Distance for Gift battle goes up

ORGANISERS have upped the distance for next month’s Bendigo Gift at the Bendigo Regional Athletics Complex.

Athletes will now race 200 meters in the feature event at the 11 March meet on the Retreat Road track in Flora Hill.

The men’s open 200 metres will carry prizemoney of $3000 courtesy of AASB, aka Accounting and Audit Solutions Bendigo.

City of Greater Bendigo has matched AASB’s prize pool for the women’s 200 metres on the Labour Day holiday weekend.

The Bendigo Thousand was first run in 1947 and Athletics Bendigo and the Victorian Athletic League were determined to keep the tradition rolling.

Since 1972, athletics and cycling have joined forces at the Bendigo International Madison carnival where the Gift is among the feature events.

COVID and then delays in the upgrade to the grass surface at the Tom Flood Sports Centre have meant the Madison could not be run this year.

It’s the second year in a row the Bendigo Gift, albeit a change in distance from the traditional 120 meters, will be at the Flora Hill complex.

A year ago, the Bendigo Gift was run at the 100-metre distance.

Tiana Shillito reigned supreme in the women’s final as Chris Vi charged to victory in the men’s showdown.

Other highs included a home-track win by Lonain Burnett in the open 800 metres, and Andrew Sait’s open 1600-metre victory.

Other feature events for this year’s meet tipped to start at 2pm include the Edwards Providore-backed open 550-metre, and the A.L. Parker Electrical-sponsored open 1600-metre.

Both events carry a prize pool of $1500.

Also on an action-packed card are the men’s and women’s 70- metre, Masters 45-plus 800- metre, Masters 35-plus 300- metre, and Masters 35-plus 100- metre.

Another highlight will be the Restricted 400- metre, along with the under-18 boys 100 metres and under-18 girls 100 metres.

Keen youngsters can also race the under-14 mixed over the same distance.

The lead-up to the Bendigo Gift includes the Castlemaine Gift being run this Sunday from 10am at Camp Reserve.

Bendigo plays a key role in the lead-up to the Stawell Gift carnival being run on the Easter weekend of 8 to 10 April at Central Park.