With his car breaking down in Wivenhoe on the way to the Rosebery Christmas Carnival, Ross Lovell's day had to get better.
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And get better it did with the Launceston runner taking out the mixed 120m Gift final, holding off fellow backmarkers Logan James and Luke Whitney, who had both won the event before.
The first of the annual Christmas Carnival events saw runners, cyclists and woodchoppers converge on Rosebery for the multi-faceted competition.
ELSEWHERE IN SPORT
Sheffield's Kody Steers etched his name into the record books once again, claiming his eighth consecutive Tasmanian 400mm underhand championship to cement himself of one of the state's all-time greats at the age of just 25.
Joining Lovell as running victors were Lachlan Bonney (400m), Shane Hanson (800m) and Troy Atkins (mile) while Jordan Matthews won the major cycling event of the day - the Rosebery Wheel - which was raced as a mixed event for the first time.
Rosebery club president Duncan Murfet, who holds the same position for the Sports Carnival Association of Tasmania, said it was great to kick off the season with the carnivals' regular starter.
"It was truly pleasing, despite all the challenges of 2020 that we could put today's carnival on still," he said.
"It's the 64th year of the carnival, so there's lots of history for us to protect.
"While we couldn't get the rockdrilling up for this year, we did get three out of the four sports.
"The community on the West Coast and the runners, cyclists and choppers really look forward to this carnival and we wanted to do everything we could for it to go ahead this year, so we're pleased we did."
The Carnivals next head to Hobart on December 27 before travelling to Launceston and Penguin the following two days.