SHANE Woodrow climbed onto the dais at Central Park for the first time yesterday after his fighting win in the WH Earle Handicap, 550m.Lake Gardens-based Woodrow held off a hot field from his 31m mark to claim a maiden success at the famous Stawell Gift carnival.The 26-year-old fastest qualifier reeled in the front-markers rounding the final bend, and held off his challengers to score a memorable triumph in 1:8.42 minutes.He finished clear of Brighton’s Neil Brennan (38m) and Gladstone Park runner Eric Sapac (31m).“It’s a special place to come and run. You run all year to come here, and to get a win is a pretty nice feeling,” Woodrow said.Woodrow said a third placing in the same event last year helped in his attack on the race yesterday.“As I found out last year, you just have to go 100 per cent the whole way,” he said.“I train with Chris (Livitsanos) and I didn’t think I’d get to him that quick, so I was a bit worried I’d gone too hard, too early.“But once I got him I just had to grit the teeth and go because I knew other blokes would come pretty quickly after me.”Woodrow, who is trained by 1999 Stawell Gift champion Rod Mathews, will be hoping to build on his run of good form at this weekend’s Ballarat Gift meeting.Yesterday’s win followed his 800m success from the recent St Bernards meeting, and his second in the Black Opal 400m event at Bendigo.