Anchor McDeadun’s post Stawell musings.

As I sit here in a corner booth of the Stawell McDonalds, fuelling up for the long drive home with an Egg McMuffin and a strong coffee,
I ponder and reflect on the weekend that was, at Central Park.

* I don’t care what anyone says or thinks, Goldie is a bloody good sprint handicapper.

* Tony O’Shea, you are one of the true characters and nicest people of pro running, and you will be sorely missed. Thanks to everyone who got around The Explosion this weekend.

* Gary Blake, you are a bloody ripper. I’m sure everyone still at Central Park late yesterday afternoon were willing you home in the 45+ 800 series final. (In itself, a fantastic event created to honour one of the stalwarts of the sport, Sean “Doona” Quilty, who is sadly missed by all who knew him. Thanks to Les and crew for all your work, getting this series race off the ground).

* Every year the Gold Coast Vikings bring a bigger and bigger squad to Stawell, and thoroughly deserve any success they achieve. The most impressive thing about Viking Athletics - how do you keep those hoodies so bloody white?!

* Julianne MacDonald is definitely the hardest worker on race day. Your efficiency and expertise will be missed.

* Volunteers continue to be the backbone of our sport, rain, hail or shine (as we experienced this long weekend). Make the effort next season to thank a volunteer for their service.

* Matty B and crew, thanks again for volunteering your time to run the kids clinic.

* Ollie Wurm is becoming one fine commentator. The broadcasting world is your oyster.

* Any many years of Stawell heartbreak, Paul “Tankers” Tancredi finally gets a Stawell sash. And a lightning quick 200, at 41 years old.

* The 7plus live stream is brilliant. Nana was an excellent addition to the on field broadcast, and will develop into a great broadcaster, and working alongside some of the best in the business like Richo, DC and Tamsyn, has some brilliant role models to emulate. Maybe a few more different questions to add to your repertoire for a bit more interview variety?

* The 7 Monday broadcast. A great couple of hours of commentary replays and highlights, with a few races thrown in. Yes, I’m being a little sarcastic. Only 5 events were broadcast to my knowledge (I may be wrong). I understand the limits that the telecast has, but surely if you reduced some of the commentary ‘padding’ and endless replays, they could add a couple more events back into the broadcast. If the Little Athletics kids truely are the future of our sport, then a couple of minutes showing a well handicapped LA’s race would be great, and inversely, how the Masters 300 final escapes the broadcast each year bemuses me. This race continues to be one of the highlights of the weekend, and adding these 2 races to the broadcast is the easiest way to demonstrate the diversity of our sport, from the spectrum of all ages and abilities.

* Equally as important, Stawell needs to re-introduce a Paralympic race back into the program. This is after all 2023.

* Stawell Athletic Club, just a thought; maybe a third coffee cart next year??!

* Despite the weather, the track condition improved each day, with some quick times around the circle track on the Monday. Grounds staff, take a bow.

* The Sash Club continues to grow. Kudos to Tim “Emu” Mason for making this happen, and thanks to Richo for your continued support. Those who attended this year were witness to one of the true legends of the sport, George McNeill.

* Great to see that there is an attempt to create a bit of an after party vibe at the ground Monday evening. Hopefully this grows legs in future years.

Overall, there were plenty of thrills and spills, and no doubt this morning some sore heads, filled with regrets of missed opportunities and plans for success next season. What were your highlights, lowlights, and musings this Easter at Central Park?

Well, time to finish my McMuffin, refill my coffee, and hit the road.

Safe travel everyone, and we’ll see you all (and hopefully more) next season!

Great thoughts Anchor. That McMuffin serves you well. In the same vein without dwelling on races in particular:

First and foremost congratulations to everyone involved over the weekend. It’s always a massive effort and never goes unnoticed. It felt like crowd numbers were down a little but still a great carnival.

Want to second your point about Julianne MacDonald cannot agree with this sentiment more!

Another coffee cart would be amazing, 40-50mins on Saturday was a bit tough and those carts set up were under the pump. I hear Jesse Cordoma has a nice little set up…. Business op?

I would like to see results/progressions posted or made available a little earlier or more readily available. There were some athletes waiting to see if they had progressed into the semis for quite a while and could have implications on other events they’d entered. Yes you could work it out off times but it’d be good I think to at least release a list of athletes who progressed even if it isn’t the semi draws.

Raised this before but I’d love to see an option of a women’s 200m. I know the program is pretty full already but it was great to see athletes like Jess Payne racing the half lap but it shows unless you are national level, getting beyond the HEATS would nearly be impossible.

