Central Park roared to life this Easter Long Weekend as record-breaking crowds witnessed the incredible spectacle of the 143rd Powercor Stawell Gift Carnival — a thrilling fusion of history, tradition, and elite athleticism.
Proudly produced by Mana Sports and Entertainment Group, the event delivered extraordinary results in every arena. An astonishing 1.5 Million viewers tuned into the coverage across Seven and 7Plus, with an average of 537,000 viewers during the Easter Monday coverage. All metropolitan market audiences doubled from 2024. In the digital space fans couldn’t look away with a 400% year-on-year increase in streaming consumption across the three-day livestream on 7Plus.
The draw of Australia’s elite track stars including Gout Gout, Lachlan Kennedy and Bree Rizzo saw the largest crowds in decades flock to Central Park. More than 6,000 were in the house for the Easter Monday finals creating an electric, carnival-like atmosphere.
History was also created on the track with Olympic semi-finalist Bree Rizzo lighting up the track on Easter Monday to win the Powercor Women’s Gift from the historic scratch mark, becoming just the second woman to do so after Melissa Breen in 2012. Her win also marked a historic moment for the event as she and husband and 2017 champion Matt Rizzo became the first married couple to both claim a Stawell Gift crown.
“It’s such an honour to win this historic and prestigious event,” said Bree. “And to win off scratch is just amazing. I’m sure Matt and I are going to put both our sashes together on the wall at home.”
In the Powercor Stawell Gift, Adelaide’s John Evans stunned the field and the crowd, clocking 11.94 seconds off a 9.75m handicap to take out the men’s title. The powerful sprinter earned his place in the final by holding out fan-favourite Gout Gout in a stacked semi-final, before holding off Jasper Thomas (2nd, 12.07 off 6.5m) and Mitchell O’Neill (3rd, 12.112 off 4.75m) in a sizzling finale.
Full results for the weekend’s heats and finals are available on the Powercor Stawell Gift website here.
Mana Sports and Entertainment Group is the executive producer of the Powercor Stawell Gift, in collaboration with Stawell Gift Event Management, the Victorian Government, naming rights partner, Powercor, the Stawell Athletic Club, Victorian Athletic League, the Northern Grampians Shire Council and strategic partners including adidas, Visit Grampians and Lion Co.
The 143rd Powercor Stawell Gift Carnival built on the incredible time-honoured tradition of Stawell and blazed a trail forward for generations to come. Mana has produced the Powercor Stawell Gift since 2017 and is proud to continue our pivotal role in a new extended contract, which takes our production rights through to the 2031 event.
