00:00:00
Sometimes we're climbing on this cliff face that you might fall down. You actually might die. I was pushing beyond
00:00:05
hypotherm. My teammates had to put my clothes on for me. I couldn't speak. >> Who is Molly Spark?
00:00:10
>> Say I'm an adventurer. I'm 22. She might sleep for roughly 8 hours over the whole
00:00:15
event. You're moving for 22 hours a day. I tore my ankle 3 days before world
00:00:20
champs a few years ago and did 600ks on a torn ankle. I'd fractured my sac. One
00:00:25
of our teammates actually, he got chopped off the mountain. How do you fight those intrusive thoughts?
00:00:29
>> That's probably my downfall. Get in half a music bar in about 48 hours. Drunk
00:00:34
nothing. There was tears dripping down my face. I just s looked at mom and she was just like crying.
00:00:39
>> Are you proud of yourself? >> She always made me smile. >> Molly Spark, welcome to my podcast.
00:00:45
>> Thank you so much for having me on this Saturday. Was it morning afternoon?
00:00:49
Yeah. >> Yeah. You you flew um down you flew to Aland from Christ Church especially for
00:00:53
this. >> Yes, I did. So, you're welcome, Dom. I hope I do you uh proud.
00:00:58
>> Well, I appreciate you making the effort. It's really cool. >> Yeah. Yeah. No, I'm super excited and um
00:01:04
tomorrow's a mission day, so hopefully I'll get out in the hills tomorrow, but
00:01:08
I did this just for you. So, >> yeah. Well, I I appreciate you being here and um um you paid for it as well.
00:01:14
Like you you paid for your own flight up. Um even people in my own team here were like, "Who would pay to go on your
00:01:20
podcast?" >> I would. I would. >> And I appreciate it. What's your mission
00:01:24
tomorrow? the Sunday after we're recording this. >> Yeah. Um I'll head up to Hamnner Springs
00:01:29
and uh bike in from the Hamnner to St. James and then climb up what's called
00:01:35
Mount Princess and there's like this beautiful princess bath at the top of Mount Princess and then I'll just kind
00:01:40
of traverse back down and bike back to Hamnner. So it'll be a good like 10 12
00:01:44
hours something like that. >> And I follow you on Instagram. Um Molly's Missions is your handle. This Do
00:01:50
you do this most weekends? >> Uh yeah. Yeah, especially in summer at this time of year. Um the weekends are
00:01:57
definitely made for missions and you know I I guess I just utilize my time the best I can outside of work. But
00:02:04
yeah, no, I love it and uh it's a privilege I'll be able to get out in the
00:02:08
hills. Yeah. >> So this isn't um um specific training for what you do, which is a thing called
00:02:13
expedition racing. This is just you living life to the full. >> Yeah, totally. Yep. me and my mates just
00:02:18
go out, have some fun, and yeah, I'm not actually training for anything specifically like currently right now.
00:02:24
But when I am training, I actually don't even have a structure really. I just go
00:02:29
out and that's probably why I don't paddle very much because I don't really
00:02:32
like paddling very much. So, I just get out on my bike and on my feet. So yeah, I guess with my sport it's very um you
00:02:41
don't have to it's not like triathlon where you have to you know hit a certain
00:02:45
wattage and you know if you can survive on 1 hours of sleep at night you'll be
00:02:49
you'll be doing pretty good. >> Yeah, there's a lot lot I'm curious to
00:02:53
um ask about and learn about like in terms of the the you training and stuff like that because I'm I'm like a I'm a
00:02:58
road guy so you know what you got to do like if you can go out and run 30ks you can probably do a 42k marathon on event
00:03:04
day but I don't know how you can train for a 6 day event. So there's a lot to
00:03:07
talk about, but first of all, uh, one question in two parts. >> Okay. >> Who is Molly Spark and what is
00:03:14
expedition racing? >> Okay, perfect. So I guess me, I am Molly. I am in a I'd say I'm an
00:03:21
adventure racer, but it is just my expensive hobby basically. Um, and I work with kids, so that's awesome. I'm a
00:03:29
twin. I have a brother, an older brother, and we are farmers from North Canterbury. So we have uh oh eight or so
00:03:38
hill properties um beef properties in North Canterbury and I've kind of just
00:03:43
grown up around the mountains getting out there kind of you know classic farming life. Um went to school in town
00:03:52
in Christ Church and yeah now I'm 22 so out of school for about what 4 years now
00:03:58
something like that. went to uni, studied sport and exercise science, and I guess I've found that passion of
00:04:05
adventure racing, expedition racing. Um, and now I can kind of takes me all over
00:04:11
the world, which I'm so so grateful for because, you know, some people would
00:04:16
love that to have that as their sport. And I've just had that opportunity to do
00:04:21
that, which is awesome. And I guess expedition racing is, how do I explain it? Um, people always think when I
00:04:30
explain it to them, they're like they're actually in disbelief and it's really
00:04:34
hard to explain. So, basically expedition racing is you bike, you mountain bike, you trek, um, you
00:04:43
navigate and you paddle. And sometimes they can throw in some, you know, uh, rock climbing or ab sailing or something
00:04:51
like that. But basically, you navigate with a map and compass for as long as you get to the finish line. So you might
00:04:59
start in, you know, let's just say Oakland and you sometimes don't even know your finish line and they give you
00:05:06
maps and you have to find little checkpoints along the way and yeah, you just kind of wander around the hills.
00:05:12
you're in a team of four. So, typically um it's three boys and one female. So,
00:05:20
three male, one male, uh female. But you can have a 50/50 split or a three and a
00:05:26
one. You just have to have one of each gender. And you have to kind of stay within 50 m of each other the whole
00:05:32
time. You sleep when you want to sleep, you eat when you want to eat, you carry everything on your back. And yeah, it's
00:05:40
um and it's pretty tough. Like sometimes you're walking for example uh I tore my
00:05:45
ankle 3 days before world champs a few years ago and did 600ks on a torn ankle. So, you know, you do push yourself
00:05:54
beyond what is you think is humanly possible and then you get to the finish line and you're like, "Holy heck, how
00:06:01
did I just do that?" And like, you look back and you're like, "I just, you know,
00:06:06
we just did 1,000 kilometers in 6 days." You know, some people wouldn't even do
00:06:11
that in their lifetime. And we've just done that in six days on, you know, uh
00:06:17
maybe in a seven-day adventure race, you might sleep for roughly eight hours over
00:06:21
the whole event. So, if you put that into perspective, that's roughly an hour
00:06:26
to 2 hours a night. And then you are you're moving for 22 hours a day. Uh no
00:06:33
matter what weather, what circumstances, you know, you pop a tire halfway through
00:06:39
the Neas Valley, you got to fix that tire or you're running out. So yeah, it's um it's a pretty brutal sport, but
00:06:47
>> cuz I think for a lot of it's it's a very niche sport. Um, and I think a few
00:06:51
years ago, Richie McCall was part of a team that did Godz, which your dad's done five times. You've done Heaps, and
00:06:56
that was probably when it made a crossover into sort of mainstream media, I think.
00:07:00
>> Yeah, Richie definitely bought in a lot of media, like, you know, it's not like
00:07:06
the rugby where you can film the whole game. Everyone always says, "Why don't
00:07:10
you bring a GoPro with you and just film the damn race?" You know, it would be so
00:07:14
entertaining listening to our 3:00 a.m. midnight chats with our teammates. Like the delusional chats is like, you know,
00:07:20
you've been out drinking all night, but except you just haven't slept for seven
00:07:24
days. And yeah, so Richie, he I think he might have done it about oh, he must have done God's own three or four times
00:07:31
now. And yeah, it's definitely gotten a lot bigger, especially in New Zealand,
00:07:36
you know, um being on One News and stuff like that. It's uh it's pretty cool. And
00:07:42
you know, I would love that a camera crew could come around with us the whole time and film the whole thing, but it's
00:07:47
just unrealistic and that can't physically happen because, you know, sometimes we're, you know, climbing on
00:07:54
this cliff face that you might fall down, you actually might die. So, there definitely places where you literally
00:08:00
can't film um because you have to have your full attention. But yeah. >> Yeah. And you you say you're climbing on
00:08:07
a cliff face and you might die. And um I mean when you're tired and you're
00:08:10
fatigued and you're hungry and you're cold like the the chance of um mistakes
00:08:15
increases. >> Huge. Yeah. >> What is this? Um >> are you familiar with type two and type
00:08:19
three fun? >> Yeah. Is this type two or type three? >> And for anyone that doesn't know, I've
00:08:25
got the um the definitions here. Type two often in involving misery, exhaustion, or discomfort while it's
00:08:30
happening. >> It happens a lot. >> Type three fun is not fun during or
00:08:34
after, but makes for an epic story of survival. Oh, shivers. There's definitely a bit of both. I think I just
00:08:42
I weirdly love the sport so much. Like people say like, "How do you actually
00:08:47
like this thing?" Like I actually I genuinely love it. And the boys in my team often go, they've never heard me
00:08:54
say like often you go, you know, you get to day four or five and most the team is
00:09:00
going, "Why don't we just play golf or something?" You know, like it would it'd
00:09:03
be a lot easier. I've never said that before. like I'm get chop it out from
00:09:09
hypothermia or whatever and I'm still like this is epic. Um so it does tell I've got heaps of great stories. So I
00:09:16
think there's definitely a bit of both but >> type 2.5 >> Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, it's definitely
00:09:24
sometimes is survival out there for sure. >> Where do you you mentioned before about
00:09:27
um you um competing in one of these events with a broken ankle for the the best part of you five six days. Where do
00:09:33
you draw the line between like toughness and stupidity? >> Yeah. Yeah. People often say you're so
00:09:38
strong, but I say I'm so stupid. I think um I don't know it, you know. So this
00:09:45
story for example, 3 days before World Champs in Ecuador, um we were training on a volcano and we me being me, I was
00:09:53
like, let's film this, you know, we're at 5,000 m above sea level. Let's do a
00:09:58
we vlog, you know. And so I was had my camera out filming and I just wasn't watching where my ankle was going and
00:10:07
sure enough totally like tore two ligaments completely. Um and instantly blew up like a tennis ball. Uh and I had
00:10:17
the night before the race it was like my ankle was black like it I I couldn't
00:10:22
move. And I had the night before the race, I had about nine physios and sports doctors message me cuz my photo
00:10:30
had circul, you know, circulated the the sports doctor um websites. >> You were going viral.
00:10:36
>> Yeah, my ankle was going viral. And so I had all these people messaging me
00:10:41
saying, "Don't do the race. You're so stupid." Like, you know, you're going to
00:10:45
do permanent damage. But because I love the sport so much and also I'm in Ecuador like if I pull out my teammates
00:10:52
have also pulled out and everything is self-funded and everything like that. So you know you're overseas there's not
00:10:59
really any choice. Um but I think that was a bit stupid because my ankle took about over it's still still sore about 2
00:11:06
years later. So uh >> yeah I don't know. >> I can I can yeah I can understand that.
00:11:11
um not wanting to let you know you if if it was an individual sport you could you
00:11:15
know you could self eliminate and it's no big deal but if you're letting three
00:11:18
other people down it's quite a bit of pressure. >> Yeah it is a bit of pressure and I don't
00:11:22
know dad and my mom and my grandfather and everything they're so strong and so
00:11:28
resilient. I'm like I've I've got that in me to just you know you just keep
00:11:33
pushing beyond normal. So, I guess I sometimes it's stupid and sometimes it,
00:11:40
you know, takes you in the right path or the wrong path. And hopefully I'm going
00:11:45
down the right path, but uh yeah, in terms of injuries and things like that, it's a, you know, I've pushed through
00:11:51
things that I probably shouldn't have pushed through, but you know, once again, type three. It's good story.
00:11:57
>> Yeah. Good yarn for later. I notice on your right wrist, you've got a a little
00:12:00
tattoo that says stay strong. Is that like a a mantra for >> Yeah. >> a reminder for in races? Yeah, I guess
00:12:06
so. It's just my little saying. I think I've got you got my mountains in my
00:12:10
favorite place in the world. And yeah, I guess it's just a little bit just like,
00:12:16
you know, resilience these days is a dying trade. And I think um you know, if you can, you know, if you can be
00:12:23
resilient, I think it's a a trait that's um important to have. Yeah. >> What's a it's a buzz word these days,
00:12:28
isn't it? >> Yeah. Yeah. And I actually was listening to Richie Mccor's speech the other day.
