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hello and welcome to Runners only with dom Harvey on this episode Garth barfoot people older than me or my same age
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they've given away because it's it's not not a challenge for them anymore I'm so
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lucky it's a challenge you just I like just like finishing marathon it's such a big challenge yeah
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yeah Garth is an 85 year old athlete and at the time of recording this he was about to take part in the 2022 London
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Marathon he's had an epic career in real estate working for the firm that his dad
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started in 1923 barfoot and Thompson but it's through garth's Feats and running
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in Triathlon that I know him he's a regular at endurance events like marathons and iron manderson's
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triathlons and as a point of Interest he's done the iconic Rotorua Marathon 17
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times and what makes Garth even more remarkable I think is his entry to the sport he didn't start competing until
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his late 50s now most listeners to this podcast will still be younger than Garth
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was when he started and there's something about that that I find really cool it means that for you and for me it
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is never too late to do something new something courageous something that scares the [ __ ] out of you all right
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let's get into it Runners only with Garth barfoot here let's get it started hey hey this
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is fast paced slow and steady anyway you coming up just wanna connect for everyone who loves running this is
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[Music] Runners only with dom Harvey and Garth barfoot g'day mate thank you thank you
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hi thank you very much for joining me in my uh podcast Studio I really really appreciate you being here today thanks
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for the coffee how there was the deal you said um you come in and do it if I make you a coffee I made I don't
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normally make them I prefer to there's a cafe just over the road so I generally
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buy it rather than make the Nespresso pots so is it okay yeah well I'm a good
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real estate agent when I came into your living room I saw the coffee making machine so I put my order in and you
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obliged yeah yeah it's a drinkable is it okay yeah all right okay we're just
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gonna get nice okay nice and close and job you're an amazing guy first of all I
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need to let you know you're not the you're not the oldest athlete I've had
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on the podcast so far I think you're maybe the um the third oldest uh number
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one at jelly who I spoke to when he was 99 the second oldest having a um a celebratory race for him uh this weekend
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out at pukekohe last year it's going to be open right and then got 100 Runners
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uh doing one kilometer each and that's full up amazing so we are recording this
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in August 2022 and uh actually the day before his 100th birthday he's incred he's incredible by the way I
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I spoke to him a couple of months ago mentally very very sharp and still physically very fed as well I feel like
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you might you might go down the same track uh no no I don't think so I think
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my wife forgets a lot of things but I'm sure if you asked her she'd say her
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husband forgets a lot of things and we're about the same age really do you notice that do you think a memory is
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slipping somewhat yeah oh yes yes definitely but um then again I've got so many more things to draw on well from my
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dealings with you and setting up this podcast the last couple of days of um you're one of the most on top people I
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know like I send you a text you call straight back and you're busy and you're
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active like we we rescheduled this from yesterday because you had a dentist appointment then you were catching up
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with a mate for lunch you're a very active dude yes well I'm just fortunate
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I've got so many things going on in my life sometimes I feel like a juggler juggling things so do you still work at
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all these days or no you've retired completely oh I retired [ __ ] five years
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ago I get consulted but I don't about historical things it's got to remember
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but they don't say you know Garth what do you think of the idea of Barefoot and
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Thomas expanding into Hamilton or oh it's like a fake check from way back hey
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can you remember yes you remember this one I remember that and help me memories I look at the death notices in the paper
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that tells me the sad thing about getting old was the people in the death notices that's a that's a part of life
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that wasn't it yeah that's right the remarkable thing about you and this is
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part of the reason I wanted you on the podcast because I think a lot of people that listen to this that maybe aren't
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that active could get a lot from this you started Triathlon you came to the sport very late like 50 yes I really got
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into sport around the base the younger Thompsons if you like that we should do around the base as a company social
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event and that was my first race and I was a rather peeved and I thought I did as
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well as I could I got bitten by my wife I got beaten by my brother he's still
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alive it's 91. you know that was my first ever race okay so this is something for anyone that that doesn't
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know or maybe if it's overseas around the bases New Zealand's biggest Fun Run
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it's in Auckland uh just a long Tamaki Drive each year it's about nine K's at
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that time it was a very big thing it used to be front page it was sponsored by the evening paper and
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um it was on a Saturday so that they could produce the news of it on the front page of the uh Edition when it
