"Tickled pink" as he may have been to receive it, Kevin Cate did not think he was a contender to be considered BikeNZ's organiser/volunteer of the year.
But after sitting down at his Marybank Rd home yesterday to discuss his win in Auckland last weekend, by the time Cate went through his 30 years of raising funds, standing on the side of the road with the timers, and his term as president of the Wanganui Cycling Club, there should really be no surprise.
"The clubs are asked throughout to nominate who they think are up for the awards. I didn't realised they'd nominated me," Cate said.
As a serving police officer for 35 years, it's not like Cate has had to update his CV recently, but winning the award has allowed him some moments reflection.
'You don't get certificates all the time, but then you sit down and think, 'oh, I have done that'."
Starting as a volunteer in the 1979-80 season, Cate first became involved during the Dulux Cycle Races of the day.
He was a key right-hand man for the likes of Wanganui cycling guru Ron Cheatley on the giant junior events which would run from New Plymouth to Levin.
"All the cream of junior cyclists of those days used to be on those tours," he recalled.
Cate would also help guide the big Masters Games tours from Hamilton to Wanganui, before becoming more directly involved in the Wanganui club as vice-president and then president.
Having spent 25 years running the junior tours, Cheatley, who put forward the nomination, said Cate and his wife Kristie were so professional in everything they did to help with racing.
"Kevin's been great for the club for the last half a dozen years at least.
"He helped raise a lot of money for the club when we ran the road nationals, up to the $40,000 mark.
"He's always been there helping, all the time."
The money Cate collected from sponsors before the 2011 National Club Road Championships went to electronic timers and finishing line pads which the club still uses today for all their road races.
For Cate, the Wanganui club has always had a "flavour to anything on the national scene".
This includes the efforts of Cheatley, son Dayle, John McDonnell and Ian Bullock as coaches and administrators on the New Zealand and international stages.
"They're the guys that cut the hay to get it up and running. The guys today get it easier. Cyclists just turn up and ride."
Wanganui also remains a rich nursery for talent, the likes of Cassie Cameron being a recent example.
Having seen and heard some of the plans for New Zealand cycling at the Rio Olympics in 2016, Cate knows a home-bred country kid can reach the top just like any city kid with possibly more resources on hand.
"The clubs really have to target the school programmes and the juniors.
'A good cyclist, even today, can get up there really quick.
"They can be from Feilding, they don't have to be from Auckland. A good cyclist will get noticed in small places."
In accepting his prize in front of the guests, which included his wife and daughter, Cate gave a whimsical speech not thanking those who got something out of cycling, but the nameless volunteer who goes and waits on some lonely road during the events.
They stand there, bored, tossing their marshall flag around, putting up with abuse from impatient motorists, all while waiting for those few precious minutes when the cyclists race across their section.
"He never sees the start of the race, never sees the end of the race, comes back at the end and hands in the slightly used flag, listens to the accolades given to others, goes home and turns up the next weekend for their glow jacket and a new flag."
It is the second BikeNZ award in two years for a Wanganui person as the club's former president and secretary Tina Noble was recognised in 2012.