Not sure if I’ve got many more ponderings I’ll check with Raph, Mikey, and Leo, but it’s always a bittersweet end to the season

Yes great weekend and massive congratulations to the volunteers, winners, their coaches and training partners.

I would like to see live results added, a women’s 200m and women’s
Gift limit to be 10m like the men’s.

I miss the athletes getting paraded before semis but understand that is probably to tighten up TV package.

Good summation Anchor. Agree re: Julianne and Chris McDonald, an absolute tragedy to lose them. Never enough coffee vans. ( this applies to nearly every sporting event though). Sad to see Tony finish up. You’ve gotta love pro running how it attracts these great characters.
Entry prices overall I reckon are a little bit hot. We can’t be taxing the converted who spend enough following their families around , and the price possibly keeps a few local families away. The difference needs to be made up with a few extra sponsors.
Great to see some athletes who support the sport all year get some reward eg. Tankers, Patty Martin, Darcy, Bella, Andrew Drummond, Richard Wearmouth, Ramona, and I’m sure I’ve missed a few.
U18 athletes deserve semis in their 100m races. 8 heats of the girls with no fastest times is too tough, as we want to see the best athletes in the final. Good to see the masters 300 had 3 fastest times this year.
The 1000m was a good race but it would still be a good race if those girls were running for $5000 and the rest spread amongst the other races.
Most races well handicapped. All we want is the rules to be followed and then whatever happens then so be it.
The gifts were both great events, with no forgone conclusion with either.
On the whole a good weekend apart from the weather.

great to see a send off for tony o'shea, one of the nicest blokes you'll meet, will miss cheering you on tony

Thanks for a great season everyone. Even the pelicans who take it too far on here sometimes

I just want to reiterate a couple of things already mentioned. Thank you so much to all the officials who do this pretty much because they love the sport. They get paid stuff all, and without them we wouldn’t have the opportunity to race all across the state (and country) against generally a great bunch of people. One of my favourite parts of pro running is all the friends I now have all over the country cos of this great sport. A special thanks to Julianne who is finishing up. Your years of assistance have been greatly appreciated.

I’ll also miss that guaranteed handshake, smile and well done I got from Tony every single time I ran a good race. Or even sometimes the honk from his truck when he drives down to the track on his lunch break to watch our sessions Hope you’re not a stranger mate! You’re a good human.

For me I have a few highlights from Stawell:

Ramona Casey winning the 400m Women’s after basically doing everything else possible in pro running over the last couple of seasons. Tremendous effort. And a great run from Liv in 2nd.

The battle between O’Dwyer and Pasquali in the Women’s Gift. Except this time Grace was the senior! 2 sensational runs and a worthy Quinella.

And obviously Simon Jackson winning the 100m Masters. For those that don’t know Simon’s story, he actually ran the fastest heat time at Stawell in the Gift one year, and top 3 another year, yet never got the opportunity to run in a final after being pipped both times narrowly. Once due to injury. He has also had more surgeries than I’ve had hot dinners. And after a couple of decades of pro running, it was a worthy Stawell Sash.

As for improvements, it simply has to be to bring the massive crowds back! It’s still a great atmosphere, but can be soooooo much better.

I totally agree with just about all the comments but 3 things in particular.1 the 15000 purse for the invitation race is ridiculous and should be cut to 8000.2.use that 7000 for a women's 200 worth 2000 and add 300 dollars to 17 races.3 the under 18s boys and girls sprints badly need semis.50 plus we're entered in boys and 64 entered in girls with a lot of those kids 11 12 or 13 years old who if they haven't made the u14s series final have nothing else to run in all weekend unless they can run an 800.4 This topic has come up before but I think 99 percent of val people believe that to enter and compete at Stawell you must compete at least once somewhere at a val meeting during the season.no one who just follows pro athletics knew anything about Ryan tarrant and whilst we wish the young guy all the best in his amateur endeavours his speech clearly meant apart from the cash the win meant nothing to him.cheers jim

That’s not how sponsorship works Jim. The $15,000 is provided for THAT race. A sponsor chooses where the prize money goes. I think the calibre of athlete present deserved every cent of that prize pool.

Agree RE semis of u18 races.

Lastly, garbage that you have to run a race before Stawell. That eliminates almost all of our top Ammo’s, and any chance of international entries. The best thing about Stawell sometimes is the unknown. How about Mundine! Under your rules he can’t even turn up. He damn near won the thing out of nowhere.

Definitely agree with Tim in the sense of we would want the stories like Mundine and we want the calibre of Tarrant, it also may result in people turning up and putting in rubbish efforts at other carnivals.

