Chance to join Clare Tour team
Mark Murphy holds the jersey each participant gets after signing up for the Tour Down Under, while Andrew Waters clocks up some kilometres on the exercise bike.

If you want to be part of the Tour Down Under and race alongside the professionals, join the Clare Valley Community Challenge team.
The Community Challenge is where people of all ages and fitness levels race a stage of the Tour Down Under.
This year’s Community Challenge will take place on Stage Four, but you don’t have to go the whole way – options are 160.5 kilometres, 111km and 35km.
With Stage One of the 2010 Tour Down Under beginning in Clare, why not take the challenge and participate in the Community Challenge.
“The more the better, it’s fun and social. Although the distances seem a long way 35km is easy when you are in the group,” Valley Lifestyle Centre manager Andrew Waters said.
Andrew is keen to get people on board to be part of the race, including sporting teams and other individuals.
“There is a cost involved but you do get a jersey with Clare Valley written on the back,” Andrew said.
“Roy (Clare and Gilbert Valleys Council CEO Roy Blight) did the 160 kilometre ride last year on his mountain bike, it can be done on any bike, but ideally on a road bike,” he said.
The team has a minimum requirement of five people and Roy and Andrew have already signed up.
“I think we can get far more people than five, 7000 people rode in the Community Challenge last year, so you’re not alone and these people are in it to have fun and be part of the annual event,” Andrew said.
It is the first year Clare has entered a team and Andrew is looking forward to hearing from those
who are interested in joining. For more information or to be part of the team call Andrew Waters at the Valleys Lifestyle Centre on 8842 3999.

Lance to contest Tour Down Under

Lance to contest Tour Down Under
Auburn Primary School reception student Daniel Hutchinson, 5, may
be small now, and the Tour Down Under Guernsey may look like it
swamps him, but he was pretty proud to be wearing it - if only he could
reach the pedals of that big bike ... then he’d be sure to give Lance
Armstrong a run for his money.


A gift of Clare Valley wine may have been the clincher in Lance Armstrong agreeing to participate in the 2010 Tour Down Under.
Premier Mike Rann said he would use the wine to help woo the world-class cyclist back to South
Australia.
And even as he blitzes through the Clare and Gilbert Valley during the first leg of the tour, which leaves Clare on Tuesday, January 19, 2010, Armstrong won’t fail to notice the beauty of this boutique wine region, which may encourage him to return for a longer visit once the race is over.
Armstrong’s charity Livestrong, the Lance Armstrong Foundation and his Livestrong.com website which focuses on healthy lifestyle and disease prevention are only part of the athlete’s interests which extend to the enjoyment of fine wine.
Under his own label Livestrong wine is made in the Napa Valley, USA and displays his distinctive
yellow band on the label.
The back label of the wine summarises his Livestrong foundation goals: “We believe that unity is
strength, knowledge is power, and attitude is everything.” On each of his recent visits to the
district, Mr Rann said he was behind the push to reach an agreement with the cyclist, and
announced the seven-time Tour de France winner’s acceptance last week.
“In another coup for South Australia, this will be the first time Lance’s new team, Team
RadioShack, will compete anywhere in the world,” Mr Rann said. “He really enjoyed his time in
South Australia and has told me how much he appreciated the massive support he received from the thousands of cycling fans during the race and from the communities supporting the launch of his global cancer campaign.”
Lance Armstrong’s participation in the 2009 Tour Down Under had a big impact on the event and provided an opportunity to showcase South Australia to a worldwide audience.
Santos is the new naming rights sponsor of the Tour Down Under, and the four-year deal will see the Tour, which in 2009 became the biggest sporting event in South Australian history, renamed the Santos Tour Down Under.
The 2010 Santos Tour Down Under will be held in South Australia from 17-24 January 2010. For more information, visit http://www.tourdownunder.com.au/

Johnny Haysman

Johnny Haysman

One of South Australia's legendary personalities and proud to call Clare home, Johnny Haysman found the Tour Down Under Guernsey comfortable to wear and the idea of the TDU coming to the region likely to be the biggest event ever seen her. Although he doesn't plan to join the community TDU ride in January he's no stranger to bike travel having chosen a tandem bicycle as his preferred ride. He's a big bloke at 6'3" and reckons the tandem is a bit like driving a limousine.

Tour de Whippett

Tour de Whippet

Veronica and Peter Eaton of Expanda Stand with Clare and Gilbert Valleys Mayor Allan Aughey and the 1927 and 1929
Whippets with their sport new Tour Down Under look.

Two 1920s Whippet motor vehicles have sporty new accessories on their rusty corrugated iron roofs – two equally vintage and equally rusty bicycles.
The ensemble celebrates the Tour Down Under coming to the Clare and Gilbert Valleys and Whippet owners Veronica and Peter Eaton’s support of the event by becoming the region’s Platinum Sponsors through their business Expanda Stand.
“We saw it as an opportunity, because were are an international business and sell our products in many countries of the world,” Mr Eaton said.
“To us the Tour Down Under is a worldwide event and an excellent opportunity for us to expose our business in an unusual way by using our vehicles.” Mr Eaton said he was inspired by the
event but also saw it as an opportunity for the district to become inventive in the way it promoted itself.
The Eatons’ $15,000 sponsorship deal will help support the event when it comes to the valleys in January 2010.
The Clare and Gilbert Valleys council, which is hosting the event in the region is seeking more sponsorship support at Gold (10 packages available at $5000 each), Silver (15 at $2500) and Bronze.
Clare will host the start of the first leg of the race on Tuesday, January 19, with cyclists racing through Watervale, Auburn, Saddleworth, Riverton and Tarlee.

