SAC Treasurer celebrates 30 years volunteering at Stawell

Date: 24th February 2019

Treasurer Jeremy Irvine has served on the Committee of the Stawell Athletic Club for eight years and is a former President.  This year he celebrates 30 years since he first began volunteering at Stawell. 

Jeremy’s role puts him in charge of the Financial Management and Planning of both the Stawell Gift and the SAC.

“This covers everything from preparing the yearly budget and working with the auditors, to counting the ticket sales for the event,” he explained.

“From a financial point of view, it is wonderful that we have been able to secure this year’s event broadcast and to restore the prizemoney into both the men’s and women’s Gift.

I look forward to working with all levels of government to ensure that the Stawell Gift remains sustainable for the long term.”

When asked that is special about the iconic race, Jeremy reminisced: “It is a part of my life, I really can’t imagine Easter any other way. It gets into your blood.”

Jeremy began his Stawell journey as a “colour kid” in 1989 and continued up until he “was too old to perform that role,” moving onto operating the scoreboard then later into handing out the colours.  The colour kids have the opportunity to be out in the middle of the ground across the three-day event where they take the colour bibs off each athlete.

Even when Jeremy moved away to Melbourne to study and begin his career he came back to Stawell every Easter to be part of the event.  Eventually settling in Ballarat, he joined the Committee and became President in 2014.

“My favourite moment in the 30 years I have been working on this event came while I was President, with the photo finish win of Luke Versace. The atmosphere as the judges conferred was electric, and I was sitting with the Victorian Minister for Sport Damien Drum, discussing the possibility of a dead heat in the Final.”

“My son is now going down the same path as I did, working every Easter at the event.”

 

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