{"id":3152,"date":"2012-01-05T13:53:19","date_gmt":"2012-01-05T02:53:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s139637.gridserver.com\/?page_id=3152"},"modified":"2012-02-03T17:27:50","modified_gmt":"2012-02-03T06:27:50","slug":"john-w-mccracken","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/hall-of-fame\/legends\/john-w-mccracken\/","title":{"rendered":"John W McCracken"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: left;\" align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" style=\"margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px; border: 0pt none;\" title=\"Image\" src=\"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/images\/stories\/photos\/legends\/mccracken%20image.jpg\" alt=\"Image\" width=\"250\" height=\"345\" align=\"middle\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"6\" \/>Along with Harry Downer, John McCracken was recognised as a world class mile athlete, and exhibition races between these two fine athletes drew crowds wherever they competed.<\/p>\n<p>Born at Casterton on March 7, 1935, John showed great interest in athletics, and won a great many distance races during his education training around the State. He met Carl Rhode, a famous Bendigo trainer and early in 1956 turned professional.<\/p>\n<p>His first stint at Stawell saw him win a half mile off 38 yards, in a smart time of 1.48.6 secs. Following success at various meetings around the State, John married and while honeymooning at Stawell, won the Herb Hedemann Mile off 30 yards in 4-6.8 secs. Success followed success, and in 1964, the two giants of distance running, Downes and McCracken met at Stawell, with McCracken running the fastest ever Mile from scratch, in a time of 4 min. 2.8 secs. In one of the most remarkable finishes ever seen at Stawell in which the lead changed numerous times in a tight finish.<\/p>\n<p>In nine events at Stawell from 1956 to 1969, John McCracken lowered his colours only twice in one and two mile events.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\" align=\"center\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Along with Harry Downer, John McCracken was recognised as a world class mile athlete, and exhibition races between these two fine athletes drew crowds wherever they competed. Born at Casterton on March 7, 1935, John showed great interest in athletics, and won a great many distance races during his education<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"parent":3075,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-3152","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>John W McCracken - Powercor Stawell Gift<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Australia\u2019s richest footrace, the Stawell Gift, returns to Central Park on Saturday 31 March to Monday 2 April 2018 over the Easter long weekend with three action-packed days of elite athletic racing, activities and family entertainment. Marking its 137th year of racing, the Stawell Gift remains one of the most iconic footraces in the world, and continues to be a prominent event on the Australian sporting calendar.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/hall-of-fame\/legends\/john-w-mccracken\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stawellgift.com\\\/wp\\\/hall-of-fame\\\/legends\\\/john-w-mccracken\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stawellgift.com\\\/wp\\\/hall-of-fame\\\/legends\\\/john-w-mccracken\\\/\",\"name\":\"John W McCracken - Powercor Stawell Gift\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stawellgift.com\\\/wp\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stawellgift.com\\\/wp\\\/hall-of-fame\\\/legends\\\/john-w-mccracken\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stawellgift.com\\\/wp\\\/hall-of-fame\\\/legends\\\/john-w-mccracken\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stawellgift.com\\\/wp\\\/images\\\/stories\\\/photos\\\/legends\\\/mccracken%20image.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-01-05T02:53:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-02-03T06:27:50+00:00\",\"description\":\"Australia\u2019s richest footrace, the Stawell Gift, returns to Central Park on Saturday 31 March to Monday 2 April 2018 over the Easter long weekend with three action-packed days of elite athletic racing, activities and family entertainment. Marking its 137th year of racing, the Stawell Gift remains one of the most iconic footraces in the world, and continues to be a prominent event on the Australian sporting calendar.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stawellgift.com\\\/wp\\\/hall-of-fame\\\/legends\\\/john-w-mccracken\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/stawellgift.com\\\/wp\\\/hall-of-fame\\\/legends\\\/john-w-mccracken\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stawellgift.com\\\/wp\\\/hall-of-fame\\\/legends\\\/john-w-mccracken\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stawellgift.com\\\/wp\\\/images\\\/stories\\\/photos\\\/legends\\\/mccracken%20image.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stawellgift.com\\\/wp\\\/images\\\/stories\\\/photos\\\/legends\\\/mccracken%20image.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stawellgift.com\\\/wp\\\/hall-of-fame\\\/legends\\\/john-w-mccracken\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stawellgift.com\\\/wp\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"About\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stawellgift.com\\\/wp\\\/hall-of-fame\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Legends\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stawellgift.com\\\/wp\\\/hall-of-fame\\\/legends\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"John W McCracken\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stawellgift.com\\\/wp\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stawellgift.com\\\/wp\\\/\",\"name\":\"Powercor Stawell Gift\",\"description\":\"Powercor Stawell Gift\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/stawellgift.com\\\/wp\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"John W McCracken - Powercor Stawell Gift","description":"Australia\u2019s richest footrace, the Stawell Gift, returns to Central Park on Saturday 31 March to Monday 2 April 2018 over the Easter long weekend with three action-packed days of elite athletic racing, activities and family entertainment. Marking its 137th year of racing, the Stawell Gift remains one of the most iconic footraces in the world, and continues to be a prominent event on the Australian sporting calendar.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/hall-of-fame\/legends\/john-w-mccracken\/","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/hall-of-fame\/legends\/john-w-mccracken\/","url":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/hall-of-fame\/legends\/john-w-mccracken\/","name":"John W McCracken - Powercor Stawell Gift","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/hall-of-fame\/legends\/john-w-mccracken\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/hall-of-fame\/legends\/john-w-mccracken\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/images\/stories\/photos\/legends\/mccracken%20image.jpg","datePublished":"2012-01-05T02:53:19+00:00","dateModified":"2012-02-03T06:27:50+00:00","description":"Australia\u2019s richest footrace, the Stawell Gift, returns to Central Park on Saturday 31 March to Monday 2 April 2018 over the Easter long weekend with three action-packed days of elite athletic racing, activities and family entertainment. Marking its 137th year of racing, the Stawell Gift remains one of the most iconic footraces in the world, and continues to be a prominent event on the Australian sporting calendar.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/hall-of-fame\/legends\/john-w-mccracken\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/hall-of-fame\/legends\/john-w-mccracken\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/hall-of-fame\/legends\/john-w-mccracken\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/images\/stories\/photos\/legends\/mccracken%20image.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/images\/stories\/photos\/legends\/mccracken%20image.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/hall-of-fame\/legends\/john-w-mccracken\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"About","item":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/hall-of-fame\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Legends","item":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/hall-of-fame\/legends\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"John W McCracken"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/#website","url":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/","name":"Powercor Stawell Gift","description":"Powercor Stawell Gift","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3152"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4060,"href":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3152\/revisions\/4060"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stawellgift.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}