Cycling for good health

Cycling for good health

Getting ready to leave the Clare Showgrounds are Wayne and Nicola Edwards, Judy Searley and Ray Hutchinson all of Auburn.

A team of cyclists is hoping to raise the awareness about mental health as it rides 17,800 kilometres around Australia.
Supported by Australian Rotary Health, the cyclists have been joined by local cyclists as they
raise funds for health promotions and research.
Stopping in Clare on Tuesday, September 22, riders were welcomed by the Clare Rotary Club
with a hot meal in the brick pavilion at the Clare Showgrounds and riders were billeted out to families in Clare to relax and have a good night’s sleep.
Several keen cyclists from the Clare Valley joined the ride that started at the Clare Showgrounds on September 23 at 8am.
The riders included Nicola and Wayne Edwards of Auburn, Judy Searley of Auburn and Ray
Hutchinson also of Auburn.
Although the morning was cold, wet and windy, the riders battled on and headed off to Kapunda.
“The ride was very good, we had about three showers and the wind was quite hard, Marrabel to
Kapunda was the hardest as there was side wind and every time I came to a hill the wind was
against you,” Nicola said. The GABR is a nine-stage ride around Australia, it began on March 21 in Melbourne and will finish back in Melbourne on October 10.
Some of the riders had been on the ride since the beginning of the event and found themselves to be reasonably fit, tired, but keen to push on for the remainder of the trip.
“We all really enjoyed the ride and the other riders were very friendly. After the ride we went and
had lunch in the venue in the oval supplied by the Rotary Club of Kapunda,” Nicola said.
Autralian Rotary Health is the largest non-government funding body of mental health research
programs in Australia.
One in five Australians had a mental illness in 2007 and almost one in two (or 7.3 million) people
have experienced a mental illness at some point in their lives.(Australian Bureau of Statistics,
Australian Social Trends, March 2009) The World Health Organisation estimates that
by 2020 depression will be one of the world’s greatest health problems.
Getting ready to leave the Clare Showgrounds are Wayne and Nicola Edwards, Judy Searley and Ray Hutchinson all of Auburn.
The Clare and Gilbert Valleys Council Tour Down Under Steering Committee
is working to create entry statements for all towns on the tour route.
The committee needs more bikes to create the entry statements which will comprise straw bales
with signage, topped with painted bikes.
“We need more old road bikes – skinny awkward looking bikes, because they look fantastic, especially silhouetted, up high and from a distance,” Clare and Gilbert Valleys Councillor Helen Perry said.
On Wednesday September 23 the Great Australian Bike Ride passed through Clare picking
up riders on its way to Kapunda, the group decided to donate an old bike picked up at Carnavon from the side of the road.
“The woman’s bike they have given us was picked up by the road somewhere over near
Carnavon in north western Western Australia, and the team have carried it on their bike trailer
all this way – probably 6000km at least,” she said.
Ms Perry said the bike would be given pride of place at the southern entrance to Clare.
If you have an old bike you would like to donate call Helen on 0417 714 151 or email her on hrperry@bigpond.net.au

Seven Towns to receive Tour funds

Council allocates $75,000 to Clare Valley Breakaway festival.

Seven Clare and Gilbert Valleys towns will receive $1000 each to
dress up their towns when the Tour Down Under comes to the region in
January.
The Clare and Gilbert Valleys Council has allocated $75,000 to support
the Clare Valley Breakaway festival which will see a series of
programs developed throughout the district to celebrate the international
cycling race.
Councillors agreed with the name of the festival at their September 21
meeting, which trades on the strong regional branding of the Clare Valley,
which is well known overseas and interstate as well as within South
Australia.
The Clare Valley is also prominent in the naming, branding and regional
identity of local producers ranging from the wine industry to egg producers,
Clare Valley Tourism Marketing and Clare Valley Cuisine.
The regional towns on the TDU route and which will receive the
$1000 funding are Tarlee, Riverton, Saddleworth, Auburn, Watervale
(including Leasingham), Sevenhill (including Penwortham) and Clare.
Each town’s peak body will be in charge of its own program of events
and will have to provide an acquittal report to the council to describe how
the funds were employed.
Because the council needed to find a minimum of $15,000 in sponsorship
to help stage the event and fund its participation, sponsorship packages
have been designed to allow business involvement.
Clare-based international business Expanda Stand owners Peter
and Veronica Eaton have taken out the only Platinum sponsorship package
available, donating $15,000 to the event.
A limit of 10 gold sponsorships are available at $5000 each, 15 Silver at
$2500 and unlimited number of Bronze sponsorship packages at $1000 each.
Clare Valley towns are already well into the planning stages of their
individual events, with Tarlee billing itself as the best place to take photos
on their sweeping ‘S’ bend to Kapunda, and Clare planning a street party.