NESP North Eastern Sports Performance & Speed Development Coaching
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Place at women’s Stawell Gift a morale booster for South Morang teen
By Katrina Hinschen Whittlesea Leader April 17, 2015 12:00AM. See article here KEELY Henderson has sprinted to a fifth placing in Australia’s richest footrace — the Stawell Women’s Gift. The South Morang 17-year-old ran the race for the first time last year, but got knocked out in the heats. This year, with a new coach and training squad, there was no stopping her. “I joined a squad called Nesp in Doncaster and got a new coach, Craig Mair, who helped me a lot this year,” Keely said. The 120m Stawell Gift has been held since 1878 and is one of the world’s most famous and prestigious foot races. Run on grass, athletes are handicapped according to form and ability, and start off varying marks accordingly. The final is traditionally held on Easter Monday. “There were 16 women’s heats and then four semi-finals,” Keely said. “In my heat I came third and progressed through from time. “The semi-final I won.” Keely ran off a mark of 13.75 sec, behind winner Grace O’Dwyer who ran 13.39 sec. “I couldn’t contain myself. I started crying,” she said. “It was really good.” The love of gift racing came from her dad who watched the gift every year. “He loved every bit about it and would come home and say, ‘one day you can do this’, and now I’ve actually gone and done it,” she said. Keely is eligible to be a Whittlesea Leader junior sports star... read more
Albury Wodonga Gift 2015 | Craig Mair makes it a winning trip to Albury
By CHRIS YOUNG Feb. 2, 2015, midnight A STAR-studded field was unable to reign in the front markers at the Albury-Wodonga Gift on Saturday night. Melbourne-based veteran Craig Mair ran a time of 12.42 seconds from 14 metres to finish ahead of Albury’s Daniel Steinhauser and reigning champion Luke Stevens. The 38-year-old had been kept out of the Gift because of injury for the past three years, but made no mistake in what was his first run in Albury. “I felt really strong at the finish, and I got off to a fairly good start I thought,” Mair said after the race. “I haven’t run this fast in years. “I think I was fairly lucky to get through the semi-final, I had a cramp in my hamstring and I wasn’t too sure about how I’d go in the final.” The athletics coach, from Kangaroo Ground in Melbourne, took home $10,000 for his efforts, and said he was as nervous as he’d ever been going into the final. “I couldn’t believe the amount of nerves I had going into it,” Mair said. “Usually I’m pretty cool and collected but I gathered myself, and I was able to channel that pressure positively.” It seems almost mandatory for Gift winners to have a connection to Albury, with Mair being the grandson of former Albury mayor and NSW MP Harold Mair, who died in 2011. Mair said he was already looking forward to coming back and defending his title. “I think this has been an absolutely perfect event,” Mair said. “The weather was fantastic, there’s a great crowd and a lot of support locally... read more
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