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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-09-25 Daily Xml
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PEDAL PRIX

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:30): Today, I would like to elaborate on preliminary remarks on last weekend's UniSA's Human Powered Vehicle Super Series, or as it is known to all of us, the Pedal Prix 24-hour endurance heat at Murray Bridge's Sturt Reserve. Firstly, I would like to congratulate Andrew McLachlan and his board for their exceptional efforts in producing such an outstanding finale to the 2013 series. It was just a fantastic culmination for their efforts. The dedication and the contribution Pedal Prix makes to the rural city of Murray Bridge and South Australian community in general is absolutely enormous.

Andrew knows the event gives teachers, parents and children the opportunity to work together to finish 24 hours and it is truly a very big task. The preparation that is required to get riders ready to finish the event is extensive, particularly the elite-level athletes, a lot of whom are actually triathlete bike riders or mountain racers, and they extend their training to take part in this series. The really fit people are doing stints of about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes at speeds of about 50 kilometres an hour around the circuit, which is no mean feat and pretty impressive, particularly to someone who cannot ride a bicycle.

The event's improvement—it has gone from strength and strength and is much more professional since its early days and their first event in 1986. Paul Richards, the beloved announcer, works all day and most of the night living what he calls a captivating event every single year. Many schools in Florey participate in the event, and it is always great to be there to wish them well at the start and to see them on Sunday morning after the long cold night and hear their stories of courage, adversity and triumph.

The report in The Advertiser by Steve Rice gives us some amazing statistics and an insight into the race. There are 3,000 racers who participate in 222 teams. There is an estimated 20,000 back-up crew and crowd attending to support these people, and this year was the 27th event. It was won by the Victorian team called Tru Blu Racing, its second consecutive win in the open title with a race record of 524 laps covering a staggering 1,083.6 kilometres. Full results are not yet available on the web, but I am able to tell you that Pembroke School took out both the junior and upper secondary categories and that Crafers Primary won the primary category.

Florey has some pretty impressive statistics. In category 1, East Para Primary School came third overall in its section in its machine called the Chain Gang with 327 laps. Ardtornish Primary in the Ard Rocket came 42nd overall with 239 laps and the Heights School's Quasar came 61st overall with 173 laps. Category 2 saw Modbury High's Lynx place 16th with 321 laps, and the Heights School had Pulsar at No. 40 with 261 and Odyssey at 51 with 219 laps. Category 3 saw St Paul's College, the COGS team, come 23rd overall with 343 laps. Modbury High, the all-girls team the Pink Panthers (and we really do congratulate them), came 26th overall with 337 laps, and Modbury High's Cheetah came 31st on 329 laps. I do not know yet how many of the other girls teams were ahead of Pink Panthers, but they do extremely well on a very limited budget.

In category 4, Modbury High's Wild Cat was placed 28th with 366 laps, which is very, very good, and the Heights School's Thor came 48th overall in their section with 280 laps. There are far too many people at each school to thank individually; however, each school principal and governing council is 100 per cent behind their school's campaign because of the marvellous opportunity the event gives participating students. There are so many ways students can be involved, including design and IT, fitness and nutrition, logistics and planning, maintenance, and of course, as the human power that powers the vehicles.

Even though they are tired as they pack up, I know the teams of parents and students are already making plans and working on ideas for next year. I am truly proud to be involved with everyone who makes Pedal Prix happen and assure them of my continuing interest and eagerness to see them come back into action for heat 1 in 2014. Major sponsor UniSA will be holding a heat at Mawson Lakes campus in 2014, and I would like to acknowledge UniSA's commitment to what is obviously such a remarkable opportunity to partner in an event that delivers so much to everyone who takes part.

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