Sport
5 December, 2022
Women’s Maryborough Gift receives big cash boost for first Highland Gathering in two years
A significant breakthrough in the history of the Maryborough Highland Gathering was announced late last week, with the prize money for the Maryborough Women’s Gift increased to $10,000. The efforts of the Maryborough Highland Society ensured that...
A significant breakthrough in the history of the Maryborough Highland Gathering was announced late last week, with the prize money for the Maryborough Women’s Gift increased to $10,000.
The efforts of the Maryborough Highland Society ensured that they were able to increase the women’s prize money while simultaneously keeping the men’s race at $15,000, with the main goal for the next edition of the race in 2024 to have both races at parity.
In addition, the 400 metre races are now set at $1000 each for both men’s and women’s races.
Maryborough Highland Society sports secretary Nick Weaver said the efforts to ensure the men’s and women’s races were closer to parity was a long-term initiative which is much closer to reality following the recent announcement.
“It’s been a matter of putting away money here and there to help make things happen. It’s something that we’ve been working on over the last four to six years. Obviously we lost two years with COVID, so we could have been there a lot sooner, but unfortunately we were unable to have the events, but there was a silver lining in being able to put some more money away for it as well. It was a matter of making things happen when we needed to make them happen,” he said.
“We set out a goal that by 2024, we would have parity, because it was such a high jump.
“We figured that offering around $3000 for the women’s was really, really low, so when I took over as sports secretary, it was something I really wanted to do.
“We’re getting there with the recent announcement, and we’ve done so without taking any money away from the men’s race by keeping it at $15,000, which will continue to draw the top athletes to our event, especially considering that the Stawell Gift isn’t too far away. We consider it a good lead up to those kinds of races.”
Weaver anticipates that the announcement will bring a great number of entries to the event, with registration opening up recently.
“Talking to the Victorian Athletics League, we are looking to get a few more entries for that, which is great to see. In some years, we’ve only had three or four heats for our ladies sprint. Hopefully with the increase in prize money, instead of seeing them travel somewhere else the week before or the week after, they will say ‘I want to go to Maryborough, as the prize money is where I am wanting it to be’,” he said.
“We only opened our entries with the Victorian Athletics League at the start of last week, so I’m sure we will have some more numbers at the end of this week. They just finished having the Warrnambool and Terang Gifts, so hopefully we will see some entries for New Year’s Day.”
Weaver said that despite his relative inexperience in controlling the event, he is looking forward to a big occasion, particularly given that it will be the first Highland Gathering held since 2020 given the continued effects of COVID lockdowns impacting the 2021 and 2022 events.
“We’re certainly looking forward to the event on New Year’s Day, but there’s also a bit of nervousness. We haven’t had it for a couple of years, but we do have a few guys that have had the experience for many years. Myself, personally, I’ve only been doing it for six years, but we’ve had people who have done it by volunteering for 25-30 years year in, year out, knowing how to get the track ready and everything else,” he said.
Weaver is also keeping his fingers crossed that the Highland Gathering, unlike many other events throughout the last few months, won’t be affected by weather, while also promising exciting activities which will keep patrons of all ages entertained.
“We’re pleased that we’re moving forward with it, and we can’t wait for the day. Hopefully the weather is going to be really good to us, we don’t want it to be stinking hot, but we also don’t want it to be cold and wet — we want to get that crowd there, and we’d love to get the community involved and behind the event again,” he said.
“We will have something for everyone from the racing to the carnivals, the axemen display will be returning this year, the Girl on the Drum Spectacular is going to be a great sight as well. And of course, during the night time, we will have the bands playing — we have Equalize from Bendigo coming across for that, and we’ll have the Highland Society fireworks at 10.00 pm.
“The strong men and the strong ladies event already has about 20 athletes in that, 13 men and seven ladies, which will be great. People will be keen to see that. I do believe we have some Commonwealth champions and the Australian strong ladies champion as well, which should be fun.”
