THE richest road race on the professional running calender will be on tomorrow when a field of 96 contests the RetireInvest Eaglehawk to Bendigo.The winner of the 6500 m showdown will pocket $1000.Ararat’s Josh Bywaters will chase back-to-back victories when the race starts from near the Eaglehawk Town Hall at noon and wind its way along Eaglehawk Road and down Barnard Street before finishing near the entrance to the Tom Flood Sports Centre on Park Road.A group of 19 athletes from Bendigo, which includes RetireInvest’s George Flack will chase a hometown victory.Among the Bendigo hopes will be Greg Hilson, winner of the Eaglehawk to Bendigo in 2004.Olympic marathon runner Sean Quilty will be the backmarker and chase the likes of AFL boundary umpire Robbie Haala and evergreen veteran Mark Hipworth.A third placegetter in last month’s Greenvale 8000 m, Hipworth will start favourite in tomorrow’s race.Hipworth played football for Hawthorn in the late 1970s before he focused on professional athletics.He was a finalist in the Stawell Gift in 1984.Hipworth has won professional races on the VAL circuit from sprints to the 3200 m.He raced in the Bendigo distance series held in conjuction with the Bendigo International Madison athletics-cycling carnival for many years.Hilson will start off the same mark as Hipworth.Both had some great duels on the track last summer.Other BAC runners to be in the mix include Rob McDonald, Chook Stewart, Nick Crome and Lee McCullagh. Rob McDonald has been the form runner with BAC recently and will start 10 seconds ahead of Hipwoth and HilsonHandicaps for tomorrow’s RetireInvest Eaglehawk to Bendigo, 6500 m: Go Christine Hodges, Allan McCullen, Garry Saunders, Rhonda Schultz, Julie Torrini, Ang Wilson; 10 secs Cor Pleysier; 50 Gaynor Radovic; 1.00 Laura Quilty; 1.10 Janine McKerron, Joe Brown; 1.25 Leanne Callaghan; 1.50 David Jacka.2.00 Nicole Parkes, Fiona Ely; 2.50 Roy McKenzie, Rob Howlett.3.00 Adrian VanRaaphorst, Charles Taylor, Nick Harding; 3.10 Les Hodges, Ray O’Connor, Richard Schultz; 3.35 Carolyn Fox, Laura Hurstfield; 3.50 Lyn Crome, Caitlyn Filby, Alan Karfut, Tony Sait.4.00 Laura Reynolds; 4.10 Richard Banks; 4.25 Gavin Muir; 4.35 Wayne Davis, Steve Baird; 4.50 Keith Lofthouse, Ged Smith. 5.00 Sharee Sharam, Joel Le Busque; 5.10 Greg Whitecross, Gary Mowat, Dennis Hughes, George Flack; 5.35 Gary Parkes, Justin Schultz.6.00 Wolf Heiden, Tony Rendina; 6.10 Bree Fiscalini, Jeff Sharam, Les Mollard, Austin Beamish, Sean Beer, Mark Findlay; 6.25 Jim Peterson; 6.35 John Bailey, Peter LeBusque, Garry Rice.7.00 David Woods, Mark O’Brien; 7.10 Peter Bence, Terry Crome, Chook Stewart, Josh Bywaters; 7.25 Craig Harris (174), Jim Berrington, Chris Brown, Marcus Boxall; 7.35 Chris Barwick; 7.50 David Ottery, Matthew Bateman.8.00 Rob McDonald, David Milligan, Andrew Soltys, Duncan Whitford, Adrian Wrout; 8.10 Ben Bailey, Greg Foran, Craig Harris (343), Greg Hilson, Mark Hipworth, Hugo Sarpa; 8.25 Cartha McKerrow; 8.35 David Page; 8.50 Nick Crome, Colin Davis, Tim Frampton, David Haig, Tony Moran, Josh Sait.9.00 Simon Gallagher, Brett Hayes; 9.25 Brendan Liddicoat; 9.35 Lee McCullagh. 10.10 Rob Haala, Matthew Taylor; 10.25 Aaron Howlett; 10.50 Michael Marantelli; 11.10 Sean Quilty.