JUNIOR and Senior athletes will be out to kick off the New Year with a bang when they line up in the 44th annual Rye Gift and Rye Junior Gift on Saturday 13 January.
The Rye Gift and Athletic Carnival is set to lure over 600 professional runners from across Australia down to the RJ Rowley Reserve, Rye (Rye Football Ground) as they begin to build up towards the lucrative Stawell Gift in April.
The Men’s Gift and Women’s Diamond will be worth a total of $5,100 and $3,000, respectively, while the junior competitors will run like the wind in their 100m Dash for the Sash contest in front of an expected crowd of more than 2,000 people.
The Bendigo Bank Dash for Cash is also set to be a highlight of the card for local football clubs with Rye, Rosebud, Sorrento, Dromana and Red Hill competing for the $1,000 winner’s prize to take back to their club.
Free activities for the kids such as face painting, jumping castles and craft activities throughout the day will also be on offer.
The opening event is scheduled to kick off at 10:30am with entry costing $10 for an adult and children under-16 enter for free.
For more details contact Rye Gift secretary Robyn Van Lieshout on: 0414 564 531.
First published in the Mornington News – 8 January 2019
