Timboon Demons veteran and professional sprinter Josh Drysdale is on a mission.
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"To one day win a 300-metre final is the main goal," the Warrnambool and District league reserves footballer said.
Drysdale will compete in the 300m Masters and 120m Masters at the Warrnambool Gift on Saturday January 2.
He said he would be off a handicap of 45m for the 300m and 17m for the 120m event at Friendly Societies' Park.
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Although he's competed on the Gift program before, he missed out on the 2019 edition due to a calf injury.
He's eager to hit the track.
"I've been training for a couple of months so I want to put all that training into practice and see how we go," he said.
Drysdale made the 300m Masters (35 plus) final during his first hit-out of this season on the Meadowglen Gift program in Epping on Sunday.
He likes the battles and fitness sprinting offers.
Drysdale's yet to win a professional running event but he's made 300m finals on gift programs in the past two years.
The 38-year-old, enjoying his fourth year of competition, is keen to record times under 40 seconds for 300m.
"Anywhere between about 36 to 37 seconds usually puts you up the front of the field so that's the aim," he said.
"That's off my handicap."
Drysdale trains with the Warrnambool-based Duynhoven-Perry Sprinting (DPS) stable under the tutelage of coaches Rob Duynhoven and Wayne Perry.
He's been with DPS since it started in the past five years.
He commutes from Timboon to Warrnambool to improve his running.
"We train Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday so a few trips in and out," he said.
He added DPS trained at Allansford sometimes which made his drive a bit shorter.
Drysdale has witnessed the squad's growth.
"I think we started off with about three or four runners and I think we're up to about 20 people who train with us," he said.
"Not everyone trains at the same time but we could have anywhere up to 20 people sometimes."
Drysdale is a Timboon Demon through and through.
"In 1998, I played my first senior game for Timboon and I've played until now," he said.
"I've played about 340 games between reserves and seniors."
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