HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Subject Index
Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-02-09 Daily Xml
Contents
Pdf Xml

MATTERS OF INTEREST

TOUR DOWN UNDER

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (15:25): I rise today to celebrate the truly South Australian event that was this year's Santos Tour Down Under. As we all know, South Australians enjoy an enviable lifestyle, free from the infrastructure, transport and other issues that presently make life more difficult in some other states. Our climate and our amenity are superb, our capital city very liveable and our regional areas highly varied. It is these attributes that provide us with so many opportunities for participation in our state's internationally recognised array of festivals, sporting and other public events.

Just recently, from 16-23 January, the city enjoyed the best Santos Tour Down Under yet. This event has taken off amazingly. It was on the 10th anniversary of the tour in 2008 that we joined the UCI Pro Tour Circuit, attracting more than half a million spectators and creating economic benefits in excess of $17 million. In 2009, the tour attracted 760,000 attendees, including more than 36,000 event specific visitors. The Mutual Community Challenge Tour attracted more than 7,000 participants.

Overall, the 2009 event generated a staggering $39 million for the South Australian economy. This was, of course, the year that cycling superstar, Lance Armstrong, came back, right here in Adelaide, which was a real coup for our state and, indeed, for Australia. Last year was even bigger. Economic impact and research studies indicate that there were 770,500 spectators, including nearly 40,000 event specific visitors from interstate and overseas and that the positive economic impact of the tour and related activities was $41.5 million.

It is a bit of a shame that all the opposition can worry about is how much it costs to get Lance to the state. Meanwhile, the Mutual Community Challenge Tour attracted a record 8,099 participants. Subsequently, the 2010 tour was named Australia's best tourism event at the inaugural Australian Events Awards in Sydney. And this year, 16-23 January saw the biggest cycling race in the southern hemisphere take place in fine style.

Now a premium tourist event in South Australia, the tour welcomed back numerous past visitors as well as new fans to watch the world's best riders compete both in the city and through our beautiful regional areas, including world-beaters like Lance, Tyler Farrer, Francesco Chicchi, sprint rivals Andre Greipel and Mark Cavendish and Australia's own Cameron Meyer and Michael Matthews, among six young fellow countrymen finishing in the top 20 in general classification.

The event had a special significance because the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, champion cyclist and cancer survivor, made this year's Adelaide Tour his international farewell to professional cycling. The Lance Armstrong Foundation aims to give 28 million people with cancer around the world the resources and the support they need to fight cancer head on.

It was at the Royal Adelaide Hospital that the Lance Armstrong Foundation launched its Livestrong Global Cancer Campaign in 2009. Livestrong funds research, raises awareness and aims to end the stigma that can surround cancer. Lance said:

I will never forget the reception we received in Adelaide when we kicked off the Livestrong campaign.

Awareness of cancer research has received a real boost from our Tour Down Under. This year's Mutual Community challenge tour encouraged participants, whether they embarked on the 35-kilometre ride from Macclesfield to Strathalbyn or the full 135 kilometres from Norwood to Ride for a Reason, to dedicate their ride for a cancer sufferer and raise funds for the Cancer Council in his or her honour. The Livestrong foundation's work will go on, despite the retirement of its founder from the international pro-cycling scene. The Tour Down Under will go from strength to strength.

Preliminary estimates indicate that this year's event will prove to have been even more successful than the previous years, both locally and internationally. The associated coverage of our city and regions in the European, Middle Eastern, Asian and North American media is invaluable. South Australia truly looks outward to the world, and the Tour Down Under is a prime example. Some may call our state the small cousin, but clearly we are punching well above our weight, and in my view that is worth celebrating.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT