Everything needs to align: timing, fitness, preparation and just the right amount of adrenaline from the crowd.

Stawell is where running legends are made, like Grace O'Dwyer who overcame a field that included Australia's fastest female Melissa Breen to become the first athlete to take out the Women's Gift with prize money parity.

Three years earlier, in 2012, O'Dwyer's stablemate Matt Wiltshire captured the Gift crown and achieve a feat that had eluded his grandfather John Wiltshire, a favourite in 1958 before pulling his hamstring in the semi-finals.

And Stawell creates crushing heartbreak. City of Ballarat's new chief executive officer Evan King reached three Stawell GIft finals in the decade after his first in which he fell 0.1 second short of glory in 1997.

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Stawell Gift has been cleared to return with a 5000-strong crowd limit next month. It is a step towards what was normal and such a declaration this week creates a buzz not just in the Victorian Athletic League but across the nation's running community.

Undeniably, this adds weight to a blockbuster weekend's racing set to play out on Ballarat's City Oval.

Wiped by Victoria's snap lockdown, the Ballarat Gift carnival has been revived on the back off Warrnambool's unfinished business.

Every race counts - not just the headline acts. For Ballarat veteran Greg Whitecross, this is finally about reaching a milestone. Whitecross, who turns 68 in May, will chalk up his 400^th professional run in the Ballarat 300-metre masters handicap.

Whitecross only started running the circuit aged 49, more than two decades after doctors told him running would put him in a wheelchair. His right knee was, and still is, bone-on-bone.

Whitecross had been delivering pamphlets in Buninyong, walking lots of hills, when he decided to have a crack at running a lap of the lake. He clocked 29 minutes about Lake Wendouree and linked up with Ballarat's Australian 800m champion Col McCurry who coached him on to the professional circuit.

In his first race at Sandringham, Whitecross was a long last. He remembers legendary Ballarat running mentor Len Templar telling him you can get kicked for awhile, until you find your mark. Whitecross' game started to turn quickly.

Templar's advice sticks with Whitecross to this day.

To reach 400 races is a goal that has been on Whitecross' radar for some time. The pandemic wiped out Stawell and created a reduced season this past summer. He was sick with stomach issues at Christmas. Ballarat was cancelled, then postponed with enough time for Whitecross to get in enough training to compete.

Ballarat is special to Whitecross. He served on the Ballarat Gift committee for about 15 years.

"I've kept slogging away," Whitecross said. "If I don't win another race, that's fine. It's about being healthy, being fit and getting out in the fresh air for me."

Whitecross has claimed 12 sashes, including back-to-back wins in the Maryborough veterans' mile on New Year's Day 2014 and 2015. He won a 400m open title at Noble Park when a tumble dryer was thrown into the prize mix, adding a challenge to the drive home that night. His biggest win was the veterans' mile at Stawell in 2007.

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Handicapped running is designed in its purity for the field to cross the line at roughly the same time. To the untrained this can seem confusing, but those in the race know how much hard work it takes, how fit you have to be to capitalise on your mark to have a chance at glory when it counts.

Anyone who has seen Cathy Freeman mow down her rivals off scratch not once, but twice, in a Stawell 400m final can attest to the athleticism in her effort.

Stawell might be where seeming magic happens but Ballarat is an important step on the road to Central Park.

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