Pedal Prix brings hundreds to Bunbury as organisers say it is time for the South West schools to go up a gear

Students from around the State descended on Bunbury over the weekend to compete at the annual Bunbury Pedal Prix. The 40 teams from across about 20 schools took to the track at the Bunbury City Karting Club for the six-hour endurance race. Despite gloomy forecasts for the day, competitors were treated to nothing but pristine blue skies. Each team and its respective school is responsible for either making or purchasing the “trikes”, powered through pedalling. The event was won by The Burger Boys Trump Trikes Factory Racing, who completed a whopping 243 laps of the track. Hale’s Ugly Duckling team took out the senior high school class with 238 laps, while Hale’s Knicker Bocker II team won the junior high school class with 230. There are multiple divisions for students for different ages and an all-girl category with teams sometimes reaching up to 20 members. WA Human Powered Vehicle Association vice-president Stuart Peterson said he was over the moon to see so many students out on the track. “It’s brilliant, fantastic,” he said. “Probably the biggest highlight for me was seeing the primary school kids from St Brigid’s up in Collie. “A bunch of young kids having a go, their trike was flying around the track and it was really great to see them out there having a go with smiles on their faces.” Mr Peterson said an area they would like to expand is in the South West. “We’d love to see more Bunbury and Busselton teams get involved in this particular event,” he said. “We’ve had our first team from Collie since 2016. St Brigid’s has come on board which is fantastic, but we’d love to see a lot more engagement from our Bunbury high schools down here in South West.” While many of the larger metropolitan schools like Churchlands Senior High School and Hale were seasoned experts at the event, for others it was their first time. Students from St Brigid’s School were the only team representing the South West on the day. Team organiser and event commentator Erik Mellegers said the school and students jumped at the idea of getting involved. “Between (WAHPVA volunteer) Graham, (school principal) Rob and myself, we got it all organised, managed to get this trike, get it down to Collie and sticker it up before the race this week,” he said. “Then (student) Frederik, he’s been really keen and he’s been telling his friends so we’ve got a handful of Year 5s in there and a couple of Years 6s as well,” he said. The team only had minimal practice time, with just a few laps of the school basketball court to get to grips with the vehicle. Despite this, the Blistering Brigid competitors were ready to give it a red hot go. Team member Taj Nelson said he was pumped to be involved. “We just wanted to come down and have fun,” he said.