Stawell primed for gift
Stawell’s population is set to blow out by the thousands this weekend as sports fans gather at Central Park for Australia’s most famous professional footrace.
The 136th running of the Stawell Gift carnival has its largest entry of runners in more than a decade with 701 athletes entering the three-day event.
Organisers are expecting a huge spectator response to the entries for 1838 individual races.
Bookmakers have also responded to burgeoning interest and, after assessing handicaps of respective runners, have started to frame a market.
The large entry comes as no surprise to former men’s gift winner and Victorian Athletic League chief executive Tom Burbidge.
“The VAL has experienced a steady increase of registrations and participation over the past four seasons with the biggest growth coming in season 2016-17,” he said.
“The VAL has had an increase of more than 10 percent in total registrations in this season alone, more than double the increase in the preceding three seasons. The majority are athletes under 20. We are beginning to be faced with the issue of having too many entries for most competitions during the season. It’s a problem I very much welcome.”
The early betting market had the only scratch runner in either the Stawell Gift or Women’s Stawell Gift as the shortest-priced favourite.
Long-time Stawell Gift insider John Henry said Papua New Guinean athlete and Women’s Gift scratch marker Toea Wisil had attracted odds of $3.
“After winning the Australian championships just the other week, she’s obviously in good shape despite her mark off scratch, so Toea starts favourite,” he said.
Victorian pair Sophie Taylor and Maddie Coates share the next lowest mark in the Women’s Gift at $5 and Mikayla Round is at $6 and Anna Duncan, $7.
“It’s very hard at the moment because I don’t think there will be too much between four or five of them in the women’s race. As per usual there will probably be a smoky come out of the rough,” Mr Henry said.
Favourite for the Stawell Gift is Matthew Rizzo who is running off 7.5m. He has not raced since the Rye Gift in early January and bookies have listed him at $4.
Michael Romanin starts next favourite off 4.75m and with odds of $8, with a long list of athletes next on $12, including Nathan Riali, Ryan Camille, Ryan Mcnamara and Thomas Maloney.
“It’s still very early in the process, but this is what it looks like at present and of course it will change. The real action comes at the calcutta on Good Friday at Stawell Town Hall. That’s when we’ll really see what the market is saying,” Mr Henry said.
Northern Grampians Shire Council staff have been preparing the surface at Central Park for several weeks. The Stawell Gift carnival, unlike other major professional running events around the world, is on a grass track.
The carnival is from Saturday until Monday.