AFL BOUNDARY umpire Adam Coote captured the biggest win of his professional running career in Burnie on New Year’s Day.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Now he is named to take on Daylesford tomorrow.
Coote will race off a mark of 7.5 metres at Cricket Willow, starting his bid in the same field as in-form Maryborough Gift runner-up Noddy Angelakos.
The wet and windy West Park in Burnie might be a long way removed from grand final day at a packed Melbourne Cricket Ground but Coote says they both comfortably ranked alongside each other after his Burnie Gift 120m victory.
“It’s right up there, it’s the biggest win of my career,” Coote said.
“I’ve won a big 400-metre race at Bendigo and I’ve umpired some AFL grand finals on the boundary, which is also an unbelievable achievement, but this is as big as those.”
Starting from an equal front mark of 9.5m, Coote’s Tasmanian Athletic League win was delayed when fellow Victorian Maxim Mishchenko false started, sending him back a metre.
The win was also a triumph for his coach, Mark Hipworth, who was a fellow Burnie Gift winner, but had experienced little delight in the race since.
Maryborough Gift winner Lee Forrest, from Tallangatta near Albury-Wodonga, is not named to contest Daylesford.
