker and Mikayla Round in second and third respectively.
The Men’s Gift was a fast race and after some impressive heats Malcolm Underwood crossed the line in first with a time of 12.437 seconds.
He was followed by Ben Larsson with a time of 12.443, while Hayden Rothe finished in 12.479 seconds in a thrilling photo finish.
However, the nail-biting racing was not the most exciting thing to happen on the day, with the 3200m men’s presentation producing more than just winner’s sashes.
The race had been run and won and during the presentations, second-place getter Terence Carter popped the big question to girlfriend Paige Bateman mid interview.
He jumped off the podium and onto one knee to present his grandmother’s ring to his beloved.
Thankfully the answer was yes, which added some extra sentiment to the day.
Local Hayden Crowe ran a good race in the 400-metre men’s race to finish third, while another feature of the day was the presence of Olympian and Commonwealth Games long-distance runner Izzi Batt-Doyle and her partner, State marathon record holder Riley Cocks from Adelaide.
The pair visited for the weekend, where they kicked things off with a training session at Mount Gambier Little Athletics on Friday night.
Batt-Doyle competed in the 1600 and 3200 metre events, while Cocks contested the 3200 metre.
Also on the race list were two Little Athletics events, with over 40 athletes from Mount Gambier, Penola, Bordertown, Millicent and Portland entered.
Both the 120-metre and-800 metre final were close finishes.
Winning the 120-metre Little Athletics race was Kyla Gordon from Mount Gambier, with Reece Barrett and Isla Stuckey coming a close second and third.
The 800-metre was a sprint to the finish by local Finn McEachern, followed by Alejandro Jagger and Portland’s Kobi Campbell.
Mount Gambier Gift event manager Natasha Little deemed the event a success and looks forward to a bigger and better event in 2023.
“It was a wonderful day and the success of all the runners was amazing, with some fantastic running by some of our own local athletics,” she said.
“It will be hard to upstage a marriage proposal next year when the Mount Gambier Gift comes back.
“But discussions have already started between the City of Mount Gambier and the South Australian Athletic League on further improvements and increasing participation for the 2023 and beyond Mount Gambier Gifts.”
RESULTS
70m Women: Tayla Phillis 1, Mikayla Round 2, Isabel Ross 3; 70m Men: Michael Hayes 1, Hayden Rothe 2, Ben Larsson 3; Under 18 Boys 120m: Luke Simpson 1, Luke Rigby 2, Dylan Boyce 3; Under 18 Girls 120m: Isabel Ross 1, Leila Croker 2, Matilda Caven 3; 120m Women’s Gift: Tayla Phillis 1, Leila Croker 2, Mikayla Round 3; 120m Men’s Gift: Maxwell Underwood 1, Ben Larrson 2, Hayden Rothe 3; Under 18 Boys 300m: Luke Simpson 1, Matthew Wilson 2, Lewis Day 3; 120m Over 35: Lisa Boyce 1, Jarrad Dartnall 2, Ross Nitschke 3; Under 18 Girls 300m: Matilda Caven 1, Tigerlily Kovacic 2, Meg Miles 3; 300m Over 35: Owen Boyce 1, Lisa Boyce 2, Jarrad Dartnall 3; 400m Women: Brooke Hayball 1, Meg Miles 2, Jena Jagger 3; 400m Men: Michael Hayes 1, Hayden Rothe 2, Hayden Crowe 3; 1600m Open: Nathan Visciglio 1, Sam Sibbick 2, Leslie Jagger 3; 3200m Open: Results unavailable; Little Athletics – 120m: Hannah McMeel 1, Milla Liptak 2, Hamish Gordon 3; 800m: Finn McEachern 1, Alejandro Jagger 2, Kobi Campbell 3.
