The resurrection of the Keilor Gift was scheduled for February 1991 and acting on the advice of Bill Howard (the dual Stawell Gift winner), Anthony Senserrick, John Edwards and myself went to Maryborough on New Year’s Day to observe their Gift and to have a chat with Max Martin the man behind Maryborough as to what we needed to do. We were novices and needed all the advice we could get, so we were grateful to Bill for arranging the meeting with Max and Max was more than helpful in providing advice and tips as to how to run a Gift.
Whilst we weren’t focussing on the running, as we were busy information-gathering but we did see a young runner, Steve Brimacombe, under the tutelage of Jim Bradley, win the Gift off the novice mark in fine style. I was impressed but didn’t think much more of it until I realised one of our committee Paul Young was also coached by Bradley. Youngy was a fine runner in his own right as he had won a Stawell Gift [mugs don’t win Stawell] and whilst approaching the veteran stage he was still competitive on the circuit. Good bloke to boot as he rang up out of the blue and volunteered to come onto our fledgling committee.
I mentioned to Youngy how impressive Brimma was at Maryborough and asked if he thought Brimma could win Stawell. Loose lips sink ships and Youngy’s response was along the lines of “he’s only a kid and Jimmy has only had him for five months and he isn’t that interested. I doubt he will even be at Stawell.”
Brimma may have run at Rye the week after Maryborough but, if so, didn’t do anything of note. The wily Scot Bradley then put him away until Stawell. The stable back him off the map at the Drill Hall on Good Friday and he wins the Gift in a hand canter off 6.75 m.
Youngy also made the final and ran very well to finish second and if you pull up the video Paul Young is the happiest man ever to run second at Stawell as the stable money on Brimma was out of the bookies bags and into the stable coffers.The 19 year old kid with eight months of pro running experience was one out of the box and he reinforced that eight months later by winning the Bay Sheffield [South Australia’s biggest race ] off 3.75m
Fast forward to 1994 and Brimma is a big name in pro running and starting to really make his mark in the amateurs. Every year on the Friday before the Gift we run a schools clinic for the two local schools, Saint Augustine’s and Keilor Primary. It features good cricketers, footballers and runners and the kids love it. We still do it and it’s on again next Friday. Youngy organises Brimma to help him on the Friday and they do a great job. After they finish Brimma tells me he is entered for Keilor but he has bigger fish to fry in the next few months in particular the Australian Championships. Accordingly he will blow the cobwebs out in his heat but off 0.5m doesn’t expect to get through. As a favour he will stick around and run in the 70metres Skins Invitation event but doesn’t expect to do much in that either.
Come the Saturday and Brimma wins his heat narrowly which wasn’t the expectation of anyone. He strolls over to me and says words to the effect “I won’t be running in the Skins I reckon I can win the Gift. The red lane is quick today. I may as well have a crack.” Now I can’t say too much but in those days we always put more time into the red lane as our view was a good final was full of runners off tight marks. It may well have been cut a littler shorter and rolled a little harder but I can’t say for certain.
After the casual conversation I alerted my great mate Anthony Senserrick [RIP] and we wandered over to the two bookmakers and asked what price Brimma to win the Gift. Boards weren’t set but they graciously give us 8/1 because they know he has bigger fish to fry. Of course, we accept their sporting offer and the rest is history. Brimma wins his semi and gets up to win the final in the last bound running 12.14 off 0.5 metres which is exceptional running on grass in anyone’s language.
In an exceptional year Brimma in an upset won his first of three Australian 200 metre titles and bettered his Keilor run at Stawell finishing second off scratch running 12.18 seconds. He later represented Australia at Olympic and Commonwealth Games and coached Adrian Mott to win Stawell in 2006.
Ah, professional running, the Quick and the Dead.
Read Nick Marshall’s three-part series on the Keilor Sports Club HERE
Read more terrific memoir from Drizzle HERE
Read our treasure trove of stories on the Stawell Gift HERE
To return to the www.footyalmanac.com.au home page click HERE
Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.
Do you enjoy the Almanac concept?
And want to ensure it continues in its current form, and better? To help keep things ticking over please consider making your own contribution.
Become an Almanac (annual) member – CLICK HERE
This my type of yarn.
Especially love the line that gives rise to the title.
Thanks Drizzle. Regards to The Muse too. HIs yearling story is in the pipeline.
Good yarn Drizzle. My old man actually trained Brimma in his very early days. We saw the potential very clearly.
Most Gifts have wonderfully intriguing stories. This fits in beautifully.