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came out in the afternoon it was a very big thing you know they gave you I said probably do now certificate so I was
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rather peeved when the specifically thrived at the the office the Thompson people put them in the bin because they
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didn't want to encourage competitors amongst the staff retrieve them from the bin and they work
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out people's time and I rang up Irene Bates who was at Aston Hilly's office at
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the time I was Rich Clark and congratulated her time and she said oh she said well it's a good time and I
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think it was her husband Gary Bates and he said well oh no I I caught a bus to Britain Mart you know that states
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started by Victoria Park and she packed a card on the uh the rise there by uh judges Bay right that's how she got a
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good that's how she beat me so how old were you at the time when you started
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running around about 50. so what were you like before then were you were you reasonably inactive were you just too
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busy working no um I had a good um I did rather like my parents that they came from England they
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came to New Zealand and they wanted to do things and a life that they that was new to them so they said that they
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embraced the outdoor Touch of New Zealand and with and for this uh he was a real estate agent to my father so he
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liked the walk in the active part I mean during the war when you couldn't get uh
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petrol he went with my Elder Brothers on cycling holidays with the packs with the
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packs on the on the bike so we were all very much into that and at the age of maybe 11 or something or other I was
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piggybacked by my father through the Milford tunnel it was half open and I think he found it quite hard because we
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got to lift back in a public works so you know it was all in the family it's continued in my own family with my
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own three children my wife we were all quite sort of athletic or into Outdoors things anyway we'll talk about the
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athletic stuff first and then we'll talk about business so you start with round
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the base which is a fairly easy run for most most people who don't expect too
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much on business because hated people even when I was in my Prime and the job I said I know more about
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what's happened in real estate than probably anyone else in Auckland but as to what's going to happen tomorrow I
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don't know any more than the barber oh no no I'm not asking you to do any
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predictions or anything but since he is 60 years 60 years in the family business
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and growing it from a reasonably small thing with something like 80 staff to how it was when you left it I think it's
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remarkable and it's worth touching upon yeah well two and a half thousand I think it's growing since I've left we've
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got more branches I just happen to be there 60 years in the same in the same job as not just being there absolutely
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not okay so so around the base you you start with that like which is like an 8K 9k Fun Run then when did you start
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Triathlon were triathlons even a thing but it's a win with us at the late 1980s
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um yes it was then it was a demonstration sport in the commonwealth games when they held in Auckland
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1990 on the waterfront Road and that was before I got into Triathlon so but after
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that I got in right so so you saw that at the Commonwealth Games and did you think oh well I could no no I didn't no
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I didn't all I can is yeah my son was a or birkenhead college are called now and
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the teacher was keen on uh Iron Man and they were asked to provide a tent that's
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an alias so I didn't even know what a lion man was a couple of years later there I am competing in it yeah so how
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old were you when you did your first Iron Man oh what would it be uh probably late 50s 57. this to me is is
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inspirational this to me says to anyone that's listening to this whatever state
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you're in now and whatever you're not doing it's never too late to start yeah
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is that saying you can't teach an old dog new tricks it completely defies that
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like doing an Iron Man in your late 50s seems just mind-boggling so for anyone that is not familiar with Iron Man what
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is it exactly it's a how long is the swim you get in the water first what is
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that three K's four K's uh almost 4ks yeah and then you're on the bike for
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180k yeah and then a full Marathon that's right so you're doing that for
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the first time in your late 50s oh well when you're not fast but you can get
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there yeah I think that's remarkable how many did you end up doing uh oh people
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ask me that question but I said depends how you count it count them I said there's various ways of counting
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them you can count the number either enter the number of times you get the start line
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and then um as you get on it's a number of times you finish them and then as you
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get on further it's the number of times you've finished the bike league and as
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you can come even further it's a number of times you finish the swim league because all these legs have got time
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cutoffs and I think the last one I did I got hauled out of the water oh sometimes the conditions aren't easy I
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mean you're out there doing it you're out there doing this um incredible
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physical feat that 19 99.9 of the population would never even attempt does it sort of hurt as you get older and you
