Jacob's Creek Tour down Under 2001 Reports
Glenelg - a new start It's a new look for the tour starting in 2001 and the biggest and most exciting change is that the start of the race will be at south australias favourite seaside tourist site and right in the heart of adelaides most popular tourist precinct of Glenelg. To the locals,
this vibrant area will always be known as "The Bay", a charming mixture of restaurants, shops of all type, the cinema and of course, the white sandy beach with its jetty and the terminus for the famous "Bay Trams". The City of Holdfast has always been known for having a keen sporting backgound long before the tour ever came to town. Home to Glenelg football club, the Bay Sheffield, City of Holdfast Street Race for top cyclists, National triathlon events, sailing and life-saving just to name a few. In both 1999 & 2000 it played host to the start of a stage of the tour but now it has been charged with the job of launching the tour with an exciting street stage that will attract the attention of cycling fans worldwide. I caught up with Mayor Brian Nadilo and Events manager John Banks to find out what their planning for the opening event in 2001............................

Brian gets in the racing spirit with junior racing cyclists Joel & Naomi Venables

impact:first up Brian you must be very pleased having the opening stage of the 2001 Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under down at glenelg brian:absolutely estatic, its not only a coup for the city of holdfast bay and glenelg in particular, but the promtion that it will give our city both on a state, national and international forum is something that you could not buy impact: and a big departure from adelaide, it would have come as a bit of a shock to a lot of the people who have followed the race for the last two years, you must have all worked very hard to get it down to glenelg well I believe that adelaide would be disappointed in losing this particular stage or in not hosting the stage, but I think in fairness holdfast bay has demonstrated quite clearly, over many years, its abillity to run major events of national & international significance. And I think that the fact that holdfast bay is well prepared and credentialed to successfully host such an event certainly was a favourable consideration as far as we were concerned. As far as the actual work goes I'd pay tribute to our Director of Community John Banks because he and his department have worked extremely hard, not only in the starts of the previous tour down unders, more importantly to attract this particular event impact: well, you had a huge success with the last two starts of the tour and that must have gone down well brian:well I think so. I've been at both those starts and seen them first hand and I'm certainly supportive of the work that the department has done in presenting those starts, but I think the

community support in holdfast bay and glenelg in particular for those two starts was obvious to the race organizers and I think that people in general, the seaside atmosphere, the way that perhaps the traders and community got behind the event, the party atmosphere prior to the race starts in moseley square, they all contributed to not only the success of those two events, but as I say, more importantly the chance to host an actual stage of the race
impact:now one of the big questions everyone is asking is that with the race going up jetty road what will the council be doing with the tram lines on that part of the course between moseley square and sussex street
brian:we're a very innovative council and its not uncommon in hosting some of these major events to be presented with sinificant challenges if you like and Mike Turtur the race director together with John, our own director, have inspected the area very closely, Mike has had input into the selection of that particular course, and as far as the tramlines go I understand from our people that the solution to the problem is that the tram track can be covered with a bitumen treatment for the race and removed fairly quicklyand efficiently after the event so that the tram can then continue its usual course. it appears to be a problem that can be simply resolved
impact:and how many people are you actually expecting will come to the opening stage. by that I mean it is seaside and the area is normally very attractive to the public at that time of the year
brian:it's very difficult to estimate your first event. it's like the torch relay. we were asked prior to the olympic torch relay how many people were we expecting and it's difficult to estimate but now that we have held the event it was obvious that it(the torch relay) was one of the biggest events held throughout australia. the number exceeded some 30,000 people for that particular event which was sensational and I don't think that the tour down under will be any different. if we don't get 50,000 people in the race vicinity then I'll be very surprised
impact:well adelaide attracted 50,000 and the course seems to be very technical, but very innovative and exciting too. what factors went into choosing the course and was council actively involved in that
brian:council was involved but I think its fair to say that the race director Mike Turtur would have known exactly what it was that he and the organizers were looking for. I think the only other thing that I'd say is that in australia we are still learning a lot about the conduct of these races and what constitutes a successful course. you may realize that as part of our commemoration day sports festival which we hold between christmas and new year that we do host a cycling event and the courses have been modified to international expectations and standards. in fact we have international riders participate in that event and I think we have learnt at close hand how tight some of these courses can be and when you compare with the obstacles that these riders have to contend with in europe in the tour de france and other races. we've probably had an appreciation in the past that what we need is a fairly

Brian at glenelg stage 3 start with Michael Rogers and Tourism Minister Joan Hall

straight course with wide, large corners that people can negotiate. that appears to be unfounded as far as criterium racing and road racing goes and so I think this is certainly going to be a challenging course impact:and the local traders, are they right behind councils descision too and will they be actively involved in the stage at glenelg brian:yes, in the past the Jetty Road main street board which is the organization that manages the jetty road shopping precinct they have been heavily involved in the previous events and the promotion of those evnets and have shown support for them. I think it would be fair to say that the traders have again been involved in this years event and I would say that they probably would have liked next years event to have taken in the whole of jetty road, but obviously that wasn't possible partly because of the tram tracks and the implications of that. but I think generally the traders have warmly embraced the opportunity to host this event and we just hope that they respond in kind by opening during the event and decorating their premises in accordance with the importance of the race impact:and on the day, because its a night start are you going to have any special pre-race entertainment or promotions to get the public involved and are you looking to involve any other cycling activities at all brian:absolutely, it is a tradition of holdfast bay to endevour to involve the whole community in any activities we conduct down here and that normally means something like pre-race entertainment & activities for the communities. as I say it is hoped that the traders along the street do something special. the restaurants will all obviously be open to take advantage of the event

and I would think that our attention would be to involve as many of our community service groups, clubs and what ever we can do to involve our community we will look at. that is what we do traditionally with any of these major events.
impact:and finally these negotiations for the race stage start at glenelg, commencing in 2001, I know you run a very professional team brian so I suspect that this is certainly not going to be just a once off affair, now is it
brian:my understanding is that we have secured three years, three plus a two year option and I think with that sort of guarantee it certainly shows confidence in the city of holdfast bay and the glenelg venue. it shows confidence by the event organizers and just as importantly it gives the council the security of a number of years to ensure that we maintain the course at the appropriate standard. issues like the roundabouts at anzac highway & colley terrace, that has to be treated accordingly and given that we know that we have the event for a number of years it makes it much more cost effective and justifyable to make those modifications.
impact:and the other thing it must do is give you an opportunity after the first year to look at addons and instigate changes so that when those two option years come up you have a stable course that not only the riders, promoters and council are happy about, but one that is exciting for spectators both trackside and watching in their millions on television
brian: absolutely and as I say we already have a close association with cycling as a result of our commemoration day sports committee and another spin-off from having the tour in our area is that we are looking at a new course for our own commemoration day event. we are looking at using a similar area for the conduct of that event, rather than the area we traditionally use over by the patawolonga. so we believe that council has supported cycling in many ways and we look forward to doing so in the future
impact:well brian, as always its been great speaking with you. I am sure that everyone is looking forward to this exciting event that will launch the jacob's creek tour down under for the next three years and that they wish you and all of council every success
brian:thankyou richard. much appreciated and we are looking forward to it
next

back