2009 Stawell Gift Carnival
Central Park, Stawell
11 - 13 April 2009

The Coburg Harriers were well represented at the 2009 Stawell Gift Carnival    .  While the obvious drawcard is the running of the Stawell Gift over 120 metres, there are actually 66 races over a variety of distances from the 70 metre Handicap to the 3,200 metre Handicap, with juniors, veteran's and women specific races

In the 120 metre Stawell Gift, Craig Brown dominated his heat while Bola Lawal finished second in his to see both athletes progress to the semi-finals. Paul Keating, Liam Shepherd and Matthew Mifsud all finished sixth in their respective heats. In the Semi-Finals, Lawal finished in third place, while Craig Brown was runner up in his. Only the winner from each heat would progress to the final

Lawal would later finish third in the 120 metre Invitation race for the fastest backmarkers not to make the Stawell Gift final

In the 70 metre event, which featured more heats than the highly fancied Stawell Gift, Craig Brown finished second in his heat while Matthew Mifsud and Paul Keating both finished fifth in their respective heats. Unfortunately, Brown's time was just short of that required to reach the semi-final stage

In the 100 m Veterans, Joe Brown won his heat and a place in the semi-finals, while Gary Blake was third in his heat and Benny Tancredit was seventh. The semi-final was hotly contested with Joe Brown crossing the line eighth

Steven Marsh finished fifth in his heat of the 100 m Youth Boys event, while Celeste White and Alex Hanson both won their heats of the 100 m Youth Girls and progressed to the final. In a blanket finish, Hanson finished fourth with White fifth

The 120 m Women's event saw Celeste White finish third in her heat and Alex Hanson finish fifth in her heat. White was just short of a place in the semi-final with her fast heat time

The 100 m Novice saw Jay Blake win his heat and Steven Marsh finish seventh in his heat. Blake would later finish seventh in his semi-final

Adam Larsson and Matthew Mifsud finished third in their heats of the 200 metres while Paul Keating was sixth in his heat

The 300 m Veterans saw Joe Brown up again, and this time securing third place in his heat. Julie Torrini then performed well to finish third in her heat. Gary Blake was sixth in his heat and Benny Tancredi eighth. In a tough assignment for these runners, only the winner of each heat progressed to the final

The 400 metres saw the bulk of Benny Tancredi's talented stable of young runners in action. The 400 m Backmarkers features Matthew Mifsud who finished fifth in his heat while Celeste White was fifth in the 400 metre Women's event

Adam Larsson won his heat and progressed through to the final of the 400 metre Frontmarkers race. Third in their respective heats were Jay Blake and the unlucky Steven Marsh

To what the professional tour call the "Distance" events, and in the 550 metres, Adam Larsson was fourth in his heat and David Woods was sixth in his heat. Doubling up for the 800 metres was Woods who finished fourth

The 1600 metre Restricted race saw Gary Blake run a brave race, leading for almost half the race before crossing in twentieth position. The 1600 metre Backmarkers race saw Jeremy Grey finish in thirteenth position with his fastest time for the season, while in the 3200 metre event, one of only two on the entire VAL calendar, Grey used his handicap well to finish in third place

Well done to all athletes and thank you to the many club members who supported our members in their endeavours including Rob and Kathleen Marsh, Steve Collyer, Adam Weber, Diane Brimacombe and Rey Villega. Apologies to anyone I missed there