Athletes across the country will come to North Geelong to compete for over $10,000 in prize money on Sunday.
Victorian Athletic League will host the free Geelong Gift Athletic event on March 16 at the Western Oval along 66-76 Church Street.
President Matthew McDonough said the event was usually based along the Geelong Waterfront but had moved to the new location to accommodate more athletes.
“We’ve got over 850 entries for this year’s Geelong Gift, and we’ve got events from 70 metres up to 1600 metres, so quite a big spread of events,” he said.
“We have some of Australia’s best sprinters that have entered the race, so we’re looking forward to seeing that and some local athletes competing too.
“Hopefully the Geelong community can get down and watch the event and we can get many people there as possible, and this will be something big at Geelong’s Western Oval for the first time.”
Mr McDonough said athletes would compete across 16 different races, from 70 to 1600 metres, throughout the day and encouraged people to come to the event.
“First thing in the morning we have a kid’s race where any kids can come along and sign up on the day in different age groups and they’ll be running for vouchers and some giveaways,” he said.
“Then we get into our Victorian athletic junior competitions, and we’ve got Under18’s and Under14’s.
“The feature event is the men’s and women’s Geelong gift over 120 meters, and they’ll have heats from in the afternoon with the finals at about 6.30 pm.”
Jena Carr
