Local runner Shauna Herbst doesn’t want to blow her own horn ahead of this weekend’s Wangaratta Gift.

After a strong season to date, Herbst is well positioned to go deep in her second tilt at the pinnacle sprinting event in the region, if recent results are any indication.

Her last two events have resulted in podium positions, with her photo-finish second at Bay Sheffield (13.783) and third at Maryborough (13.741) putting her on many punters’ radars to give it a red-hot go this Saturday.

The humble Herbst said she was just happy to be running competitively and putting in solid times.

“I’m excited to race in the local meet,” she said.

“I’m just trying to come back, have a decent block of training and have my body hold up.

“My coach is Jason Boulton who also coaches Bella Pasquali, so I’m in good hands.

"We had a good training block in the last few weeks, being pushed along by my training partners Callum Bott [last year's 400m men’s open winner] and Bella Boulton [last year's 120m under 18s winner], both of which are also having a crack this weekend too in their respective events.”

A competitive junior runner back in her native Queensland, Herbst gave up racing when she went off to university.

After a five-year break and a move down to Melbourne, a friend dragged her back to the track, where her passion and thirst for competition was reignited.

“My pet event is sprint hurdles, and I eventually startled hurdling again,” she said.

“I changed careers, came up to this part of Victoria to work in the wine industry, and that’s when I met Jason Boulton.

“I was sort of semi-competing at this stage, and he encouraged me to start running pros as a way to keep competing and improve my speed.

"I live in Beechworth at the moment, and it’s such a beautiful part of Australia.

“I’ve been up here for two years now - my other passion is wine, I work at Brown Family Wine Group out at Milawa as an engineer, and it’s been a perfect balance of an area that both loves wine and loves sport.

“It’s the best of both worlds for me.”

Almost a year to the day since she ran in her first 2025 Wangaratta Gift final as the 6.75m backmarker, Herbst is back to go one step further.

Herbst said the field was going to be competitive, but she was just focussing on performing the best she can.

“Just to run well would be exciting,” she said.

“There are a couple of other athletes I know who have nominated to compete, one of which is the winner of the Bay Sheffield [Mia Greacen], so it’s going to be competitive, but winning any race would be exciting.

“If I can make the final, that’d be great - if my body holds up and I run competitively, I’ll be stoked.”