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realize that you're not going to make these cutoffs or is it just something that you have to accept sometimes people
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say you should retire when you're at the top and that sounds most impressive but of
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course the problem is when you're at the top or what with hindsight at the top
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you don't know it is a top so you think well oh one more race I think you can go
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faster it's unbelievable that my time in that first race when I made a number of
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Errors was my fastest ever time if you tell me that after the end of the first one I never would have believed you but
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no matter how hard I try I couldn't get down at that time again yeah 13 hours 45
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minutes right yeah and you did okay like you you won you won some age groups no no I went on to do all together about 99
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man and started in about 30. it took a long time for it to think in the one after my first bike accident the article
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on the herald was uh veteran Iron Man days are over or something like that not headlines but across double column
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and everyone gave you something except my son who said dad what makes you think your Iron Man days weren't already over
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so when did you complete your last Iron Man like at 80 uh oh yes that'll be about uh
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do you know if that's a world record for the oldest person to complete nine men
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uh no at that stays about 84.85 but as you get on um it gets very thin and some years
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don't even have anyone over 80. they're complete so just so just by starting and
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finishing you win the age group yeah but but by the time you get to that stage it's finishing with the time limit
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that's why you can say I'm choosing the London Marathon as my next Big Goal
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because this year they're they've done away with time limits and you've got 24
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hours to do it so what was that so yeah that they wanted to be all-inclusive in other words to take people in um who've
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got physical disabilities and they think the only way to encourage them is to do
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away with the time limits so because I'm very lucky because you know if if I do
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cross the line you know they would I'll be the oldest person you ever crossed
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the line uh London is going 40 years and the oldest person is crossed the line is
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85. do you think that's because they had um time cutoffs previously well probably
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would did and yeah it's not um you know it's not the Juventus you've got to have
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some sort of category to get in yes you know because we're lucky they they seem
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to think because we're visitors we should be made welcome and it's a lot so
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we're allowed to get in if you cross overseas country oh so your your last marathon was the 2021 Rotorua Marathon
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that was the uh the last one I finished yes and at that price I was last and it was about about eight eight and three
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quarters of course that's a long time on your face I got the prize or should I
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say I got my name on this trophy for the the oldest finisher trophy I don't know whether that's something
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I'm gonna answer my grandchildren but um but I've got to bring you up to date
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because that was 2021 and that's 2022 so I've done uh London will be my third
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Marathon that I've entered I did one in Wellington but I failed to finish that
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one and I did one uh two weeks uh taupo and failed to finish that I failed to finish that physically or because of the
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time cut off no physically right yeah they had good good time races but um when you're 80 60 you can't take things
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for granted you don't know how they they will go and people said oh you can't see
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your doctor get your medication round up because I've got on medication after my
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heart valve transplant and uh oh I didn't go into education because it's
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not it's not a magic one it's not like a wound or a boat broken bone yeah uh and
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I said no no I'm like Hamish Carter I can remember the great fuss about Hamish
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Carter who was the poster boy for the Sydney Olympics and and Trust we forgot that the best
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chance we had at getting a gold medal you know and then on the day uh What's
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the phrase he failed to Fire and uh so they interviewed him to find out the reason and he said oh when I wake up in
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the morning in my hotel room I knew it wasn't going to be a good day and the public in New Zealand were
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outraged they didn't demands of Royal inquiry but it was very close yeah so when I didn't finish my those two
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Americans people say well you must be selling me out of something's wrong you
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know hello you know I'm 86 you've got to take the good with the bad yeah and you
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have good days and bad days although the fact that you're out there on the getting getting yourself physically in
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shape for these things and making it to the start line I think is um that's no
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mean feat on its own with um the taupo marathon a couple of weeks ago how many kilometers in did you get I got to got
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to halfway right and then and then did it was just not feel great or uh well you sort of get dizzy and you start
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getting uncoordinated uh it's just it's just the risk I take I mean you know to
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be on blood thinners you know it's pretty remarkable I can still compete with an artificial hip and pins and my
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other hip and goodness graciously everything's fading away the only thing left is my voice I think that the
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loudest voice and I'm not quite as loud as the guys interviewing me that's me yeah let's hear me I'm talking
