THERE was no stopping Richard Hankin who stormed home to claim Saturday’s Keilor Gift in a time of 12.67 seconds.
The Sydney resident made his way comfortably through the heats and semi-final stages of the competition leading in to the feature race, which took place under lights in front of a packed crowd at the Keilor Sports Club.
Starting off a six-metre handicap, the 31-year-old reeled in second place, getter Craig Mair just before the line while Rhys Parkinson fought hard to claim third.
“I had about a three-our break after the semi-final and just had a bit of a relax before the final,” Hankin said.
“I just really focused on getting my start right. I had a guy next to me who is a good runner from Victoria. I knew we were going to have a good race early.
“I blew out really well and would have been a metre up on him, and it just makes it a lot easier when you are moving away from someone like that.”
Saturday was the first Gift win for Hankin who has been a regular finalist in some of the most high profile races throughout Australia during his running career.
“Handicap racing is a real matter of timing and really making sure you are peaking for a specific race,” he said.
“There have been a couple of races when I have been very good, but not quite at my peak.
“I was overseas for about eight months last year, and I only started back training in November. Since I’ve been back, I’ve been looking for a job and have been able to just train the whole time and get back a lot quicker than I normally would.”
Hankin will now turn his attention to this week’s Stonnington Gift.
In other results, Maddison Coates won the Women’s Gift in a time of 14.16 seconds from Lara Gambino.
