GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING FOR SPRINT COACH:
ELIZABETH Forsyth has snared an emotional Stawell Gift victory, becoming the latest member of Brett Robinson’s crack Currumbin Vikings squad to win Australia’s most famous professional footrace.
Forsyth, who joins Mitchell Williams (2011) and Murray Goodwin (2015) as a winner at Stawell, collapsed over the finish line before being surrounded by her elated squadmates.
The beach sprinter was a convincing winner off 7m, beating home a crack field.
But she had found herself in the “hall of mirrors” on Saturday, looking deep within to try and find something to salvage her Stawell hopes.
Forsyth and Robinson had headed to Stawell believing they had a realistic chance.
But after she placed third in her opening heat on Saturday, Forsyth had doubts.
“I came down with hopes of making the final but after Saturday I was doubting myself a little bit because I didn’t run that well,” Forsyth said.
While she concedes she wasn’t at her best in her heat, spurning a new pair of spikes proved the magic ingredient.
“I definitely felt my feet sliding through the start (on Saturday), which wasn’t ideal but you can’t put all the blame on that.”
After a couple of runthroughs on Sunday, Forsyth was back to her best on Monday, qualifying fastest in the semi-finals to start the decider as the Gift favourite.
“I was pretty confident going into the final, I knew what I had to do, I just had to work through like I did in the semi and it paid off,” she said.
“The last nine months I’ve worked really hard on my sprint. There’s been a lot of hard sessions, a lot of late nights laying on the track laying on the ground but it’s all worth it and I would do it 1000 times again to have this moment,” she said.
“It’s just amazing. This such a prestigious race.”
The victory continues an amazing run of success for Robinson, who this season has placed a runner on the Commonwealth Games team and coached a junior national champion as well as helping Forsyth to the Gift win.
“She just delivered the absolute perfect race,” Robinson said of Forsyth.
“She constantly says: ‘I’m a beach flagger, I only race over 20m’. But today, we said: ‘You are a sprinter.’ She grew another leg today.”
Robinson paid tribute to the set-up at Currumbin Surf Lifesaving Club that helped his squad prepare so professionally for the beach and track season.
“This is very much a surf club victory. It’s not at the beach, it’s not in club colours but this is a win for the surf club for sure,” he said. is