More than twenty Human Powered Vehicles along with riders and support crews from throughout western Victoria and the south east of South Australia converged on the Dimboola Recreation Reserve on Sunday to compete in a six hour HPV Demonstration Race.

Hindmarsh Shire Council, with assistance from Holy Trinity Lutheran School Horsham, hosted HPV teams from as far as Mt. Gambier, Millicent, Hamilton and Ballarat in what was the first event of this type in Western Victoria.

HPVs, and the battery assisted Energy Efficient Vehicles (EEV) are recumbent bicycles specifically modified for race events. Organised race events began in Australia in the mid-1980s and there are currently eleven races held annually across Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria.

Prior to the event Hindmarsh Shire Council Mayor, Cr Debra Nelson said "We are excited to host the first Human Powered Vehicle "expo' in Western Victoria. Dimboola is ideally located to hold such events being half-way between Adelaide and Melbourne, and it is pleasing to see support from both Victorian and South Australian teams."

The event provided an opportunity for people from the region to experience the sport, and proved the potential of the Dimboola Recreation Reserve as a site for future major race events.

A "pit lane' was set up along the straight that parallels the river near the netball courts and the course followed the bitumen road in an anti-clockwise direction towards the entrance gates at Lloyd street and then back up past the basketball stadium, caravan park and rowing clubrooms to complete the circuit.

Testing parts of this track included the hairpin turn at the entrance gates and the dip past the sound shell. These along with some straight high speed straights all combined to form a challenging track.

A selection of photos of the event can be found here.