Dhruv Rodrigues Chico will make a belated defence of his Stawell Gift title.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Rodrigues Chico ran to victory in 2019, but COVID-19 meant he was unable to return to Central Park last year with the Stawell Easter Carnival called off.
He is on of three finalists from two years ago entered for the rich 120m.
Leonard King, who finished second, and fifth-place Conor Loughnan are also among 127 entries for the Gift on April 3-5
Four past Stawell Gift winners are returning.
In addition to Melbourne-based Rodrigues Chico, Tasmanian Jacob Despard (2018), Isaac Dunmall (2016), of Queensland, and veteran Aaron Stubbs (2009) from NSW have entered.
Rodrigues Chico has been steady on this season's abbreviated Victorian Athletic League circuit.
He won the Frankston Gift over 70m, was a Parkdale 120m Gift finalist, and Frankston 100m semi-finalist and Meadowglen 120m Gift semi-finalist.
King and Loughnan have not competed in Victoria this year.
Entries also feature this season's Burnie Gift winner Aaron Leferink.
He was also third to Despard in a 100-yard final at Penguin.
The Stawell Women's 120m Gift has attracted 78 entries, including 2019 winner Alexia Loizou.
Runner-up from that year Sophie Fighera and Hana Basic, who was fifth, are also among entries.
Fighera won the Meadowglen Open 200m Gift in December and in her only VAL meet since has finished in the Wangaratta Women's 120m Gift final.
Basic was a star of the Tasmanian Christmas Carnivals - winning a women's 100-yard championship at Penguin and Burnie Women's Gift.
Ballarat's Grace O'Dwyer and Holly Dobbyn are the only other past Stawell Women's Gift winners pursuing a second success in the race this year.
The VAL calendar continues with the Warrnambool Gift on Saturday and Ballarat Gift on Sunday and next Monday.
