In what is another advancement for women’s sport in Victoria, winners on both sides will receive $12, 500 dollars for crossing the line first.

The change follows the footsteps of the Stawell Gift, which introduced equal money rewards earlier this year.

Vice president of the Ballarat Athletic Club Matt Wiltshire said the aim was to attract more female athletes to February’s race.

“Looking at the success of the Stawell Gift, with the women’s money being raised up to the equal of the men’s, we’re hoping to really encourage women in sport throughout Ballarat,” Wiltshire said.

“It’s been on the cards for a while now. We increased it (the women’s prize money) last year from $2,500 to $5000. This year we have taken that next step to make it equal across the board.

“It’s something that we’ve really tried to put forward as a positive for women to give it a go.”

Wiltshire also said the Ballarat Gift represents a terrific prospect for young female athletes from the area.

“There are a massive amount of girls and for them to run in such a high level event in front of their local fans, it’s going to be really exciting,” he said.

Among those set to compete in the race are Grace O’Dwyer, Holly Dobbyn and Tara Domaschenz.

O’Dwyer, who won the most recent Stawell Gift women’s race, is currently training hard for the races ahead.

She said the adjustment made to the Ballarat Gift was a terrific result for local female runners.

“For our own hometown gift to have more than doubled the prize money, it’s great,” O’Dwyer said.

2014 Stawell Gift winner Dobbyn, who will soon resume full training after suffering a recent injury setback, agreed with O’Dwyer.

“It’s really exciting. It’s good to see that, since Stawell, the gifts are working to make sure the girls get extra prize money,” Dobbyn said. 

Domaschenz, a dual Stonnington women’s Gift winner, is also nursing an injury.

She said she is thrilled about the possibilities the new prize money could bring.

“It’s very exciting,” Domaschenz said.

“It’ll be good to see if other gifts like Maryborough could come up too, because we definitely then get more competition with women. It makes the whole sport grow and gets the juniors coming up.

“And that’s what the big aim is. It’s not just for what we are at the moment but also for trying to develop the sport as a whole.”

Domaschenz also said attracting greater competition to the event would only be a good thing.

“When you win, it’s obviously against who your competition is. If you’re competing against top athletes, then if you win it makes your success a lot better and a lot more rewarding,” she said.