20th Flagstaff Hill Gift athletics carnival on tomorrow

WHEN John LeRay decided to hold a professional athletics carnival in Flagstaff Hill 19 years ago he was armed with a lawnmower and plenty of enthusiasm.

WHEN John LeRay decided to hold a professional athletics carnival in Flagstaff Hill 19 years ago he was armed with a lawnmower, plenty of enthusiasm and a belief there was a gap in the market.

LeRay rustled up $1200 in sponsorship, prepared the track himself and about 120 athletes took part.

“Back in those days, there was only about eight meets in South Australia and there was about a five-week gap between our last meeting and the Stawell Gift,’’ LeRay says.

“It meant our athletes always went into Stawell cold and a lot of them struggled.

“I decided to put on a meeting in the lead up to Stawell so everyone could have a tune up.”

Tomorrow will be the 20th running of the Flagstaff Hill Gift Carnival.

From humble beginnings, it has become a staple of the SA Athletic League.

More than 300 athletes will compete this weekend and LeRay now has a $9000 budget, and a few more tools, to help prepare the track.

Each year he does everything from finding sponsors and erecting signage, to filling in potholes on the oval.

“It’s the best it’s ever looked,’’ he says proudly.

Building the carnival and the club has been a two-decade long passion for the eccentric coach.

He started the club in 1990-91 when son Adam was about to turn 15 and graduate from little athletics.

LeRay had four competing athletes back then but hundreds more have followed.

The squad has now collected 114 sashes in the past decade and currently has 21 athletes.

“It’s been one of the things that has just grown,” LeRay says.

“For nine months of the year, it pretty well dominates my life.

“There have been a lot of rewards.”

The meet starts at 3.30pm at Flagstaff Hill Oval.

It features the 120m Flagstaff Hill Gift, the 550m John Dawkins Memorial and the richest over-45 400m race in Australia.