After countless years on the Ten Network, Australia’s oldest and richest foot race the Stawell Gift is coming LIVE to the Seven Network on Easter Monday.
Seven and the event promoter Twenty3 Sport and Entertainment and the Stawell Athletic Club have reached a multi-year agreement for coverage of the footrace that was first run in 1878 at Stawell’s Central Park.
Seven, across its network will deliver two and a half hours of coverage on Easter Monday (prior to its Easter Monday AFL coverage), including the event’s marquee race the Stawell Gift – which is run on grass over 120m up a slight gradient. Unlike other races on the athletic circuit the race is a handicap race, meaning the athletes start off various marks.
Seven Melbourne managing director Lewis Martin said:
“We’re absolutely rapt to be broadcasting another iconic Australian event. It will make for a brilliant day of Easter Monday sport for our viewers with the blockbuster Hawthorn versus Geelong match to follow the Stawell Gift.”
The move to Seven coincides with the announcement of Woolworths as the new naming rights sponsor for the event, after Australia Post stayed on as a sponsor but did not renew its naming rights sponsorship.
It is great to see that the annual Easter Monday foot race will remain on free-to-air with LIVE coverage nationally.
The Seven Network’s broadcast details for the Woolworths Stawell Gift on 6 April 2015, are as follows:
- Sydney 12pm LIVE on 7mate
- Melbourne 12pm LIVE on Channel 7
- Brisbane 12pm LIVE on 7mate
- Adelaide 11.30am LIVE on Channel 7
- Perth 10am LIVE on 7mate, 12pm LIVE on Channel 7
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Why are we watching pre-game coverage of a football game instead of the lead up to the biggest professional athletics event? Wish the event was back on channel 10.