St Albans Gift went ‘better than expected’.

St Albans Gift

Jordan Doherty

There was plenty of fun and colour as the annual St Albans Gift was run on Saturday.

The St Albans Sports Club in conjunction with the Victorian Athletics League organised the gift, which is in the lead up to the popular Stawell Gift which attracts thousands of race-goers and spectators each year.

It was the 15th running of the gift.

Speaking before the event, club manager Jonathan Halliday said he was looking forward to it.

“This is my first time working towards a gift in my time as manager at St Albans Sports Club and I am very excited for the day,” he said.

“We have undertaken an explosion of works over the past year to improve the sports ground facilities and have put a lot of hard work into this year’s gift.

“We are expecting this to be one of our biggest gifts, and the weather is to be good as well – which will add to the enjoyment of the day.

“As a non-for-profit club we always do the most we can to give back to the club and our community in the best way possible.”

The main races on the day were the men’s and women’s 120-metre events.

Queensland’s Antonio Vaitohi won the men’s event while Sunbury’s Ellie Keratianos won the women’s event.

There was also under-14 and under-18, and masters’ 120 metre events, while there is open 70 metre, 300 metre, 800 metre and 1600 metre events.