Classy Woods steals the show at Ron Clarke Classic

With the temperature gauge hitting 30 degrees, American sprinter John Woods stole the show at the Ron Clarke Classic in Geelong yesterday, taking out the 100m and 200m double.

Facing a tough headwind on a newly laid track at John Landy Field, Woods clocked 10.52 seconds to claim victory ahead of Nigerian Commonwealth Games representative Anthony Alozie, before going on to record 21.72 in the 200m.

The 25 year-old from Denver, who holds a personal best of 10.16 for the 100m, travelled to Australia to run in the Stawell Gift earlier this year. Inspired to stay, he moved to Canberra in July and is being coached by Ross Smith, a strength and conditioning coach at the Australian Institute of Sport.

In other results, a cautious Scott Martin launched the shot put 19.26m to defeat fellow Victorian Dale Stevenson (16.45m). Recovering from the surgery to repair his ruptured plantar plate, Martin is still testing out his troublesome foot which has hampered him for the majority of the year.

"I wanted to throw a lot further but it wasn’t there," the Commonwealth Games champion told press agency AAP.

"I chickened out a bit from putting full pressure on my injured foot and that’s why I couldn’t get the distance.

"I really need to test it to see if it’s fixed, because I tend to throw these sort of distances, 19.30 to 19.50, with no pain but it’s the 20s and 20.50s where I do get pain."

Peter Nowill won the men’s 5000m in 14:05.10 ahead of Toby Rayner and Martin Dent, whilst Lisa-Jane Weightman claimed victory on the line in 16:26.07 in the women’s 5000m.

Taking control with 300m to go, Chris de Boer of Western Australia took out the men’s 800m in 1:51.30, with Victorian Madeleine Pape securing the women’s event in 2:07.35 seconds.

Geelong’s Mark Tucker stormed home in the final lap of the 1500m, to clock 3:45.44, two seconds clear of Tasmanian Grant Page.

Spurred on by the support of her home crowd, Geelong local Jess Gulli, took out the 200m in 24.96 sec, overcoming Fiona Cullen in the final metres to snatch victory.

Tasmanian school teacher Melissa Kay (12.14) the victor in the 100m.

Younger winger Ryan Christian from Ocean Grove FC won bragging rights in the Jack Clarke Perpetual Trophy, the 3km football clubs eliminator, ahead of Essendon FC and the Geelong umpires.