I do agree with Jim though from a selfish perspective because he supports the idea of a women's 200, the semis for the U18's and some of the other races I feel could do with a top up in terms of prize money (completely understanding though it is dependent on sponsors)

The other races are definitely in need of stronger financial backing. Need to find more commercial partners and even look at getting many smaller deals to sponsor each heat etc. Great exposure now on 7 and 7 plus. There has to be a way to build the other events outside of the gift

Splitting the women’s and men’s 200m into two races is not a good idea, this comes from the athletics participation award mentality wanting easier wins and sashes, it’s a negative on the sport. Sticking to the facts Paul Hughes pulled away from the Jessica Payne in the home straight. Given that Hughes is in his mid 50s this shouldn’t have happened against the state female champion. Women have won the Stawell 200m before, it maintains the prestige of the event by keeping the Stawell 200 as it is. The emphasis should be on getting fitter and faster not splitting the events.

You kind of have the same fiasco with the Stawell 400, splitting the men’s into front and back markers , diminishes the prestige of the Stawell sash. There should be one 400m winner at Stawell, just like there should be one 200m winner. You can’t just add new events just because some are not good enough to win, that’s the whole idea of competition and life. You learn and improve when you fail.

What a ridiculous suggestion architect by that argument we shouldn’t have the womens gift or the womens 70 or the womens 400

There is a difference between participation and opportunity. A women’s 200 with Bree masters, Jess Payne, Ellie beer, Kendra Hubbard, Bella Pasquali would be an elite race not a participation event.

donatello wrote:What a ridiculous suggestion architect by that argument we shouldn’t have the womens gift or the womens 70 or the womens 400

There is a difference between participation and opportunity. A women’s 200 with Bree masters, Jess Payne, Ellie beer, Kendra Hubbard, Bella Pasquali would be an elite race not a participation event.

You have self admitted bias here, and that's a strawman argument. I stated a fact that Paul Hughes pulled away from Jess Payne, its a fact that at her age she can improve and be a winning the chance. It's also a fact that women have won the 200m before. Its also a fact that the women can enter the open 200m.

It's also a fact that at central park in the halcyon days, almost 300 entries with only heat winners to progress. These days are gone and so are the huge crowds. It's a fact that if you keep adding events you will diminish the value of the event. 

Its a fact that Marjorie Jackson, Raelene Boyle, Shirley Strickland, Betty Cuthbert, early 2000s Lauren Hewett, Gainsford Taylor would have been good enough to win the Stawell 200m. It's also fact they are faster than anyone on that list over 200m.  The best women can win the Stawell 200m. Get faster and better and stop adding events.

The Architect wrote:Splitting the women’s and men’s 200m into two races is not a good idea, this comes from the athletics participation award mentality wanting easier wins and sashes, it’s a negative on the sport. Sticking to the facts Paul Hughes pulled away from the Jessica Payne in the home straight. Given that Hughes is in his mid 50s this shouldn’t have happened against the state female champion. Women have won the Stawell 200m before, it maintains the prestige of the event by keeping the Stawell 200 as it is. The emphasis should be on getting fitter and faster not splitting the events.

You kind of have the same fiasco with the Stawell 400, splitting the men’s into front and back markers , diminishes the prestige of the Stawell sash. There should be one 400m winner at Stawell, just like there should be one 200m winner. You can’t just add new events just because some are not good enough to win, that’s the whole idea of competition and life. You learn and improve when you fail.

There isn’t an issue with splitting the 400 into a F/M and B/M, as long as:

a) There are enough entries to warrant the split, and,
b) The split is made appropriately and with common sense.

The mile is split into F/M and B/M evenly in numbers every year without too much pushback or complaint. Of course you will never please everyone, and someone may not always benefit that way they may have liked or hoped, but this seems to be the most fair and equitable (and simple) way to split the race.

All throughout the 1970’s there was 3 divisions of the 400’s (front, middle and back), 2 divisions of the 1600 and 2 divisions of the 3200.
There are too many athletes to have one division of the 400. We don’t want to have semi finals, and we don’t want to go back to having no fastest times going through. We just need to advertise it from the start that the 400 will be split according to entries/handicaps rather than specifying a cut off on the entry page as happened this year.

Anchor McDeadun wrote:

The Architect wrote:Splitting the women’s and men’s 200m into two races is not a good idea, this comes from the athletics participation award mentality wanting easier wins and sashes, it’s a negative on the sport. Sticking to the facts Paul Hughes pulled away from the Jessica Payne in the home straight. Given that Hughes is in his mid 50s this shouldn’t have happened against the state female champion. Women have won the Stawell 200m before, it maintains the prestige of the event by keeping the Stawell 200 as it is. The emphasis should be on getting fitter and faster not splitting the events.