00:12:33
Um what awards was it? >> Oh, the Hillburn. Yeah, the Hellberg's award. And his speech was just it, you
00:12:39
know, if if everyone listens to that speech and and actually pays attention to it, I think, you know, the world will
00:12:46
be a better place. And um he's he's got to the top of his game because he has,
00:12:50
>> you know, sacrificed a lot and discomfort is um you know, I sit through
00:12:55
a lot of discomfort, but sometimes you got to push through that to be comfortable on the other side and that's
00:13:01
where you grow. So yeah, definitely stay strong is a good mantra to have. >> Yeah, I love it.
00:13:06
>> Yeah. >> Um, okay, a few quick questions about expedition racing. The pack weight, the
00:13:11
pack you carry, what what does it weigh? >> Um, so usually >> usually the So the boys often carry more
00:13:17
than me. Uh, cuz I'm quite a small human. So, uh, there is probably cuz they've
00:13:24
obviously got, you know, especially in New Zealand, you've you've got big packs
00:13:28
because our mountains are huge and they also love to do a what's called a packcraft. So, packcrafting is these
00:13:35
inflatable boats that basically you just blow up and then you paddle them down a
00:13:40
river, pack them back up and then you trek for another 50ks or whatever it is and then find another river and patcraft
00:13:46
down it. So, you know, the pet crafts are roughly 5 kg each, plus your life jacket, helmet, uh, paddle, food for 3
00:13:58
days, water. So, your pack can get quite heavy. Um, theirs would probably be Oh,
00:14:04
it'd be over 10 kilos. Their one would be Mine would probably be like Oh, mine
00:14:08
would probably be 7 to 10 and there's probably be like 10 to 15 depending. >> That's not bad. I was just thinking,
00:14:14
>> but we we get the piss taken out of us because we apparently don't carry enough
00:14:19
gear and uh our gears like our our sleeping bags are about that big. So, what would that be for the
00:14:27
people that aren't watching? >> Yeah. For those of you that are listening to this rather than watching,
00:14:30
it's like um oh, I don't know, just a bit bigger than a Pringles canister.
00:14:33
>> Yeah. Yeah. No, less than less than half a Pringles canister. Yeah. And they
00:14:38
weigh, you know, stuff. So, you know, there you you're definitely not thriving
00:14:43
out there. Like you're thriving. Uh is never you're never thriving actually. Um
00:14:50
so yeah, you carry obviously your mandatory gear. So packs can get very heavy, especially in this last god zone.
00:14:58
Like there was no water anywhere. So you know, you'd be carrying at least 5 kilos
00:15:03
of water because you're not filling up your bottles in, you know, 2 days or whatever. So yeah, they can get heavy,
00:15:10
but overseas races is a lot on tracks. So you often, you know, I've just got
00:15:15
your I can do 48 hours of the we 12 L pack quite often. Yeah. >> Wow. >> Yeah.
00:15:20
>> Oh, so there's no aid stations or anything? >> No. No. >> Oh my god. I've had it too good for too
00:15:25
long. You have? >> No aid station. In fact, when we used to race in New Zealand, we raced a lot in
00:15:31
New Zealand before we went overseas. And in in the southern Alps, you know, you can't just go to the dairy and get some
00:15:38
chocolate milk. Um or for your sake some lollies at, you know, 5k mark. Um and so
00:15:46
when we went to South Africa for the first time, we realized that you can buy food cuz often passing towns in in the
00:15:54
overseas races. And oh my gosh, it was the best thing ever. And in Africa, the Wii the weed dairies equivalent to in
00:16:02
New Zealand, um they stayed open all night for us racers. So we got there at like 3:00 in the morning and you know,
00:16:09
we just bought all the pies, chocolate milk, like anything you can imagine. We just ate all of it. It was the best
00:16:17
feeling in the world. Yeah, it was. Yeah, it's pretty cool. >> Oh man, I can't imagine how good that
00:16:22
would taste. >> It's literally like the best feeling. Well, in Africa, I was very, very sick.
00:16:27
So, actually, I didn't eat very much in that race. But, you know, I getting a pie is like it's just you
00:16:35
can't explain it. It's just the best thing ever in the world. >> And um so it's teams of four, you said
00:16:42
before. Often two females, two males, but usually three males, one female. Do you have like specific roles?
00:16:47
>> Yeah, totally. Yeah. So, I guess I've been racing with my team Fair Youth for
00:16:53
5 years now. F E A R. >> Yeah. Fair youth. Yeah. Yeah. So, I've been racing with them for 5 years. So,
00:17:00
you kind of every single race you learn so much about yourself, but also even more importantly, you learn a lot about
00:17:07
your teammates. So, we've, you know, we've developed that trust and that
00:17:11
connection. And so, we've got obviously your main navigator. And in our case is
00:17:19
typically Finn Mitchell, uh, who's just an absolute weapon. He did God's Zone at
00:17:23
16 a few years ago, which is and it took us 8 and 1/2 days and he was our main navigator.
00:17:30
>> Are you allowed to do it at 16? >> You weren't, but we were. >> But it's awesome to see that so many
00:17:35
youth are coming through because when we did it, we got on the start line and we
00:17:40
had so much criticism like what are these kids doing here? Like they don't deserve to be here, you know?
00:17:45
>> Really? >> Yeah. like they were like what are they like especially overseas they're like you
00:17:51
line up on the start line they're like they look at you funny like what the heck but now it's really awesome to see
00:17:56
so many youth coming through because >> the average age of an adventure race is
00:18:01
42 years old so I'm 22 so I started when I was 18 in the big races so that's very
00:18:07
young uh anyway so we had we have a navigator often a backup navigator cuz obviously you know the navigator is not
00:18:15
sleeping as Well, so they can get extremely exhausted. Uh, and then you've often got like a pack horse who, you
00:18:23
know, just load them up. And then I am in my my role is like the motivator, the organizer, making sure everyone's in
00:18:33
line in check, you know, everyone's fed, watered. Uh, yeah. And that's morale
00:18:37
boosting. Yeah, totally. You know, >> how do you how do you train yourself um
00:18:42
for the mental side of it? Yeah, it's it's it definitely if you ever do an
00:18:47
adventure race or an expedition race, it's the thing that people I think um don't think too much into it. And it's
00:18:57
the thing I think that will push you towards that top end of the field, you know, like after a day racing or two
00:19:04
days racing, you know, it's the mental side of things that's going to push you
00:19:07
through and you know, being cold, being hungry. So there's so many variables and
00:19:13
yeah, the mental side is something that we've never really talked about as a
00:19:18
team and it was really cool in this last Godzone. we uh got to about day four or
00:19:25
whatever and sometimes you just have random chats and this new fell who joined our team first ever race like he
00:19:32
was amazing and Sam I don't think he'll mind me sharing this but he um he goes
00:19:39
I've got a little uh trick for you know everyone goes through tough times in
00:19:43
adventure race you know you go highs lows whatever uh and it's your team that
00:19:47
will help you push through and he goes do you guys want to here my little my little trick for if when things get
00:19:54
tough and everyone goes I'll go on because you know I race with Southlanders like they're farmers they
00:20:01
you know they've never even probably heard of mental strength or whatever before. So Sam goes, "I've got a we
00:20:08
trick." And he goes, "When you're going through a tough time," and I'm sure Dom,
00:20:12
you've, you know, sometimes you're running a marathon, you're like, "This
00:20:15
sucks." You know, and he goes, "I physically smile and think of something
00:20:20
that makes me happy." And and he said that it pushed him through the the tough
00:20:26
times. And so we were like, "Oh, yeah, that's a great idea." And then we talked
00:20:30
about it for ages. And then Finn, who's just, you know, typical Southlander farmer, couple days later, he goes,
00:20:38
"Sam, I uh tried your technique and it really works." And I was like, I almost
00:20:43
wanted to cry. I was like, "Oh my gosh, he these these farmers have actually got
00:20:49
emotion." I was like, "Wow." And then so now I guess it's really
00:20:56
awesome to see that our team is bonding in that way. And yeah, the mental strength is definitely about 80% mental
00:21:01
and 20% physical when you're out there. And >> yeah, who can push through the hardest?
00:21:06
I guess >> there's obviously like physical training you can do like you got to be physically
00:21:11
fit and able to able to just keep going and going and going. But like with your role as being like the team sort of um
00:21:18
cheerleader or whatever, >> like how can you train yourself to do that with sleep deprivation? Do you do
00:21:22
you like deliberately deprive yourself from sleeping? No, >> no, no, no, no, no. Um you I'm actually
00:21:28
a very good sleeper and I sleep you know sleep eight plus hours a night and I guess definitely I'd say one of my
00:21:37
strengths is the sleep deprivation. I handle sleep deprivation quite well. I don't know if that's a physiology thing
00:21:44
or females or just it is just me. But yeah definitely the first night's tricky
00:21:50
because your body goes into shock and you don't typically you don't sleep the
00:21:54
first night. So, you know, sometimes the race might start at 6:00 p.m. at night.
00:21:59
You've been up for 12 hours already, and then you're pushing through that night,
00:22:03
and then you're pushing through the second night up until about 3:00 a.m. And then you'll sleep for 1 to 2 hours,
00:22:09
and then you'll repeat that again. So, uh, sleep deprivation is something you
00:22:16
literally can't train. You know, you the that the sleep deprivation post race is the thing that is the wor
00:22:25
like is the worst thing for your brain, your recovery, everything like that. Like after a race, it's a level of
00:22:32
fatigue that it's really hard to explain. Like you just your eyes can't stay awake. And sometimes you're walking
00:22:39
with your your fingers like this on your eyes and you just can't you cannot keep
00:22:45
them awake. and anything you do the most delusional chats is is just like sometimes your teammates are asking
00:22:54
you uh you know what's 7 * 7 and you can't work it out because you're just so
00:23:00
exhausted. One time in um Oregon actually um we had to do a cognitive test before we climbed up this rock face
00:23:09
which was quite dangerous like we were I yeah we definitely were roped in but it
00:23:13
was pretty dangerous anyway. So we had to do as a team of four, we had to go around in a circle and we couldn't
00:23:20
communicate with each other and we had to count up in sevens all the way to 100. So you know 7 14 whatever it is
00:23:28
next 21 whatever. My bad at maths are the best of times and we had to do it and it was hilarious. It's like we we we
00:23:37
didn't get it the first time and then we had to sleep for 10 minutes. Come back
00:23:41
and and you're asleep. Like you are asleep when you're when you're doing a
00:23:45
10-minute power nap. Like you're dreaming. You're out in 1 second. And came back and luckily we got it. But we
00:23:52
just saw everyone's brains just like ticking over. We weren't allowed to use
00:23:55
our fingers or anything to count up in sevens. And then after the race, we were talking to one of the American teams who
00:24:01
have got three engineers and an accountant in their team. and they failed four times this test because that
00:24:09
you're so mentally just fatigued. And that's why the navigators I just find
00:24:15
them so incredible because how are you supposed to navigate with a map and compass on 8 hours of sleep in 7 days?
00:24:22
And >> that's I feel like that's definitely something that helps me be motivated and
00:24:28
stay optimistic is helping them get through. you know, uh, if I'm feeding myself or having a drink of water or
00:24:37
whatever it is, I'll make sure that they're also doing that because they
00:24:41
often forget, you know, their heads in the map. They often forget to eat or drink or whatever. Uh, so that's
00:24:47
something that I make sure I prioritize is look after the navigators cuz they will look after you.
00:24:54
>> Do before an event, do you get um like anxious or are you just excited? Oh, the
00:25:00
first time I was just so excited. Like I was like I had no idea what I was going
00:25:05
coming in for and dad had done five godzones before. So I kind of had been around it. But now I get a little bit
00:25:14
nervous cuz I know like >> you know it's going to suck. >> Yeah. I know there's going to be some
00:25:18
hard times but it's definitely more excitement than nerves. But yeah, going into it being fully recovered and
00:25:27
whatever is is nerve-wracking in itself. But I've gone into, you know, this last
00:25:33
Godzone I went into it only had done, you know, two bike rides in a trick or something like that because I uh
00:25:40
fractured my sacrum only a few months before. So in my back. So that was nerve-wracking because you are done
00:25:48
physically. >> Yeah. like I didn't know if my body could actually go for 7 days and and it
00:25:54
did which I was really proud of but I think it was more my strength in the mind cuz I studied sport psychology so I
00:26:02
can kind of push through that >> sense of holy heck what are we about to go do
00:26:08
>> um have you got a partner? >> No. Could you could you when you do get
00:26:13
a partner will it have to be someone that's into this? Could you be with someone indoorsy?
