Mitchell follows in Freeman’s footsteps

Olympic 400m semi-finalist Morgan Mitchell has followed in the footsteps of her mentor Cathy Freeman, by taking victory in the 400m at the Devonport Gift.

After already scoring a win over 120m at the Latrobe carnival on Tuesday, Mitchell returned to the track on Thursday night over her more favoured one-lap distance.

Running in the red and from the mark of honour (scratch), Mitchell thrilled the crowd to record a narrow win in 54.29, just edging Tasmanian Dr Abby Chapman (34m) by 3/100ths of a second. The time impressive on the soft grass track deadened by recent rains.

The win replicated the feat of Freeman, who won in Devonport off scratch 23-years ago and also matched the effort of Jamaican Sandie Richards who was the last to win off scratch in 2000.

After recording the fastest of the heat times by four tenths, it almost all went awry in the final for the 22-year-old national champion.

“I took it a bit easy down the back and when I saw them kick up the front at the 200 metres I thought I was in trouble,” Mitchell said.

“But I remembered why we came here, got my act together, ran hard and just got there.

“I wasn’t really expecting that result before today, so I am really happy with it, especially the time.

“I did want to hike up Cradle Mountain but that’s off the cards now with the trifecta in play. It would be great to get a result at Burnie as well,” Mitchell said, referring to her upcoming New Year’s Day assignment at the Burnie Carnival.

Mitchell’s coach, Olympic sprinter Peter Fitzgerald, has sent his talented squad over Bass Strait for the Tasmanian Christmas Carnivals to keep their minds on the job and use the time honoured meets as high quality training.

Mitchell revealing some secrets about her training partners, Sam Baird and Will Johns, who between them complemented her efforts by completing the male major gifts double.

“The boys are so competitive. There is no way Will would have wanted Sam to have one up on him. He was so nervous before the race.”

Like Mitchell, Johns looked a certainty for the $2700 winner’s cheque in the men’s final after strolling through his heat from his revised mark of 16 metres (back four from his original handicap), seven tenths faster than any of his rivals.

But like Mitchell it was only in the shadows of the line that he secured victory in 47.57, albeit by a slightly bigger margin of around a metre from former Burnie Gift winner Ollie Wurm who had taken the race out at a furious pace.

“Having the whole squad here really relaxed me before the race. I was nervous but also wanting to get one up on Bairdy,” Johns said.

“We bounce off each other and Fitzy leads from the front. So I remembered what Fitz said – go hard, we believe in you.

“The 4 metre pull wasn’t a problem at all – I was prepared for that so just blocked it out.”

Although they have different coaches, Johns and Wurm delivered a quinella for the Old Melburnians Athletics Club, which also boasted the fourth across the line – Latrobe Gift champ, Baird. Former Australian 800 metres champion Josh Ralph was third.

The track certainly delivered a slower than expected time in the best race of the night – the open mile. But it lacked nothing in the contest.

World University Games representing and King Islander Stewart McSweyn continued his rapid rise through the ranks of Australian distance running with a smooth performance from 20 metres to run down the mass of runners ahead of him, including placegetters Stawell 1600m winner Mitchell Cashion and marathoner Josh Harris. Olympic 1500m finalist Ryan Gregson found the scratch mark too tough, finishing fifth.

“I was sort of confident. I am in good shape and I really wanted to do well in front of a home crowd – the North West coast is the same region as King Island,” said McSweyn who finished off his preparation for his first Carnival series with ten days of running around the family farm.

The Devonport carnival continues today with the historic Burnie Gift meeting on Sunday.

With thanks to Richard Welsh - Sports Carnivals Association of Tasmania