Article from Border Mail
BALLARAT’s Joel Bee floated like a butterfly over the closing stages of yesterday’s Albury-Wodonga Gift to claim victory in a time of 12.41 seconds and collect the $6000 winner’s cheque.
Bee, 19, finished the strongest of the six-man field off his start mark of five metres, holding off runner-up David Tinney by 0.12 seconds with Glenn Ross further back in third spot.
The amateur 400-metre runner said he was desperate to win to cover his future racing expenses.
“I’m not working at the moment so I needed to win the Gift to get to Perth and Sydney if I get in the track classic,” Bee said.
After finishing second in last year’s Ballarat Gift, Bee said he was confident of coming to Albury and getting a win despite specialising in the 400 metres.
“I thought if I went as well as I did in Ballarat I’d come up and have a win,” he said.
Bee, who started running only a few years ago after playing footy in his early teens, said the win was made more special due to the fact he used to live in Albury.
“I was a local here not long ago and Mum still lives here so I should be back next year,” he said.
“It was good to get up and have a win ... I didn’t get a very good start in the semi so I rang ... Gerard Keating who was the fastest white man in the world ... he just told me to strive hard for the first 30 (metres) and hit the line hard.
“With 40 metres to go I just tried to relax because I was in front.”
Last Modified on 01/06/2014 16:17