00:26:18
>> I I I don't think so. Like I People often ask me, "Do you ever just sit down
00:26:24
and relax?" And I'm like, "Well, not really." But I said to them, I said,
00:26:30
"When I'm exercising and when I'm out there in the mountains or in the hills
00:26:33
or whatever, that's actually my form of relaxation." Are you the same? >> Oh, I get it. I get it completely. Yeah.
00:26:40
It's there's um meditative aspects to it. >> Yeah. like my brain just like I've got a
00:26:46
busy brain and you know I'm high energy whatever but when I'm exercising or
00:26:50
training or racing or doing anything like that my brain actually shuts off and it's actually the time that I just
00:26:57
have so much just peace and clarity and especially when you're with your friends
00:27:01
that you have such awesome times out there and conversations and you build such strong relationships and
00:27:08
friendships when you uh go through those hard times and you know it's It's it's
00:27:13
the best feeling in the world. But no, it definitely needs to be someone that that can uh you know go in the mountains
00:27:20
and go through you know rainstorms and not get get annoyed. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I suppose for someone like you,
00:27:29
have you have you got ADHD? Have you ever been tested? >> I've never been tested, but um my
00:27:34
algorithm at the moment is telling me I am. >> Yeah. So I um I I I suspect I probably
00:27:40
have, but I'm of an age where it just wasn't diagnosed. I sort of find like
00:27:43
trail running and stuff, it forces me to be in the moment. >> Like you you your mind can't be anywhere
00:27:48
else. >> Yeah, I I definitely probably have and all my all my workmates think I do. So
00:27:54
>> my mom goes, "Oh, don't be ridiculous." But I think that's her just her
00:27:58
generation, you know, like it's just like >> what what is that stupid thing? But I
00:28:02
don't know. I >> like my mom. Oh, it's a fad. It's a fad. Everyone wants it.
00:28:06
>> Yeah. But I actually don't I don't care if I've got it. And I and I feel like
00:28:10
it's it's brought me to my place now cuz if I wasn't like how I am, I don't think
00:28:16
I'd be sitting here in your podcast studio. So yeah. >> Yeah. Know it's it's good. There's a
00:28:22
phrase that gets um thrown around for things like that. People say it's my superpower, but I think it is in a way.
00:28:26
>> I think so. And you know, you step on the start live, especially of an expedition race, and everyone's a bit
00:28:33
weird. Everyone's a bit, you know, >> that's your tribe. They're your people.
00:28:37
>> Yeah. They're all you all know that every single one of them loves type two
00:28:42
or loves that feeling, you know, of of just hardship. You know, you would never enter one of these events if you didn't
00:28:52
know that >> uh you could get through it or want to even try. So yeah, I I think you know
00:29:00
every every trail runner or whatever I I really love them and I can get along really well with them. But yeah, I love
00:29:07
them. >> Yeah, they're your people. >> They are. Yeah. >> All right. Well, let's go let's go all
00:29:11
the way back and paint a bit of bit of a picture about who Molly Spark is. So you're born July 17, 2003 in a farming
00:29:16
household. You told me before you've got 14 dogs. >> Yeah. Yeah. 12 14 something like that.
00:29:21
Seven hunting dogs and seven working dogs. >> Thank God I don't look after them.
00:29:25
>> You still live on the farm? >> Yep. Yep. So, uh, living in North Canterbury, which I've only moved once
00:29:32
in my life, and it was 200 m down the road, and you know, family is within I've got a massive family. Uh, and we're
00:29:40
all within about half an hour of each other. So, that's really nice. And I'm
00:29:43
really close with all of my cousins and we're all a bit crazy, so I love training with them. And, you know, we've
00:29:48
got my auntie's an Iron Man and she's ran a marathon in every continent and
00:29:53
>> wow, >> dad's done crazy things and my uncle. So yeah, it's uh it's a really awesome
00:29:59
family. >> Yeah. So your dad did five godzones. >> Yeah. >> So for you, so this is when you were
00:30:03
much younger. So this is like a foundational memory then, your dad going off and doing these things.
00:30:08
>> Oh, it was. And my uncle So he was So he is a couple months older than my uncle,
00:30:13
younger or something like that. And they've done so much together. So they've done five godzones together.
00:30:19
Then Scotty, he is my dad's best friend. And then they always just roped in a
00:30:24
random female. But it was more. And then my uncle joined. Then they did a team of
00:30:28
four males. They just weren't ranked, but they were the hillbillies. And I I
00:30:34
think I was 10 when they first um did a godzone. And there was probably 20 or 30
00:30:42
support crew because we're so, you know, everyone has got three kids and all the
00:30:46
grandparents came in and it was so like it's it's ingrained in my memory
00:30:52
watching them go through this incredibly tough time. And still to this day, dad,
00:30:57
Jeff, Scotty, whoever it is, say that it's the best weeks of their life. like
00:31:03
you just can't explain the, you know, the the memories that you gain with these races and the strength you you
00:31:11
gain. >> And I I I remember watching them at 10 and I said when I was 10, I was like, I
00:31:18
want to be the youngest female ever to do a Godzone. And shall I tell you the story how I got into how my teammate
00:31:26
found me? >> Yeah, let's go. >> Yeah. So, I remember saying that and
00:31:29
then also I went to Have you heard of the Hillary Challenge before? up in Oakland. Oh, in here. Oakland.
00:31:34
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What is it for anyone that's listening that doesn't know what
00:31:37
the Hillary Challenge is? >> So, the Hillary Challenge is basically like a six day event for secondary
00:31:45
schools, like high school, secondary school, and you have like regional events. So, you get qualified and eight
00:31:52
teams go up to Great Barrier for year 9 and 10, and then Tongeredo for 11, 12, and 13. So, you're a team of eight from
00:32:01
your high school and you just go and race. Uh, it's not six days straight. I
00:32:06
mean, you do do like team challenges and a little multisport race. But anyway, I
00:32:12
remember saying just randomly, I was like, I want to be the youngest girl to do Godzone. And this guy called Dean, he
00:32:21
heard me and he's now my teammate. And I think he remembered that. And then we
00:32:27
went and did the secondary school, New Zealand secondary schools adventure race in Cromwell. And we came first in that
00:32:34
race. And the second place team was the team I race with now, the boys from Fjordland. And Andy Magnus, who uh runs
00:32:43
the Fair Society, so that's why we're called Fair Youth. So he just runs these
00:32:47
grassroots race down in Fjordland and just loves loves putting on big epic events for just real cheap go out kind
00:32:58
of survive for a couple days and you know get a cookie time at the end and see you later work on Monday. So,
00:33:05
uh, he remembers seeing me at the end of that Cromwell race and I was just me being me, high-fiving everyone, talking
00:33:12
to people, and I remember getting a phone call on my 18th birthday saying, "Would you want to join our youth,
00:33:20
Godzone team?" And it was really like that was the first time I think kind of
00:33:25
especially New Zealand, but essentially the world that um, a youth team was doing this big race. And so I remember
00:33:34
not Godzone couldn't even leave his mouth and I said yes. And I guess that's
00:33:38
where my dreams came true basically. I know it sounds a bit cliche but they have. And from that moment uh just you
00:33:46
know they picked me up a few weeks later and never met them before and we drove up to Nelson and did this big 48 hour
00:33:53
race in Nelson and it was a definite wakeup call. I had only done what 6 hours or whatever. And I remember
00:34:02
remember mom would be like, "Oh my gosh, you're out there for 6 hours and and
00:34:07
load me up with my pack with about 14 sandwiches and, you know, like a big bladder of water because God forbid
00:34:13
drinking out of a river." Um, and now I can do, you know, 48 hours on probably
00:34:19
less gear than I did for 6 hours. But it's amazing how your perspective changes. And you know, uh, tomorrow I'm
00:34:26
about to go do 12 hours. So, you know, like it just it's amazing how your comfort zone shifts. And I feel like you
00:34:33
don't have to do 24 hours to have that comfort zone shift. You can I just, you
00:34:38
know, everyone has their own their own thing that they can achieve. So, >> yeah. Well, um, Rang Rangoto, the
00:34:45
volcano just off, um, off Oakland here. You see people that go over there, they'll take the 25minut ferry over and
00:34:50
they'll go for a walk to the summit and back and they'll have like one square
00:34:53
meal bars of like calm down. It's a 2 km walk. >> I know. or or or the opposite is you go
00:35:00
to Wanuker and you climb Royy's Peak and you see these people with their, you
00:35:05
know, white fluffy hats and their white puffer jackets and it's like all their
00:35:09
ski gear and it's like that they're one minute into the hike and they're like
00:35:13
taking off all of the gear because they're too hot and it's like it's a big
00:35:17
mountain like Royy's Peak. So, >> oh, it's harder and it just switches
00:35:21
back and goes on forever. It's impressive watching those like tourists getting up to the top and they're
00:35:28
wrecked. But good on them. I say I always talk to them and be like, you know, have a good old yarn with them.
00:35:33
But yeah, it's it's quite funny watching them. >> I I reckon a lot of people probably stop
00:35:37
at the Instagram spot rather than going to the summit. >> Yeah, the Instagram spot. I mean, I
00:35:42
things always pop up on my on my phone saying that um people that climb a mountain, they just got they've got like
00:35:49
200 photos of the view that just gets higher and higher. And I totally believe that, but the sense of achievement when
00:35:55
you get to the top is outweighs the price of 200 photos on your phone. >> So, what were your mom's thoughts when
00:36:02
you started showing an interest in this? Um, she's definitely more uh the person
00:36:09
I don't tell the stories of uh we almost fell off THE CLIFF OR LIKE YOU KNOW
00:36:15
WE'RE packing pack pet packing down this waterfall and you know the the stories
00:36:19
of near-death experiences as I tell dad them cuz he he frosts them and he and he
00:36:25
knows he knows what they're like because he's done so many of them and so I just
00:36:30
tell mom like, "Yeah, yeah, we're all good." But she definitely was a little
00:36:34
bit more but she didn't really have a choice. Um I I said I'm going to do this
00:36:39
and sure. >> And you're doing it. >> What about you? You mentioned before
00:36:43
you've got a twin sister. Is she How are you alike and how are you? >> Oh, we are the complete opposite in
00:36:48
every way. Like looks, personality. She thinks I'm absolutely mad. And her all
00:36:54
her friends think I'm mad as well. But I I kind of I kind of love it. It's it's
00:36:59
it's quite funny. But yeah, she actually um is in a moon boot at the moment because she uh rolled her ankle at uh
00:37:07
Electric Avenue. Uh you're >> very different, aren't you? >> Whereas I could should have been in a
00:37:12
moon boot rolling my ankle on a volcano in Ecuador. That's that's literally
00:37:17
that's how different we are. Yeah. >> Well, some might say like Electric
00:37:20
Avenue is like an endurance thing. It's a it's a two-day festival. You got to
00:37:23
pace yourself. Don't go too hard too early. >> No. And if I was to go to that festival,
00:37:28
I'd be pretty sore at the end of it. I wouldn't have my dance boogying like you
00:37:32
know if I was to go and do a Pilates session tomorrow I think I'd be more sore than climbing a mountain.
00:37:38
>> So what were you like when you were little? Did you were you were you ever
00:37:40
sort of were you into girly girly stuff? Did you want to be a Disney princess ever?
00:37:44
>> No. No. Never. No. I've always been a bit of a tomboy and never. Yeah. I was
00:37:50
what I'm quite um everyone always said that I was I'm always I always did what
00:37:56
I wanted to do and I never followed you know the typical route and I feel like that's something that I'm quite proud of
00:38:04
because I wouldn't be here if I was to follow the typical path and >> you know I just have always been myself
00:38:11
and that's something that I feel like yeah could could be a little bit more um
00:38:18
you being in high school, people often just follow the crown. And I feel like if you
00:38:23
are your true self, you'll end up in your your happy place. And I feel like I've definitely done that. So
00:38:29
>> yeah, 100%. Is there any um a story maybe that you remember or that you you
00:38:35
know, you've just heard from parents or family um that demonstrates you were
00:38:39
made of tough stuff that you know meant you weren't a quitter. >> Do you know what I mean? Anything from
00:38:44
like early on like that? This is part of your DNA. Uh, well, I guess mom and dad,
00:38:48
they, you know, are hard, like the the biggest hard workers I've ever met. And
00:38:55
I feel like I've definitely grown, uh, you know, I've followed not their path,
00:39:01
but I've followed their toughness and, you know, they work 365 days a year and
00:39:07
it's probably not the best or the healthiest, but there's never really a
00:39:11
defining moment that I've gone, that's why I'm like how I am. I feel like it's
00:39:15
just growing up around um people that are like that. I feel like I've just and
00:39:21
it's also in my DNA like um of just hard work and hard work pays off sometimes.
