Mactier and Speight to enter CA's Hall of Fame

Track specialists Katie Mactier and Julie Speight have been named as 2017 inductees into the Cycling Australia Hall of Fame.

Katie Mactier at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Source: Getty

The pair will be officially inducted at the 2017 Cycling Australia Awards which will be held in Melbourne on Friday 17 November.

Mactier's career included a world record, an Olympic silver medal (2004), a world title (2005), Commonwealth Games gold (2006), plus four individual pursuit national titles and national road titles in 2001 and 2007.

“I am extremely honoured and grateful to be recognised for my accomplishments as an Australian cyclist. To be included amongst these amazing men and women is a privilege.” Mactier said.

“I don’t like ranking my achievements as any and every race is significant and played a part in helping me achieve my bigger results.

“The Melbourne to Warrnambool was epic and this race concreted my love for the sport. The 2001 Australian road crown was the breakthrough that opened many doors including a scholarship with the Australian Road women's squad and I will never forget my second road title in 2007 on the gruelling course in Buninyong.

“But with that being said, it would be my 2004 silver in the Athens Olympics followed by my 2005 world championships title and then, of course, winning the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games that are probably my three greatest achievements.

“2006 was to be very special for me. A Commonwealth Games in my home city. I'm a very proud Melbournian and so to win my event in front of a packed stadium full of family and friends is something that I hold very dear to my heart.”

Speight became the first woman to represent Australia in track cycling at the Olympic Games (1988) and claimed Australia’s first ever Commonwealth Games women’s sprint medal (1990) along with eight national titles on the road and track, including winning both the national road race and national sprint title in 1983.

“When I received the letter I had to read it a few times for the gravity of the situation to sink in, it's an incredible honour. Personally, this nomination is a huge compliment, but it is so much bigger than just me.” Speight said.

“I think this really represents all of those great women riders before me who never had the chance to go to the big events, Sian Mulholland and Vicki Carne, Diane Brown and Barb Eason, the ones who fought to even have state and national championships in the first place.

“Before me in 1982, Sian had inspired me to dream of something more when she paid her own way to compete at track worlds in the UK and competed with her own equipment and in her homemade skinsuit.

“If it wasn't for these women I would never have been half as good and so in that respect, I really see this as accepting this on behalf of all of them, and that makes it an enormous privilege.”