Sport
12 April, 2026
Debut visit just the Gift for Emmerson
MID-MORNING on Easter Monday Xavier Emmerson got a phone call from his uncle asking if he wanted to have a crack at the Rheola Gift.
MID-MORNING on Easter Monday Xavier Emmerson got a phone call from his uncle asking if he wanted to have a crack at the Rheola Gift.
Where was Rheola and what was the Gift, Emmerson asked his uncle.
A few hours later the young Bendigo athlete was crowned winner of the famous Charity Carnival race after a commanding victory over the 120m course.
“I’d never heard of this place before today,” Emmerson admitted, a little sheepishly.
Emmerson is a talented junior footballer with Pyramid Hill and a member of the elite Bendigo Pioneers squad for 2026, and the Gift was a triumph for young Loddon Valley footy players.
Jaxon Addlem, a rising star with Bears Lagoon Serpentine, was third in the race.
Emmerson said he had never done Little Athletics and had only run at school events before – including a fourth place at state level.
Speed was his biggest football asset in his midfield role, he said.
Emmerson entered the final sure that he was a chance of winning.
“I saw some of the other heats, so I was pretty confident.”
Emmerson took home $300, a trophy and a winner’s sash from the place he’d never heard of.
Flynn Sandlant came a long last in his heat of the Gift, which was excusable given that he ‘ran’ on crutches.
He recently dislocated his knee playing football, not for the first time, but was offered $10 by his dad if he entered the race.
The 70m sprint handicap went to AJ Ryrie, who managed a rare double on the day.
Ryrie also won the Under 18 underhand handicap event in the wood chop, making it a profitable Easter Monday for the Trentham youngster.
- GARY WALSH
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