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about Dom here when I had Arch jelly on the podcast uh he he's he's got a
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hearing aids like you and um he he said to me oh your voice is very loud I'm
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gonna have to take them off I'm sorry about that I do have a very loud voice on this on this desk here
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that's your favorite right up to the top and that's mine all the way down there
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oh okay so what does your running style look like now is it sort of like a walk would you say it's a walk or is it still
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a run uh I call it a a struggle I struggle a lot so it's uh because I know the time you know I can walk at so
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much but I can't walk fast and uh 12 minutes a kilometer I struggle as I call
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it I can get the 10 minutes a kilometer yeah and if I run uh I can get it down to about eight minutes a kilometers
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right like this morning I went from my home in Island Bay birkenhead to the birkenhead wharf which is uh quite a lot
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of Hell in it maybe about 100 meters of climbing or something rather but uh the I first time in about four months I got
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my time below 10 minutes okay that's why I'm feeling chipper during this
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interview full of optimism so um yes so London's obviously it's a long way to travel for a marathon so are you
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are you determined to finish it like come hell or high water yeah well I find the it's like a lot of things the half
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of you want publicity because that's a good means you can't go back and the
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other half wants to be under under the under the headlights you know you know so that no one knows if you don't
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succeed so I think I've elected to be in the former category otherwise I wouldn't be
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doing this podcast yeah well regardless of what happens it's like um anyone would only want the best for you the
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fact that you're a man in your late 80s and you're still out there doing it
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nobody wants to everyone's rooting for you and uh if if you don't manage to
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complete it for whatever reason there would just be sadness from people um sort of on behalf of you I guess well
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I did I don't actually think I made a good story this is 86 year old who couldn't finish the first two easy
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marathons this is done this year how would it get on oh no come on come on doing it for publicity oh no no honestly
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when it comes to your modesty you need to you need to pull your head in a little bit like the fact that you are a
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still alive and B physically able to do these things that you know many people quarter of your age couldn't even do it
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that's an example it's a bit embarrassing I was thinking the old marathon when you have with a group from
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out of town and going along the Waterfront Road there where there's not you know people calling out and after
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all these ladies I was running with us is oh you seem to be well known guys I feel a bit sorry for them no one's
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dead for them well you are you are so well known and I do feel like it's um you had you had
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great success in business but I feel like this is like a completely separate thing like people are cheering you not
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because they know you from as the real estate dude but because you've just been
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a familiar face on these running and Triathlon events in the circuit for such a long time yes you can't help but um
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get sort of well known because I I train on roads these days when I was younger I
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always used to go on the side of the footpath which had less people on um maybe even within the shade but these
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days they go on the side of the footwearth which is more people on because people talk to are exchange it I
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glances with you I'm quite sociable now it's quite changed so do you think um
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London will be your last full marathon on dull days I think it will be double days
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of course is is I said you never know when you're on top so oh gee fancy being
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the oldest person in you know they've probably had half a million people do it
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they do it and so it's tempted to keep on but um yeah well I you know I've I've
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entered the uh off-road Marathon at motatapu Queenstown yeah yeah yeah yeah yes yeah over Shania Twain or it was
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tonight yeah yeah I I said what are you doing there what distance oh before you're not expecting me to do anything
00:21:02
but the fullness whatever else I might be I'm not a wimp yeah I'm not a wimp it's um it's it's
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beautiful and it's scenic but it's horrible it's so steep it's a it's real
00:21:16
challenging that's amazing but I remember thinking you know golf cart over it because that's where the first
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aid people I should be able to do it but I'll still try to get my friends to come
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with me but yeah they all say oh I couldn't do that distance guys yeah when you say trying to get your friends to
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come with you what age are they younger than you same age what I call the younger people but of course they're in
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their 70s right pushing yourself physically it's been such a big part of your life since since your 50s uh you
00:21:43
know like Iron Man marathons things like that so will do you think as you as you
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get older and even into your 90s you'll keep pushing yourself at the distance
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will get smaller like say half marathons or 10 kilometers well it's going to be a
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dilemma really you know the marathons is the one that gets publicity the the glamor and the half is you know I used
00:22:06
to think oh it was beneath my dignity to do these pack runs um been not orientated towards competitors
00:22:17
of people but I do the pack run I'll do it she would she would park up at Browns
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Bay and I got into that because someone tapped me on the shoulder and said oh gosh you don't want to run Thompson who
