The 16-year-old from Largs near Maitland demolished an experienced and credentialled field to take the 61st Gift - and none were more suprised than Jack who considers himself a 400m specialist.

His victory over the 120m at Macksville has him steeled for a full program of sprint events over the coming season - including Australia’s historic Stawell Gift.

Joining Jack in an arduous campaign will be twin brother Tom, who was every bit as sensational at Macksville, capturing the 70m Cath Miles Memorial Sprint title.

And that spells double trouble for the competition, as given their age, the Newman boys can but get stronger and faster.

First order of business for the Macksville titleholders will be the Lithgow Gift on Saturday week.

Then in the New Year they’ll head to Victoria for meetings in Maryborough, Ballarat and Bendigo in the lead up to   Stawell at Easter.

It will be a busy six-months for the Maitland Grossmann High School students, and if this summer proves a track of dreams for the boys then the story had its birth at Macksville.

In the BCU-sponsored Gift, Jack started the 120m journey from 9.5m down the chute and recorded a time of 12.42 seconds, crossing well clear of his nearest rivals, Thornton-based training partners Tim Escherbach and Jake Ryder.

“I felt like I ran as well as I could and I felt good before, after and during the race,” Jack said. “The first 40 metres I could see someone out of the corner of my eye, but I just kept looking straight ahead and it wasn’t until I turned around after the finish that I knew I had won.”

While running off a similar handicap it was a slightly different story for Tom in the Soulitude Health sponsored 70m at Macksville. Tom had to sweat out a photo ­finish, but his 7.39s was slick enough to triumph.

“There were four of us on the line and we weren’t sure who had won until the photo came back,” Tom said.

“The last 10 metres was where I won it.”