Stawell Gift 2021 results: Edward Ware breaks ten-year hoodoo; Hayley Orman wins women’s Gift

Edward Ware has overcome a false start and ten years of pain to complete an historic double at the Stawell Gift.

Edward Ware wins the Powercor Stawell Gift. Picture: Luke Hemer/Stawell Gift

A decade after losing by a whisker Edward Ware has finally got his hands on the Stawell Gift trophy.

In his third appearance in Australia’s richest footrace, the 32-year-old Mitcham sprinter was too strong in a controversial final which had two delays, including a false start.

Running off the luxury mark of 9.75m, Ware took home the $40,000 winner’s cheque after clocking 12.19sec to defeat Sebastian Baird (8m) and Munashe Hove (6m).

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It was Hove who false-started which saw him pulled back a metre with odds-on race favourite Liam Houlihan (6m) responsible for the next delay as the occasion overwhelmed him.

Ware’s experience and a change in attitude clearly played into his hands at this crucial stage.

“I think I came in here this year with not as much expectation,” he said. “Normally I get the jitters, I get the nerves, I get the shakes lining up on the blocks but as weird as it was, it was just another run for me.

Edward Ware has won the FINAL of the Powercor Stawell Gift. He’s had an unbelievable weekend and he’s not done yet! #PowercorStawellGift#StawellGiftpic.twitter.com/yIxf9Ussus

— Powercor Stawell Gift (@Stawell_Gift) April 5, 2021

“I had been training for the 200 and obviously if I was going to go well over the 200 I would probably naturally go well over the Gift distance as well.

“I turn 33 in a month, so it’s not getting any easier and I knew there was probably only one crack left and I’m just so glad it happened to be this year.

“The first time I came here in 2008 I didn’t really know what pro running was and I won the Bill Howard restricted.

Edward Ware after winning the Powercor Stawell Gift final. Picture: Luke Hemer/Stawell Gift

“Then I came second by about one hundredth of a second in 2011, then made the final again in 2016 where I came fourth to (Isaac) Dunmall so it’s something about every five years, it just seems to work that way.”

Ware made it a unique double when he fronted up an hour after his Gift victory to win the 200m Jack Donaldson Handicap.

What a moment for Hayley Orman, taking out the Change Our Game Women’s Gift! Unbelievable run. #PowercorStawellGift#StawellGiftpic.twitter.com/Ii3pSRrYza

— Powercor Stawell Gift (@Stawell_Gift) April 5, 2021

“Everyone thought I was mad to do both, sucked in,” he said after adding another winner’s cheque, this time just $950, to his Stawell haul.

Ware thanked his wife, fellow sprinter Casandra, and the COVID-19 lockdown last year for setting him on the path to his career breakthrough.

“COVID provided some much-needed bit of discipline for me,” he said. “I tend to go out on the town quite a bit on Friday and Saturday nights so when you can’t do that, you are kind of forced to go to bed early, get up and put on the spikes the next morning.

“I got into a really good routine, getting up at 6am every morning and getting to the track by 6.45.

“I was juggling running and trying to work a full-time job but it all just worked out.”

Say cheese! Orman defies Stawell Gift trend

She ages cheese for a living and Hayley Orman found the right ingredients to defy an age trend to win the Stawell Gift.

Since the winner’s purse was boosted to equal with the men’s at $40,000, there has been a trend of schoolgirls getting under the handicapper’s guard and taking home the cash.

But this year it was the 27-year-old South Australian with a love of cheese who defied the odds from the outside mark of 9.75m, running 13.88sec to defeat Cassandra Wange Lecouter (7.25m) and Sophia Fighera (1m).

“I’m a trained food technology teacher and was just struggling to break into the education life,” Orman said.

“So I took a bit of a detour. I love food, it’s my second love to running and it just happened to fall out this way. So that’s what I do, I age cheese and I run fast.”

South Australian Hayley Orman lifts the women’s trophy. Picture: Michael Marschall

Orman spends her days throwing around 40 kilogram wheels of cheese in a refrigerated storeroom which she says has helped her conditioning for her running career.

“I work for a company called Cheese Culture which is based in South Australia. I work in a big cold warehouse full-time ageing cheese, tasting cheese and dealing with the quality,” she said.

“I spend my days lugging 40 kilo wheels of cheese … I work in a big humid room which is filled with all kinds of moulds so I sometimes feel like I have these weird moulds in my lungs which help too.”

For the record her favourite is the French cheese Comte.

Orman said despite a “rocky season” she had an inner belief that she was capable of doing something special in Australia’s richest footrace.

“I’ve always believed I’m destined to do something amazing,” she said. “I didn’t know what it was or when it was.

“I really wanted to win a Bay Sheffield but this year I was really injured, I strained my groin. I remember in December crying in the toilets at the Bay Sheffield, thinking this was supposed to be my day and I’d trained so hard for it.

“But I put that to bed, trained hard and thought that my time would come.”

Originally published as Stawell Gift 2021 results: Edward Ware breaks ten-year hoodoo; Hayley Orman wins women’s Gift