Kelfit coach Kelvin Lubeck with his son, Cooper, after claiming the Stawell Gift 800m title last year.
Photo by
Contributed
Thousands of spectators and athletes alike are set to descend upon Stawell across the Easter weekend for the 143rd running of Australia’s richest footrace, the Stawell Gift.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
Among them will be a 15-strong contingent of Seymour Running Club athletes, headed up by reigning Victorian Athletic League coach of the year Kelvin Lubeck, all vying for titles at the VAL’s marquee event.
Lubeck, who runs the ‘Kelfit’ program for which the stable is named, has two defending champions under his watch this year — son Cooper, who claimed the 800m open title last year at Stawell, 235km north-west of Melbourne, and Olivia Attard, who will look to defend her crown in the 1600m frontmarkers event.
“We’ve had a few injuries throughout the year, we’ve had lots of seconds throughout the year, but three or four (athletes) are starting to peak for Stawell, so I’m looking forward to it,” Lubeck said last week while watching over training at Kings Park.
“Unfortunately, Cooper has had a stress fracture, so he will be running but only in one event, but he won’t be far away for that event, the 550m. He won the Seymour Gift this year in the 550m.
“Liv Attard is our best hope (of a win), she’s flying. She ran the 400m (on March 29) at Braybrook and she’s primed and ready to go for 800m, so she would definitely be our best hope.”
Olivia Attard is set to defend her title in the frontmarker’s 1600m race, with coach Kelvin Lubeck tipping her as the squad’s best chance of victory.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Delivering athletes to the start line in peak physical condition is a tough ask for coaches, given Stawell comes at the back end of a demanding season, with awkwardly spaced events making it challenging to find the right mix of racing and recovery.
“It is difficult as a coach, because you run virtually every week for, say, 17 weeks,” Lubeck said.
“Last week we ran at Braybrook, then we have this week off, even though (the VAL meet is) at Ringwood.
“Because we don’t run on synthetic tracks (which is the case at Ringwood) and we only run on grass, it’s three or four days’ recovery after running on synthetic and then a week after that it’s Stawell, so it’s not the ideal preparation.
“So the coaching is quite difficult leading into Stawell because we miss a week, we run, we miss a week, we run and then it’s Stawell.
“As a coach it’s more now mental, because they’re fit enough, strong enough, the gym work’s done, the running’s done. As you can probably see, there’s only 12 or so here, but they’re all probably bar one in pretty good nick.
“So that’s a challenge in itself, the format of getting the right mark — it’s all handicap, of course — so getting to the right mark, being fit and mentally preparing for it, because it is our grand final.”
There will certainly be a grand final-like atmosphere at Central Park, with superstar 17-year-old Gout Gout, fresh off a senior national title in the 200m, confirmed to be taking to the start line for the 120m gift alongside the likes of Olympians Lachlan Kennedy and Bree Rizzo, highlighting the recent boom athletics in Australia has experienced.
“In my time, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Lubeck said of the popularity and competitiveness of Australian athletics in recent times.
“Going back, I keep on saying the old story, my father was a founding member of Little Aths in 1968 here, he’s a life member and I’m a life member. I’ve been to six Olympics and Diamond League and World Champs, and athletics right now is at an all-time high.
“In 1996, I was in Atlanta and Cathy Freeman ran second in the 400m, and I think her and Kyle Vander-Kuyp were the only two Australians that made finals. Now I went to Paris (last year) and every second or third event we’ve got an Aussie in a final.
“It's just grown, and if we had a bit of a better money system of keeping the athletes instead of going to AFL or basketball or whatever, it’d be even better.”
The upward trajectory is visible in the Kelfit squad, too, which has seen a huge growth over the past couple of years, culminating in the record number of athletes representing the stable this weekend at Stawell.
“Number wise we’ve grown from, I think three years ago I had two people at Stawell and this year there’s 15 running at Stawell, so that alone is probably, without gloating, a bit of a pat on the back, I suppose,” Lubeck said.
“We’re growing. There’s two girls come and train from Shepp who are running at Stawell, then we’ve got a young girl, Poppy Robinson, who is state champ, she’s from Kilmore/Broadford. So the word’s getting out that there’s an athletics coach in Seymour, where there’s not too many.
“I love it. I’m a level four Australian Athletics coach, so I think I know my stuff, without gloating too much, but I’m proud of what has happened.”
The action at the 143rd Stawell Gift gets under way at 9.30am Saturday, with the action streamed live on 7plus on Saturday and Sunday. The final of the men’s and women’s gift will be broadcast on Channel 7 from 11.30am on Monday.
20°C