00:39:27
And >> doesn't when you're a farm kid, you've got no option e but to but to muck in
00:39:32
and help out. >> Yeah, totally. And you know, if you're not Dad would get home at mom and dad
00:39:38
both get home at, you know, 10:00 p.m. at night and continue to work and get up early in the morning. So, it's just it's
00:39:44
inground in me, but you know, my twin sister, for example, she's not like that. So, it's I I guess it's just
00:39:50
different personalities and Yeah, >> that's so fascinating. So interesting.
00:39:54
So, you don't have the twin thing where if you roll an ankle in Ecuador, she
00:39:58
feels the pain in New Zealand. >> No, no, she doesn't. But we get along
00:40:03
really well, which is it was awesome. Like, like she often says to me, especially in high school, she's like,
00:40:08
"I would have never ever been your friend in high school." I was like, I
00:40:13
probably wouldn't have been your friend either, but because we are twins, we
00:40:16
have to get along and be together. But yeah, it's it's Yeah, it's nice.
00:40:21
>> Yeah, there's that saying like you can't choose your family. >> No, exactly. And my older brother, he's
00:40:26
definitely It's actually a great story actually. Sam, my older brother, he um
00:40:30
he just loves anything with wheels. So, four-wheel driving, motorbiking, anything with wheels. So, he's a very
00:40:38
good four-wheel driver as well. and he does a lot of the tracks that I walk or bike on. So often we're sharing um topo
00:40:48
maps or maps of where Sam's been and he'll be like that would have been that
00:40:52
would be an epic bike ride or like an epic trick and I'm like okay and then we
00:40:56
like interchange and during Godzone we were um biking the whole Nevice Valley and I actually saw Sam's tracks cuz he'd
00:41:05
before driving there a few days earlier so he knew exactly where we were which is quite special because I almost feel a
00:41:12
little bit connected to I'm like you know any You don't see anyone but your
00:41:16
teammates out there and any ounce of other other people is quite nice to think about. So
00:41:23
>> you you're so full of energy. Do do you Yeah. When when are you low? Do you
00:41:28
crash ever? >> Um not often. No. Um I don't know. I I think one of the
00:41:38
that would be one of my strengths is that I'm definitely a bubbly personality. Um, I definitely crash
00:41:45
sometimes if I'm, you know, during a race and it's hard, but I Yeah, it's
00:41:51
kind of hard to find that breaking point of getting low in energy. Yeah. I I don't know. I just have always been like
00:41:58
it. And I feel my my pop and my nana and whatever they always say just don't
00:42:03
change. And >> yeah. So, >> how's your mental health been? Good.
00:42:07
>> Yeah, really good. Yep. Yep. Um, always been I I don't know. It's It's hard
00:42:13
because people say like, "How are you always like this?" And it just it's just
00:42:16
me. Um so yeah, it's been always good. Yeah. >> Amazing. >> I don't know if it's going to stay like
00:42:23
that, but I feel like because I've found something that I love so much and the
00:42:27
people around me, I just they bring me energy and I surround myself with positive and uh people. So my life's
00:42:35
been good. >> Say you got a bad injury and you couldn't do it anymore.
00:42:38
>> Yeah. Um >> I've I've had that before multiple times. Yeah.
00:42:43
>> Yeah. How's that? Is that challenging? >> Um people say like mom said to me, she
00:42:48
goes, "I'm actually surprised at how well you took it." I was like, "Yeah."
00:42:53
Like I guess you just can't fix what happened in the past or you can't fix
00:42:58
what's happening right now. You know, I broke my sacrum 4 months before God zone
00:43:02
and yes, it was Am I allowed to swear? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yes, it was [ __ ] at the time. Um
00:43:08
>> that's a very mild swear word, by the way. Like I remember it was actually
00:43:12
only a couple weeks before I went to Canada for the World Champs and actually let's just say that was a bit of a low
00:43:18
moment but it was only for about one day and then I was like get over yourself Molly and um think about the things that
00:43:24
you can do and I remember the lady the sports doctor telling me, "Yep, you've
00:43:29
you've broken your sacrum and you can't go to Canada and you'll have to tell
00:43:33
your teammates that you can't go and you'll most likely be out for multiple
00:43:38
months." and I couldn't work. So, I guess I just put all my energy into
00:43:45
getting right and getting, you know, recovered as best as I could. And I'm quite a product, you know, productivity
00:43:52
is quite high in my priorities. And I just found other things that I could study on and actually studied sport
00:43:59
psychology in that time. So, it's like, you know, it's it's everyone has hard
00:44:04
moments, but I feel like if you can channel what you can do versus what you can't do is something really really
00:44:11
important. Yeah. >> Yeah. There's a saying in sport, control the controllables.
00:44:15
>> Exactly. Right. Yeah. >> [ __ ] That's such a good mindset, eh?
00:44:18
>> Yeah. Yeah. >> It's incredible. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I Yeah. Part of me when I was
00:44:23
doing this research, I was like, I you know, it it is your personality in a way, like you're sort of defined by
00:44:28
this. So yeah, it would feel very strange maybe if if it was no longer part of your life anymore.
00:44:35
>> Yeah. And I feel like definitely people say like what would you be without your
00:44:40
sport? And I feel like when you're injured especially, it's something that
00:44:44
you um definitely learn about yourself. Like I I couldn't do anything. The only
00:44:50
thing I could do is go to the gym and potentially lift some arm weights. And you can tell that I haven't lifted some
00:44:56
arm weights in a while because I just been climbing mountains. So, um, yeah, and because I surrounded
00:45:05
with such amazing people, you can just, you know, I I love going to the beach or
00:45:10
going out for a coffee and just having a chat. So, you know, you find things that
00:45:13
you can do. Definitely. >> Yeah. Is that what relaxation looks like for you?
00:45:17
>> Um, not really. No. Um, relaxation from Yeah. Yeah. You an active relaxer. Have
00:45:24
you heard that term? >> Yeah. Yeah. Like I like don't get me wrong, love going to Fiji or whatever it
00:45:31
is and lying on the beach for a couple hours, but I'm like I'm like what like
00:45:37
what else can we do here? Like what is there to explore? And yeah, most of my friends are the exact same. So it's
00:45:45
quite nice to just be able to like write ah you know what are you doing in the weekend? And they're like not much.
00:45:50
Well, let's go and do this, you know. um instead of let's just sit on like I
00:45:55
can't remember the last time I watched a movie like years ago years ago the >> the plane ride up here today from Christ
00:46:02
Church like it's it's an hour 20 hour 30 is that torture for you >> well I was actually thinking about it
00:46:07
Dom and it's really weird because when I'm flying maybe that's my time to re
00:46:12
relax is flying cuz the the I'm like a baby the constant motion and the sounds
00:46:19
I just fall asleep like that like on the way I remember on the way to Africa a few years ago, I was Have you heard of
00:46:26
the um term raw dogging a flight? Have you heard of that? >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. We You're not allowed
00:46:31
water. You're not allowed food. You're not allowed movies. Not allowed. >> There's extreme raw dogging.
00:46:35
>> Okay. I didn't extreme raw dog the flight all the way to South Africa. But
00:46:40
I didn't watch one movie all the way to I just fall asleep. I I maybe that's
00:46:46
Yeah. Relaxing is my time as um on the plane or in a car if you're not driving.
00:46:52
Like I'll just fall asleep. And I remember on the way home from Africa, the boys in my team were like, "Right,
00:46:59
Molly, you have to watch a movie and you're not allowed to fall asleep during
00:47:03
it." And I'm like, "Oh, for goodness sake, like this is the hardest thing
00:47:06
ever." So they put on, you know, how you can put on the same um movie at the same
00:47:11
time as everyone. They put on like gladiators or something like that. Like totally not up my alley at all. And they
00:47:19
forced me to watch the whole thing. And when I'd start drifting off, they'd give
00:47:22
me a big elbow. And I'm like, this is so unfair. Like all I want to do is sleep
00:47:27
right now. So yeah, that's my form of relaxation is in the plane. >> You're like the complete opposite to a
00:47:33
normal person. >> I know. J, you've dropped some um amazing I mean it, you know, you need to
00:47:42
stop and remember like you're you're 22 years old, you know, you're still at the
00:47:46
beginning of this um expedition racing career. You've dropped some incredible
00:47:50
countries. Where have you been exactly >> um with the sport? >> Yeah. The first time we went to South
00:47:56
Africa for the World Champs, that was the most insane race ever. You know, it was 42° heat and it went for I think it
00:48:06
went for like 6 days. I think I got hyp. Have you heard of hyponutriia? >> No. What's that?
00:48:11
>> Uh, it's basically where you lose all the electrolytes in your body. So, you
00:48:17
end up um you can't eat, you can't drink, you're feeling sick, your your
00:48:23
whole just your blood is basically like you can die. It's you start having seizures. like I was at the point of I
00:48:32
need to pull out right now and of the race. And I remember the first stage was a 55k trail run along the sandunes and I
00:48:42
just remember feeling like so so horrible. And then we went into this big massive bike ride through the night and
00:48:50
I remember getting it was about 3:00 the next day and I I hadn't eaten anything
00:48:56
the whole day. Like I think I'd eat in half a musi bar in about 48 hours. Drunk
00:49:01
nothing. And I I was Yeah. The the doctors on the course was like, "You need to pull out." And I was like, "I'm
00:49:09
I'm I'm not doing that." So I remember I never ever drink fizzy drinks. But they
00:49:15
gave me a can of Coke and it literally brought me back to life. I They said that you have to sit there for a few
00:49:21
hours and whatever. So anyway, ended up drinking that and sure enough I I say that the Coke is the lifesaver drink and
00:49:29
it sure is like it brings you back to life and um only during a race like it's
00:49:35
bad for you obviously when you're just drinking it every day but it bring me
00:49:39
back to life and yeah so South Africa yeah insane race. I should show you some photos of
00:49:47
what my legs look like after Africa. It was it was like I have so many scars on my legs from that race cuz you just be
00:49:55
bush bashing through thorns about that thick. And >> to this day, have you still got
00:49:59
>> Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My legs >> Oh [ __ ] >> Full of scar. >> Wow.
00:50:03
>> Yeah. Yeah. All from bush bashing. Yeah. See? >> Oh my god, that's unbelievable.
00:50:09
>> Yeah. Yeah. >> How long ago was that? >> Oh, four years ago.
00:50:14
>> Okay. So, they they faded, but they're going to remain. >> Oh, yeah. But this is fresh like
00:50:19
Godzone. Like I think they're just battle scars and everyone goes, "Oh, my
00:50:24
skin color scars easily anyway." But I know >> when when you see them, how do you like
00:50:28
how how do you feel? Does it does it bring back memories? >> It does. Yeah, I remember. I remember
00:50:32
some of the times that you get like Yeah, I remember where I was at that exact moment and I'm like, "Oh, for
00:50:39
goodness sake." And you know you being in New Zealand like the Americans always go how do the Kiwis always just
00:50:46
wear shorts and we're like because we don't like wearing pants you know it
00:50:51
bursts your ego when when you're wearing pants but I think I should start wearing
00:50:55
pants now because my legs are just so scarred but it doesn't bother me at all.
00:50:59
But anyway, South Africa, Ecuador, um Oregon, and then we were meant to go to Canada, but that got pinned. And
00:51:09
then, um, Corsica at the end of this year. Yeah. And I'm going into also going to Canada this year to be the
00:51:16
junior world champs reporter over there. So, that's super exciting. >> Oh, yeah. Because um just recently for
00:51:22
the 2026 Coast to Coast, you dabbled in some like reporting with Doo Allen, previous um podcast guest. He is. I did
00:51:29
see that. And he isn't he amazing? >> He's incredible. Yeah, I've had him on
00:51:33
the podcast and Simone Meer as well. Another Actually, they were both teammates with Richie for the Gods. They
00:51:38
were >> um Yeah. Is this something you're keen to do? Get into some sort of reporting
00:51:43
or >> Yeah. Yeah. I don't actually know what brings me more joy doing that or racing
00:51:47
it. Uh I I think I still do. I've got wrinkles and tan lines from smiling the
00:51:54
whole weekend. It was just the most I I don't know how to explain it. It was the
00:52:01
vibe of that race is something that everyone should experience in New Zealand. Even if you're not even doing
00:52:06
the race, just go and watch it because I don't know. The top athletes are amazing obviously, but it's the ones
00:52:14
that get in at like 11:59 and just, you know, their their moms, their dads, their their business owners or whatever
00:52:23
they are, and they just get through it. And I don't know, it was it was seriously the most epic weekend. And I
00:52:29
absolutely loved every single second of it, even though we only got 3 hours of sleep for three nights in a row.