You kind of have the same fiasco with the Stawell 400, splitting the men’s into front and back markers , diminishes the prestige of the Stawell sash. There should be one 400m winner at Stawell, just like there should be one 200m winner. You can’t just add new events just because some are not good enough to win, that’s the whole idea of competition and life. You learn and improve when you fail.

There isn’t an issue with splitting the 400 into a F/M and B/M, as long as:

a) There are enough entries to warrant the split, and,
b) The split is made appropriately and with common sense.

The mile is split into F/M and B/M evenly in numbers every year without too much pushback or complaint. Of course you will never please everyone, and someone may not always benefit that way they may have liked or hoped, but this seems to be the most fair and equitable (and simple) way to split the race.

As an Aussie in the US I can give the perspective from the outside looking in. I was lucky enough to watch the live stream on the seven-plus app. In the US to qualify for the NCAA division 1 is extremely cutthroat, approximately 170 colleges and the committee selects participates. Contrast that to the participation award mentality in Australian athletics, its chalk and cheese.

I don’t want to single out particular runners, but having 50 yo’s pulling away from state champions, it’s just a fact. In the US the standards are so high, awards are not given out. I don’t buy the talent argument. Look at the results John Nicolosi achieved with Hubbard turning her into an Olympian.  He’s done the same with Jess Andrews now national champion over 400m , with 11.8/ 23.6 speed.

Adding more races and giving more awards/ sashes/ prizemoney is not how to develop athletics in Australia. It’s a blight and bad for the sport. Those pushing for splitting events based on gender , have their own interests first not the interests of the sport or even the long term development of athletes. It’s all misguided. No reason why Jess Payne could also be Olympian over 400m. Most of those mentioned on that list by Donatello should be pushing for Olympic spots. This is where the pro running can hurt or impair athletics in Australia. Firstly by rewarding lower standards, this is in context to international standards. Historically pro coaches have convinced athletes that they are not good enough or fast enough for the amateurs. This deficit discourse and language needs to change.

Pro running is a participation sport? I don’t think you quite get it. It’s different to “amateur” track. That’s the whole point of it. The comparison to NCAA is laughable.

Do agree with your point about some striving for handicap rather than improvement. And that more pro only athletes should test themselves in track races.

Hi Tim,

I think you've misunderstood my NCAA comparison. Essentially Donatello was saying the top girls find it hard to compete against the men. Therefore justifying a new 200m gendered event. This ends up rewarding a lower standard of performance in reference to broader athletics outside of Australia. Why not get faster and improve? Most are not at their ceiling. Surely this would cross over to more competitive amateur times. In the NCAA or Europe  to be comparatively rewarded with prizemoney or titles, the standard is much higher. Athletes need to stay hungry because the rewards are scarce.

Pro running has emphasised prizemoney and events for the girls. But it's starting to hurt athletics in the country. Many of those girls should be setting the bar for Olympic spots. From the US perspective athletes are hungrier and it's gutthroat. Outside of Australia, most do not know about Stawell or the gift. If Australia wants to emerge and have talented sprinters on the world stage. You need to keep athletes hungry and move away from participant awards/ sashes/ prizemoney.

Some statements and thoughts on Stawell.
Ceiling was broken by all women athletes.
Final finish lines were even as per most other finals. So looks great but this is only
Due to majority of these athletes playing the game all year and bonus lift.
Early on with the discussions there was comments suggesting lifting the field due to Bree racing. Great decision not to. Athletes would have broken 13.5
Love the idea to make this high profile to gain interest from afar. Bree ran very fast but to be competitive in the final would equate to running 11.4 on grass.
Ran 11.5 and was close in the semi behind Bella.
These bonus lifts that are given are not required. My opinion. Unfair advantage.

Get an early win. Take the lift. Don’t race a 100/120 until Stawell. Yes that’s the rules. Is it fair?  Will it entice the best to race? Knowing to win you need to run close to a national record on grass.

How good was it to see Tarrant win! A Back marker that raced under pressure, must admit his mark was generous (compared to other elite)for such a good athlete but it’s the only way you will get the elite competing. It was a fair final. Best and my opinion deserving athlete won. Even if he was top 3, as long as the backies have a fighting chance. 
If they have no chance why would you bother, the biggest race on the pro circuit and you can easily pick half the field that will final. Womens back marker was off 7m and PB of 11.87 wind assist. For there to be no one under 5m make it thru to the final surely shows this needs a shake up.
Food for thought. Jess Payne PB is 12.08. But off 2m? Would someone explain that mark.
SAAL, TAL have similar ceilings? They should be the same nationally. Otherwise the handicappers have a harder job than they already have.

