Cycling: End of the track - but never say never

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Ron Cheatley knows it will not be long before some skinny kid knocks on his door wanting to be a bike rider.

He also knows he will never say no, even though he has, for the second time, turned his back on coaching New Zealand's best cyclists.

Twice voted Coach of the Year at the Halberg Awards and awarded an MBE in 1991, 53-year-old Cheatley has cried enough.

"I will miss it for sure. It's in your blood and I know I'll always be a coach, but not at the level I have been for the past 22 years," said Cheatley, who this week announced he was stepping down as national track coach - a role he had agreed to continue in after last year's Olympics as New Zealand Cycling searched in vain for a replacement.

Finding another Ron Cheatley was never going to be easy.

Cycling and Cheatley since 1979 - when he was first appointed national road coach - have been synonymous.

There have, he freely admits, been heartaches, but just as many moments of absolute delight as he has watched "his" sport blossom to a point where it is rightly regarded as one of the most successful in New Zealand.

While loathe to single out any special moments, Cheatley admits the almost fatherly role he played in Gary Anderson's roller-coaster ride off and on the track from a raw 17-year-old to New Zealand's first cycling Olympic medallist and Commonwealth Games star has given him the most satisfaction.

But only just.

"I have been fortunate to coach some of the greats of New Zealand cycling," Cheatley said. "I have also shared some real disappointments."

No more than in 1980 when, as road coach, he headed for the Moscow Olympics but then had to break the news of the New Zealand boycott to Vern Hanaray, Jack Swart and Stephen Cox on the morning after Hanaray had won a stage in the famed British Milk Race.

"I have no doubt they - especially Hanaray - were capable of doing something special at the Olympics. They were devastated. That pretty much finished Hanaray's career."

Two years on, Swart and Cox were part of a team still regarded as one of the unluckiest not to win Commonwealth Games gold.

With Blair Stockwell and Stephen Carton, they were charging towards victory in the 100km team time trial in Brisbane when Carton dropped a chain. The much-publicised photograph of the quartet on the dais (they finished third) underlined their absolute frustration.

"Swart was the strongest cyclist I ever had, Stockwell the cleverest and Cox the gutsiest," said Cheatley, who also tagged points race specialist Glenn McCleay and road supremo Brian Fowler as having the most amazing powers of recovery he ever saw.

He also has special praise for New Zealand's pathfinding women cyclists - Madonna Harris, world champion Karen Holliday and Sarah Ulmer - and veteran Graeme Miller, who he tags as a "fantastic athlete."

As a track coach Cheatley stood out.

"Cycling's greatest challenge is in preparing a pursuit team. It's bloody hard work. When we won those World Cup races last year and went 4m 05s, only three or four countries in the world have ever done that. When I started out [as track coach] in 1987, New Zealand teams were doing 4m 24s."

Born and bred in Wanganui where he rode for 17 years - "mate, I was just an average bike rider" - Cheatley pays tribute to Dorothy, his wife of 30 years.

"She has been the rock," he said. "When I went away in 1980 for three months I left her at home with four young kids. But she has never complained and has given me the chance to do what I have done."

He has also enjoyed the full support of General Machinery - the company he has been general manager of since 1986.

As the driving force of the "national sport of Wanganui," Cheatley played a key role in the development of the city's $2.3 million velodrome at Cooks Gardens. Now he dreams of finding more money to put a roof over the board track and turning it into a worthy indoor stadium.

No challenge has ever been beyond Cheatley.

"I don't want to roll over and do nothing. I retired once - after Barcelona when I was absolutely worn out - but within six months Cycling New Zealand wanted me back."

He says he won't return again.

But don't be too surprised if a Cheatley-trained cyclist or two turns up somewhere, sometime just to show the old magic is still there.