00:52:35
Yeah. >> For you, for you, do you see um like Coast to Coast as like a cute little
00:52:38
event? Like, oh, >> that sounds really it sounds really bad. But yes, I'm like, it's too it's too
00:52:45
short and it's too fast. I like I'm I've entered it hopefully for next year, but
00:52:51
I'm like I love the event, but I'm like it's it's just it's like a sprint. It is
00:52:57
like seriously >> for for a lot of people for a lot of the weekend warriors that you're talking
00:53:02
about it'll be the the the pinnacle event of their lifetime in terms of physical achievement and it is it's a
00:53:07
massive a massive thing huge >> levels to the game though right >> there is and it's called the longest day
00:53:12
for a reason and it sure is. It's seriously a long day. But us adventure racers, you know, you know, we we just
00:53:20
go out and walk up these hills and, you know, eat a whole packet of licorice all
00:53:24
sorts for breakfast and just, you know, the the whole the sport is different. It's completely different. You know,
00:53:31
they're calculated. They're It's always funny watching a Iron Man or
00:53:36
a triathlete or whoever coming into adventure racing and they're always like, "Right, we need 500 mls of water
00:53:44
per hour. We need 90 g of carbs per hour." And we're like, "Good luck.
00:53:52
Good luck keeping that structure because all I'm worrying about is gosh, I've got
00:53:58
only one packet of Pringles left and there's 12 hours left of this stage. You
00:54:02
know, one the variables are huge. And I think that's something so cool about our sport
00:54:08
is it actually doesn't even matter. Like you you you survive off what you've got
00:54:14
in front of you. And if that's not eating for 12 hours, that's just what
00:54:17
you have to do. Um, >> yeah, just by any means necessary. >> Yeah, totally. And and you know, during
00:54:23
this last Godzone, the stages just blew out beyond ever imaginable. Like every stage went over about 24 hours. So, we
00:54:34
packed We also didn't get given the length of time for each stage. So, we had to guess. So, we got given I think
00:54:42
we got given how many kilometers the the the leg was. And so for example a 140k bike ride we're like right that roughly
00:54:51
might take you know 12 hours whatever it is. So we would pick for 12 hours worth of food and it
00:54:58
would go for 26 hours. So you know >> that's that's a lot of time that you
00:55:05
need to make up for the thing that you've got on your back. And you know I'd be eating half a snake and shoving
00:55:11
it in Finn's mouth. And you know, you just you just you just do what you you
00:55:16
get given basically. Yeah. >> How do you how do you um avoid getting angry or frustrated with teammates? So
00:55:23
So if some you know, you mentioned before that you got to be within 50 meters of each other. So if someone's
00:55:28
get like getting tired or someone wants a nap or someone's like dragging the
00:55:30
chain. Um yeah, how do you how do you balance that? Maintain that relationship with with also being competitive.
00:55:36
>> Yeah, totally. Uh it's something that our team is quite good at. We've never
00:55:42
had a fight before in all of our years of racing. Oh, maybe actually in equ. But that's another story for another
00:55:49
day. We didn't fight. It was just very tension. Like the tension was high. But
00:55:54
>> well, you're doing things that bring out the the worst in in humans. You know,
00:55:56
you're cold, you're sleepd deprived, you're hangry. >> Yeah. Yeah. Totally. And I feel like our
00:56:02
team because we've raced a lot with each other now. We know each other's
00:56:05
strengths and weaknesses. And it's real funny like we get along really well, our
00:56:09
team. And it's quite funny often it's the couple if you've got like a couple
00:56:15
um in your team and you see them falling apart and sometimes that is the reason why they've pulled out of the race
00:56:23
because of the fights and you know people have tension at the best of times but when you haven't slept for that long
00:56:31
and yeah totally cold hungry tired uh you're sore it it definitely brings out
00:56:39
some zombies of in people. But yeah, that's something that we can say that we
00:56:45
are quite good at is is that teammanship. Yeah. >> And what are your what are your finish
00:56:50
line fantasies during these things? Is it is it um a hot shower? Is it clean sheets,
00:56:56
>> big feet, all of the above? >> We often start talking about it during
00:57:00
the race. We're like, right, what does everyone want? >> And it it's almost the the the
00:57:05
conversation you don't want to have day one. You want to have it like day four
00:57:08
because torturous. >> It's torturous. If you want a burger on day one, god forbid, you know. Um, so
00:57:14
definitely like a lot of food. Like a pie is just like, oh my gosh. Ice cream, definitely a shower. But sometimes
00:57:24
showers hurt and sting because all your cuts are now in cuz your immune system is so so bad. One tiny little, you know,
00:57:32
like little quicks on your fingernails. That's something that people might not
00:57:37
know, but that first race you use the the most thing that gets used in a race is your hands. You're always carrying
00:57:45
your poles. You're always holding on to trees. You're holding on to your
00:57:49
handlebars or a paddle. Like you're using your hands 24/7. And often during the bush, your hands get all cut up
00:57:57
because you're having to grip onto, you know, bush bash with your hands basically. And that first race, my hands
00:58:04
got so swollen, so cut up that I could barely even undo my like helmet or anything like that. Like they were so so
00:58:11
so sore. Um, so that's something you definitely need to work on is Yeah. your
00:58:17
your hands. But wait, what was the question again? I can't even remember why I got onto that topic, but
00:58:22
>> Oh, we were talking about Yeah. having a shower afterwards. >> Yeah. Yeah. So stinging in the shower.
00:58:27
So often when you get in the shower like in your feet like that's another story
00:58:32
in itself. >> Oh yeah cuz you you you just keep the same socks on for six years.
00:58:35
>> Oh no no no. You do change socks but my feet especially I >> I'll show you some photos after of my
00:58:43
>> you don't want to see I I I I wouldn't I don't want to show anyone but they this
00:58:48
only fans. Yeah, they got Godzone love loves feet photos, but your feet just get destroyed and your toenails and
00:58:56
whatever. So, a hot shower or just a a bed cuz you you sleep on rocks like or you know you sleep on sometimes when you
00:59:06
find like beautiful lush pine needles is like the best feeling in the world. But
00:59:11
just to just to stop, you know, is the best feeling. And does it give you a greater appreciation of home comforts?
00:59:18
>> Absolutely. Like running water >> is is seriously just the best thing.
00:59:23
Yeah. A bed is just makes you feel so grateful for everyday life. Yeah. Yeah. Totally.
00:59:32
>> Oh, back to coast to coast. You did the coast to coast one year with um
00:59:36
>> Rey. Yeah. Andy Andy Reed. Yeah. Yeah. I connected with him in Sydney last year
00:59:41
for the for the marathon. I think he ran it last year in um like Jandles and with
00:59:45
a surfboard. >> Yeah, he did. Um he's a good Yeah, totally. Like I messaged him the day
00:59:50
before that event and we keep in contact which is really awesome. And >> I don't know if you heard the interview,
00:59:56
but we got interviewed for TVNZ uh couple weeks before this the coast to coast a few years ago. And he goes cuz
01:00:04
he can talk more than me. And he goes, "We can both talk underwater with a mouthful of marbles." And it was the
01:00:10
most just the race just was so good. Like we literally were talking the whole time. And have you done goats pass
01:00:18
before? >> Yes. Yeah, I did that a few years ago. Um guiding a kid through. It's um
01:00:23
>> How How far is it? Like 30ks 35k? >> 32ks I think. >> But it's not even really running. E like
01:00:28
you're scrambling up rock faces, you're crossing rivers. I loved it though.
01:00:32
>> Oh, it's the most awesome run. And even if you have the opportunity to hike
01:00:37
through it, it's it's yeah, definitely something that I that I would recommend.
01:00:41
But anyway, we're about 2ks into the run and Rey goes in his funny we Aussie
01:00:47
accent. He goes, "Molly, when are the the rocks going to finish?" And I said,
01:00:52
"Mate," I said, "I'm sorry, but we've got rocks for 30ks of this." And he he
01:00:58
was he he finished uh that run. and Steve Gurnie. Have you interviewed Steve Gurnie?
01:01:04
>> Oh, no. I Yeah. Um, Coast to Coast Legend. >> Legend. Yeah. So, Rey collapses on the
01:01:09
floor and he's just like, and I'm just standing there like, "What?" And Steve
01:01:13
goes, "Come on, Molly. Give Rey some CPR because obviously he's a Bondi rescue
01:01:19
surf lifesaver." And so, that was really funny. And he got hypothermic in the
01:01:24
river. And I said, "You need to harden up. Everyone's I'm in a t-shirt right
01:01:28
now." And he's like, "I'm cold." And then the second place, we were in first
01:01:31
place at that at that point and the second team went past. I was like, Rey, I said, "This is all your fault."
01:01:40
>> Of course, I was joking, but yeah, it's quite funny. >> Yeah. Hey, let's um focus on Godzone for
01:01:46
a bit. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, what is God zone specifically? >> Yeah. I guess
01:01:51
>> where does this where does it go from and to? >> Yeah. Well, you don't know. So,
01:01:55
sometimes it's a point to point and then sometimes it's a loop. So you yeah you
01:02:00
don't know it's it's definitely I'd say New Zealand's if not the world's
01:02:05
toughest adventure race. Um >> just the the vast just the New Zealand in itself is hard adventure
01:02:15
racing but Godzone just likes to make it that next level. You enter this race and
01:02:20
you know that you need to be happy in the mountains by yourself with the equipment that you've got. You also need
01:02:28
the skills to navigate because the navigation is tough. Uh and the rivers especially um you know you're paddling
01:02:36
in rivers that are gnarly basically cuz when you race overseas it's like yeah
01:02:41
it's tough but more the elements is what's tough because we're not used to
01:02:45
it. It's you know sometimes you're often on tracks and things like that. So in
01:02:50
New Zealand you don't have tracks and it's going to be awesome. The World
01:02:54
Champs is here in two years and it's going to be great to see those top teams
01:02:59
come to New Zealand and really um experience the New Zealand navigating and terrain because for example a few
01:03:10
years ago I think Estonia came and they're one of the best teams in the world and they were like where are the
01:03:17
tracks in New Zealand and we're like I'm sorry you know we don't have tracks here
01:03:23
and That's why when we go overseas, it's more of a speed like a it's more of a
01:03:27
faster race because you are often biking on tracks like this last week, the Magnificent. Have you heard of the
01:03:35
Magnificent? >> What's that? >> So, the Magnificent is part of the AR
01:03:40
World Series, which Godz race in itself. So they're just amazing that they've
01:03:46
just got that they're not affiliated to anyone whereas the magnificent is affiliated to the Adventure Racing World
01:03:54
Series. So if when you win that race, you get an free entry to world champs basically and it's the first one and
01:04:01
only one in New Zealand. But anyway, this Yeah, magnificent. It's Yeah, there
01:04:07
is no tracks which is just that's what we're used to. But when we go overseas,
01:04:12
we're like, "Oh gosh, we have to run on a track now, whereas we used to have to
01:04:17
just slog up these hills for hours and hours." And they had to bike, you know,
01:04:22
even in this last god zone, we had to uh carry it was 50% biking, 50% walking with so the bike stages, for example,
01:04:31
was 140ks and we'd be half biking and half carrying our bikes over a a track
01:04:39
that is barely walkable and it was horrific. In fact, we had to carry our bikes up this hill called the Acaron
01:04:47
saddle for I think around 4 hours and it was like shingle scree. So you would be
01:04:52
you've got your bike on your um on your shoulders trying to walk up this hill
01:04:59
sliding down and it was Yeah, it was tough. Yeah. And you get to the top of it, give each other a fist pump and walk
01:05:07
down the other side cuz you couldn't bike down it. you you're not painting a very sexy
01:05:14
picture of the sport. >> I know. And that's what and that's what people say. They're like, "Why do you
01:05:19
say how grim it is?" >> Yeah. But it's that's what I love. I love telling these stories because it's
01:05:26
it's it's just so much not so fun in the moment. It's almost laughable in the
01:05:31
moment. But I don't know if any I was talking about it with my friends the other day and if everyone can do their
01:05:40
form of an adventure race or an expedition race, I feel like the world would be a better place because you you
01:05:48
learn so much about yourself. You learn so much about your teammates and you know you you do push outside your
01:05:56
comfort zone. Whether or not that's 3 hours or 3 days, everybody learns and once you get through it and once you get
01:06:03
to the other side, you go, well, I if I can do that, I can I can now do more things. And yeah.
