THE COUNTDOWN to the prestigious Temora Golden Gift has begun, and with less than three days to go until the action begins, one Australian champion yesterday revealed she can not wait.With some of the country's top athletes already announced for the $6000 women's race, Commonwealth Games champion Lauren Boden admitted that although she has enjoyed great success both at home and internationally, she holds no misconceptions that the 120m gift will be a snack."I've never run over in Temora before so I'm excited to come over, it's a great event," she said."It'll be good to see how I go."I had a couple of weeks off after the Commonwealth Games but I've been training again for a little bit now so it'll kind of be a training session for me."I'm not a sprinter, but I've won a few gifts before so my mark is quite close to the back so my chances of winning the gift are pretty slim."I'll always be chasing people from that position but you just have to back yourself and keep trying, this is about fitness for me."An Australian 400m hurdles champion, the 22-year-old will start as the back-marker for the main race, as well as contest the 300m handicap.With her eyes firmly set on qualifying for the London Olympics at the coming World Championships, Boden was adamant the Golden Gift will act as a springboard to her eventual goal.Although Boden has been in training for London for the past five years, she admits the Gift will give her the extra competition training she'll need to be competitive."It's good to get a gauge on your technique in the gifts and you don't want to fatigue under pressure, but if you can be confident that will always help you," she said."There's only 10 weeks until nationals, so the season starts now for me."Everything that I do at this point is with London in mind."I just want to get the best preparation possible."