Last year's Melbourne Cup-winning owner Sandy McGregor has brought two talented Kenyan runners to Australia to race in the mile at the Stawell Gift.
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McGregor has personally funded Edwin K. Melly and Nicholas Kipkoech to fly to Australia to compete at Stawell this Easter weekend.
Melly is an 800-metre runner who won bronze at the world youth championships in 2012 and has done well in Europe. He is looking to compete more in the 1500m internationally and will use the Herb Hedemann mile race (1600m) at Stawell as part of that move.
It is Kipkoech's second visit to Stawell having raced there in 2012 when he contested the mile and the 550m.
When his horse Prince Of Penzance won the Melbourne Cup last year McGregor said it was a victory for western Victoria and he took the horse and cup to the local pub to celebrate.
His push to bring the Kenyans to Stawell was further part of him trying to help support the area and promote the race.
Several years ago when Australia's most famous footrace was in financial distress and faced relocating or being abandoned, McGregor was one of the wealthy benefactors who came to the financial rescue of the race.
Since then he wanted to make the gift about more than the sprint and approached athlete agent Brian Roe to bring out talented runners for the circular races on the Central Park track.
"Sandy's family retains significant agricultural interests in the Stawell region and whilst he has enjoyed great success in business, such as his logistics company, QLS, he is a local boy at heart and genuinely wishes to see the Stawell carnival thrive – and through the circular races as much as the traditional straight running events," Roe said.
