Teenagers have ruled the Stawell Gift with Matthew Rizzo and Liv Ryan taking out the finals at the historic sprint meeting in country Victoria.
Rizzo an 18-year-old part-time Bunnings trolley pusher, won the men's final in 12.10 seconds. Earlier, Ryan, 16, became the third consecutive schoolgirl winner of the women's final.
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Teens dominate 136th Stawell Gift
Teenagers have once again triumphed in the prestigious handicapped sprint in country Victoria.
Rizzo was an early favourite with the bookies after a 12.1 second heat time on Saturday.
Nathan Riali was second and Kyle Grubnic third.
![It's Rizzo: The highly-fancied Matthew Rizzo romps to victory in the men's final.](/web/20170418034122im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/m/8/x/3/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gvm6r5.png/1492443150010.jpg)
Rizzo, from Langwarrin in Melbourne's south-east, who is studying at university to be physical education teacher, was the almost unbackable favourite for the final, with bookmakers pricing him at $1.05.
He ran 12.10s from 7.5m to win the gift ahead of backmarker Nathan Riall (4.75m) and Kyle Grubic (7m) third.
Asked if pushing trolleys at Bunnings was his secret training strategy, Rizzo laughed.
"I've been at Bunnings since I was 15. It's a key element to my training, pushing trolleys," he said.
![Liv Ryan (left) holds on for victory.](/web/20170418034122im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/m/7/m/f/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gvm6r5.png/1492443150010.jpg)
"Coming into Stawell I dropped down to one shift a week from doing two or three to rest the legs."
But it was his fifth place in last year's Stawell Gift final, that motivated Rizzo ahead of this year's final.
![Matthew Rizzo raises the Stawell Gift trophy after his impressive win.](/web/20170418034122im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/m/8/w/n/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gvm6r5.png/1492443150010.jpg)
"Last year I wanted to win it so badly and it didn't happen. This year has honestly changed my life. It's a dream come true," Rizzo said.
"Behind those blocks it was the most nervous I have been in my life, even including last year, thinking, 'Am I ready to do this?' and then the gun went and I just wanted to get to that line first, tunnel vision the whole way. I don't know how much I won by."
Rizzo who was the favourite ahead of the heats on Saturday was consistently the best runner for the weekend. He ran 12.1s on Saturday then in the semi final he again ran 12.1s and the final it was the same time.
He said he was able to ignore the expectations of being race favourite.
"That (being favourite) is other people's opinions. I was here to win, run my best and enjoy it," he said.
Ryan, who held off a hard-finishing field, was a $31 outsider with the bookmakers on Friday night but had plunged to a $2 favourite by Saturday afternoon.
She won in 13.72 seconds from a handicap mark of 11m. Bridget Powell was second and Maddie Coates third. One of the top fancies, Sarah Blizzard, finished fifth.
The young sprinter is from Donvale in Melbourne's east and has represented Australia at world junior athletics championships. "I can't believe it, it's crazy, it hasn't sunk in yet. Oh my God," Ryan gushed after her win.
Since the prizemoney for the women's gift was increased to parity with the men's purse at $40,000, two 16-year-olds and a 15-year-old have won the event.
Ryan only moved back to live in Australia from Switzerland two years ago and recently her mother Penny changed her education to home schooling to give her time in the middle of the day to train.
Ryan's father is Irish, her mum Australian, she was born in London and lived in Switzerland until moving to Australia for her dad, Donal's, work in finance two years ago.
"She's been running since the age of eight and we didn't know she could run and she won the school cross country by five seconds when she was eight and they suggested I get her into a running club," Penny Ryan said.
The weekend betting plunge mystified Ryan's mother.
"How does that work? I don't get the betting. That was quite incredible. I don't know how that happened," Penny said.
Ryan's form was well exposed to the handicappers given she won the under-17 100m race in Stawell last year. On Monday she followed up her Gift win by also winning the women's 70m race and its $1000 prizemoney.
MEN: M Rizzo 12.097s 1, N Riali 12.274s 2, K Grubnic 12.320s 3, M Voumard 12.348s 4, M Romanin 12.412s 5, A Campbell 12.466s 6.
WOMEN: L Ryan 13.735s 1, B Powell 13.790s 2, M Coates 13.797s 3, T Perry 13.801s 4, S Blizzard 13.813s 5, L Wells 13.953s 6.