AHEIS

C

STOP THE PRESS!

STEVE HOOKER IS MORTAL

Steve Hooker, arguably now Australia’s greatest ever track and field athlete after adding the world indoor title to his trophy cabinet (Hooker holds every international championship title which is available to him: Olympic, World, Commonwealth, World Indoor and World Cup) showed his mortality when he contested the 129th edition of the Stawell Gift. Off a handicap mark of 5.5 metres Hooker started strongly but ran out of steam over the final 40 metres of the heats the iconic 120 metre event, which lived up to its reputation for controversy again this year with the track being 3.2 metres long during the heats.

The Gift final was taken out by Canberra’s Tom Burbridge, who was ultimately fined $5000 for inconsistent performances in lead up event. Not that Burbidge would be too worried - the $40,000 first prize and the estimated $100,000 his training stable collected from the bookies makes the fine relatively insignificant.

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