Sprinter’s winnings to drive him faster
GRAFTON speedster Mitchell Pateman plans to use his winnings to pay off his prestige car after his sprinting success in the Australia Day Gift at Southport Sharks yesterday.
Starting from a handicap of 6m, Bateman said he could “hear them coming” near the finishing line before he prevailed to take the $5000 first prize ahead of backmarker Ben Hayward (4.5m).
Clutching his winning cheque, Pateman said the beneficiary of his windfall would be a 2006 Alfa Romeo sedan – or the finalising of debt on the machine.
“This will help a lot to finish paying off the debt,” the 24-year-old said.
“This was my biggest win in professional racing even though I made a semi-final of the Stawell Gift last year.
“So I’m definitely going back again this year.”
Pateman relegated older brother Aaron, 27, to the alsorans in the Gift final although the latter had only minutes before taken out the 70m sprint.
Pateman is trained in Grafton by Terry West, who has a level-five accreditation in coaching.
Earlier in the day Brisbane sprinter Gemma Fairclough, 28, took full advantage of her 14.5m handicap to win the $2000 women’s gift (120m).
Trained by former Australian champion Denise Boyd (Robinson), Fairclough immediately targeted another crack at longer-distance events at the Easter Stawell Gift in Victoria.
“I’m definitely going to Stawell – I ran ninth in the 400m there last year,” Fairclough said.
The sprinter from The Gap said any money she won yesterday would come in handy for the trip south.
“I don’t actually know how much is in my bank account,” she said.