Noel Pearce AM

It was the desire of Noel Pearce AM to continue his involvement in and contribution to sport that led to his many years of service to cycling and other community sports, long after he ended his own active participation.  

“I was always extremely interested in sport in my earlier years, and I participated in many community-based, grassroots sports.”  

“When some of the opportunities for those participation sports were exhausted, I was more than happy to remain involved, and I opted to assist in cycling. So many sports today continue to rely heavily on volunteers. My enthusiasm for cycling grew enormously over the last 30 years.”  

Mr Pearce estimates that over his many years of mainly volunteer involvement in a range of sports, including cycling, football, squash, cricket, and triathlon, he alone would have accumulated more than 280 years of effort; a massive achievement. 

He had a goal to officiate for the best track and road cyclists in the world and has achieved this on several occasions including all five World Cup Cycling events in NSW, at the Track Cycling World Cup hosted in Melbourne in 2005 and 2006 and the Junior Track National Championships in Launceston in 2017.  

Another international cycling event, the Oceania Road Championships was hosted in Tasmania in 2017 and 2018.    

“Hosting the Oceania event was a first for the state, and a real coup. As the then state president of Cycling Tasmania I was absolutely delighted to have been asked to host Oceania Roads, as were my Board members.”  

Mr Pearce remarks that his nomination to be appointed a Member of the Order of Australia was humbling. “It’s such a prestigious award, I still can’t believe what has happened.”  

"During my years of involvement in cycling particularly there have been individuals who have provided me with lots of support, both from within Tasmania and the mainland. Alex Dustan OAM, in particular who was initially my tutor and mentor. He supported me throughout the various technical officiating roles, including as Chief Commissaire for the elite track national championships.  

“There is a great deal of support by all officials and they are by far the greatest group of officials I’ve had the pleasure to be associated with over the past 30 years. It reinforces the important role they play, as volunteers, in supporting sport in this country.”  

“It has been a wonderful ride.”