McMahon entered the event with great form under her belt and carried it through to hold off an impressive field in the women’s marquee event at Cricket Willow with a time of 12.43 seconds of her 14.25 metre handicap.

McMahon finished second to young South Australian Molly Farmer in last week’s Maryborough women’s necklace and enjoyed some solid results late last year – she felt her strong run at Maryborough gave her the confidence to take out Daylesford’s vase.

“I’m very happy, I ran really well last week at Maryborough and had a good win at Warrnambool last year,” McMahon said.

“It’s a great start to the new year, Maryborough did give me a bit of confidence and all my training and my coach all really helped.”

McMahon, who helps to stay fit with boundary umpiring, made the most of her handicap and directly qualified for the final after winning her heat and delivered an even better run for the final.

She said it was one of her best times across that distance and after a sluggish start to her heat, she went from strength to strength across the day.

“In the heat my start wasn’t great, I probably could’ve stayed down a bit longer and come out a bit quicker, in the final I fixed that.

“The start and the finish really got me through the race (in the final), because they were coming pretty quick on me.

“Being out in front you’ve really got to use your handicap…that’s a really good time for the 100m.”

McMahon is a regular to Daylesford and after some good results in various events in past years she put in a strong off-season to ensure 2017 would give her the best chance of taking out the women’s vase.

The 400m is her distance of choice, but the addition of fellow runner Jody Richards to her team allowed her gain an extra edge with her speed across the sprints.

McMahon thanked her team for helping her get the great result.

“She’s great, it’s good to have that friendship as well and all those people who help you – it’s really good, without them I wouldn’t be up here.

“Last year was good, but I wanted to go better this year. In the off-season I worked really hard and I had a good pre-season.”