00:22:31
would I contact to get some sponsorship and I said I've been retired four years
00:22:37
um and then I said well why don't you ask me you know I'm on the rich list
00:22:42
and then they only wanted one to me they only wanted my leg was a defibrillator defibrillator what are they worth yeah
00:22:51
well no I didn't know what they were but I sort of thought well if anyone's going
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to need it if you're able to write it it'll be me so this wasn't rocking charts I couldn't
00:23:02
say he's fast enough yeah um of course I had to get that to get the the okay to run the race but they
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did have a incident oh yeah one one incident and it's paid for itself already hasn't it
00:23:17
well yeah but the only way they got rid of me was stopped doing the rich list all right the richness doesn't run
00:23:25
anymore as I said the Forbes or NBR or NBR National Business Review yeah so I always wondered about that like do do
00:23:31
they get the figures right like do you read it and go I'm worth way more than that or that's a [ __ ]
00:23:38
figure well it's it's always a bit hard anyway even you know I've got the what
00:23:42
is it the high net worth people from revenue they're doing this survey I don't sort of carry those things in my
00:23:51
head or something hard to know but it certainly enabled me I you know I've sponsored I mean the company sponsors a
00:23:57
lot of things what what did NBR think you were worth well we used to look at it to find out
00:24:03
I think they they had a rival real estate agent firm so I think they kept the to
00:24:11
them and us the same so what was it like about like a 100 million 50 million I thought well of course it's barefoot and
00:24:18
tops right so I'm sure it'd be 100 million or less families but you're not
00:24:24
a flashy guy at all like you've lived in the same house your entire life yeah
00:24:27
what sort of car do you drive oh I don't have a Lexus yeah yeah yeah so nice but no it's not you're not
00:24:34
getting around in a McLaren or a Ferrari so when when you go to London though please tell me you'll be flying business
00:24:40
or first class though oh no um yeah but what happened was um I'm going with the group and you
00:24:48
probably gathered I'm a sort of sociable guy and I I thought if I travel I was I
00:24:55
think it's premium economy I'll have more chance of reading my friends so you
00:25:00
know premium economy we went on a luxury Cruise you know because you think oh that's life but honestly by the time of
00:25:08
three weeks I was looking forward to it and you know why why are you just bored or what oh I
00:25:20
want to get back to my running and and I used to walk around the swimming pool on
00:25:25
the ship but of course the swimming pools aren't very good and I started to get dizzy so it's just
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and it's probably hard to it once the seeds get rough of us I could see sick
00:25:37
quite easily so yeah anyway so so what what do you do with your money like you can't take it with you when you're gone
00:25:44
oh well a lot of people are grateful for it a big sponsor at the Olympics I'm not
00:25:49
a big sponsor but a sponsor yeah Olympics and Triathlon and those sorts of things
00:25:55
you've done you've done a lot for um Auckland city as well like any other
00:26:00
parent you lend money to your children hopefully they won't pay it backwards so they've all owned real
00:26:06
estate yeah yes so this is the weird thing about you so you're a real estate
00:26:10
guy but you've you've only lived in the one house so I only lived in one house
00:26:14
and never owned a rental never been a landlord why is that when I came home from work I don't want to be bothered
00:26:20
with being a little so whereabouts do you live Island by an american head right so
00:26:26
you're you and your wife you you bought this yeah you bought it as a section
00:26:29
where we got engaged when was that uh I suppose it was 51 years ago right 52 years ago can you remember the price of
00:26:36
the section yes uh we got the house built for the contract was 32 000. the land might have been six thousand nine
00:26:47
thousand nine thousand for land wow it's about 40 000 all up yeah that's right
00:26:52
would be um would have gone up a little bit since then I would think so so how come how come you've never moved
00:27:09
we're only considering the retirement votes near us because it's it becomes
00:27:13
your life all the tracks and and the walks and the swing the facilities and the people are really quite sociable it
00:27:21
must be really nice for your um adult children that your mum and dad are still together and still in the
00:27:27
house that they were born I mean and there's so many memories there yeah and
00:27:30
because it's very nice for the parents that their children have chosen to live
00:27:33
uh they all live in Auckland and two out of three live on the North Shore and the
00:27:39
other one's not too far away so yeah uh greater advantage of in covert so um it
00:27:44
was your dad that started barfoot and Thompson yeah yeah so and it was just was it just called barfoot real estate
00:27:50
he he um trains an engineer in England and um when he served in the Army then he couldn't uh get a job the only person
00:28:00
in his year or class at the University got a job and it was a job in the guessworks and that was his father was
00:28:07
that Chief exec oh the boss of the guesswork so it just really showed how hard it was to get a job in Engineering
00:28:14
in that time in England yeah so he just came to New Zealand for his father's
00:28:20
health and uh just walking along Broadway Newmarket and saw this uh real estate with a let's say it was messing
00:28:29
around and the word Brown was crossed out so he knocked on the door and said you're looking for a new pattern
00:28:39
and the guy said yes so of course it was before licensing so that was how it started so it's just as simple as that
00:28:47
and then then he worked out of course the partner if you like who had a phone and the phone was so useful because it
00:28:55
was very good for uh what is now called off course betting which is illegal of course in those days
00:29:03
my father didn't believe it illegal thing so he brought his partner out right so so
00:29:11
what year we were coming up now 100 years so I said to my friends from our child well I'll try I'll try and stay
00:29:17
around till 2023 stay around if it's an annual take stock of my place on Earth so he
00:29:26
starts I mean it's called Barefoot and then when does the Thompson thing come
00:29:29
along okay well well Thompson was a Salesman person they engaged and it was a great salesperson and then the war
00:29:38
came so he enlisted and they thought he was so good that they the best way to make sure he came back was to make him a
00:29:46
partner World War yeah yeah so he went up to Fiji with the Air Force but uh you know
00:29:53
before he went they said well he can come back you can you can buy it but it wasn't given to him he didn't buy it but
00:29:58
Thompson came in so now of course we've got uh Thompson as the managing director
00:30:03
so what year were you born I was born 1936 36. do you remember much about the war time you would have been like nine
00:30:09
or ten years old I guess or yeah I was at primary school during the War uh I can't I what I can remember is my older
00:30:17
brothers which had three uh we made a air raid shoulder trench as people did in those days and uh the uh they put me
00:30:26
in it and then went away and it wouldn't help me out like on your section yeah I don't know
00:30:32
where we lived in the back Garden right like a proper bunco not a ditch right right and my father joined the outbreak
00:30:42
of War because he was in the first world war and he he didn't think that's the
00:30:46
