THE City of Maribyrnong Gift is just three years old, but it has fast become one of the favourite events on the calendar for athletes.
The third instalment of the Gift, to be run at Braybrook’s Pennell Reserve on Sunday, will see entrants from across Australia fight it out in the 120m foot race.
There are a number of factors why the race is rated so highly on the Victorian Athletic League schedule.
The timing of the race makes it a valuable lead-up event to the Stawell Gift. And the track conditions are as good as you will find at any VAL event.
“In the first two years, we came runner-up in the VAL for the best races,” event organiser Simon Krygger said. “That’s a pretty good response.”
“The March timing of the event makes it a key race leading up to Bendigo and Stawell.
“The council does an outstanding job in getting the track right and that’s the most important thing from the athletes’ point of view.
“They start working on it from Christmas onwards and they do a great job managing it considering we have cricketers and footballers on it.”
The Gift is run by volunteers at the St Andrew’s Cricket Club, a member of the Victorian Turf Cricket Association.
Krygger said the club would not be able to host the event without Maribyrnong council’s support.
“They’ve helped us with funding for the event through the community grants program,” he said.
Sunday’s seven-race card begins at 12.30pm. Races include 70m open, 120m women’s, 120m VRTA U20 series, 300m women’s/vets, 400m open, 1600m open and, of course, the 120m Maribyrnong Gift.
Mohamad Zeed is the defending champion.
