Bill Main was taken for a last turn around the Whanganui Velodrome before his funeral service last Saturday.
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Bill Main was taken for a last turn around the Whanganui Velodrome before his funeral service last Saturday.
Photo / Supplied
Obituary
Bill Main's request for a quiet farewell was observed by his family and close friends last week but he did get another special send-off.
The cycling luminary died on November 19 and the local pedalling fraternity thought he should take one last lap around the Whanganui Velodrome so theyarranged for his coffin to be transported around the track last Saturday.
Bill's daughter Annette Main said it was a wonderful thing to do for her dad.
"After the service, when we carried dad's coffin out, there was a cyclist guard of honour waiting outside," she said.
"They stand with a front cycle wheel raised in salute - it made a beautiful sight."
It was a fitting tribute to a man who was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Sport New Zealand Sport and Recreation Awards for his services to cycling last year.
Main had previously been awarded an OBE for services to sport in 1985 and was involved in cycling for well over 60 years.
He competed for over 50 years and was heavily involved in the administration of cycling for well over 60 serving on countless local, national and international cycling bodies over the years.
A teenaged Bill Main about to embark on his busy adult life.
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Former NZ Cycling Coach Ron Cheatley worked alongside Bill both locally and internationally.
"He helped me a lot when I was a young coach and my fondest memory will be in 1990 at the World Championships in Japan where Bill was the NZ team manager and I was the team coach.
"Karen Holliday won the first-ever World Title for NZ and Madonna Harris who I was training in Wanganui won a silver medal."
Cheatley said the wins were an international breakthrough for NZ Track Cycling
"Bill was a national referee, then an International Commissaire and he was thoroughly dedicated and diligent."
His diligence was also noted in his work as a builder and later as an inspector.
Retired builder John Hogg first met Bill Main when he was president of the Wanganui Lions Club.
"He was absolutely meticulous as a builder and then later when he became an inspector."
"We both had building businesses and we would help each other out with jobs."
John would later work with Bill when he became the chief building inspector for the forerunner of the Whanganui District Council eventually succeeding him when Bill retired.
"He thought the world of his wife Val and their two daughters Annette and Glenys.
"Val and my wife Cheryl became great friends and we spent a lot of time together."
Current Whanganui mayor Hamish McDouall also remembers Bill as a devoted father.
"I remember playing pool with him at the Whanganui East Club when Annette was mayor and she had been facing some pretty big challenges at the time.
"He wasn't very effusive but I remember him expressing his quiet concern for her."
Bill and Annette Main wearing their queen's medals outside Government House in 2017.
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McDouall said he also remembers sitting next to Bill when Annette was being presented with an honorary degree at UCOL.
"In his quiet way, he shone with pride for his daughter."
Bill was also proud to accompany Annette when she was presented with her own queen's honour in 2017.
Annette was awarded the ONZM for her services to local government and Bill was there to see her presented with her medal by Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy.
"It was so nice to have dad there with me and then I got to accompany him for the presentation of his Lifetime Achievement Award last year."
Annette said it was not in her father's nature to make a big deal about things but she and sister Glenys always knew they had his support.
"When I was mayor people would say to him that he must be so proud and he would reply that he'd always been proud of his children."
Bill Main left a special request to the Whanganui community asking that donations to fulfil the vision of a roof over the Whanganui Velodrome.
