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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-09-24 Daily Xml
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Pedal Prix

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:40): Last weekend, the member for Hammond and I attended the final race in the 2014 season of the international human-powered vehicle Pedal Prix. We joined thousands to watch the dramatic final shootout laps to decide who would claim pole position in this wonderful event that attracts people and teams from all over Australia to what is now an iconic South Australian event that has been running since 1984.

Traditionally, the final is held in the great Rural City of Murray Bridge—one of the few places that can accommodate an event of this size—and mayor Allan Arbon was on hand to greet us. The riverboats moored along the banks of the Sturt Reserve are a majestic site and important accommodation for many officials and teams. This year though, some of the riverboats departed earlier for the Chowilla 150th commemoration event, as mentioned by the member for Chaffey in his contribution, and they looked equally majestic on the TV news that evening.

Andrew McLachlan and the board of the International Pedal Prix, all of whom are volunteers, work above and beyond every year to make sure this fantastic event is always bigger and better. Andrew and his team and all the volunteers around the track, behind the scenes and with every team on the course make Pedal Prix happen, and we owe them a great deal of gratitude.

Special mention to track announcer Paul Richards for the work he does every year. He has been a mainstay for as long as I can remember, and he puts his heart and soul into every day he is on the track, and with music all through the event. A special thank you must also go to major sponsor UniSA and all the other sponsors involved in some way or another from helping the teams get their bikes on the track to supplying food for the riders and the team administration and helpers. They all play a big part, and we say a very big thank you to each and every one of them.

Everyone involved in Pedal Prix takes the event, run over several heats, very seriously, and the only thing every person takes more seriously than the event is safety. Each bike is checked for not only mechanical integrity but also for safety aspects. For an event of this size, and with the complexity of such an event because there are four categories of bikes and riders on the track at any one time, they have had an enviable safety record over the years despite weather conditions that play havoc with the bikes and human error which, of course, no-one can do anything much to control.

This is not to say that, whenever an accident happens, there are not reviews on procedures. This would be a part of every annual debrief, I am sure, and everyone hopes that each competitor has a safe and enjoyable experience. I certainly hope that this weekend's incidents have not resulted in injuries that will prevent the competitors being part of this great event again next year.

The Pedal Prix lap at Murray Bridge is 2.15 kilometres. There are four categories: category 1 for primary school children up to year 7; category 2, junior secondary, where they are under 16; category 3 for senior secondary, where everyone must be under the age of 19; and category 4 for those who exceed that age limit.

There are restrictions on how many riders can be in teams at the various levels. I know that there are old scholars teams now that some of the schools put on the track as well as private or non-institutional teams, and these are the teams who have the fastest riders and the best machines. This section has only 10 riders per vehicle, and that means that they are not all as energetic as they might be by the end of it.

Weather has sometimes been unkind, but we had warm weather this year. The shootout for grid position sees the top four teams in every category vie for starting advantage. With 216 teams competing, the start is very important. This year's starters were Rod Spurling and Alex Moncrieff. Each has a longstanding link to Pedal Prix. They are retiring from their very hands-on roles and no doubt will continue supporting the event in other ways.

I am proud to inform the house that East Para Primary School, after a great series, was in the shootout and qualified 11th fastest overall. Their team Chain Gang finished 73rd overall with 335 laps and a fastest lap of three minutes 10 seconds—as good a time as many senior schools and only 20 seconds outside the time of Florey's top high school. Congratulations go to principal Bob Greaves and everyone who has embraced the event because of the opportunities it gives students at so many levels.

Other Florey schools also did us proud. Modbury High's Fast Cats racing team had the most teams in the entire event and was the top-finishing Florey school with Fat Cat at 42nd with 367 laps overall, Lynx came 82nd overall, Wildcat came 90th, Cheetah 97th and Pink Panther—the all-girls team—was 112th. While there were many people involved, I hope that Wayne Ferguson will pass on my congratulations to everyone, especially principal Martin Rumsby, who I am told rode as part of the Old Scholars team this year.

The Heights School had Thor at 132nd overall, Pulsar 169th and Odyssey 202nd. Quasar obviously had some problems as they finished 216th with only 69 laps completed. I believe that The Heights School is the only school to have a bike in each category. The school celebrated Roger Button's 25th Pedal Prix, a commendable record probably not equalled by anybody else. Congratulations to Roger.

Ardtornish Primary School is one of the other schools in my area. They had the Ard Rocket II, and they came 167th. St Paul's College came in at 65th. Well done to Mr Holmes and the crew. I commend University SA for recognising the value of Pedal Prix. I know that Vice Chancellor David Lloyd has taken a keen interest in the event, and I certainly hope that their sponsorship is renewed and continues for many years to come.

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