Bree masters the track after her first Stawell Gift

Date: 16th February 2021

Already a world champion beach sprinter, Gold Coaster Bree Masters attributes her trip to Stawell in 2019 – and her third placing in the Women’s Gift final – as the springboard to her current success on the track.

Bree, a member of the Australian 4 x 100m relay squad, won the 100m at the ACT State Championships at the weekend, a title she has held since last year.  She was not able to defend her 2020 200m title after pulling out due to a hamstring strain.

“It was awesome to win the 100m and back up my ACT title from last year. It was a very strong field and I was so happy to take the win. I have been working hard so it was particularly rewarding,” said Bree.

“I have spent the last week and a half in Canberra at the AIS, following our relay camp. Other than ending the weekend with a minor injury, the racing was super fun, and it was great to reunite with friends from all around Australia, who I hadn’t seen in while due to Covid! It’s now time to head home to rest and recover and build for the next race.”

Keen to return to Stawell in just over six weeks, Bree recalled her 2019 Stawell Gift final.

“It felt awesome to place 3rd in 2019. Being my first major Gift, it was definitely exciting and came as a big surprise! I loved the atmosphere of the event and doing something I hadn’t experience before. It was so much fun and I am definitely keen to return and race again.”

2020 was a year she will never forget. “It was devastating that all the final major events of the season were cancelled. It was difficult at the beginning of COVID, not knowing if the Olympics were going to go ahead. I had a home gym set up and trained in my local park with one other friend, doing everything that I could to stay in form.

“Once events had been cancelled, I entered preseason and shortly after, QLD restrictions were lifted and training was back to normal with my squad. My training wasn’t affected hugely, unlike the Victorian athletes, and I always did what I could to ensure I got all my work in.” 

Bree’s dream is to represent Australia at the Olympics in Tokyo and other major events in the future.  Since her trip to Stawell she has notched up several accolades and PB’s not only in Canberra but also in Queensland where Bree is the current 100m state champion and 200m runner up. She also won the women’s 100m at the Melbourne Track Classic in her personal best time of 11.55.

Bree has won the 100m Somerset Gift in 2019 and the Rye Women’s 120m Gift from behind scratch.

After representing Australia in the International Surf Rescue Challenge in Durban, South Africa in September 2019 Bree has been concentrating on track.  “I have been putting a strong focus into athletics this season.” 

Bree met partner Matt Rizzo (2017 Stawell Gift Men’s winner) at the 2019 Stawell Gift.  

“He was the main driver for getting me into track. He encouraged me to give it a go and from there I fell in love with it. I also think diving into a new sprinting atmosphere made things really exciting for me and I wanted to try more and set new goals for myself.”

Off the track, life is busy. “Currently I’m working part-time, studying part-time and training. I’m nearing the end of my degree now and in my final year. I’ve been studying a mixture of full time and part time depending on my training and racing loads. I’m studying a Bachelor of Communications (Business) majoring in Marketing and Public Relations at Bond University.”

 

Comments are closed.