Whitham eyes Stawell Gift glory after back-to-back VAL wins

HAVING only broken through for his maiden Victorian Athletic League win last month, Mitch Whitham has found himself in the enviable position of chasing three in a row at next month’s legendary Stawell Gift Carnival.

The 28-year-old Bendigo University Athletics Club runner made it back-to-back wins on the circuit with his victory in the open 1600m at last weekend’s Bendigo Gift meeting at Tom Flood Sports Centre.

Whitham was the only Bendigo club athlete to register a win across the two-day program.

It was the perfect follow up to his February 22 win at the Castlemaine Gift.

Despite competing in running events since he was a student, Whitham – also a local footballer with Loddon Valley league club Maiden Gully YCW – is somewhat of a newcomer to the VAL scene.

“I’ve only been doing this pro Victorian Athletic League stuff for a bit over a year, but I’d done triathlons and cross-country at school, and also did marathons for a while,” he said.

“So, technically, I’ve been competing since I was kid really.

“I took a few years off footy to do some big triathlons and marathons.

“(Bendigo) was the biggest win. The Castlemaine win was pretty awesome as I live in Castlemaine now and run a business here (Zeal Chiropractic).

“I won that race by six seconds so I kind of strolled home, whereas (Saturday’s) race I had a bloke right on my hammer and I had to work pretty hard to hold him off.”

Starting off the 215-metre mark, Whitham won in a time of 4:07.81, narrowly ahead of Ryan Antidormi off 195m in 4:07.99.

In a field containing several Bendigo club runners Kyle Hilson finished 11th, Ingrid Woodward 13th, Mitch Fitzgerald 16th and Lachlan Perdon 17th.

Whitham showed plenty of grit in the final stages to hang on from a desperate AntIdormi.

“He is pretty quick and finished strong. I thought he had me to be honest,” he said.

“It was pretty awesome.”

Adding a special layer to the victory, Whitham’s father Tony made the four-hour trip to Bendigo from the Gippsland town of Venus Bay to be trackside for the win.

“He’s come to the last two runs … Castlemaine as well,” he said.

“And my partner Clem (Lavie) was there, as well as plenty of people from Bendigo which was pretty special.

 

“Athletes do like winning their home events. I can’t say any of this was planned, things just panned out.

“Not many athletes get to go back-to-back.

“From my Castlemaine win, I got pulled back 15m. I thought I still had a chance, but I didn’t think I’d win.”

Dual wins has filled Whitham with plenty of confidence ahead of Australia’s most prestigious professional running carnival at Stawell over the Easter long weekend.

His second Stawell Gift Carnival, the in-form athlete will be looking to make up for a disappointing 2025 event, which was all but ruined by an untimely footy injury.

“I was getting fit, but I played a footy practice match for YCW about three weeks before it and injured my heal and I couldn’t train,” Whitham said.

“Three weeks doesn’t seem like much, but when you are taking about seconds in a race, it matters a lot.

“I won’t be playing any practice matches this year.

“I will have a good couple of weeks of training and see what I can do.”

His preparation will include a crack at the Bendigo Harriers-organised 5k Frenzy at Flora Hill this Saturday night.

Whitham thanked not only the support of his father and partner, but also his coach Daryl Nettleton and his nan in Venus Bay.

“She was upset to pay the $5 subscription for the (VAL) livestream. but I’m telling her she’s hopefully got her money’s worth at $2.50 per win,” he said.

In other strong local performances, Bendigo Harriers’ Lonain Burnett was third in the open 500m.

Burnett ran from 42m and hit line in 1:10.29 behind only Declan Gall, 28m, 1:09.46, and Connor Callinan, 38m, 1:09.76.

Greg Hilson from South Bendigo Athletics Club, was fifth in the over-35s 300m.

Hilson started on a mark of 47m and clocked a time of 36.48.

Luke Matthews (Bendigo Harriers) was eighth in 36.96 off the 25m mark.

The feature Gold Nugget open 400m events were respectively won by Declan Gall (men’s), Keely Henderson (women’s) and Jonathan Marraffa (under-18).