Mr Harrison will lead the club’s executive committee for the next year after being elected to the role at the club’s annual meeting on Monday.

He replaces Kieren McIntosh, who will move to the general committee and sub-committees.

Neil Blizzard will continue as the club’s vice-president.

​Mr Harrison has been involved with the club for about three years, serving as ground manager for the past two.

He has also held executive positions on a number of other Stawell clubs and associations.

Mr Harrison, a former police officer, has lived in Stawell for about 34 years.

“I served 16 years at both Stawell Police Station and Halls Gap Police Station,” he said.

Mr Harrison said it was a great feeling to be a part of something so iconic to the town.

“It is a great honour to be chosen to lead the Stawell Athletic Club,” he said.

The 138th running of the Stawell Gift will be hosted on Saturday, April 20 to Monday, April 22.

Mr Harrison said spectators can also expect a return of the well received Emergency Services Challenge.

“For the second year in a row we will be hosting the challenge again next year,” he said. 

Earlier in 2018 Athletics Australia announced it is exploring a left-field idea to stage the Nitro athletics event at the Stawell Gift.

The idea was put forward to combine the oldest foot race with the youngest team-based athletics concept during the Easter long weekend in April.

The logistics of staging a teams base track and field on a grass football and cricket oval in a country town would appear difficult to overcome, but the option is being explored.

Mr Harrison said the idea is still under consideration from Athletics Australia at this stage.

Although Nitro will not be on the same scale as two seasons ago when it was an international event with high profile athletes headed by Usain Bolt, it would be a major boost for the Stawell Gift.

“The Stawell Athletic Club would welcome this event to the program if it was to be approved,” he said.

The Stawell Athletic Club has been responsible for staging the Stawell Gift in all but four years since 1878 and has built the iconic and historic race into one of the world’s most famous and prestigious foot races.

Mr Harrison said he is expecting this to be a very busy 12 months for him.

“I am really looking forward to working with the executive, general committee and the many sponsors and supporters we have,” he said.