by Rhia Daniel

Victoria Park/Pakapakanthi (Park 16) is a magnet for dog lovers. On a cold sunny Saturday morning, you can often see many friendly dogs running about off-leash across the wide open spaces, with their walkers clutching their takeaway coffees.

With a stunning backdrop of trees and high-rise City buildings, the space feels like it’s simultaneously separate from city hustle and bustle but also within walking distance of the CBD.

The north-eastern corner of Victoria Park/Pakapakanthi (Park 16) includes a bitumen track used not only for annual motor sport events, but also for cycling and also for occasional “Human Powered Vehicle” (HPV) or “Pedal Prix” racing.

On the weekend of 17 and 18 June 2023, the circuit hosted the third round of the 2023 Australian HPV Super Series.

The Australian HPV Super Series is a competition staged by Australian International Pedal Prix Inc. It consists of five rounds in South Australia and one round in Western Australia.

The competition includes community teams and three categories for schools: (Junior, Middle, and Senior School students).

It was a long-awaited return to Victoria Park / Pakapakanthi (Park 16). The circuit had not been available for HPV events since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, because it had been commandeered for use as a COVID testing site for two years, up until July 2022.

The HPV Super Series attracts teams from rural and regional schools across South Australia, with each team making their own pedal carts or “trikes”.

Although the trikes often have similar bullet-like shapes, different levels of school funding can lead to variations in materials. When I competed in 2011, my high school made a cart primarily out of corflute with a lightweight steel frame, while University trikes were made of fibreglass and carbon fibre.

The Round 3 competition was spread across 2 days, with the community groups competing on Saturday 17 June and the school categories competing on Sunday 18 June. Nearly 150 trikes competed in the school categories.

The Saturday competition featured rain and near-gale westerly winds at 57 km/h. Spectators and pit crews huddled under marquees and umbrellas during the six-hour race. The winners of the community group competition were announced on the day, with Wattle Racing’s Gunyah trike coming in first place, Trump Trikes Factory Racing coming second and the UniSA Pedal Prix team coming in third place.

On Sunday’s school competition, spectators were rewarded with (mostly) sunny weather, although competitors were still beset with the same strong north-westerly winds.

The school-based competition results could not be announced on the day due to a timing issue where laps could not be recorded for a short period. However it’s since been confirmed that the winner was Pembroke School’s “Centurian” with 180 laps completed.

*The school team winners, Pembroke. Pic:* ***https://www.facebook.com/PedalPrix***

Full results are available on the official website.

For the competitors and spectators, Round 3 of the Australian HPV Super Series was a successful return to Victoria Park/Pakapakanthi (Park 16).

The next round of the series is scheduled for Tailem Bend on 5 August, with following rounds at Busselton in Western Australia (20 August) and finally, a 24 hour race at the Sturt Reserve in Murray Bridge (16-17 September).

Banner image at top of page from https://www.facebook.com/PedalPrix