Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to talk about a fantastic event in the electorate of Hindmarsh that took place last Sunday, 7 February. That was the Camden Classic Carnival, an athletics meet in Camden Park at the Camden oval in my electorate. It is sponsored by the City of West Torrens and it was the 31st such event that has been held. It is very similar to the Bay Sheffield day that my friend the member for Barker would be very familiar with. Athletes from all around Australia turn up to participate and it is really a great fun family day.

There were foot races for men and women, from 120 metres to 1,600 metres in length. The big highlights of the day were the 400-metre Camden Classic races for men and women. There were also many other races—the Thirsty Camel 400-metre Women’s Classic and the Messenger Community News 400-metre Camden Classic. The winner of the men’s Camden Classic was James Boden of Highbury. He is a member of the Tea Tree Gully Athletics Club. The winner of the women’s Camden Classic was Lucy Buckley from the suburb of Glenelg in my electorate. She is a member of the Western District Athletics Club. Both Classic winners were trained by the same coach, Mr Paul Young. Results were achieved in many other races during the day, from under-17 events to over-35 events and even an SANFL umpires event, which was taken out by Mark Hardham, who succeeded in the Andrew Vickers 400-metre Memorial umpires race.

This event has a special place in the western suburbs and I would like to congratulate all those people who put time and effort into making it happen: the president, Brendan Golden; the senior vice president, Colin Rowston, who does a lot of the organisational work and does such great work to put this show on every year; the junior vice president, John Turner; the male athletes representative, Omin Shahadi; the female athletes representative, Zoe Kennedy; and many, many others.

As I said, the event was sponsored by the City of West Torrens, and the mayor, John Trainer, was there with me together with Councillor George Demetriou. We spent a fantastic afternoon talking to the athletes and watching the races. On the Friday night prior to the event the annual dinner was on. The athletes were there with their families enjoying the barbecue that we had at Camden Oval and it was great fun. It was attended by at least 150 people together with their families, and it was great to see lots of young kids participating in a great family event. (Time expired)