A SEASON of near misses finally paid dividends for Matt Harvey with the Keysborough sprinter winning the 120m Bendigo Thousand Gift.
Harvey, 27, smashed the competition to win off a 10.75m handicap in the event, edging out Paul Tancredi and Matthew Hargreaves to take the title.
To pick up the win in Bendigo last weekend means even more to Harvey, having come so close to winning a number of times this year in the Victorian Athletic League.
He had run in the finals of Ballarat, Albury, Stonnington, Terang and Maryborough – with a pair of thirds in Ballarat and Albury, but to finally snare his first gift victory is the best win of all for the sprinter.
“Been around since 1947 so it’s one of the traditional gifts, a lot of very good runners have won the gift and coming towards the end of the season it definitely came on our radar when I had some placings at Ballarat and Albury and a good placing at Stonnington,” Harvey said.
“Been in a lot of the classic finals this year and to win a traditional one is way up there on the list.”
With a fantastic start in the final, Harvey held his front-marker position throughout the race, crossing the line and feeling immense relief to claim the win.
“In the final I was the front marker and it was the race of the weekend where I really nailed my start, the start being my strength, it was pretty hard for the others to run me down,” Harvey said.
“From the start it was just go from there – get through acceleration phase and hold onto it and make sure they didn’t get me – I dipped really hard at the line to get there.
“I knew I was in a good position all weekend with the fastest time and once I got off the blocks it was just go.
“I definitely knew (I’d won) and it was relief having been so close in so many other races and excitement as well as there’s big races to come and I’m looking to perform and, hopefully, do well at Stawell.”
Every sprinter casts their eye to Easter this time of year – hoping for a great finish in the Stawell Gift and Harvey is no exception.
“I’ll be doing my utmost to win – go there to win and it would be great to do, but definitely be aiming to final and hopefully win at Stawell,” Harvey said.
He said he wanted to thank his coach, Andrew Muhlhan, for his work over the past three years, his family and his girlfriend – Tanjil – who watches all his races and attends even the most remote meet with her fleet-footed fellow.