01:06:11
>> Yeah. 100%. You know, you hear people talking about building resilience. And I
01:06:14
suppose what this does, it's like any obstacles that come your way in day-to-day life, you're going to be able
01:06:20
to draw on these experiences and go, well, I survived that, so I know I can survive this.
01:06:24
>> Yeah. And it and what I love to say is it strips you back to your raw self.
01:06:30
Like so many life these days is busy. There's so much social media and uh you
01:06:36
know you're driving on the highway and going to work and you know it ends up
01:06:40
being a roller coaster of the same same same. But going out in nature, going out
01:06:46
doing something like that, you know, you don't have your phone. you all you've
01:06:50
got is yourself and focusing on that one step ahead. And I always say you've got
01:06:56
to disconnect to reconnect. And my form of disconnecting is going out and doing things like that. And I love it when I
01:07:05
bring my friends into the bush or into a track and they've never done anything
01:07:11
like this before and it's the some of the best experience that they've ever
01:07:14
had. Imagine, you know, doing that once a month or whatever. The world would be a better place. It seriously would be.
01:07:23
Yeah. >> So, yes. So, the day after we're recording this, you've got like a 12-h
01:07:27
hour a full day mission tomorrow that you talked about earlier and then back to back to school Monday. Back to work
01:07:33
Monday. Yeah. >> Yeah. How will your body be on Monday? Will you be sore like some doms or not?
01:07:38
Really >> some doms. Um, yeah, maybe it might be a little bit sore. I don't know. Depends
01:07:43
on how hard I push it tomorrow, >> right? >> Yeah. >> Jeez, you're super fit, eh?
01:07:48
>> Um, >> do you do any sort of formal formal fitness? Like what what like what do you
01:07:52
do during the week? >> Yeah. No, I I train during the week. I get up, you know, 5:00 in the morning
01:07:57
and get on my bike. And I'm Yeah, I'm I'm I'm I often during the week I'm on
01:08:04
my indoor trainer and I'll head I head to the gym or head in the mountains in
01:08:09
the afternoon. But I'm Yeah, I'm definitely more of a routine structure during the week and then the the
01:08:15
weekends are for big missions and Yeah. >> #Molly's missions. >> Yeah. Molly's missions.
01:08:22
>> So 5:00 in the That's um that's seriously disciplined by the way,
01:08:25
>> right? >> Getting up at 5:00 a.m. So you do that every morning? >> Most mornings. Yeah.
01:08:29
>> And then work and then what does an evening look like for you? A week night
01:08:32
evening? >> Um oh, you know, I'll head to the gym and then come home and kind of make
01:08:38
dinner. And I I do a lot of organizing for like yeah like my team and just I always there's always something to do
01:08:47
you know clean the car whatever it is and go help on the farm or whatever it is. Um yeah I I definitely live a busy
01:08:55
life but I I I love it and I feel like you know sometimes when you go on holiday and you stop that's when you
01:09:02
feel tired. So if you just keep going, you know, you're not going to feel much tiredness.
01:09:08
>> You just you need to be busy, eh? >> Well, my job is very active as well.
01:09:13
Like we are running around with kids all day and it's very high energy. So >> yeah, I definitely do live an active
01:09:22
lifestyle, but I love it. >> That um very first Godzone, what did you learn about yourself during that if
01:09:28
anything? >> Yeah, it was definitely a wakeup call. Uh it was 8 and 1/2 days. We
01:09:36
we one of our teammates actually he got chopped off the mountain and yeah it was
01:09:44
that was crazy. We'd never seen that before and we kind of continued on as a
01:09:49
team of three and then one of our they wanted four teenagers out there. So, we called in one of our mates to help us
01:09:55
finish the last stage. And yeah, I was my feet were in serious like I've never actually know I have
01:10:06
been in that much pain before, but at that moment that was the most pain I'd
01:10:10
ever been in my life. And I remember coming to the last stage and we had a 21k beach trail run. It was titled trail
01:10:21
run. I'm like running after 8 days. No thank you. But I remember loading myself
01:10:27
up with painkillers and there's a video of me um one of cuz this race was supported and Andy uh our support crew
01:10:37
he put my shoes on for me because I couldn't put my own shoes on and there was I tears dripping down my face
01:10:45
because putting shoes on was like the most severe pain I could ever imagine. And my mom and my dad were watching Andy
01:10:54
put shoes on me. And I was remember just gripping. I was sitting on a seat. I just remember gripping the seat because
01:10:59
putting shoes on was just so so so painful. And I just s looked at mom and she was just like crying cuz she was
01:11:06
like she was watching her daughter in that much pain having to go do a the final stage of the god zone. And I
01:11:17
crossed the finish line. We ran it. We pass like teams running in the running past and I don't know what I learned
01:11:25
about myself is that you can you can do hard things basically and I got to the end of that race and sure enough one
01:11:34
second later I wanted to sign up for the next year. But um I don't know, you
01:11:39
definitely learn that you can push beyond what you think you can and I feel like that's
01:11:46
>> yeah something that adventure racing definitely helps you do. >> Yeah.
01:11:51
>> So um what does an average 24 hours look like in Godz or is there even such a
01:11:56
thing as an average 24 hours? >> Um typically in the first day so every single race is different. So sometimes
01:12:02
you start with a paddle, sometimes you start with a bike ride. It all depends. And so the first 24 hours is definitely
01:12:10
harder and faster. Uh that first 24 hours is definitely the hardest part for me because the boys are like, "Let's
01:12:18
go." And they just send it and I'm like, "Oh god, I don't want to go this fast."
01:12:23
Um and then they settle into their own kind of speed. and kind of after roughly 2 or 3 days I come into my own and
01:12:33
that's when I start getting faster and um yeah that's definitely where I I love
01:12:41
kind of day three onwards and yeah there's no typical 24 hours it's but you
01:12:47
definitely don't sleep the first night basically unless you get dark zoned which means you can't legally you're not
01:12:53
allowed to paddle on a river in the dark though if you get there at 12:00 in the
01:12:58
morning, you have to sleep until the the river opens technically. So >> at like 5:00 a.m. 6 a.m.
01:13:06
>> Yeah. So you would get a good 5 hours of sleep, which for the first night, you
01:13:11
know, that's happened a few times during the race and it's a real pain because
01:13:14
you're full of adrenaline and every team catches up to you. So it's kind of
01:13:19
annoying. The dark zone sucks, but it sucks in the first couple of days, but it's kind of luxury in the last couple
01:13:26
of days cuz you're like, "Oh, thank God we can sleep for 7 hours and not 1
01:13:30
hour." Yeah. >> How do you I'm probably projecting here with this, but I'm just imagining if I
01:13:34
was doing one of these races, how how do you um like how do you control the negotiation with yourself? Like when you
01:13:40
know if if you're telling or know if you're telling yourself you like you're
01:13:43
done or you're tired or you know you want to be chopped out. Um, >> like how do you how do you fight those
01:13:48
intrusive thoughts >> which must enter your mind at some point? >> Um, I don't ever have the thought of I
01:13:54
want to pull out. >> Um, >> like I've never kind of had that feeling
01:14:00
because but I think that's probably my downfall because I push beyond what I
01:14:07
probably should because >> you just don't quit. >> Yeah. like this last god zone uh we were
01:14:12
paddling on the Mulra sounds and little to our knowledge every single other team
01:14:17
was stopped because of the weather um and safety reasons. So we were on the soundss we were us and team Rab were the
01:14:26
only team um on the full course because this race was just too big and too hard.
01:14:32
So we were the only team that had got through the full course basically. Every other team had cut a couple stages off.
01:14:39
Anyway, we were paddling on the sounds. It was probably 7:00 in the morning. Swells were huge. It was pouring with
01:14:47
rain. It was bitterly cold. The tide was against us. We were moving 2 km an hour
01:14:54
on the sounds and I was just deteriorating. I was pushing beyond hypother. I was hypothermic and I we
01:15:06
pulled over to the side and we put all of the extra clothes. I was like I couldn't move like the my teammates had
01:15:13
to put my clothes on for me. And I remember Josh who was in my boat just whacking me on the back like Molly are
01:15:22
you okay? Like you're not you I I I remember like being unconscious and like
01:15:28
kind of not physically able. And he's like are you okay? um like I couldn't
01:15:33
speak because of how cold and just it was so bad. So anyway, luckily, thank god, there was a safety boat next to us
01:15:42
and I they the the boys in my team were like, "No, we have to pull it like this
01:15:47
is unsafe now." So we yeah called the safety boat over. They lifted me out of
01:15:54
the boat and I just like fell onto the boat and yeah got um went to hospital uh after that because I hadn't peed in 40
01:16:03
hours. So 48 hours and my kidneys were under stress and things like that. So, uh, yeah, there's definitely times where
01:16:12
I probably should have said, "Right, we need to pull the pin or I need to do
01:16:18
this because of how I am." But yeah, it's a definitely it's a positive and
01:16:23
negative thing. >> There's there's a theory that um, actually I got this from Sir Steve
01:16:28
Hansen when he was on the podcast. I I've quoted this a lot. >> Yeah. >> His theory is that a a person's greatest
01:16:33
strength is often their greatest weakness. >> Exactly. >> So, it's probably you with your mental
01:16:36
toughness, maybe. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. And but I mean, as we say, type three fun. It's a
01:16:43
great story. >> Are the um are the are the boys in your team quite protective of you?
01:16:48
>> Um >> well, they watch out for you because they know you're not going to watch out
01:16:51
for yourself. >> Um no, we kind of, you know, just kind of get on with it. They're they're
01:16:57
great. They're great teammates. They're great fun. But I I don't know. Sometimes
01:17:02
we probably Yeah, we haven't pro we've probably achieved that because we I've pushed
01:17:08
through more than what I should have. >> Um you've painted quite a bleak picture
01:17:12
to be fair of this god zone, but um on the flip side, what are some of the magical moments you've experienced in
01:17:17
one of these godzone races? >> Yeah, it's the places you get to go is outweighs everything. Um, like for
01:17:25
example, the barometer trek in this last godzone was just the most magical scenery. And what is awesome is you get
01:17:34
to see places that no one gets to go to, you know, like we get to go through private land that only the farmers will
01:17:42
get to see. And yeah, you get to paddle on rivers that you never thought you would ever go to. And I feel like for
01:17:52
example tomorrow like I'm going to go do this epic mission. But during these
01:17:56
races you experience a lifetime's worth of missions in seven days. And what's
01:18:02
awesome is you get to do it with like your best friends. Like the my teammates are like my brothers. Like I just love
01:18:12
experiencing things with them. And yeah, and the people you meet along the way is
01:18:17
is, you know, you'll probably be the same. Like the people you've met along
01:18:21
the way, >> they become lifelong friends and yeah, you create memories that are just so
01:18:27
hard to explain to somebody that hasn't been through them. >> Yeah. >> You when when you find your your tribe,
01:18:32
your community, your like-minded people, it's there's something super powerful
01:18:36
about it, eh? >> Yeah. Yeah. And I mean my sister for example, she's got great friends, but
01:18:43
you know, and and goes through experiences, you know, at the club or whatever, but my the bonds I create, I
01:18:50
just feel like it's just a lifelong friendship. And I I I wholeheartedly agree with that and so does my dad. And
01:18:58
you know, they they still talk about the times that they had during Godzones and
01:19:02
you know, this is 10 years later, you know, so I I don't know if you'll be able to put
01:19:09
this in words, but um Yeah. What's it like when you reach the finish line and
01:19:13
you can stop moving? >> Yeah. It it it doesn't have words because it's just so like you're so
01:19:21
exhausted that the emotions actually don't come when you reach your finish line. You you cross the finish line and
01:19:28
most of the videos is is quite um just boring. Like you cross the finish line, you're like done. Yeah. Job done. Oh
01:19:35
yeah. handshake, give maybe give them a hug and go to sleep. Like there's a video of me lying on the finish line of
01:19:42
Ecuador, like literally 1 minute later and I'm just asleep. Um, and the the emotions actually come about a week
01:19:51
later when you start to be a little bit more conscious and then you start remembering that feeling of crossing the
01:19:58
finish line. And yeah, you kind of don't have the energy to have emotions at the
01:20:03
finish line, but yeah, it's it's a pretty surreal feeling. Yeah, surreal
01:20:09
feeling. >> And what about the recovery in the the day or two afterwards? Do you do you you
01:20:13
do you do you bank sleep? Do you sleep okay? >> It's no. Um a recovery after these races
01:20:20
is probably a good one to two months. So you've have you heard of your HIV or
01:20:27
your heart rate variability and things like that? >> Yeah, I don't really know much about
01:20:30
I've heard of it and I've heard some about it on some podcasts, but I don't
01:20:33
know much about it. >> Yeah. So your watch is definitely not your best friend after these races.
