East Maitland’s Kara Bull will be up against a star-studded line up in her bid to win a second Queanbeyan Gift this weekend.

Bull, who won the event in 2011, will line up alongside the likes of national sprint champion Melissa Breen, Olympic 400m runner Lauren Boden, former women’s Stawell Gift victor Melissa Howard, 2012 Bay Sheffield Gift winner Gemma Grigg and Queanbeyan title holder Emma Yates.

Breen will start from scratch, while Bull has a mark of 14.25 metres in the 120m race with eight heats scheduled for Saturday and finals will be run at Town Park on Sunday (2.15pm).

The Queanbeyan Gift is the richest women’s footrace in Australia with $16,000 worth of prize money on offer, up 60 per cent from the $10,000 won by Bull two years ago.

The purse is equal to that of the men’s event, which will feature Largs athlete Jack Newman (8m) in the mix with defending champion Dean Scarff and backmarker Jake Hammond.

The men’s 10 heats start on Saturday with semi-finals following on Sunday and the final set down for 2.30pm.

Bull and Newman will take part in other events including the shorter 70m and longer 300m races.

Newman’s twin brother Tom will also be in action across the weekend along with Tenambit’s Luke Eckford.