Terang Gift run and won

A LITTLE rain was never going to be enough to dampen spirits when the Terang Gift drew some of the nation’s most gifted athletes to town over the weekend.

Zarli Best surges ahead to claim victory in the 400m under 18 final at the Terang Gift over the weekend.

The bumper day of racing as part of the Victorian Athletic League calendar brought a full program to the Terang Recreation Reserve on Sunday.

A strong crowd gathered despite rain early in the day but the sun was out in time for finals in what proved a day of closely-contested racing.

Among the results, Madeleine Parris took the 120 metre women’s Jill McKenzie final with a blistering 14.590 time, beating out Claire Roberts and Amber Van Eede.

“I was pretty excited, but I admit it was a bit unexpected.

“I had run at Warrnambool the day before and made the final but didn’t quite get up, so it was exciting to back up and win in Terang.

“It was pretty windy but everyone was running into it.”

Meanwhile in the 120 metre men’s Roy Northeast final, Lachie Falconer-Boag saluted with a time of 12.784, edging out Hamish Hopkins and Luke Simpson.

“It feels amazing,” he said.

“We work so hard over the years to try and get in this position so to be able to come out and have the body firing on all cylinders at the end was honestly just amazing.

“Once I hit the last five metres and realised I was in front with nobody coming past me, I was honestly just elated.

“With all the training and sacrifices, events like this really put into perspective that it’s all worth it.”

Terang Athletic Club president Ken Plummer was beaming with pride for another well-run event which draws widespread praise from the Victorian Athletic League.

“It was a great event and everything ran smoothly,” he said.

“The only thing out of our control was the weather, which fined up for us and we had some incredible racing.

“The two main gifts, the Roy Northeast and the Jill McKenzie 120 metre gifts, were absolutely fabulous and went to photo finishes.”

Mr Plummer thanked the team of volunteers for their dedicated efforts behind the scenes.

“I’m really proud of our track preparation and the Victorian Athletic League has commented on how well we present the track and all aspects of running the race.

“A big thank you to W.A Molans for supporting a celebration of 10 years of the women’s gift, which we thought was quite significant so we invited some past winners and had a celebration.

“We also had the Wheatsheaf Hotel present wine to the winners for the 18th year in a row, and we also had Bruce Fischmann who donated all the PA equipment to the recreation reserve.

“Without the community support, it makes it very difficult to run a program of this extent.

“Overall, the committee is ecstatic.”