KENYAN Collins Cheboi produced one of the all-time great performances in a Stawell Easter Carnival to take out the Herb Hedemann Invitation 1600-metre Handicap from scratch at Stawell yesterday.Cheboi ran the equivalent of a sub four-minute mile to capture the blue ribbon distance event in a stunning three minutes, 56.58 seconds.Giving away 110m to the outmarkers, Cheboi was in front at the bell lap and with the urgings of an excited Central Park crowd kicked away to make the time honoured classic his own.Geelong's Brent Rowe (25m) chased hard and for a fleeting moment down the back straight looked like he might make a race of it.Cheboi increased the tempo immediately though and all Rowe could do was run for second. Daniel Clark (55m) was third.In 2006, Stawell Athletic Club compiled a list of the "125 Greatest Ever Stawell Gift Moments" to coincide with 125 years of the Gift.Number one was the 1975 Stawell Gift victory by Jean-Louis Ravelomanantsoa, of Madagascar, off scratch.Then came:- Josh Ross winning 2005 Stawell Gift off scratch;- Bill Howard's back-to-back Gift wins in 1965-66; - Harry Downes' three consecutive Herb Hedemann wins in 1967-68-69, all from scratch.- Cathy Freeman taking out the women's 400m final from scratch in 1995 and 1996.Cheboi's performance had SAC officials comparing it right up with these super efforts.Past president John Dalziel, who was celebrating his 25th year as a judge at the carnival, was in awe.He said the run was as good as he had seen at Central Park.The Herb Hedemann Invitation holds a special meaning for Dalziel, with the winner receiving the Jack Dalziel Memorial Sash — named in honour of his father.Cheboi said he had enjoyed his Stawell experience and hoped to be invited back next year.AUSTRALIAN champion Craig Mottram also thrilled the crowd with a third from scratch in the backmarkers' 3200m handicap.Mottram passed all but winner Paul Munro (310m) from Richmond and runner-up Matthew McDonough (260m), Highton.