Why is it that in your eyes for women to be able to compete they must be the best in the country, but for men anyone can participate? And “why not get faster and improve?” Well, a woman can improve all she wants but will biologically never be able to run as fast as the fastest man. I agree the standard in Europe and USA is much higher, but VAL is completely different and it makes no sense to compare them. Why is women wanting equal to men considered awarding lower standards. The VAL is handicapped running so that everybody has a chance to win and that’s the whole point of it. I think you need to consider your views because equality does not mean awarding lower standards, if you think only the best in the country should win that defeats the whole purpose of VAL.

You are missing my point and I am giving you the international perspective on Australian sprint athletes. On the circuit Australians are known to be content just to make teams or qualify, which is no small achievement but its celebrated more than success internationally. Australia has a culture problem not a talent one. Track is not cricket or swimming, its much more cutthroat. Some of those 200 girls have instagram bodies, rather than ones which are going to set pbs over 200 or 400. How often do Australian female sprinters go sub 23, very rarely. Even Bree Masters, setting 100m pbs but still not going sub 23.

Go back a few generations and the girls were not so bulky, less time in weight room. Less concerned how their buttocks looked and more focused on fitness and conditioning. The girls one tier down at state levels running 24s, which isn’t slow all could get fitter and faster. In the US  athletes train much harder on the track. In Texas or Florida the track sprinters train harder. It doesn't help rewarding girls with prizemoney/ sashes when they could be running faster.  Very typical of the Aussie mentality, it's all about being a big fish in a little pond.

I don’t think anyone would disagree that (compared to other ‘popular’ sports in Australia - Cricket, AFL, Swimming etc) athletics has had, and will unfortunately continue to have a culture problem, especially when we have recently seen the horrible treatment of one of our best athletes received by the Australian athletics ‘hierarchy’. Also, while we don’t really have any bonafide T&F “hero’s” or role models in this country (compared to other sports previously mentioned), then Aths will continue to flounder, and remain a fringe sport.

Going on your logic, why don’t we just tell the masters athletes to get faster? Why don’t we just make the Stawell limit 2m and just let Chico, Despard and Doran fight it out for the 40k.

It’s pro running mate, every race has a ceiling and start time. Everyone works their butt off to do the best they can off their handicap over every distance. The top 0.1% are the ones that make up the national final. Outside of that, I don’t understand why everyone else doesn’t run pros where they’re a chance to win a sash and prize money

Guys i have to agree with Anchor McDeadun and every thing he has said the likes of Payne should not of be beaten in the open 200,why handicapping has a big part to play .Sure she is State Champion .And one of our top Pro athletes with many wins under her belt along with Bay Sheffield . She is a Quality athlete Pro and Amos ,to miss out on making a semi in the Gift the 1st time in 10 years says a lot about the handicapping .All the girls that ran and made a final were on a handicap of 7+ Congrats to Bella and Grace amazing race to watch .This has been said before its is more of a race when there are true back markers running the great race such as Masters Maddie Coates Mia Gross we need to see more of that if our great race is to survive .Our could the Val have a Womens only back markers race as well as a Mens ,How good would that be, best of the best i'm only putting it out their every couple of Carnivals only

Good call natmatt.A men's backmarkers followed by a women's backmarkers is a great idea because in the current format a female never or very rarely wins.I have only been involved in the pros for 6 years but one thing I have always observed is that any mixed sprint race is so heavily male it's not funny. The stawell 100 restricted was a classic example 74 ran 25 were women 16 made semis and how many made them? Answer 1 amber van eede who came last in semi. Backmarkers mixed 3 women 5 blokes how many women came top 3?answer none. Under 18s mixed races are the same every time they are on usually 6 heats 40 compete 25 boys 15 girls and how many girls make finals? Usually 1 sometimes none and occasionally 2.They have to look into this as current mixed sprint handicapping system just doesn't work. So my answer to avoid this would be have not only a women's 200 also have a restricted men's and women's 100 as well as semis for the under 18s 100s and a women's backmarkers 120. That's probably 15 extra sprints over the carnival adding maybe an hour to the entire program.we are all up there for 3 or 4 days anyway so extending Sunday by an hour no one would notice or care and would give more females and kids more runs as well as a realistic winning chance. Cheers Jim