01:20:39
You actually have terrible sleeps for a good week afterwards cuz you're you you
01:20:45
get severely have when you had CO did you have the night sweats? >> Yes. >> Yeah. So you get that for about a week
01:20:51
after just all the inflammation leaving your body. You're in pain. You can't
01:20:57
walk to the toilet by yourself. Your feet like when you're horizontal sleeping and as soon as you wake up and
01:21:04
put your feet down, all the blood rushes to your feet and then it's like painful.
01:21:09
Um you're so hungry. It's you can't explain how hungry you are. You pee a
01:21:17
lot. You Yeah. So sleeping is actually terrible for about a week and then and then you you get really fatigued and
01:21:26
then like going to work is just like you can't keep your eyes open. But like
01:21:31
>> you're a terrible employee. >> Like you're no my work apparently had
01:21:37
every single computer open just watching the dots. They loved it and every single
01:21:42
school was messaging me and I get back and they call me Sparkles. My They don't
01:21:46
know my name is Molly, but Sparkles, where have you been? We saw you on the TV and they just asked me all these
01:21:53
questions and yeah, it's pretty cool. But the recovery. Yeah. So, your heart
01:21:58
is is really affected by um a race like this. Like, >> yeah, >> you're you're putting your body under
01:22:04
some serious serious stress and you're almost talking about it romantically.
01:22:08
>> Yeah. But I kind of love it. Like it's like, you know, and every single
01:22:12
adventure racer you'll talk to, they'll tell you the same stories and they'll
01:22:15
come back for the next year and do it again. And it's Yeah. You are We are mad. We are mad basically. Yeah.
01:22:22
>> Yeah. How good. I might have to turn this air con off. I think I'm GETTING
01:22:25
HYPOTHERMIC HERE. How's your temperature? >> I'm a little bit cold. But now that you
01:22:29
say about hypothermia, I always had um whenever we're cold during a race or during training, I always say that cold
01:22:37
is a mindset. And um it's kind of backfired me on backfired with me now because now my workmates whenever I'm
01:22:45
out coaching in the cold, they'll go to me, Molly, you can't complain you're
01:22:50
cold. You said to us that cold is a mindset. And the the the first thing that my workmates told me when I got
01:22:58
back from God zone, they didn't say anything. They go, I thought you said cold is a mindset because I obviously
01:23:04
got ch um had to pull out because of hypothermia. And I said, no. I said it's
01:23:09
backfired me. That's backfired that saying for me. >> You won't believe that. Look at this
01:23:14
card. What does it say at the top of this card? >> Cold is a mindset. What does it say?
01:23:18
>> Mindset. I've got some questions here about your mindset. >> Wow. Do you think mental toughness is
01:23:23
something you're born with or something that you've had to build over time?
01:23:26
>> Um, it's definitely something that you have to build, but also it's probably
01:23:33
quite genetic as well. um just with who I've grown up with. But >> no, definitely you got to yeah, you
01:23:41
definitely build it. And I feel like with what I do, it's quite easy to build
01:23:45
it because there is you can't quit. Like there's no option to stop. So you you
01:23:52
have to keep pushing through discomfort. Yeah. And I feel like that's definitely
01:23:56
what keeps you growing. Yeah. Mindset grows. >> It's fascinating, isn't it? Especially
01:24:03
you being a twin. So you and your sister exactly the same DNA, identical born you
01:24:08
within minutes of each other, I guess on the same day and you completely different people.
01:24:12
>> Yeah, >> it's wild. >> Yeah, it is pretty crazy. >> I I did this one of the toughest um
01:24:16
events I've done. Oh, I feel embarrassing even saying it. >> No, please don't because I love it. I
01:24:20
love it. >> Um do you know the the Mo Tapu run? >> Oh my god, it's it's happening right now
01:24:25
today. >> Oh, actually. >> Yeah. Yeah. Moabu's on today. >> Yeah, today I think it's like 52k 55k.
01:24:31
Yeah. And there's some really really steep bits, but um >> it's 3,000 m of climbing.
01:24:34
>> Yeah, it's huge. >> It's huge. >> It's huge. Yeah. So, I was I was at the
01:24:37
start line looking around. I I hadn't really done any trail training for it,
01:24:40
but I knew I could run the distance. >> Yeah. >> And I was looking around seeing all
01:24:43
these old like old ladies with head torches on. I was like, I'm going to I'm
01:24:47
going to beat all these people. No worries. And then the first couple of cases just on a gravel road and I was
01:24:51
doing all right. And then it's then it was one of the toughest things I've ever
01:24:54
done in my life. and I was finished near the the tail end of the field, beaten by
01:24:58
all those people that I smuggly thought I was going to beat at the beginning. But there were moments during that race
01:25:03
where I was like all alone, couldn't see people in front of me, couldn't see
01:25:06
people behind me. >> And I was coming up with this narrative in my own head about um the Instagram
01:25:11
post I was going to write >> with my reason for like pulling out at the next aid station.
01:25:15
>> Oh, dumb. No. >> Yeah. Yeah. And then I got to the next aid station, had some jet planes and
01:25:20
some coke and and I I was off again. It was one of the most amazing days of my life. But do you do you not have those
01:25:26
thoughts at all >> in these events where you're sort of thinking, "Oh, you a lot of it is coming
01:25:32
up with an excuse." >> Yeah. >> Isn't it? Coming up with an excuse about
01:25:35
why you can't do it anymore. You just don't have that. >> No, I I I don't know why. I think lots
01:25:42
of people do, but I mean sometimes I'm like, "God, just I just want to stop or
01:25:48
just like But I kind of make it as a joke." Like I'm just like like sometimes
01:25:52
you're bush bashing through the bush like this and you're like I remember
01:25:56
saying this sucks and everyone's like yeah it does but you just like laugh about it. But like the Mo Tapu I feel
01:26:03
like I would struggle with that race purely because it's so fast and also like you're by yourself. Like I'm so
01:26:12
lucky I have my teammates to help me push through. Like a individual event is so much harder
01:26:18
than a team event I would feel. Yeah. >> Oh, so it's too short. Too short for
01:26:23
you. It would be a sprint for you, wouldn't it? >> Oh, and that's what I get scared about.
01:26:26
Like, like my friend's doing it right now and she's an adventure race and I
01:26:30
said she's quite nervous about it. And I said, "You're tough. Like, you can I
01:26:35
said to her, I said, "You know how to push through discomfort." And she's
01:26:38
like, "Yeah." I said, "You've got this." Like, you know how you know we're like a
01:26:42
Land Cruiser. We can just keep going. M >> um whereas you know a little 5k run if I
01:26:48
if you were to tell me tomorrow go all out do a 5k I would be more nervous doing that than entering a six day
01:26:57
adventure race. >> Oh you're being ridiculous. >> I'm I'm genuinely not being ridiculous.
01:27:01
I would be freaking out. Seriously, I would be. I I everyone's different and
01:27:06
that's what's awesome about this world. So >> what makes someone or actually
01:27:10
specifically what makes you good at this? Like is it is it natural talent or is it mostly determination and tenacity?
01:27:16
Um definitely I'd say determination and um I've always been quite once I've got
01:27:23
a goal or once I want love something or something like that like I will do everything I can to get there like and I
01:27:32
believe that everybody if they find their hobby or their passion they will do anything to achieve that and
01:27:43
everyone has the ability to do at whether or not you want to be the best at chess or Rubik's race or whatever it
01:27:52
is. Um, you can get through by teaching yourself perseverance and determination.
01:27:59
It's definitely not natural talent. There's so many stories of, you know,
01:28:04
all blacks or whoever it is. They come from nothing and they, you know, my mom's best friend, she's Julie Seymour,
01:28:12
the silver fern. >> Yes. >> Yeah. So that's my mom's best friend.
01:28:16
Yeah. So she never made a rep team. She never made the top teams through high school. She just pushed and pushed and
01:28:23
kept on going and kept persevering and trained herself to be the best one of the best silver ferns in the world. And
01:28:31
she she was a silver fern captain for many many years. And I feel like that's
01:28:35
a great story and there's many stories like that. Yeah. >> Has Yeah. Julie that's a name I haven't
01:28:41
heard in a while. Have they got kids? >> Julie. Yeah, Julian. Julia. Wow. They're
01:28:46
going to be talented. Dallas Seymour. Yeah. New Zealand Sevens. >> So, Josie, her uh their daughter is an
01:28:52
extremely good net player, which is really cool. >> No [ __ ] >> Good jeans.
01:28:56
>> Yeah. Very good jeans. Yeah. But also, Josie's a determinated. Like, she's
01:29:01
determined, you know. Oh, good jeans only gets you so far. Yeah. >> Oh, hallucinations.
01:29:07
>> Oh, yeah. >> Have you had hallucinations in >> all the time? I love it.
01:29:13
I absolutely love it. Like people always go like it's easier to get hallucinations, you know, illegally. I'm
01:29:20
like, "No, I've never done that." But I definitely get them all the time. Yeah,
01:29:25
I I'm prone to hallucinating. Yeah, for sure. >> Like what? And when do they normally
01:29:30
begin? Is it like day one? >> Day one. >> Day one. But I think day one is is just
01:29:39
a shock to the body, right? like you haven't slept in over 40 hours or whatever. But I often hallucinate lots
01:29:45
of animals. Like every single rock is like a dog face. You often see huts because that's what you want to see. Uh
01:29:54
you see bike boxes, transition areas. Uh what else I see? I've seen security
01:30:01
cameras a couple times. That's weird. Uh what else do I see? Um oh, penguins in
01:30:07
the middle of the bush. Octopus. like yeah, you can see anything. I haven't seen any like bad things yet, which is
01:30:14
nice because that means my brain's not like cuz I think it's like your subconscious or something, isn't it?
01:30:19
Like I don't know. >> I don't know what what it is. Yeah, it's
01:30:23
your mind playing tricks on you. But um >> yeah, happens. >> So, how do you how do you snap out of
01:30:28
it? So, you say >> you can't. >> Yeah, it just you literally can't snap
01:30:32
out of it. you just blink and you're like seeing all these things and then you just tell your teammates you're like
01:30:37
I can see like these things and they're like that's not there. But I guess sleep
01:30:43
sleep is the only way. >> But you just I mean what's awesome is the sun comes up and it's another day
01:30:50
>> and how how good is it being out there when this when it goes from dark to
01:30:53
light and the sun rises? You must >> super cool. >> You must have seen some crazy sunrises.
01:30:58
>> Oh, some of the most amazing sunrises. Like what's awesome is when you do a
01:31:04
mission by yourself, you know, you start at 7:00, 6:00 in the morning, you've
01:31:09
missed the sunrise. Whereas during a race, you go through the whole night and you're at the top of a mountain at 3:00
01:31:16
in the morning, walking down the mountain and seeing the sunrise. It's Yeah, it's pretty cool. And when the sun
01:31:23
comes up, it's your you get this sense of energy that uh >> Yeah. your mood
01:31:30
>> lives. Yeah, totally. And it's it's like this natural form of energy that you you
01:31:35
get from the sun and >> Yeah. And then you're like, "Oh, well, don't need to sleep until 3:00 the next
01:31:41
morning." >> Are there any like standout moments where you think you've been lucky to
01:31:45
survive? >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely this last god zone. And also, >> no, no one dies though.
01:31:52
>> No, someone died two weeks ago at this race called the Sea to Sea in Florida. [ __ ] Yeah.
01:31:59
>> When when you hear that, how do you feel? Is that true? >> Well, no, because it was actually he got
01:32:06
hit by a car, so it wasn't his fault. But there are definitely moments where
01:32:12
we could have died. Like for example, this race called the WTF, so the wilderness traverse of Fland.
01:32:21
>> It's a great acronym. >> Great acronym. Um, we were in pedling
01:32:26
this river. I think it was the Holy maybe. I don't know. But we were first. We were in first place at this stage.
