IN-FORM Ballarat sprinter Joel Bee will start as the backmarker in Saturday’s Wangaratta Gift.
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Bee will run off 0.75m after producing a barnstorming performance to take out the recent $5000 St Albans Gift.
“He’s flying,” carnival spokesman Wally Pasquali said.
“He had a win the other day and is running really well.”
Melbourne’s Nathan Riali will run off 3m while Ryan McNamara is off 4.75m in the $8000 race.
Defending champion Paul Tancredi will be looking to back up last year’s performance with a strong run off 6m.
Wangaratta’s Paul Hughes and Peechelba’s Nick MacGibbon will head the North East assault while several Canberra runners have also entered.
“Entries are really good this year,” Pasquali said.
“We increased the prizemoney and there has been a strong response.
“It should be a good day.”
Gift heats will start at 6.28pm with semi-finals to follow at 7.25pm.
The 120m final is the last event on the program at 10pm.
Four hundred entries have been taken for the foot-running events in the 96th carnival with Wangaratta Sports Club manager Graeme Taylor excited by the turn-out.
Several changes have been made to compensate for the loss of the cycling.
The wood-chopping will be held in the Norm Minns Oval arena for the first time while entry is free this year in a bid to bolster the crowd and give sponsors more exposure.
World champion axemen Brayden Meyer and Laurence O’Toole have entered along with Victorian Timbersport team members David Coffey, David McIntosh and Jarryd Williams.
Meyer and O’Toole were members of the Australian Chopperoos team that won at the Stihl Timberspot World Championships in Germany last year.
Wangaratta’s Bryce Willoughby should also be prominent.
“It’s going to be a different carnival in many ways but we think the program has come up well,” he said.
The action starts at 1pm with 70m heats.
Some of the other major events are the footballers and netballers 100m finals, 800m open final, 300mm open standing block final, 120m women’s final, 300m open underhand hcp final, 250mm open standing block final, 325mm underhand championship final, VCCL 3200m handicap final, 400m women’s final and George Underwood 400m open final.
