By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
BUILT and powered by humans – it’s a laid back race that has Carolyn David hooked.
The 49-year-old Tooradin mother of two said Human Powered Vehicle (HPV) racing was a hobby fit for the whole family.
“I love it, I train as much as I can, its great exercise and its good fun,” Ms David said.
“I’m so addicted.”
Teaming up as a community group for the Casey HPV round 4 race, Ms David along with 130 other schools and community crews lined up for the six-hour race at Casey Fields, on Saturday 10 October.
“It’s basically a bicycle that you lay down in powered by human energy and you can be in teams of six to eight people,” Ms David explained.
Pedalling in at 29th out of the 130 teams Ms David said she was pretty happy with that result.
“There were 15 other community groups in our category and it was only our second time competing as team Indigo.”
Tooradin Primary School also took to the Casey Fields criterium after months of training and strategic discussions.
The school’s Rachel Davis said the students trained throughout winter to maintain fitness for the long race.
“We had two teams The Red Rocket and The Flamin’ Mozzies and both teams worked together to support each other through the successes and the challenges of the day,” Ms Davis said.
With some teams racing in vehicles they’d built themselves and others in tech-savvy lightweight carbon fibre machines, Ms David said the day turned out to be one of the biggest single track HPV events ever.
“It’s taken very seriously by the riders and some solo riders take on the whole six hours themselves – it really is a fun sport for all ages,” she said.