01:32:32
And we were paddling down this through this massive gorge. And it was epic. Like the white water was just so
01:32:41
awesome. It was just on sunset, so we knew that we had to get out of the river at some point and walk the side of the
01:32:49
river because once I think it was about 9:00 p.m., it was a summer race. 9:00 p.m. hits, everyone has to be off the
01:32:55
river and you have to walk or sleep, your choice. So anyway, we're paddling and uh we look at we were the second
01:33:02
boat. Um I think it was Josiah and I just and I were the second boat and Dean and Finn were the first boat and we saw
01:33:10
them just waving at us like, "Stop, stop, stop." They were I remember seeing
01:33:16
them on top of a rock with two waterfalls on either side of them. So they were in the middle of these two
01:33:23
waterfalls and we were paddling straight for this huge waterfall. Like if we went
01:33:29
down it we would be dead. It was rocky. So like there was rocks and trees at the
01:33:35
bottom of this waterfall and our boat lodged up against two rocks between the waterfall. So it was the boys were on
01:33:44
the middle of the waterfall and our boat was like lodged up in in the middle of it. We like they launched us out of
01:33:50
their boats. And so there was four of us standing on the middle of this rock on sunset with our boats down the bottom of
01:33:57
the waterfall because they had fallen down with the PLB everything in the boats that we couldn't get. So we were
01:34:04
like, "What the heck are we going to do?" Like we It was pretty scary. Like
01:34:09
it doesn't sound too scary, but it was like it was one of the scariest moments
01:34:13
of our lives. So Dean like horizontally jumped over the waterfall into like the moving water and like swam out into uh
01:34:23
into the shore and then we luckily had our paddles. So we he like put out his paddle and Finn jumped and grabbed the
01:34:32
paddle and yet he got yanked to the other side. So then it was just Sarah and I on this water on this rock and I'm
01:34:40
bad at swimming in general and so I was like I can't do this and he's like well
01:34:45
you have to. So I remember Josiah picking me up and literally throwing me and I like just caught the paddle and
01:34:53
they pulled me pulled me out into the side of the river the river and it was we were like really shaken up and we had
01:35:00
to walk all through the night with our wet clothes and that was definitely like a moment where we're like wow we that
01:35:09
could have been deathly. >> Most sane people at this point would be like okay let's yeah let's tap out.
01:35:16
Yeah, >> let's tap out of this event and regroup. >> Do you Yeah. What's your relationship
01:35:21
like with risk and fear? >> Um I kind of love it. I I mean I sometimes don't like it in the moment.
01:35:30
Like the LA a few months ago I did this massive mission around Mount Cook and there was multiple sections where I was
01:35:36
well outside my comfort zone like rock climbing with no ropes and things like that. But I said to mom, I said, "I'm
01:35:43
sorry, but I really want to keep doing things like that because I just feel like
01:35:48
I just love it. I don't know why. I just the fear and I I don't know. There's
01:35:54
just I can't explain the feeling, but I just love that feeling of fear and risk." And definitely I won't push
01:36:01
myself out side where I'm might die. >> Like I I will say like guys, I don't
01:36:08
want to do this, but then sometimes you just have to. But yeah, and sometimes there is no other way but to move
01:36:15
forward. >> These weekend missions you do, do you ever do them on your own or is it always
01:36:20
with Oh, you do? >> Yeah, I do sometimes on my own, but most of the time with mates. Yeah. Yeah.
01:36:24
>> Cuz that's probably riskier in a way, isn't it? Doing it on Doing it on your
01:36:27
own. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I always bring a PLB. >> Personal locator. Beacon. Beacon.
01:36:32
>> Beacon. Yeah. Yeah. >> So, what does that do? >> Oh, it rings the choppers. Okay. They'll
01:36:37
just come and get you probably. Probably probably. Oh, so you've never had you've
01:36:42
never used it. >> Touch wood? No. >> And they they'll uh they'll they'll
01:36:47
charge you for the chopper, I'd imagine. >> Yeah, maybe. Oh my worth it, though,
01:36:51
right? >> Oh, imagine if it was Richie that came to save you. >> Oh, I know. Wouldn't that be great?
01:36:56
>> Have Have your paths crossed in any of these events? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. All the time. Yeah. Oh, really?
01:37:01
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's great. Yeah. Loves it. Um he actually >> I should show you the video, but he
01:37:06
actually nearly um broke my ankle in the god zone cuz he was flying the chopper only from like here to It was literally
01:37:15
the chopper was like right next to us and we were rock climbing down this cliff face. It was pretty gnarly
01:37:20
actually. And Josh, my teammate, dislodged a rock above me. And because of the chopper, I couldn't hear Josh
01:37:27
calling rock, rock, rock. So the rock skimmed past about that much and it was a huge rock and that would have that
01:37:35
would have that would have been a race ender. Yeah. And I said to Richie I said you said that's your fault mate. Thank
01:37:42
you very much. You were way too close to us. >> But they got it on film and so it was
01:37:47
great because TVZ loved it. Yeah. >> Even if um if you heard your teammate
01:37:52
shout out rock, what could you have done? >> Uh I don't know. Hopefully. I don't
01:37:58
know. Yeah, you are right. We often say rock rock, but you kind of just stand there, look up, and go hope for the
01:38:02
best. You know, >> you just get a couple of seconds warning that you're about to die potentially.
01:38:07
>> Yeah. Yeah. But um we should have probably had helmets on that stage, but
01:38:12
>> Yeah. >> Um when I had Simone Meer on the podcast, she told me Richie's really
01:38:17
clumsy at these events. >> Yes, I did hear that actually. Yeah. Um I I haven't raced with Richie so I'm not
01:38:25
sure but I'm sure he's his >> his I'm sure Richie outweighs his clum
01:38:29
clumsiness. He would be a great team member I think. Yeah. >> Oh 100%. Yeah.
01:38:33
>> Um then Dougal Allen told me a story about Richie. Um he said one of the
01:38:38
stages where they were just trying to keep themselves amused and entertained overnight. Um Richie came up with a
01:38:42
thing where he asked everyone to come up with three words that they'd like people
01:38:46
to use to describe them. Describe them at their funeral. >> Oh yeah. That's a great question.
01:38:51
>> And Doo said one of one of Richie's words was um integrity. And he was like
01:38:55
he thought it was funny because he'd only known him for like a day or two. And that's definitely one of the words
01:38:59
he would have used. >> What do you guys do? Have you guys got any little tricks or strategies or
01:39:03
things you do to >> keep spirits up in the night? >> Yeah, you definitely just end up talking
01:39:08
lots of yarns of random stuff. like I don't know there sometimes I try and play games with my teammates like oh
01:39:19
game 21 or you know there's lots of like game little games that you can just keep
01:39:23
going or go through the whole alphabet you know do you know the game where you might go apple and you go apple banana
01:39:29
and I might go apple banana >> carrot >> carrot yeah and you have to go through
01:39:33
the whole alphabet >> and I love these games because it's just fun and I love talking so I'm just like
01:39:40
oh what to know um but the boys sometimes are like Molly what are you doing like they can't even spell let
01:39:49
alone remember what A and Zed was so yeah sometimes I join and sometimes I don't but
01:39:54
>> cuz I suppose everyone's different and when when different people are suffering
01:39:58
they have a different way of processing it >> well it's really weird because I talk a
01:40:02
lot and during the race I actually don't talk that much I actually just people think that's that's a lie but I
01:40:11
you my teammates. Yes, I do talk a bit, but I'm often I often just am silent for
01:40:18
hours and hours. In fact, the first Godzone, um, the boys hadn't really raced that many days with me, and they
01:40:26
made a little card that it was like three cards that they could give to me, and it said, "Molly's 30 minutes of
01:40:34
silent. Shut the f up." And it just said, "This card is used for half an
01:40:40
hour for the boys to just suffer and soldier on with no positivity. They've never had to use the cards,
01:40:47
thank God. But yeah, I've got I've got it standing on my um duchess at home.
01:40:53
So, >> God, you're a happy person, aren't you? Just a real positive, you know, ray of
01:41:01
sunshine. >> Oh, that's kind. Thank you. >> When When do you Yeah. Are you ever sad?
01:41:06
>> Not really. No. No. >> No. >> When have you been your saddest?
01:41:11
U probably when my sports doctor told me I couldn't do world champs in Canada
01:41:14
last year. >> That's so awesome. God. Yeah. If we could bottle up what you've got, um I
01:41:22
think New Zealand would be a better place. >> A same with you though, Dom. You're
01:41:25
very, very positive and happy person. >> What are you What are you most afraid
01:41:28
of? >> Most afraid of? Um Oh my gosh. Most afraid of? I'm actually um I'm actually not afraid of very much
01:41:41
many things because I just like saying I'm a yes person, you know, like I just
01:41:45
like saying yes to things. Um afraid of I don't know probably I'd say the
01:41:56
I don't actually know. I actually don't know what I'm afraid of. >> Well, that in itself is an answer.
01:42:02
>> So that's fine. >> Yeah. >> Do you have any regrets? Any regrets?
01:42:09
Probably regrets. I'd say I I This is These are hard questions. I don't think I've got regrets. I'm trying
01:42:20
to think. >> That's a great way to live your life. >> Yeah. I don't think I've got regrets.
01:42:25
No. >> No. >> Wonderful. Um, and the Richie and Doo thing we were talking about before, say
01:42:31
it's your funeral. What three words would you like family and friends to use
01:42:34
to describe you? >> I hope they say that. >> I don't know, maybe not three words, but
01:42:41
I just hope they say that I always made them smile. I think that's something
01:42:46
that >> like my workmate for example, she said to me the other day, and I'll just say
01:42:53
my name is Sparkles, but they say, "Sparkles, it's very hard to be sad around you." And I feel like that is the
01:43:00
the probably the best compliment you can ever get. Uh, and it's something I'd
01:43:05
probably want people to say at my funeral is that she always made me smile. Yeah,
01:43:11
>> you've got the perfect surname for your personality, eh? It's a pretty cool name, isn't it?
01:43:16
>> It's It's excellent. >> I don't want to I don't want to change
01:43:20
it. Sorry for my future future husband, but I don't think I'll be changing my
01:43:25
name. No. >> Are you proud of yourself? >> Yeah. Yeah. I' I'd say I am at the Yeah.
01:43:32
At the moment, I'm 22. >> At the moment, >> I don't know. I just feel like I've
01:43:36
lived quite a large and um you know vibrant life and I'm only 22 and I actually just can't wait for the future
01:43:46
because if I've experienced this much at 22, what else is in for in the future?
01:43:53
Yeah, >> I think that's probably a good place to end it. >> Yeah.
01:43:58
>> Is there is there anything that's been left unsaid? Is there anything that you
01:44:01
hoped we were going to talk about today that we haven't? Um, no. I feel like
01:44:06
you've asked some awesome questions and I've kind of just rambled on, so I'm
01:44:09
sorry about that. I've probably gone beyond the topic of your question, but yeah. No. Um, I've just super grateful
01:44:16
for the opportunity to come up here and talk to you. And I hope I have not inspired, but I hope I've just, let's
01:44:26
just say the word inspired others to just get out there. Like, who cares if it's just a walk around the block or a
01:44:33
walk around the park or talk with your friends, go out there and experience what beautiful New Zealand can have to
01:44:40
offer. Yeah. >> Full stop. >> Full stop. >> We're done. Molly Spark, this has been
01:44:48
so awesome. >> I've I've um by my my my perspective, I'm doing a hard physical challenge this
01:44:54
year. I'm going to South Africa in June for this run called the Comrades. >> Oh, yeah.
01:44:57
>> It's which is like an iconic ultramarathon. I know exactly what it is. Yeah.
01:45:01
>> Yeah. And I've been um every time I think of it's like a 100 days away now
01:45:04
from the time we're recording this >> and I've I I get anxiety just thinking
01:45:08
about it. Um and I'm going to I'm going to remember this chat and I'm going to
01:45:12
um draw on you and your energy on that day. >> Ah, that's awesome. Wait, whereabouts in
01:45:17
South Africa? Is it? >> Um it's I think it's Johannesburg. >> Okay. You might Are you going to raw dog
01:45:24
the flight or? >> Absolutely not. I'm going to watch all the movies. I'm going to raw dog the run though. No
01:45:30
headphones on the run. The raw dog the run. Just see some elephants. >> I always raw dog these um these these
01:45:35
events cuz it's like you you're doing these things with like-minded people. I
01:45:39
think there's like 15 or 20,000 people that do the comrades each year. >> Um so why would Yeah. Why would you want
01:45:44
to block that out with AirPods? >> Totally. Totally. No, you'll enjoy it.
01:45:47
It'll be amazing. >> But hey, you're super inspiring and um yeah, I'd urge everyone to follow you at
01:45:52
Molly's Missions on Instagram and I can't wait to see what the future brings
01:45:56
for you. Thank you so much, Dom.