John Hilditch has won a couple of events at the Stawell Gift race meet before, but nothing will cap this year’s event.
John claimed the masters over-35 300 metre event as he competed in his 39th Stawell event.
Alongside him in the final was his daughter, Laura-Jane Hilditch, who finished fourth in the race.
John said it was a pretty special day for the family.
“It was excellent and I’m ecstatic,” he said. “For the last four to five years I’ve had chronic injuries and didn’t think I would be winning races again.
“I won at Bendigo a month ago and pulled up sore. I just kept on running. It made it special with her in the final.
“I did get emotional in the speech.”
John has raced at Stawell every year since he moved to Australia.
He said it’s like the grand final day of athletics and you always look forward to the event.
“To win there, you have to be on your game,” he said.
Laura returned to Stawell for the first time since 2019 having had twins in between then and now.
Laura was the first of the pair to win through to the final after winning her semi final.
“I’ve been going to Stawell my whole life,” she said. “It was my fourth ever final and to make the final with dad.
“I didn’t expect to do that.”
John watched on and thought that his daughter had done a really good time in her semi final. He didn’t think that he could match it.
In the end he went 0.1 second slower to win and make it through to the final.
The pair had only raced in a final together once before. On that occasion, John tore his hamstring, “trying to catch her”.
There would be no repeat this time with John taking home the honours.
“She was fastest after the heats and I was second fastest,” he said. “I was nervous.
“There was part of me that thought she would win. There was another guy in front of us and the last little but I got in front of them.”
Both John and Laura said the weekend was the highlight of their running careers.
“Racing with my daughter and getting the win was amazing.”
Laura added, “both of us making the final was such a surprise.
“Just making the final was massive. I thought when dad got going, he had the win. It’s our best Stawell in a long time.”
John, who is also a coach, had two of his athletes win races as well.
