“Great, clean start! … Evans has got the lead early from Martin and Muir … out fast is Thomas.
“…Thomas gets up to Evans at halfway.
“… Evans is clear … Evans has won and won clearly … look at that reaction … he’s been the best from Saturday through to the semi and now the final!”
When renowned Australian commentator Bruce McAvaney calls a sporting event, his words are often immortalised into national folklore.
Many athletes who have reached the pinnacle of their respective sports have had their greatest moments articulated through Bruce’s lens.
Ablett, Federer, Freeman. And now, John Evans.
John – a Blackwood High School teacher who grew up at Mt Barker – shocked the country in April when he was crowned the winner of the Stawell Gift – Australia’s oldest and most prestigious short running race.
Held in western Victoria, competitors in the “Gift” are given handicaps based on recent form – which is designed to make the final as competitive as possible between elite and amateur athletes.
With national acclaim and $40,000 on the line, the best of the best travel from around the country to etch their names into Australian sprinting legend.
John’s momentous victory saw him overcome Australian teen sprinting sensation Gout Gout in the semi-final and progress to the big dance.
He won the final with a time of 11.94 seconds and a 9.75-metre handicap, 40 years after his coach and mentor, Paul Young, won the Gift.
John says he was so focused while racing that it wasn’t until he heard “the South Australian has done it” over the stadium speaker that he realised he had achieved the unthinkable.
“I don’t think there’s really a word that describes it, because you’ve worked for the last year trying to win this race,” he says.
“You have races where you run really well and other ones where you fall apart.
“You cross the line, you wait, there’s half a second of not knowing and then you hear your name, ‘I’ve done it’.”
John has watched the final back “a fair few times” since he was crowned winner and says having a sporting figure of McAvaney’s stature calling his race is “insane”.
“Just listening to him calling it, how excited he gets about racing as well, he just loves sport for what it is,” he says.
“He might know my name now, so that’s pretty cool.”
You cross the line, you wait, there’s half a second of not knowing and then you hear your name, ‘I’ve done it’.
Sprinting can often be a cruel sport due to its immediacy – everything has to go right, all at once.
Months of hard work, early mornings and dedication all culminate into just over ten seconds of running.
John admits that calmness and relaxation often elude him on race day, but his team always has his back.
“If you ask my teammates, I was being pretty rude and pretty short (prior to the Stawell Gift), because I was stressed,” he says. “But we’re a very tight-knit squad – when one of us is running very well, we’re all in for one person.”
John’s journey into elite-level running began in the Adelaide Hills. On a Mt Barker High School trip to the Australian Institute of Sport about 11 years ago, he was put in touch with his current coach, Paul Young.
John did some training, but after a while went back to playing football for Nairne-Bremer.
“Then nine years ago I was playing against Kangarilla and Youngy was the runner for Kangarilla and he spotted me on the wing and said, ‘how about you come and give it another crack?’,” he says.
“That was really the start of it.”
Since then, John has tasted victory, dealt with defeat and experienced the highs and lows of elite-level sport.
And he has done it all while juggling his job as a teacher.
“You finish work late, you go and train and you have to still finish your work afterwards,” he says.
“You obviously have your relationships, your social life and all these things you have to try and juggle.
“Sometimes you come out to training and you try and run, you just can’t get that same feeling of moving well.”
Despite the challenges created by his schedule, John finds fulfilment in the opportunities that both his occupation and his sport afford him.
“Part of being a teacher, is you want to inspire something in your kids,” he says.
“If I can get one kid really interested in science, or one kid interested in maths – and now I have this other string to the bow (athletics).
“I’m just like any other person – I played a bit of footy, played a bit of soccer, did fine at school and went to uni and stuff – and now I win this massive race.
“Why can’t someone else do the same thing?
“You just need to apply and dedicate yourself.”
