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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-09-25 Daily Xml
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AUSTRALIAN INTERNATIONAL PEDAL PRIX

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (16:34): Following on from the member for Mawson's contribution about pedal power, I would like to talk about another sort of cycling event. Each year South Australia holds a fantastic event which I can thoroughly recommend to all MPs as something to support. In schools throughout nearly every electorate, teams work year round for the final stage of the Australian International Pedal Prix, which is the world's largest pedal-powered vehicle race. It is held annually in Murray Bridge—and it was last weekend. Stage 3 is held over three days. Mayor Arbon and the member for Hammond (and I found out later the Hon. Mark Parnell) were in attendance for almost perfect weather. Luckily for us and the competitors, the wind did die down on Saturday afternoon and, after a very cold night during which teams consolidated their starts, all went uneventfully and very well.

Andrew McLachlan and the entire board and committee of volunteers who make this event happen have my highest admiration for the professional way in which this event is staged and improved each year. There are too many people to name individually. However, I can assure the house that each had little rest over the weekend and worked tirelessly to make sure the thousands of people involved in the competing teams had the best weekend possible.

The estimated number of people visiting Murray Bridge for the event exceeded 25,000. More than 230 teams from schools and groups across the nation were involved. Interstate teams included students from the Good Shepherd School in the Northern Territory who travelled down by bus. The team was making its second appearance. It was started by a teacher who had previous involvement with Pedal Prix but who has now moved on to another school. However, he left such a strong culture in the school that the team continues to travel down.

It is the culture of Pedal Prix that makes it such a special event. One team's bike actually melted en route, but an all-nighter and efforts from other people helped to see the team on the start line in the morning. Bikes are designed and built by teachers, students, family and friends using many skills in engineering, technical expertise and IT modelling. Machines then need to be powered, so fitness becomes a key component for the students who learn team discipline and the skill of not only piloting but also powering their vehicle around the slightly more than two-kilometre track.

There were 247 vehicles on Ponde Straight at the beginning of the race, when Formula 1 Grand Prix treasure Glen Dix waved off the field. Amazing records were set, with the fastest vehicle clocking 2.29—which, I am the told, is the equivalent 70 km/h. The most laps completed was 475, just ahead of our second-placed South Australian team TAFE SA's BlueShift, which completed 474 laps. I am told that this equals about 1,021 kilometres for the 24-hour event.

The winner in category 1 was the team Tru Blu from Mount Martha in Victoria. Categories 2 and 3 were won by secondary teams from Flora Hill—again from Victoria. The primary category was won by Aberfoyle Hub Primary School's Flying Hubcaps team, which completed 339 laps or 729 kilometres. They are part of a truly awesome organisation, and I congratulate them.

Schools from the Florey electorate did a fantastic job, both on the weekend and for the entire series. Modbury High School had bikes in categories 2, 3 and 4. In category 2, Lynx was 39th on the weekend, 30th in its category and 95th overall. Old scholars in Eco Rider—for the first time in category 4—finished 19th on the weekend, 11th in its category and 28th overall in the entire series. In category 3, Cheetah was 14th on the weekend and overall 12th and 31st. Also, in category 3 the team in Pink Panther was 23rd on the weekend, 18th in its category and 49th overall in the series. Most importantly, Pink Panther was the winning girls' team in the event. I am incredibly proud of them. The girls from Modbury High School comprise the best girls team in Australia. I congratulate Wayne Ferguson and the great team at Modbury High School who have maintained their commitment to the excellence of the team for so many years. They certainly deserve their success.

Also dedicated and committed over many years and my initial connection with Pedal Prix is the team from The Heights school. Although not enjoying the smooth run for which they hoped, they worked hard with Quasar in category 2 finishing 60th on the weekend, 42nd in its category and 140th overall. In category 1, Phoenix finished 71st on the weekend, 70th and 230th overall. I know that Paul Gunner and the gang will be back with bigger and better ideas next year. They also helped country high schools get teams together.

Ardtornish competed in category 1 and went well to finish the 24 hours in 75th place on the weekend. They had only nine riders in their small support set-up. However, the bike was always on the track and did not have any mechanical or crash issues. Spokesperson Elaine said that all the participants had a really good time and had been spreading the word about how good it is being in Pedal Prix. Hopefully, this will see the size of the team expand in 2009.

We also had a team from St Paul's College. My friend Roy Van Poppal and Jim Holmes and the team in COGS competed in category 3, finishing 44th, 29th and 94th overall.

Time expired.

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