Roland Green has been inducted to BC Sports Hall of Fame. Green is a retired Canadian mountain bike and road bicycle racer who was born in Victoria. He retired from professional cycling in 2005 and now lives in Fernie where he owns and operates a fabrication business, Ironspawn Welding.
Green says it’s an honour to be included among the other athletes who have been recognized in the past. He feels lucky and fortunate as it has been quite awhile since he raced competitively.
Green dominated the world of cycling throughout his prestigious career garnering two world championship titles and more than 40 first place finishes. In his prime he competed internationally with the likes of Lance Armstrong.
He says his most satisfying moment in the sport was winning his second world championship title in 2002 in Kuprun, Austria. Green said it’s harder to win in Europe, when you can succeed at the 1-2% difference makers nine time zones over, it’s that much more of a challenge.
Green was a member of the Canadian Olympic Mountain Bike Racing Team for the 2000 Summer Olympics, held in Sydney, Australia. He was a Commonwealth gold medalist at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, winning the MTB event on the same day as his birthday.
Green dominated the world cup circuit of cross-country mountain biking from 2000 until 2003, becoming world champion in both 2001 and 2002. Roland also is the record holder of the Mount Doug Hill climb in his hometown of Victoria BC, Canada with a fast 4Min. 39sec which nobody has broken in 10 years. He was named VeloNews’ Mountain Bike Man of the Year in 1999 and Canada’s Male Cyclist of the Year in 2000. Green retired at the end of the 2005 racing season.
He will officially join BC’s finest athletes in the Hall of Fame during the annual Banquet of Champions, hosted in Vancouver on April 12.
The BC Sports Hall of Fame was founded in 1966 by a group of sport minded individuals. Their goal was to establish a permanent tribute honouring BC’s outstanding athletes, teams and builders of sport.
Each year, through an extensive review and selection process, a few select individuals are inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame in recognition of their outstanding sporting achievements. Once they are inducted, they are recognized as Honoured Members of the BC Sports Hall of Fame.
The athletes, teams, and individuals whose stories are celebrated come from all parts of the province, cover the full spectrum of sport and span over a century of BC’s sport history. See past Honoured Members and Honoured Teams here.
