We caught up with this year’s Stawell Gift winner John Evans, and what a story he had to tell!

Johnny took out his first-ever Stawell Gift title, following in the footsteps of his coach Paul Young, who famously claimed the crown 40 years ago. Talk about full circle!

From the grit and grind of pre-season training, to the intense build-up in the days before the race, John shared what went into preparing for the biggest weekend on the sprinting calendar — and what it felt like to cross that finish line first, arms raised, crowd roaring. Pure elation.

He also let us in on his go-to post-race takeaway meal (spoiler: it's definitely not on the nutritionist-approved list!) and took us back to where it all began — the early days of his running journey and the moment he realised this was more than just a hobby.

Congratulations Johnny — your name’s now etched in Stawell Gift history.

Thanks so much to Johnny for his time and the team at Podbooth for putting the episode together.

A huge thankyou to our loyal series sponsors Steve Chapman from VH Motor Co and Ryan Bridges from Elders Goolwa.

Thanks also to Callum Dunk from Funky Dunky Marketing for putting the fantastic thumbnail together!