New Zealand army or something right because he wrote to England and said he was an officer in the first world war he
00:30:51
offered his services I don't think they're very interested in having a 45 year old company
00:30:56
[Laughter] but they're right sorry he joined the Home Guard but he said that was a waste
00:31:02
of time but but they had he said but they had to have it because it kept the morale up being a like a young a young
00:31:08
boy growing up in New Zealand and wartime was it a scary thing or did New Zealand still feel quite safe because we
00:31:14
were quite far removed I think I was too young okay to get any concept of fear yeah the United States troops they were
00:31:22
a novelty they had sweets or whatever they had we got invited to a lunch you know at the Commonwealth Park and there
00:31:31
was ice cream and wafer sandwiches I've seen those before doesn't matter where that as a young boy
00:31:40
that's your like enduring memory of the war yeah that's right yeah okay so then
00:31:44
um you finished school how do you how do you end up at your dad's firm after the
00:31:48
war the very severe price controls he thought it was only a matter of time before we we followed Moscow and
00:31:54
everything was state owned so he saw no future in real estate so they were quite keen on me to
00:32:01
consider farming as a career so I think we went to otahuhu college they had a farm course
00:32:08
secondary schools I think we went to Mount Everest Grandma they had a farm course because when it went to Massey
00:32:13
University outside of Palmerston North so it was quite a few a couple of years there as I got near the top of the
00:32:20
school the government changed and then real estate became an attractive career with my parents I said I just went along
00:32:26
with it so it seems like you go to university to do agriculture that was slightly because your parents wanted to
00:32:31
so you were just sort of was that just how it was at the time that your parents would tell you yes we had a cow
00:32:39
produced milk you know I had a very good knowledge of farming yeah yeah yeah so um how old were you when you when you
00:32:45
started it um what was then barford and Thompson so as I guess I was about 21 20
00:32:50
19 56. and then and then that was is that that was your entire working life yeah I mean of course I did it did AOE
00:32:58
of course in those days are very good for part-time work during the whole day so I I worked in the freezing works so
00:33:05
we're we're about to do we're about as you do your OE your overseas experience
00:33:09
in England because that's what people did they went to England did that too and I got us a job as a
00:33:17
teacher uh not that because I was trained to the teaching but you could all they required were the reference and
00:33:24
you had to be free of TB so we had the TV test or X-ray test and then they wrote home to
00:33:33
Morris Thompson for a reference that I that I was okay and because I was a commonwealth citizen that made me a
00:33:40
teacher but of course it didn't make me a teacher and there was went the first
00:33:45
assignment and uh lasted about five minutes but they start to make a noise 10 minutes and always
00:33:53
looks got louder and 15 minutes later the teacher from the joining classroom came in and really told the class off
00:34:00
and said yeah they said we respectful for the new teacher so after a week as I worked up my
00:34:09
priorities the first priority was the not till the class makes so much noise that the teacher from next door has to
00:34:16
come in oh that's embarrassing the second problem was to stop the fighting with each other or pinching each other's
00:34:23
property that was the second priority and third priority was to teach them something so it was experience yeah it
00:34:32
wasn't quite good but it did give me I was very shy up to them oh really how
00:34:35
did you yeah how did you go from being a shy person to not being a shotgun when I
00:34:39
was very young youngest in the family and we were out of zone so that made me what I call socially backward uh because
00:34:46
you tended to be family oriented in Recreation and all the boys at grammar school they talked about going to the
00:34:52
dancing school and listen it was completely over my head and then there but and then uh at the University I
00:35:01
found that I was good at tramping because of my parents and all the stuff we'd done so it was sort of natural for
00:35:07
me to come up through the Rings quite quickly and be the club Captain under club and that sort of just started to
00:35:14
build my confidence if you like with high side now of course I can just take a microphone up into the front in front
00:35:20
of a thousand people and talk because there's one thing I have got is a loud voice oh
00:35:27
so do you think um do you think that sort of confidence or being comfortable in your own skin just comes naturally
00:35:33
with age or did you have to work hard on it no I think it's just built up over
00:35:37
the years yeah you sort of sometimes think that things get better I hate these people they
00:35:42
start talking before the crowd is quietened but when I shout people jump you know
00:35:49
does anything believe for me you know I can't see as well I can't hear as well I
00:35:53
can't eat as well I won't come on yeah I've got my hair especially during
00:35:58
covert very useful yeah very very long and um and your mind is still fabulous I I know you mentioned before that your
00:36:07
your memory isn't not what it used to be but I I don't know I don't know I feel
00:36:11
like it's still great is is aging do you find it frustrating to get doors open doors open for you
00:36:21
what do you mean so if you like you know it's not thrill of winning it's a thrill
00:36:26
of taking part uh you know this sort of thing you sort of get a lot of satisfaction out walking this morning
00:36:32
lovely day and and there I am with my Gladys and thermal because my blood's thin like feel the cold a lot more but
00:36:40
I'm still doing it out there yeah oh you are satisfaction yeah it's incredible
00:36:44
and you mentioned before you've got a brother that's in his 90s have you just
00:36:48
as they're just longevity in in your family it's quite it's good yeah all my
00:36:52
brothers I mean two have passed on but they all got to 80. what do you reckon how many more birthdays do you think
00:36:59
you've got in you I'll just get the London Marathon over first what about your what about your wife
00:37:06
when did you you guys have been together for 50 something years yeah yeah so um how did you guys meet
00:37:12
oh we met through the tramping club or she was the skier and uh but that didn't
00:37:18
help because he was she was on ski patrol she was being a doctor and she'd be in Europe a lot longer getting
00:37:26
her anesthetic qualification and so she was used to skiing in Switzerland yeah far better than me
00:37:33
she liked my camping ability and we compromised and got together yeah do you remember much was it Love at First Sight
00:37:40
or was it sort of a thing like the world is so small now in terms of like the internet like it's a like a global
00:37:45
Community but I suppose back then you had your immediate sort of circle or groups and you just sort of like paired
00:37:51
off with one of them and I'm thinking of like my mum's family my mom's one of 14
00:37:53
from Levin and they just all married other people in Levin usually from the same church group was it like that with
00:38:00
you and your wife or was it that like love at first sight or no no well it certainly wasn't as far as he she's
00:38:06
concerned because she she went out with my brother everything that the progressive maybe she took up
00:38:15
with me I can't say yeah well it's worked out all right what do you think
00:38:20
um what do you think the key is to uh successful and enduring marriage is there a secret oh no I don't think
00:38:27
there's a secret I mean it's it's it's it's up to your personality really I
00:38:31
