Sport
3 January, 2023
Chris Vi wins thrilling running of the 160th Maryborough Highland Men’s Gift
It was a 160th Maryborough Gift to remember for Chris Vi, with the St Albans product taking out the Max Martin Maryborough Highland Men’s Gift in a thrilling finish. On an oppressive day for runners, with temperatures hitting the mid-30s...
It was a 160th Maryborough Gift to remember for Chris Vi, with the St Albans product taking out the Max Martin Maryborough Highland Men’s Gift in a thrilling finish.
On an oppressive day for runners, with temperatures hitting the mid-30s throughout the day, save for a brief rain shower, Vi continued a run of good form which had seen him take victories at Bendigo, Ringwood and Essendon in 2022, and has now added the prestigious New Year’s Day classic.
Running off nine metres in the final, Vi was able to hunt down Luke Mitchell, who was the frontmarker, eventually winning by just two thousandths of a second, running a raw time of 12.34.
Mitchell (12.342) was gallant throughout, while Antonio Vaitohi (12.417) ran third. Vi couldn’t hide his excitement from winning, although admitted that the weather also took its toll throughout the afternoon.
“After I ran the heats and the semi-finals, I was pretty cooked with the sun, knowing it was out and shining down, but when the rain came, it freshened me back up again,” he said.
“All I did was just go in the rain and let it cool me down, it was really refreshing for me personally, I just stuck my legs out and let it cool me down, then I did a couple of laps, going around slowly, and when the sun did come back out, I felt good again.”
Vi said some new tactics that had recently been learned helped him get the victory, with a unique coaching set-up seeing him get advice from his UK-based coach entirely online.
“In the last 10 metres, I just had to dip, and I never knew how to dip previously, so I just felt I had to go for it, and dipping got me the win in the end,” he said.
“My coach is based in the UK. All of our conversations have been online, with video chats and the like. He gives me the sessions and I go out and do them. Then I report back, and based on how I’m feeling, we just make a few adjustments, and it was different with the Maryborough Gift not being on for the last two years. I told myself that I really wanted to win this race, so I told my coach I wanted it, and we did a proper session beforehand and see how I would go.
“I missed the Bay Sheffield this year, as I just wanted to focus on the Maryborough Gift. I knew a few athletes were doing it, so when I knew others were running in the heat, I just relaxed in the blow-up pool at home, and making sure I was well-rested and recovered.”
Remarkably, Vi is able to compete at such a high level despite being partially deaf. A lot of work has been put in to ensure Vi can work around his condition, particularly around his starts.
“I rely on my reactions to start, it’s not the best because I’m deaf, sometimes a bit of sound will even tick me off, and I worry about breaking, but sometimes — I know it’s not ideal — I wait for the other athletes to go, and I go off them. That’s why I get off to some poor starts sometimes, but I’ve been working on it, trying to tune out all the noise, and focusing on the ‘set’ and the ‘bang’. It helps that the Victorian Athletic League also uses a gun, instead of an electric starter,” he said.
Thankfully for Vi, he was able to utilise the knowledge of having to chase Mitchell down to get a gauge on how to get the best possible run.
“I was happy that I had someone in front of me so I could know how to execute my run better, and that just happened in the end. I had someone to chase down, and when I knew what to do, I just went for it,” he said.