Hayden Roulston was one of two new inductees to Mid Canterbury’s sporting hall of fame on Friday night. Photo Heather MackenzieTwo of Mid Canterbury’s past sporting heroes were officially given the status of sporting legends on Friday night.

At the Mid Canterbury Sports Awards at the Hotel Ashburton, two new sporting legends – Hayden Roulston and Paul Ackerley – were inducted into the Mid Canterbury sporting hall of fame, which will eventually see their pictures grace the walls of Ashburton’s EA Networks Centre.

It was something new that started last year with former Black Sticks hockey player Stacey McKerchar (nee Carr) the first to be inducted, and she had now been joined by cyclist Roulston and another hockey player, the late Ackerley.

Ackerley’s brother and daughter were on hand for the unveiling of the banner, and sat down with the night’s MC James Cochrane to tell the sell-out crowd a bit more about Paul as both a hockey player, and a family man.

Ackerley was a right half who hailed from Ashburton and went on to play for his country, with his biggest achievement as a player being a gold medal he won as part of the New Zealand men’s hockey team at the Montreal Olympics in 1976.

When his playing days finished he continued to have a strong interest in hockey and coached the New Zealand women’s side for six years, taking them to a bronze medal at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.

Ackerley died in Wellington in 2011, aged 61.

The night’s other inductee, Roulston, now lives in Christchurch and he was on hand for Friday night’s unveiling, sitting down on stage with Cochrane afterwards to tell those gathered a bit more about his stellar career.

Roulston’s career highlights included a silver medal in the men’s 4000m individual pursuit and a bronze medal in the team pursuit at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and three Commonwealth Games medals – a bronze in the team pursuit in Manchester in 2002, a silver in the points race in Melbourne in 2006, and a silver in the road race in Delhi 2010.

While the results and the medals were great, Roulston told attendees that the biggest highlight of his career was actually the moment he turned pro, when he was flown to Europe to sign his first-ever contract.

Roulston’s cycling career wasn’t all plain sailing though, with a heart issue forcing him off the bike for some time, but experimentation with some alternative remedies helped get him back in the saddle.

He still had dreams of an Olympic gold medal and with that in mind Roulston retired from professional road racing to focus on the track, but it didn’t pan out and in October 2016, Roulston announced his retirement from cycling.

He decided it was time to give back, and he’d since started his own coaching business.

By Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 13 May 2019