Cycling: Roulston 'has a right to ride'

Hayden Roulston

Champion cyclist Gary Anderson believes Hayden Roulston has been around the block enough times to know what he is doing as he pursues his career despite an incurable heart disease.

Roulston has arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia but has defied medical advice and is continuing to ride competitively.

The condition can periodically leave him short of breath when resting and it can have fatal consequences for sufferers when under stress.

The Ashburton rider showed no signs of undue discomfort when blitzing the field to win the 183km national senior road race title near Dunedin on Sunday.

That success came just six weeks after doctors advised Roulston to end his career, and his return has prompted some unease among cycling administrators, who are powerless to prevent his riding.

Anderson, this country's most decorated cyclist, retired in 2001 after a glittering career which peaked with his winning this country's only Olympic cycling medal, a bronze in the individual pursuit at Barcelona in 1992.

Anderson himself battled a heart condition, Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome, for which he underwent non-invasive surgery in 1996, and is sure Roulston canvassed wide-ranging opinion before deciding to get back in the saddle.

Roulston, 25, has said he is undergoing alternative treatment for his condition, although he has declined to elaborate. He would not discuss his treatment after beating his nearest challenger by almost seven minutes on Sunday, other than saying he had had a change in diet.

Anderson, who won eight medals at the 1986 and 1990 Commonwealth Games, said he felt a great deal of empathy for Roulston.

"He's an incredible athlete. The guy was showing awesome, fabulous potential and professionalism that I always admired.

"He had the biggest future in front of him that I'd seen for any athlete in New Zealand in a long time. He had the potential to be something amazing as far as cycling goes."

Anderson was loath to comment on the specifics of Roulston's medical problem, saying it was entirely different to the condition he was first diagnosed with as a 5-year-old.

"If there are ways of fixing what he has, then go for it, but I presume he is proceeding with caution.

"He is the one dealing with the doctors and taking the advice, and ultimately it is up to him."

Roulston's career highlights to date include a world championships silver medal in the madison with Greg Henderson, Commonwealth Games bronze medals in the teams pursuit and points race, and professional contracts with the French team Cofidis and the US team Discovery Channel. He has repeatedly said he is "motivated" to reach his goals of winning a world track title and an Olympic medal.

Off the bike, Roulston has courted controversy. He was convicted and fined $800 on two charges of assault following an incident in a Christchurch bar in 2004, and last year he was convicted and fined $300 for behaving in a disorderly manner outside a Timaru bar.

Anderson suggested Roulston's decision to ride again had to be respected.

"It is Hayden's choice. The administrators don't have much say in the matter. It is Hayden's decision on what he wants to do with his life.

"Ultimately, if anything came unstuck, it would not come back to the administrators either.

"Hayden can do with his life what he wishes."

As an elite athlete Roulston would know his body.

"Hayden will understand what is going on inside. If he has any clues he would have been investigating it fairly thoroughly."

- NZPA