think uh you can you can adjust but you have to want to adjust and sometimes I want to adjust but I don't want to
00:38:38
adjust all the time they're at the moment she thinks I'm obsessed with walking
00:38:43
and she's right of course what does she um well she you mentioned before that
00:38:49
she was the one that got you got you into it in the first place yeah that's right she got me into it because the
00:38:54
teacher over to early got my son into a different college and that's he said mum
00:39:00
will come along and he I'll guarantee you a prize and it was early early days for
00:39:06
Triathlon and they were in modern sports they were the I think the first sport to
00:39:10
induce equal sizes for men and women and they had the prices because um the uh tobacco people were very keen
00:39:19
uh on sponsoring us whatever it was a new sport and rossman's were quite a sponsor I mean like Peter Snell he was
00:39:27
sponsored by Rossman so of course it was a little embarrassment in a later life but oh yeah Tobacco Company sponsored
00:39:33
everything didn't they yeah yeah I mean I remember there's a as a young boy I suppose in the 1980s like going to
00:39:40
cricket matches and it was Benson and hedges everywhere yeah so she so she got you into the sport and now does she sort
00:39:45
of regret it because you're obsessed yeah so she's traveling to London with you no
00:39:53
no no she's she she's watched she's watched me she's watching our children
00:39:58
she's watched our grandchildren she's done her her time on Earth Watching
00:40:02
others watching it to her family yeah so anyone that's listening to this that's
00:40:08
um I suppose any age because you you were such a late starter what would your message be to then to someone that's
00:40:13
listening to this that doesn't do much in the way of physical stuff at the moment
00:40:18
well I think it's it's very much the the old story of sliding doors if you see an
00:40:23
opportunity that you've got uh an advantage in that you're better than someone else I mean I suppose you've got
00:40:30
to be competitive try try it try it out and just follow the advice from other people who do that particular activity
00:40:37
which is really what I did yeah but do you think that someone that's listening
00:40:41
to this that say um yeah middle age that that hasn't done any endurance sport do you think they
00:40:47
could any anyone could do a an Iron Man or does it take a special sort of person
00:40:50
I don't think it takes a special sort of person when I joined the Athletic Club
00:40:55
you know in my mid 50s I found that that they sort of tailed off and I worked out
00:41:02
that there I was the only one who didn't have joint or ankle knee problems because I was fresh to the sport uh
00:41:10
because in those days there was no such thing as running issues or something when you went overseas you know so
00:41:16
perhaps I was lucky starting late yeah and you know there's lots of people who've done all their lives and but
00:41:23
there's also lots of people who start late there's no one in one road yeah but
00:41:28
I suppose a lot of I mean you you started in your late 50s but I suppose a lot of people would be that age and
00:41:33
think oh I'm just too old to do that now my moment's gone but you sort of defy
00:41:38
that which I think is remarkable yeah yeah and there's a disadvantage of doing
00:41:42
it all the time I mean there's people older than me or my same age and they've
00:41:48
given away because it's it's not a challenge for them anymore I'm so lucky
00:41:53
it's a challenge you just I like just like finishing marathon it's just a big challenge yeah
00:41:59
yeah hey well um I I think you're inspirational and I've seen you at numerous running events and uh it's all
00:42:05
it's always great to see you out on the road and it's um a long way that
00:42:08
continue but don't don't be scared of going shorter though like you I felt
00:42:12
like you you sort of turned your nose up before when I mentioned like half marathons or 10ks but there's no shame
00:42:17
in those shorter instances is here oh no no no I mean I did you know I've done
00:42:21
massive half of things as I said I'm doing the 5K uh park run tomorrow morning at eight o'clock so
00:42:28
no no not at all no no but but you know we're doing triathlons of course I was
00:42:34
swimming and biking but uh you know I find I'm not really excelling in those
00:42:39
Sports uh I have tunnel keeping warm in the swim you know because yeah my age your heart doesn't pump your blood
00:42:46
around so much and have thinners and then biking you know I'm I'm less confident now when I balance you know so
00:42:54
it was running is pretty safe so I think I'll stick to that yeah oh good stuff
00:42:59
having said that I'm off to uh Abu Dhabi in November to represent New Zealand and
00:43:05
trust them so oh [ __ ] actually I don't know 20K bike and uh 5K run yeah yeah not not
00:43:22
in the grave yet no not at all it is remarkable good for you do you yeah how do you find the um the cycling
00:43:29
um at your age and balancing on a bike balancing and I balancing and traffic I mean living in Auckland yeah it's it's
00:43:37
growing I mean it nowadays you know even after five years went up to kumu uh in a car to watch my
00:43:44
children play football and I thought geez there's more traffic on Saturday morning now than there was five years
00:43:50
ago yeah I've been consistent running I can do well you've um you've had a couple of
00:43:57
bike crashes over the years yeah yeah yeah right yeah and I'm also conscious
00:44:01
you know as my first surgeon said you know if you go biking you will have accidents you know yeah I mean even in
00:44:07
the recovery is I mean my wife's had a knee replacement and her recovery has
00:44:13
been quite slow uh because she's my age and I'm other conscious that if I have
00:44:19
another severe accident it'll it'll take too long or maybe the search is I think
00:44:25
I'm not worth saving oh come on come on so what were the bike accidents was it
00:44:31
like involving a motor vehicle or was it just like a fall and you know the first
00:44:36
one involved a motor vehicle and this is one that made me famous because it was I
00:44:43
very wisely had the bike accident at the beginning of the National Bike Week and
00:44:48
they wanted to Television TV one wanted to find someone who had an accident or something rather so
00:44:57
suddenly North Shore hospitals saw a camera crew they interviewed me and it's got to be
00:45:03
you know the national news yeah amazing amazing made me famous well that's not the only thing that made me
00:45:10
famous I got went down to the new Plymouth for a race for the national championship and uh because I was I
00:45:17
think I was training for Iron Man in that stage so I arranged to bike back from New Plymouth after the Champs and
00:45:24
so I did the championship and before the uh rice the announcer he said oh anyone got
00:45:31
any stories about the races because he was from Auckland and my son without my knowledge or blessing went to him and
00:45:38
said oh your dad's gonna bike back to Auckland and so was it like 400 400 calories
00:45:47
and so he so he told me that so he put it over there that's me and then the uh
00:45:55
those the president of Chinese was coming down on Sunday morning for a race racial on Saturday and he came down
00:46:03
through the hour Aquino Gorge and as he was coming through he saw the cyclist and he thought gee that looks like Garth
00:46:10
Buffett and and so that I can't be him he's he's fighting any you know when he
00:46:17
got to leave Plymouth yeah where's California and then and then uh I was I said I'll
00:46:27
take the cell phone the cell phones were quite unusual I didn't want to lose it I
00:46:30
put it in the bike uh in the back pocket of my bicycle behind the seat and I think I used it and then when I got to
00:46:39
the next stop I I lost it it kind of bounced out the vibration and so because it was supplied by work
00:46:47
