Lacey, Mannix-Power win rain-delayed Stawell Gifts

Lacey (9.5m) from Bayswater edged out fellow Victorian and backmarker Jake Ireland (5.5m) by the barest of margins in the 120m Gift on a rain-soaked track on Monday - more than two hours after the scheduled starting time.

The Stawell Gift and Stawell Women's Gift finals were in danger of not being run after a thunderstorm hit Central Park and left large sections of the oval, including the Gift track, under water.

Mannix-Power, a former beach sprinter from Queensland, came off the back mark of 4.25m to run down Ballarat's Chloe Kinnersly (9.75m) in the Women's Gift.

Kinnersly found herself in front late in the final, but had no answer to the finishing power of Mannix Power.

Heavy rain began falling straight after the Gift semi-finals were run earlier in the day.

Organisers chose to push ahead with the next event on the program, the 1000m invitational handicap, with drawcard Peter Bol charging home from the scratch mark to finish a close second behind Riley Bryce.

"Crazy weather but what a great event," said Bol, who was fourth in the 800m at the Tokyo Olympics.

"I haven't raced in rain like that since I was a kid. Congrats to Riley. I just left a little too much to do off the last bend. I felt I had a chance to catch him, but he was just a bit strong."

But with thunder and lightning in the local area and surface water covering the grass track in the middle of the oval, the men's and women's Gift finals were put on hold for more than two hours.

Concern arose that the feature Gift races would have to be cancelled or put off until Tuesday. But a short break in the weather at 4.30pm eventually provided a window for the two finals to be run, although many support events were cancelled.

Since its inception in 1878, only World War II and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 have prevented the Gift from taking place.

- With AAP