Victorian Athletic League event, 2022 Warrnambool Gift, locked in for Reid Oval

The Victorian Athletic League running competition has welcomed an increase in participants in recent years and expects more interest given the venue's top-quality surface.

Warrnambool Gift president Richard Wearmouth said the event, which includes handicapped sprint and middle distance races and had been held at Friendly Societies' Park in recent years, would be run on Saturday, December 3.

He is confident Reid Oval will encourage travellers to endure "the tyranny of distance" and more stables to send teams.

"Our entries have doubled in five years," Wearmouth told The Standard.

"It was pretty ordinary five years ago - there was 200 entries or something which is not a big number.

"All of a sudden we're up at the 430-450 mark. A lot of the athletes now see Warrnambool and Terang (which hosts on Sunday) as two meetings they can get an early run at and get their fitness up.

"I envisage that whatever our numbers are this year - if we go up and I think we will - I am sure they will go even further next year when word gets out how good this ground is."

Wearmouth said the surface would be among the best on the 20-meet calendar.

Stawell's Central Park, which hosts the showpiece event, and Ballarat, which rotates venues, are well presented, according to Wearmouth.

"They get attracted to good grounds. The open (runners) are pretty finely-tuned athletes and they don't want to be running on tough surfaces," he said.

"The thing about the Reid is - and I've been training up there for a couple of weeks - with all the rain we've had, it's just dry.

"It's incredible and it's an enormous plus."

Nestles Cricket Club will move a division two Warrnambool and District Cricket Association match from Saturday to Sunday to accommodate the gift, which includes men's and women's 120-metre sprints as its feature races.

Wearmouth said the turf wicket would be protected during the athletics.

"We won't be near the centre wicket, no way," he said.

"We don't need to go near it. Both of our finishing lines will be on the grandstand side."

The gift, which includes open, mixed, junior, masters and aged races, has already piqued the interest of quality runners.

Wearmouth said champion Great Britain masters runner John Thomson would fly over from Scotland to compete.

Australian masters competitor Lavinia Petrie, who is in her late 70s, and her daughter Julie Norney will also race as will Brisbane-based sprinter Julie Brims who holds multiple world records in her 55-59 age group.

"She's incredible and last year she raced in the Australian open 100 metres," he said.

South west athletes keen to compete include Jason Daye, who finished 13^th in this year's Melbourne Marathon, and fellow long-distance specialist Ben Wallis.

Judy Pollock will be the even patron.

Warrnambool Gift entries close Friday, November 18.

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