TERANG Athletic Club's committee is hopeful of a strong return event in 2021 after this year's gift was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The club confirmed in September the 15th consecutive running of the Victorian Athletic League event, which usually is held in November, had been cancelled.
There was an option to run the event in January or February like the Warrnambool Gift confirmed on Thursday but the Terang Athletic club decided to wait until next season.
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Club president Ken Plummer said there was a number of factors behind the committee's decision to cancel.
"We have ran it for 14 consecutive years so it's disappointing but it was a unanimous decision by our committee," he said.
"We were worried with the pandemic, like everyone else, and we couldn't call on our sponsors twice in one year by running in January and then again in November.
"The concern for the committee is our sponsors have been tremendous supporters and appreciate what they have been going through.
"There was also a concern with the ground prep. In November we are mowing and line marking and we do that ourselves but in January we will have to water it, mow it and also the footballers would be getting on it and there it will cause a bit of clash.
"Bringing in athletes was also a bit of concern with it still being unknown (with restrictions) going into next year and it's going to go on for a little while."
The TAC is committed to returning better than ever next November.
"We are looking forward to it and we figure we can cancel it one year if Stawell did cancel their one this year," he said.
"We are looking at refining our sponsors program. Being a small town we are fortunate with the number and quality of sponsors we attract.
"We are also looking at our junior program as well. We normally do training for juniors in term four and one and it looks like term four won't go ahead but we will look to start again in term one.
"We have had a few zoom meetings and we are discussing a few more refinements for next year."
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Sean Hardeman
I'm a sports journalist for the Warrnambool Standard who covers a number of different sports across the south-west of Victoria. I enjoy watching cycling, surfing, football, soccer and Formula 1.
I'm a sports journalist for the Warrnambool Standard who covers a number of different sports across the south-west of Victoria. I enjoy watching cycling, surfing, football, soccer and Formula 1.
