Next year’s carnival will be held at the recently-refurbished facility after it was conducted successfully at Wendouree’s CE Brown Reserve in early 2018.

Ballarat Athletic Club committee member Peter Emerson said City Oval last hosted a Ballarat Gift meeting in the mid-1990s before stints at Northern Oval, Eastern Oval and last year in Wendouree.

Emerson felt the move would be well received by athletes and was proud that the club would offer equal prizemoney for male and female athletes across a number of same-distance events next year.

The Ballarat Gift and Ballarat Women’s Gift will both be worth $7600 in 2019, with more than $30,000 expected to be handed out in prizemoney across the two-day carnival.

Local sprinter Kate Jones achieved a long-term ambition when she won the Ballarat Women’s Gift earlier this year.

Jones was competing in her fifth Gift final and won narrowly over fellow Ballarat athlete Tara Domaschenz in a time of 14.050sec.

In the open feature, 17-year-old Luke Mitchell powered to victory in 12.418sec. He became the youngest winner in the race’s history.

The 2019 Ballarat Gift meeting has been scheduled for February 9-10.