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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-11-10 Daily Xml
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AUSTRALIAN (HUMAN POWERED VEHICLE) SUPER SERIES

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:28): It is my privilege to inform the house today about the results from this year's University of South Australia Australian (Human Powered Vehicle) Super Series. Along with the member for Hammond and his family, I was happy to be present on the final day.

Held over three weekends during the year, the HPV series features single-seat, human-powered vehicles, seen as an alternative transport for people seeking a healthy lifestyle that are able to be used on public roads. Heats 1 and 2 are held at Victoria Park, with the final round in the beautiful rural city of Murray Bridge recently deciding the series on 19 September.

It was a great honour for me to be given the task this year to wave off the field to start the 24-hour endurance phase. In the time-long tradition of other celebrities—notable amongst them Glen Dix of Grand Prix fame, our own Premier, and Patrick Jonker, who started this year's round 2—I did my best to give each competitor vehicle a flourish of the Australian flag to get them away. I must say, with a world record 220 vehicles powered by that many teams, 110 of which came from schools, with over 3,000 athletes in all, my arm felt how I imagine some of the legs must have felt at the end of each of their shifts. The University of South Australia's support for the event has meant that the core values it shares with Pedal Prix—education, development of sustainable communities, healthy lifestyles, communication and teamwork, and research and innovation—are nurtured and continue to grow.

University of South Australia students work across the event in support roles and benefit from putting the learning from their studies into action, and in some cases their support of the event counts towards their degree. I would like to thank the University of South Australia, for supporting Pedal Prix, and the senior staff who recognised and championed this association back in the very early days to what we see now as an ongoing commitment.

I would also like to commend event chairman Andrew McLachlan and his board and the entire Pedal Prix community who make this event an annual must for many reasons. Each team commits time and energy to fundraise to make their participation possible. Building the vehicle, organising IT to record all the results, fitness regimes to allow riders to be effective, parental supervision of all aspects (especially the set-up and pull down), and food preparation (which is ongoing through the entire year), and also the last-minute problem-solving that is needed to keep these machines going for 24 hours, give everybody involved a grounding and skill base that it would be difficult to surpass. Andrew and the board deserve our thanks and admiration for all they do.

The magnitude of the logistics required to stage the series each year are enormous. We should also thank Mayor Alan Arbon and the councillors of Murray Bridge for making their wonderful city home to this fabulous event. He and his wife, Pam, have always been very hospitable, and they have another special interest in this event in that their grandchildren attend Ardtornish Primary School, one of the schools that competed in category 1. Of course, that is one of the schools very close to the electorate of Florey, so, I share their interest as I do in the 13 other teams directly associated with my electorate.

Modbury High School has Puma, Cheetah, Cougar, Taco Lynx and the all-girls team of Pink Panther, of whom I am extremely proud. The Heights School has Phoenix, Odyssey, Quasar and Super Nova. Para Primary School has a team, as do Ardtornish and St Paul's College. I thank wholeheartedly the principals, support crews and team members for each of these vehicles.

The elite interstate senior teams again took honours. A spokesperson for the winning team, Tru Blue, said each of the team members first took part when they were at school and have been pursuing the sport keenly ever since. This long team commitment is evident all across the event.

I would like to especially thank people associated with the teams in the Heights School: 45 students, 45 parents and support groups, and committee members Roger Button, Jim Wallace, Paul Gunner, Robyn Davis and Janine MacDonald. Modbury High School has 36 students involved, with team manager Wayne Ferguson, teachers Lyn Gibbins and Charlotte Acton, and team managers, Ron Gibbins, Rob Greenhalgh, Greg Taylor and Kevin Clarke.

I hope that members check the list of the Pedal Prix schools and how close they are to the schools in their electorates. Next year, again, we will see three events, two in the city at Victoria Park. I urge you all to go down to have a look. It is one of these events that when you go down you become just as hooked as the people involved in the event. Unfortunately, the first event it is often held in cold, rainy conditions, but Murray Bridge often has very fine weather in a beautiful setting, right by the river. To see the amount of work that goes into the event is just amazing.

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