Philip Harland

Aucklander Phil Harland rode for the Pt Chevalier club and came to light as a teenager as a promising road rider.

But it was on the track that he gained wider cycling fame. Harland was one half of a bronze medal-winning cycling team at the 1974 Commonwealth Games.

The Aucklander was chosen to ride for New Zealand at the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games in the tandem with Paul Medhurst, an Englishman who’d lived for a decade in New Zealand and rode for his adopted country at the Games.

In the qualifying time trial among the four teams entered, the New Zealanders clocked 11.10s, some distance behind the classy English pairing, and also Australia.

In the semi-finals, Australia edged out New Zealand 2-1, the outcome climaxing in a frantic sprint to the line in the third race.

That left New Zealand to battle Wales for the bronze medal and Medhurst and Harland proved too good, winning two straight races.

Once he finished cycling, Harland got involved in the administration of the sport in Auckland and spent some time coaching, too.

He died at his home in Whitianga on April 2, 2020.

Among the tributes paid to him were mentions of his work at Corrections in Hamilton and his contribution to Counties Manukau rugby.