The Lancefield Gift event is set to be even bigger with the inaugural Lancefield Cup running event set to attract even more high class runners to Lancefield.
The gift returned last season for the first time since the 1960s, having first been held in the late 1800s.
Last year’s comeback meeting was hailed as one of the most successful events on the 2025 professional running calendar, drawing athletes from around Australia.
The $6000 Community Bank Lancefield Gift, which Lancefield Gift organiser Chris Dynon said has distinction of being Australia’s richest 400-metre race, as well as the feature sprint events that were the top guide for athletes preparing for the prestigious Stawell Gift at Easter with half the field in the men’s final coming out of the Lancefield final.
This year, organisers are building on that success with the introduction of the Lancefield Cup, a new 800 metre feature event that revives another chapter of local athletics history.
Since the late 1920s, one of the highlights of the Lancefield program was the half-mile race known as the Matthew Maher Handicap.
In honour of that event and its place in the town’s running heritage, the Lancefield committee has decided to reinvigorate the race under a new name, The Lancefield Cup, which will be sponsored by Nutrien Harcourts Kilmore.
“The 800 metres races are probably the most gut-wrenching races of them all,” Dynon said. “It’s the only race where nobody celebrates as they cross the line, they just collapse in exhaustion. It’s pure pain all the way.”
Last years 800 metres event was won by Aric Reimers, a rising star of Australian athletics who has his sights firmly set on competing at the Los Angeles Olympics.
His victory in a time of 1:55.6 was one of several standout performances.
“Last year was all about bringing the gift back proving that Lancefield could once again host a major professional running event,” Dynon said. “This year, it’s about growth. We’re honouring our history by reviving the old half-mile race, but also creating something fresh that we hope becomes a permanent fixture on the calendar.”
This year’s Lancefield gift and cup meeting promises another day of spectacular racing, with events beginning at noon and the big finals taking place between 5pm and 7pm on November 15 at Lancefield Park.
The day will also include spring events for men’s and women’s, with $5000 prize money on the line for both races.
Dynon said athletes from across the country are expected to compete for top honours, prize money and bragging rights in one of Australia’s most picturesque country settings.
