Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

On Sunday I was privileged to participate in the Women in Super Mother's Day Classic in Parramatta Park. On that day, around 120,000 people around the country stepped out for breast cancer research as they have done now on Mother's Day for some 14 years. There were 37 different events across the nation and the highest number of participants in its 14-year history. For the last five years the Mother's Day Classic has been held in Parramatta—at Parramatta Park, as it should be, as we are the geographic centre of Sydney, as I keep telling people. Many people—it is a growing number every year—turned up at 7 o'clock in the morning on what was a cold day to raise funds for breast cancer research.

There was a huge turn-out with grandmothers, mums and daughters all together, with a smattering of men. They were mainly wearing pink and many were wearing the names of loved ones who had died. It was well and truly a sea of pink. I was privileged to be asked to launch the event and to present some trophies but I also ran for the first time. I have not run for 20 years, so a four kilometre run—and I did run it—hurt quite a bit and I am only just getting over the pain now.

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