Despite the loss, Gout Gout was the biggest winner out of the Stawell Gift

Despite not making it to the final, Gout Gout is the biggest winner the Stawell Gift has had in decades, after more than 7000 fans packed Central Park to watch the teenage superstar, SCOTT GULLAN writes.

It took the eventual winner to beat him but Gout Gout was easily the biggest winner the Stawell Gift has had in decades.

Record attendances across the Easter weekend for Australia’s richest footrace told the story as did how every step the 17-year-old took at Central Park he was mobbed by autograph hunters.

While he didn’t get the result he wanted, Goutmania captured the hearts of the small country Victorian town and breathed new life into an event which has struggled somewhat for relevance in recent times.

On the track Gout tried his guts out in his semi-final, closing late off his mark of 1m but he was denied a place in the final by John Evans, a secondary school teacher from South Australia, who was off the luxury 9.5m mark.

John Evans won the Powercor Stawell Gift Handicap. Picture: Maya Thompson/Getty Images

Once the shock of Gout not being in the final subsided, a bit over an hour later Evans stepped back into the spotlight with the 28-year-old becoming the 143rd winner of the Gift, dominating the final in a slick time of 11.94sec to collect the $40,000 winner’s cheque.

Evans, who was trained by 1985 Gift winner Paul Young, said he couldn’t repeat what he’d said when he found out on Sunday that he’d drawn Gout’s semi-final.

“I probably can’t say it, there were lots of words, lots of stress,” he said. “I knew that Gout Gout was going to be right there at the finish line so at the finish I looked across and saw him next to me.

“I was like, in one or two more steps he would have had me but it’s pretty exciting though, racing against Gout Gout.

“I just run pros and I’m not going to be running against the likes of Gout Gout and Lachlan Kennedy again. So it’s a fantastic opportunity and I get to tell my kids I did that now ... and that I beat him.”

More than 7000 fans packed into Central Park, easily doubling the Easter Monday attendance from last year, It was the same story for Saturday’s heats with locals struggling to remember the last time there was so much interest in the race.

Gout showed he was worth every cent of the $50000 local businessman Sandy McGregor paid to get the biggest thing in Australian sport to his former hometown.

7000 plus fans packed into Central Park. Picture: Martin KEEP / AFP

On Saturday after his heat he signed autographs and did selfies for over an hour. On Monday he needed security guards to help him get through the crowd and onto the track for his race.

Whether it was the young kids holding Gout Gout posters or old-timers who’d been coming for 50 years, they were there for the same reason, to see what all the hype was about the kid who is being compared to Usain Bolt.

While the weather gods didn’t help – there was a wild shower of rain just as the men’s semi-finals were to be run – Gout said he enjoyed every minute of his Stawell experience.

“It’s definitely been great, this meet is incredible and the crowd is incredible,” Gout said.

“So I’m definitely happy to run and happy to be in the semi-final.

“Obviously running in the rain is a bit harder than usual but you just have to adjust and just keep running.

“I thought I was coming pretty hard and when we came with 20m left he (Evans) was pretty ahead of me so I tried my hardest there but he got me at the end. It is what it is but it was a good run.”

Gout (C) loved his Stowell Gift experience. Martin KEEP / AFP

The mystique about the Stawell Gift over its long and decorated history is that the winner is often the pro runner who has managed to beat the handicapper.

Beating the handicapper sometimes means hiding your best form until the Easter weekend or timing your best performance to perfection.

Evans was the latter, this was his sixth time racing at Stawell but this time he was injury-free and suddenly ready to run the race of his life.

History said it was going to be difficult for Gout and his good friend and rival, Lachlan Kennedy, to beat the pros because of simply how far they had to make up on the out markers.

Only two people over the history of the Gift have won from scratch and since Josh Ross did that in 2005 the lowest winner’s mark has been 3.75m by Ryan Tarrant in 2023.

Gout Gout and Lachlan Kennedy embrace at the Stawell Gift. Picture: Morgan Hancock/Getty Images

Life is just damn hard for the runners in the red sashes and like Gout, Kennedy finished a close second in his semi-final behind another 17-year-old, Williamstown high-school student Dash Muir (7.75m).

While there wasn’t a fairytale in the men’s race, there was in the women’s with Paris Olympics 100m semi-finalist Bree Rizzo winning off scratch and delivering a storyline worthy of a Hollywood movie.

Rizzo’s husband Matt won the Gift in 2017. She met him two years later at Central Park when they crossed paths warming up. In November last year they were married.

“It’s a little bit more rewarding off scratch,” Bree laughed. “He thinks I did better than him now, but look, wherever you win from is absolutely incredible.

“It is so hard to win a Stawell Gift and I’m sure Matt and I are going to put these (winner’s sash) both together on the wall at home.”

Originally published as Despite the loss, Gout Gout was the biggest winner out of the Stawell Gift