Fourteen runners will cross the border to take part in South Australia's showcase sprint event. It will mark the first time the Pod Squad has competed since the Bendigo Gift in March.

"We are hoping to get someone into the final of the women's gift and we are hoping to do well in the 550-metre event," Pod Squad coach Peter O'Dwyer said.

The meet, held in Glenelg, is the second biggest running event in Australia, surpassed only by the Stawell Gift.

Twenty thousand dollars worth of prize money will be up for grabs in the 120-metre showcase event - and the Pod Squad is not without hopefuls.

Tara Domaschenz, Holly Dobbyn and former Stawell Gift champions Grace O'Dwyer and Tiana Shillitois will all be competitive in the women's category. It could also pay to watch youngsters Chloe Kinserly and Halle Martin.

"Tiana is going to be a reasonable chance, she was in form at the end of last year. Grace is in reasonable form as well," O'Dwyer said.

Meanwhile in the men, O'Dwyer said Hugh Hoffmann, Dan Martin, Pat Martin, Stuart Aberdeen and Lincoln Barnes were all in good shape.

He expected Dan Martin to be competitive in the 70-metre sprint, while Aberdeen and Pat Martin should fare well in the 550-metres.

O'Dwyer expected a bigger turnout than usual this year.

With Victorian-based events such as the Daylesford Gift and Maryborough Gift cancelled due to COVID-19, O'Dwyer said a bigger interstate turnout would be on show at Glenelg.

"Running season usually starts in October with amateur races, and the gifts usually start in November," he said.

"There has only been one small gift that's taken place this season to date."

O'Dwyer said it would be a wide open field this year, as athletes look to find form following an extended layoff owing to COVID-19. He said two thirds of the Victorian Athletic League had been cut short.

"We have been impacted quite significantly," he said.

"We couldn't train together initially because the maximum group size was 10, which made it hard because we have a big squad.

"We couldn't get into gyms to do our structured strength and conditioning programs so that was relatively difficult as well."

O'Dwyer said after the outbreak of the pandemic, Pod Squad members were split into pairs to train. Despite the difficulties, he said most had trained consistently throughout the winter months.

"Some of them have done the work, some of them haven't so it's a really mixed bag," he said.

Following the Bay Sheffield Footrace, the Pod Squad will turn its attention to a number of Victorian-based events.

It will attend the Warrnambool Gift, which will take place on January 2, followed closely by Geelong and Wangaratta. The Ballarat Gift will be held on February 13.