BEN Boatman went close to delivering the Marcus Cooper Stable another Victorian Athletic League sash last Saturday at the St Albans Gift meeting, finishing a close second in the final of the under-17 300-metre handicap event.
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Boatman, off a 38m handicap, won his heat to qualify through to the final and was joined by stable mate Riley Taylor, who went on to finish eighth.
Coach Marcus Cooper said Boatman's head-to-head battle with eventual winner Anthony Dempster was very entertaining.
"It was like watching a race at Stawell in that you had two guys out the front that were pushing each other to see who would break first," he said.
"It just came down to the last part of the race. Ben was first into the straight, which is pretty short at St Albans, then the other bloke just got him he was hanging in there and hanging in there and you could see the other guy tiring, but Ben just couldn't get back there before the line.
"It was a great race, they took off close together from the start and were head-to-head the whole way. It was out of them two and then it was another race behind."
Cooper also praised the efforts of Taylor, who acquitted himself well in his first VAL final.
"He didn't have a long time to recover and back up because it was only about 30 minutes between the heats," Cooper said.
"It was a credit to him though, he came roaring home and didn't leave anything in the tank."
The other highlight of the day for the local runners was the form of Ruby Klemm, who made it through to two finals.
Klemm cruised to victory in her heat of the Women's 120-metre Gift, before finishing seventh during the blanket finish in the final.
"In the final she probably didn't nail it like she would have liked, but I thought she still ran really well in the middle of the field," Cooper said.
"She had a big meeting, she certainly did plenty of running."
The 18-year-old's other final came in the 300-metre Women's handicap, after Klemm controlled her heat to claim victory.
Cooper said his senior runner battled gallantly for fifth place in the final against a quality field.
"In the final she was up against the current Australian 400-metre champion Morgan Mitchell (off scratch) who is also on the Commonwealth Games team," he said.
"It was a great experience for Ruby to race against her, even though she did go flying past the whole field and just missed out on winning it."
Several up and coming runners from the Cooper Stable also put in impressive efforts including Paddy Turner and 14-year-old Stephanie Carter.
"Steph was leading with about 20m to go (in her heat of the 120-metre Restricted Gift) and they just swamped her, but that is the best she has run," Cooper said.
"I am already seeing the difference in her first year, so give her a few more seasons."
Cooper didn't compete at St Albans due to a minor back injury he suffered during training.
The veteran said he will race at the Albury/Wodonga meeting next Saturday for the first time in his career, while the rest of the stable will compete at the Ballarat Gift on February 7 and 8.
