Emotional teenager Talia Martin claimed a controversial victory in the women's Stawell Gift on Monday, a day after being fined $2000 for extreme improvement.
Just 12 days ago, the 15-year-old Martin was eliminated in the heats of the Ararat Gift, a sub-par performance she put down to her distress at the recent death of her aunt.
After storming to victory in her Stawell Gift heat on Saturday Martin was hauled before the Victorian Athletic League (VAL) stewards.
"She ran a particular time and when she got here she ran seven metres quicker which is more than most runners improve in a lifetime," chief steward Brian Marantelli told reporters.
"In our sport that's called improvement at extreme range - with extreme range being four metres, so she was well off the chart in terms of improvement in a short space of time.
"We pulled her in and spoke to her and the stewards' panel decided on a fine of $2000."
She appealed against the severity of the fine and her stable acknowledged she did the wrong thing.
"The fine was knocked down to $500 plus the first $1500 of any prizemoney."
Martin said she been greatly affected by the death of her aunt before competing in Ararat.
"She always came down to Stawell with us and it's been really hard without her," said Martin, who became the third successive women's Stawell Gift victor to be trained by Pete O'Dwyer.
"Hopefully she's watching from up in heaven and she's very happy."
O'Dwyer said he had given no thought to appealing the fine, which paled into comparison with Martin's winner's purse of $40,000.
"As a squad we support the Ararat Gift so we went along there and she was emotionally wrecked," he said.
There was no scope for VAL stewards to bring in Martin's handicap mark of 13 metres.
Martin clocked 13.70 seconds in the Stawell Gift final to claim a narrow victory ahead of Tierra Exum - the sister of NBA star Dante Exum.
Sarah Blizzard was third.
"I've got so many emotions running through me," said Martin, who attends Loreto College in Ballarat.
"I'm just excited and happy and overwhelmed.
"I can't really believe that it's happened to me."
