Good afternoon Kilcoy Race Club, Committee, Members, Friends, and QAL Officials,
The annual Butler McDermott Lawyers Kilcoy Gift 2022 and the support sprinting events that originally were set down for last Australia Day 2022 and which had to be transferred due to the rainfall suffered during January to Sunday 11th September were a huge success with a happy crowd of sprinters families and the Harness racing followers.
The heats and semi-finals were conducted during the morning, followed by the running of three mini trotting races. The finals of the all the events were conducted between each Harness race during the afternoon.
The final of the Butler McDermott Lawyers Kilcoy Gift was won in an extremely close finish with the Australian Surf Beach Sprinter Michael Hanna lasting to win by a “whisker” from the fast finishing Anas Abu Ganaba second and a blanket finish for the placegetters. Michael Hanna will go on to represent Australia at the world surf lifesaving championships this month. Time for the 120m final was 12.13 secs.
Other Final results .
Kilcoy Global Foods the open 70m sprint was won in good style by the Anas Abu Ganaba from Michael Hanna in a time of 7.28secs.
Somerset Regional Council Open 300m sprint was won by Anas Abu Ganaba from S.Smith .
The Searle Family 120m Youth Final was won by Leroy Dempsey from A.Mearns in a time of 13.06 secs.
Kilcoy Exchange Hotel Youth 70m sprint was won by Leroy Dempsey from L.McClure.
It is a pleasure to see the fitness of these sprinters and their dedication to their profession plus the support from their families and friends. I was amazed at the number of younger sprinters who participated, although may have been unplaced will gain from the experience and have a good future ahead.
Just as a matter of interest, the winner of the 2021 Butler McDermott Lawyers Kilcoy Gift, Caleb Law, was the Bronze medallist at this year’s 200m Under 20 World Championships held in the USA early August. Caleb is the Australian 200M Under 20 Champion and I believe he is rated as the fourth fastest 200m Under 20 sprinter in the world.
Kilcoy Race Club plans to conduct the 2023 Kilcoy Gift on Australia Day next year, weather permitting.
Patrons were entertained with the three mini trotting events and the six TAB Grass Harness races that were run. Grass Harness racing in Kilcoy is growing with every meeting and we look forward to more standalone Harness race meetings in the future.
This Friday 11th September there is a TAB gallop race meeting with nine races scheduled. The new 1200m races are becoming extremely popular with all trainers, so much so the nineth race had to be added to accommodate the huge acceptors. It will be a FREE ENTRY Day and all welcome. Gates open 11am. First race 11-52am.
Thank you all for all your support. A special thanks to our sponsors Butler McDermott Lawyers, Searle Family, Kilcoy Exchange Hotel, Somerset Regional Council, Kilcoy Global Foods TAB and Kilcoy BP Driveway. The sprinters, QAL Officials and our patrons.
Conway Searle
