Sport
2 January, 2024
Might and Power for Lawson in men's gift
Frankston’s Lawson Power is, no doubt, still in disbelief. The 161st edition of the Maryborough Highland Gathering also doubled up as his first pro race in Victoria, and yet Power managed to find himself the winner of the Max Martin Memorial Gift...
Frankston’s Lawson Power is, no doubt, still in disbelief.
The 161st edition of the Maryborough Highland Gathering also doubled up as his first pro race in Victoria, and yet Power managed to find himself the winner of the Max Martin Memorial Gift among a quality field.
“I’m stoked. It’s certainly unexpected,” he said.
“The focus for me normally is to run amateur 400s, so this is a bit of a shock to me. Training has been going well, but I certainly didn’t anticipate this — I just came here for a run, and here we are.
“It’s my first pro race in Victoria, and a great one to win.”
Running from lane four, in the middle of the track, Power ran an adjusted 12.335 to win by 0.053 seconds from Cooper Sherman (12.388), while reigning champion Chris Vi put in another terrific run to finish third with a 12.516.
Undoubtedly, Power was one of the crowd favourites, garnering a large amount of crowd support from his home town of Frankston — the result of a hilarious Christmas Day anecdote which turned into a heartwarming one.
“I went to a party on Christmas Day, getting ready for a few races into the new year, and my friends were all telling me how funny it would be, yet they all turned up with signs supporting me,” he said.
“A party on Christmas, turning into people rocking up in Maryborough all the way from Frankston.”
Yet Power is so much more than an athlete who was supposedly just here for a run in his own eyes, and a laugh in his friends’ eyes.
Power is an athlete that has previously participated in world junior races against many of his counterparts, and he knew that the field, which included hot favourite Sherman after blitzing his heat and semis, wouldn’t be an easy one to get on top of, particularly starting in lane four.
“It’s a quality field. I’ve raced a lot of these guys at the amateur level,” he said.
“Cooper Sherman and I have both been to world junior races, Jackson Bennett’s won numerous medals in amateurs, so it’s such a good field, and it’s good to get a win against such class athletes.”
Yet Power managed to put in a rigorous pre-season, which included participating in more pro events.
“I’d been running mostly amateurs, but I had run in pro carnivals in Tasmania before as a bit of a pre-season hitout,” he said.
Power decided to keep it simple as he prepared for the final.
“It’s the age-old cliché of not paying attention to anyone else. I just focused on my own race, and I felt that if it wasn’t meant to be, so be it, but it was in the end,” he said.
Power credits the coaching of Peter Fitzgerald and Rory Plant, which has helped him garner a strong all-round athletics package, despite his main focus on the 400 m.
“I have had some excellent coaching from Peter Fitzgerald and Rory Plant, and there’s always been a huge focus on both ends of the 400 — I’ve always tried to focus on some max velocity work,” he said.
“We’ve always kept in touch for a bit of speed work, as we know that higher speed reserve is going to result in a better 400. It’s great coaching.
“There’s no one like the coaches. I find Peter to be a profoundly generous and intelligent man, and I can’t thank him enough.
“We have a great relationship on and off the track, and these people really do change your life — they don’t just help you win big races and achieve things; they pull you in the right direction and they mentor you as a person.
“I really can’t thank him enough; he’s been nothing short of venerable to me.”
