Stawell Gift handicappers flag possible review after Lachlan Kennedy, Gout Gout miss final

The Victorian Athletics League (VAL) says it may review the benchmark time it uses to handicap runners for the Stawell Gift after the failure of Lachlan Kennedy and Gout Gout to make the final of the Easter showpiece event.

VAL president Matt McDonough rejected suggestions this year's winner, South Australian runner John Evans, had come out of nowhere to beat the handicapper.

Stawell Gift handicaps announced Photo shows Runners cross the finish line on a blue athletics running track at night. The handicaps for the historic Stawell Gift have been announced, with Lachlan Kennedy the backmark in the men's race with Gout Gout just ahead.

But he said he thought teenage star Gout Gout — the Australian and Oceania 200 metres record holder who has broken 10 seconds for the 100m with an illegal wind behind him — had not run up to his best in the semi-finals, while Kennedy had come close.

Evans, a school teacher from South Australia, received a handicap of 9.75m, meaning he had to run 110.25m at Stawell, compared to the full distance of 120m.

In comparison, Lachlan Kennedy was racing off 0.25m, and Gout Gout was off 1 metre. They had to race 119.75m and 119m respectively.

Evans caused a shock in his semi-final — where only the winner went through to the final — when he beat Gout Gout home in a time of 12.10 seconds, ahead of his rival's 12.34s.

Gout and Kennedy missed the final but did face off in the backmarkers' invitational later in the day. (Getty Images: Morgan Hancock)

Kennedy also failed to make the final, finishing behind Dash Muir (on a handicap of 7.75m) who stopped the clock in 12.18s.

Evans went on to win the final, breaking 12 seconds to take the event in 11.94s.

Neither Kennedy or Gout won the backmarkers invitational race either.

Ryan Tarrant, the 2023 men's Stawell Gift champion, ran off a mark of 3.50m to win in 12.27s, with Kennedy finishing fourth and Gout further back.

McDonough said organisers took athletes' best two times over the last four seasons, averaged them and then used the result against the target time for the 120m men's event of 12.25 seconds.

"So we're looking at the data, taking the average of your best two times, and saying what handicap [do] you need to run 12.25?" he said.

Gout Gout was the main attraction without winning any races at the Stawell Gift. (Getty Images: Morgan Hancock)

"Not everyone in the race there at Stawell is going to be handicapped to run 12.25 because some of them we haven't seen before, some of them are new and well, OK, we'll progress you towards the 12.25 as we see you more and more."

Evans's normal handicap for the racing season was 9m, but the South Australian received a bonus 0.75m for winning the Terang Gift late last year.

McDonough said organisers were confident that they had their handicap system right, with experienced people doing the ratings.

"There [are] probably some out there that are just trying to milk as much as they can out of the handicap system, but we're a lot more comfortable now than what it used to be, say, 10-20 years ago, when a lot of that was happening with our handicap system," he said.

Officials are tasked with the difficult job of making the races as even as possible. (AAP: Joel Carett)

"People asking where John Evans came from, he has been known to us. He's been around for a long time. He's already won a race this season. So he was one of the favourites leading in — we don't generally have the smokies that we used to have because of the way we approach it."

The VAL president acknowledged that Kennedy perhaps should have made the final, and that it might be necessary to review the target time.

"Did they run at their best? I don't think Gout did. Kennedy was close," McDonough said.

"I think that maybe … is our target time, right? That [time of 12.25] to get, to get Kennedy in that final, and maybe (he) should have been in that final.

"I think that's some sort of adjustment we'll just need to have a look at in the future to see whether we've got our times right, that the back markers can achieve it."

'Such an honour': Why Stawell Gift winner Rizzo loves handicap races

Paris Olympian Rizzo won the women's Gift final off scratch. (AAP: James Ross)

Sprinter Bree Rizzo won the women's Stawell Gift off a scratch mark, meaning she had to run the full 120m.

Rizzo told the ABC Sport Daily podcast she thought it was fair for handicappers to put her at the very back.

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"I love handicap racing, I think it's awesome. You're handicapped off your speed, so at the end of the day it's anyone's race," she said.

"To be off scratch is such an honour. I've been off scratch the last couple years and it is extremely tough, but I think I showed if you bring your best you can win off scratch.

"It takes a lot, it was definitely one of my best runs in my career to date. But with my track times totally fair and I took the challenge right on."

Asked what it was like to have to give the entire field a start, Rizzo said:

"It's hard to describe. You feel like you're so far back.

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"But I was just looking straight down those ropes in my own lane, picturing my own race and just trying to do what I do best — relax, run my own race and just be strong the entire way. And that's what I did."

The most famous example of Stawell Gift handicapping came not in the 120m event, but the women's 400m back in 1996, where Cathy Freeman started on scratch, giving 54m away to the highest-handicapped runner.

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She beat Shanie Singleton (then known as Shanie Coutts), who started off 30m, catching her in the last stride or two to win the event in 50.48s. Later that year she went on to win an Olympic silver medal in the 400m in Atlanta behind France's Marie-José Pérec, setting a time of 48.63s.

"We have a mile race (1,600m) where someone could be off for 400 [metres] so it's a different race," McDonough said.

"You know, even a 800 race where someone's running off 200, that's a 600 race compared to the backmarkers running 800 — so we have to try and factor that in, that there's an extra distance to cover for the backmarker.

"And Cathy Freeman was a really good example. But she turned up, you know, in shape, and ran to her best and won, and so she should."

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