Sport

Seymour’s Kelfit stable notches 10th VAL season win for first time in program history

By Alexander Dabb

Feb 10, 2026

Seymour's Kelfit stable has notched 10 winners so far during the 2025-26 VAL season, the first time the group has reached double digits since its inception. Photo: Seymour Running Club.

The Victorian Athletic League Ballarat Gift, held at Ballarat’s City Oval on the shores of Lake Wendouree, witnessed a pivotal moment in the history of the Kelfit athletics program.

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It wasn’t the most successful meet in Kelfit history, but it was the meet that made it the most successful campaign on record for the Seymour group, which has now racked up 10 sashes in a single VAL season for the first time since the club’s inception.

It was Kelfit newcomer Declan Goodwin who catapulted the Seymour stable, led by coach Kelvin Lubeck, into double-digit winners, notching his second sash for the season with a masterful run in the 800m open final.

Having finished second in his heat off a mark of 44m, Goodwin lined up off the same handicap in the final, where he promptly caught the frontmarkers before storming home to cross the line in 1:53.652, nearly a full second clear of the second-placed athlete.

Goodwin’s win continues the excellent form of Kelfit athletes in recent weeks, with Olivia Barry and Nicholas Dundon both claiming maiden VAL sashes at the Frankston Gift in January, with Barry triumphing in the women’s 70m final, while Dundon took out the 800m open title, making it three titles for the Kelfit crew on the day, with Olivia Attard having taken out the 800m women’s final.

Julian Morgan also broke his VAL duck at the Warrnambool Gift last November, snaring the 800m open crown, while Harriett Fox continued the trend of Kelfit newcomers claiming wins in their first season with the group, having claimed the 120m women’s final at the Portarlington Gift in January.

The wins follow a successful Seymour Gift which saw Cooper Lubeck and Lucy Zotti triumph in front of a home crowd, with Lubeck storming to a dominant 1600m open title, while Zotti did the 400m-800m women’s double to take home two sashes, breaking a run of nine podium finishes without a win.

With 10 wins already sewn up, there is still plenty of opportunity for the Kelfit group to add to its season tally, with seven meets still to come before heading to Stawell for the season finale.

The Castlemaine Gift is the next event on the calendar, scheduled for Sunday, February 22, while the Shepparton (February 28), Bendigo (March 7) and Geelong (March 15) gifts all shape as major meets ahead of the Stawell Gift across the Easter weekend from April 4 to 6.

Stawell has proven a happy hunting ground for Kelfit in recent times, with Attard earning back-to-back sashes in the 1600m frontmarkers race in 2024 and 2025, while Cooper Lubeck won the 800m open event in 2024.