Two South Canterbury men — Allan Kerr, of Fairlie, and Geoff Lienert, of Waimate — have each been awarded a Queen’s Service Medal (QSM) in the New Year Honours list. This week The Courier talks to Mr Lienert, a Waimate sporting stalwart who received his award for services to sport administration, particularly cycling and athletics.
A proud postie for most of his working life, Geoff Lienert thought the QSM was not for ‘‘ordinary people’’ like himself.
‘‘I was a bit overwhelmed when I found out to be honest. I always had the feeling they were for rich and famous people.
‘‘Quite a few people have said to be me that it’s nice to see someone from the ground roots get an award like this.
‘‘I’m basically just invisible — well not totally — but I try to be in the community and just do what I do because I like doing it.’’
However, Mr Lienert’s contributions to sport in the region have been anything but ordinary and invisible.
His work has benefited Waimate and the wider South Canterbury area immensely.
A self-proclaimed ‘‘sport fanatic’’, he played every sport he could growing up, he said.
‘‘At school level I represented South Canterbury in rugby, basketball and cricket, was the school tennis champion and ran in the athletics club.
‘‘I’ve always just been someone who practised really hard. I don’t know whether I had a lot of ability but I just made sure I practised to do well.’’
A bad car accident when he was 21 left him unable to continue with rugby, and he turned to cycling.
As a postie he was bounced around every couple of years and spent time working in Pleasant Point, Waimate and Invercargill.
Working in Invercargill rapidly increased his passion for cycling.
With no sport to play in the winter and cycling being a summer activity, his eye was caught by an advertisement to join the Invercargill Harrier Club.
‘‘I went along, joined up, did quite well and really enjoyed it.’’
He was then transferred to Timaru and then back to Waimate, where he settled down.
He ran with the Timaru Harrier Club for a while but eventually got sick of travelling and joined the smaller Waimate Harriers Club in 1983.
He has been its secretary since 1986.
In 1988 Mr Lienert was a founding member of the Waimate Cycling Club and has mentored several cyclists who went on to compete at the Olympics and world championships.
One was Holly Edmondston, who went on to win a bronze medal in the women’s team pursuit at the 2019 UCI Track Cycling World Championships.
‘‘I met Holly when she was 5.
‘‘I’d spent my life in sport and was always on the lookout for talent and I just knew that girl had something.
‘‘She just got better and better over time and we have a joke between us that we are each other’s hero.’’
He was also heavily involved with mentoring Heath Blackgrove, who competed in the 2004 Athens Olympics, and Dylan Kennett who won bronze at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games in the 4000m team pursuit.
Mr Lienert is a member of the Sport Waimate committee and since 2008 has been a member of the Waimate Trackways Committee.
He has been on the committee of the Whitehorse Big Easy charity run for five years, and is a lifetime member of the St Andrews Cycling Club, the Waimate Caledonian Society and the Waimate Harriers.
His passion for helping out came from his parents, he said.
‘‘They were very involved in the community, particularly the bowling club.
‘‘Dad was on the fire brigade. He was the treasurer and a member for 25-odd years and received his gold star, which is quite an important honour.
‘‘I just followed them.
‘‘Me and my mate were 15 and became the youngest ever members of the Pleasant Point Rugby committee.
‘‘I just like helping out and have been on committees ever since.’’
He has been recognised with several awards for his work, including a Waimate District Council award for contribution to sport in the area and an Athletics New Zealand longservice award, and in 2015 was awarded a South Canterbury lifetime achievement award for cycling and harriers.
He saw his QSM award as not only for himself but for all of Waimate.
‘‘I’m embarrassed about being nominated but when you see the messages it’s really good — how proud your children are and how proud the community is. It’s good for Waimate.’’
He planned to continue his work for as long as he was able to.
‘‘When you get old, it’s a privilege to wake up every day.
‘‘I’ve had some scares so I just want to keep making the most of every day that I do wake up.’’
He planned to receive his QSM at the Christchurch ceremony later this year.