because in those days all mobiles were supplied by people's work so expensive
00:46:52
yeah it's quite expensive yes and so no I had to go on the next work next day
00:46:57
and so I have to buy get a new cell phone you see and so I said well I I said I lost it where did you lose it I
00:47:05
don't know we're somewhere between uh otorohana and tequery so they've all went around the company
00:47:15
but it would have put them in quite easy to find it Well I'm imagining one of
00:47:20
those books I remember the um when phones first came out they were very expensive to buy and
00:47:25
then calls were like a hundred dollars a minute as well yeah ridiculous amounts what do you think what do you think
00:47:34
you're most proud of is it if you had to pick one what are you more proud of like
00:47:37
the the stuff that you achieved in business or the the stuff that you've achieved in your Advanced years as an
00:47:42
athlete well I I suppose I'm proud of them both yeah of course yeah you know of course
00:47:48
you know I have to be proud that we've you know the company's kept away from
00:47:51
scandals you know it's got a good name yeah he's guiding about it but it has
00:47:57
you know and and then of course I'd rather please do you know that I've always
00:48:02
encouraged you know if you're keen on something you encourage others that comes naturally and just maybe you know
00:48:09
I've been able to system financially by an example in case people into the sport
00:48:14
yeah how would you how would you like to be remembered like when the time comes if you become famous again you make the
00:48:20
news again what would you what would you want them to say about you well uh someone once died young a friend
00:48:28
of mine well I said mid-40s and I know his brother said at the funeral well he did more things in his in his short life
00:48:37
than lots of people doing a long life and so I'd like to think well you know
00:48:41
his life wasn't wasted at least he did lots of things really yeah most different yeah well I think there's a
00:48:48
lot to offer so what's that life's got a lot to offer yeah all these things I
00:48:52
mean it's like moving to a retirement home and people think oh that's one foot
00:48:56
in the grave but it does give me an opportunity to it'd be like a new world for me well if
00:49:04
you're on the social side yeah yeah I don't know quite what the challenges
00:49:07
will be because I'm not there yet I'm sure I'll find something to occupy me so
00:49:13
is that the plan you're going to sell the house that you've been in for your
00:49:16
entire married life and move into a restaurant yeah but I've got to put the order right
00:49:20
um it's this job when you've been in one house 50 years and the children of
00:49:24
fledged the nurse you've got so much space that you get in the habit of never
00:49:29
ever throwing away anything [Laughter] downsizing let's buy the unit without
00:49:42
selling the house and then after six months or so we'll find out what we do want yeah yeah and then we went what we
00:49:50
don't want give it away oh that's a that's a great idea does she like the
00:49:53
idea I think it's hard she's having trouble getting it round yeah because most
00:49:59
people have to sell their houses lucky position to be in nice I think um yeah I think race time's a sort of I remember
00:50:06
yeah my granddad and my dad's side he was in a rest home in Levin and it was
00:50:10
it was a one foot in the grave situation then but I think they're quite nice now
00:50:13
like uh when I went to see uh Shelly at his retirement village and Barry McGee it's they're really nice and they're
00:50:19
really social I think for a social man like yourself I think you'd love the environment yeah so what Retirement
00:50:24
Village is Australian oh I'd have to look it up on my phone it was a beautiful one though and he had a great
00:50:28
time in lockdown there and yeah Barry man is another so Peter Helberg one who was his old mate oh okay yeah there's
00:50:35
even a wing in there called The Barry McGee Wing which he doesn't live in okay
00:50:40
no they're good they're great they go and play balls and Bridge and yeah I
00:50:44
think you'd love it oh hey well Kenneth barfoot thank you very much for coming
00:50:48
around and being on the podcast um what a lie a hell of a life you're a man of integrity I think that's
00:50:54
one thing that people would say about you yeah well I'm talking about integrity I didn't like the way that you
00:50:58
said you could park in New World because I sort of thought well hang on I'm not
00:51:04
buying anything if you do well I'm not that I don't like well actually I
00:51:08
passionate new world at Chelsea birkenhead so I I didn't feel I feel a new world
00:51:17
fan but not a new world customer for this area and I thought oh I can't pack
00:51:22
there I might get stopped it's like you know a politicism getting stopped coming
00:51:27
out of a gentleman's cup at Club I'll be remembered for illegally parking
00:51:33
a new world car park if it makes you God if it makes you feel any better I'll walk you there now and
00:51:40
I'll buy a pack of chewing gum awesome so I thought no I'll I'll come I'll
00:51:46
change it into my walking clothes so I can walk from a car park yeah yeah yeah I don't know my friends got a phrase it
00:51:52
says the Lord will provide so I come outside and you wouldn't believe it I've
00:51:56
got a park in Victoria Street oh yeah the risk was too great oh have you no what's this what's this one
00:52:06
thing you know people get known if you become famous you get one known for you know like Mary Antoinette said once said
00:52:12
let them eat cake you know she's famous for that what does that saying mean let
00:52:17
the meat yeah oh it was a mark for the poor people that were struggling with the price of beds they can buy Cake you
00:52:23
know yeah what's um what's the worst thing you've done I don't know
00:52:33
if you're nervous to park in a new World Cup when you're not a shopping there
00:52:38
like it must have been when I was in the third form what what should Now call a bully it so
00:52:45
annoyed me that I punched him because these days I'll be charged with myself yeah
00:52:54
well hopefully hopefully the um yeah the 13 year old that you bullied um 75 years
00:52:59
ago was dead man well it happened I mean look at the uh the the uh because the one the
00:53:08
Christchurch one um Deputy leader at one stage of the national party uh Jerry Bradley yeah
00:53:15
Jared Brownlee yeah and he someone people came up and turned out that when he was at school a pupil of you know
00:53:22
they he uh Jay brownie put tennis balls in his mouth to stop him talking in class
00:53:29
she must have must have had a big mouth [Laughter] and it's been a pleasure to sit down
00:53:43
with you today and um yeah it's it's a life of Integrity as we said before and
00:53:48
um the things that you've done um I I think I I don't think you could probably imagine the amount of people
00:53:55
that you've inspired with your athletic achievements and the endurance sport as
00:54:00
a senior citizen and I'm pleased that my my cup of coffee didn't kill you
00:54:05
oh you didn't finish it almost all right well thank you very much for coming on
00:54:09
the podcast I really appreciate it you're a great New Zealander thank you thanks very much for listening all the
00:54:14
way through to Runners only with dom Harvey and Garth barfoot 85 years old just about to do the London Marathon I
00:54:21
really hope you guys enjoyed that if you did by all means give the podcast a rating wherever you get your podcast
00:54:25
from or if your podcast platform allows it write a review as well I don't know
00:54:30
what that stuff does but apparently it all helps hey thank you so much for being here really appreciate it
00:54:35
appreciate all your feedback and correspondence as well you can message me on Instagram Dom Harvey NZ or by
00:54:41
email domharvey NZ gmail.com love you guys catch you next week