While some of Australia's best amateur athletes have long participated at Stawell, this is the first formal partnership between Athletics Australia and the carnival which boasts Australia's richest footraces. With more than 1 million people tuning into the Powercor Stawell Gift live broadcast on Seven each Easter Monday, the Powercor Stawell Gift is Australia's highest profile athletics event that provides a platform to bring together Australia's best runners, amateur and professional, and showcase them to the country.

"Athletics Australia is thrilled to partner with the Powercor Stawell Gift this year. The Gift is not only Australia's richest footrace, but one of the most iconic races in Australian sport", said Peter Bromley, CEO of Athletics Australia.

"With so many of our own high performance athletes competing, it makes sense for our two organisations to work side by side to raise the profile of Australian athletics and the Gift itself."

As part of Athletics Australia's strategic partnership with the carnival, Athletics Australia is committed to encouraging participation from athletes within its national team and development ranks, as well as work collaboratively with SGEM on event scheduling to allow all athletes the best possible opportunity to participate each year at Stawell.

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This approach has already yielded results with strong fields on hand for the 2022 carnival. Queensland junior track sensation, Torrie Lewis, will vie for the $55,000 in prize money on offer in the Change Our Game Women's Gift, taking on seasoned past Gift Winners, Lexi Loizou (2019), defending champion, Hayley Orman (2021) and multiple finalist, Fia Fighera.

In the Powercor Stawell Gift sprint star Jack Hale will return to Central Park for the first time since 2016, while Australian junior 100m record holder (10.15s) Jake Doran will debut in the famed 120m Gift. All four previous Powercor Stawell Gift Champions in Edward Ware (2021), Dhruv Rodrigues-Chico (2019), Jacob Despard (2018) and Matt Rizzo (2017) will take to the blocks again in 2022 in what will be a stacked field.

"This strategic collaboration, and the opportunity for the Australian public to see more of the best Australian amateur athletes go head to head with the best of the Australian professional athletes at Stawell, will be really exciting," said Stephanie Spence, Chair of SGEM.

The 2022 Powercor Stawell Gift carnival will take place from April 16-18, 2022 at Central Park, Stawell. The finals of the Change Our Game Women's Gift and Powercor Stawell Gift take place on Easter Monday. The finals are broadcast live and free on Seven from 11.30am AEST Monday April 18, 2022

Tickets for the 2022 Powercor Stawell Gift are now on sale via Ticketek here.

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