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[Music]
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D and welcome to my podcast thanks Dom
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it's uh it's big privilege to be here
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I've enjoyed listening to your podcast
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for a long time and I'm actually a
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longtime fan dating back to 2x sfm in
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palon North as a teenager growing up in
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Foxton listening to the Mike Weston baly
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show so that's a blast from the past oh
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yeah yeah you're you're a you're a
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Foxton boy so your life could have gone
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two ways like either professional sport
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or the nomad's gang totally thankfully I
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think the nomads gang have moved on but
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um yeah it was very as a kid to be
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walking down the street of Foxton and be
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surrounded by gang members and things
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but yeah from my um memory it was never
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a big deal either to be fair um hey it's
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great having you here today of all days
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um I only realized when I went on social
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media this morning it's your birthday ah
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yes yeah yeah it's my birthday 39 today
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39 my mom text me this morning saying
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you've entered the final year of your
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fourth decade on planet Earth or
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something to that effect and I thought
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that was pretty depressing way to look
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at it so yeah so so yes so you've worked
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all day at Team New Zealand um you're
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doing the podcast now is your family
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family up for the weekend or are they
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still in wah uh they're still wanka
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based so my wife and I've got a 9 and a
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seveny old um they're back home so
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unfortunately don't get to spend my
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birthday with them but um we're we're
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living a a life we realize is pretty
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special so yeah there's small
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compromises that happen along the way
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and that's one of them but still
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depressing birthday so what are you
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doing tonight I'm going to go spend
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actually my birthday with my uncle and
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auntie and reua which would be really
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nice cuz uh yeah I've I've been very
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lucky uh to have a really sort of
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supportive and loving family my whole
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life really and and so yeah I get to go
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and enjoy it with them yeah actually you
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shed um a a card or a note on social
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media from um was it your son or your
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daughter uh Matilda my daughter yeah
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happy birthday Daddyo JoJo what what is
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going on there that's a lot you'll have
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to ask seveny olds they they've got an
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imagination but um yeah know that was
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sweet yeah so um DG Allen for anyone
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it's quite funny because um you you're
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such a famous guy but you there'd be a
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lot of people that have no clue who you
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are yet if you plant you on the right
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place say the finish line of the coast
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to coast uh there'd be a line of people
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wanting selfies with you you know in
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certain circles um you're very very well
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known but you're a fascinating guy
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nonetheless and that's going to be an
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honor to profile your story oh thanks
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very much Don yeah so uh New Zealand
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multisport Legion now Tim New Zealand
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crew member two Coast to Coast winner
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2019 2021 uh and nine Coast to Coast
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podiums and 10
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races yeah the coasta coast was a big
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part of my life and I I focused on it
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very heavily probably in two chapters
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really there was chapter one where I was
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doing everything I could to try and win
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the race and ended up coming up short
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time and time again I went away from
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that and sort of got more into I guess
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longdistance Tron for a while and came
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back to the coasta coast in that second
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chapter I had a couple of Victories so
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yeah it was a big part of my life though
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spanning probably I don't know 12 15
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years yeah and like to get on the podium
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that many times remarkable like it's uh
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I mean it's such a pivot it's an event
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that every New Zealander knows about
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right yeah it is and it's um it
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surprises me the profile it has
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internationally too to be honest the
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coast to coast you go around the world
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like I was very lucky I got to race
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overseas and different sort of
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capacities and different sports and
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events and everywhere I went uh people
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you know you try to explain what you did
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back home oh so I do multisport oh
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what's multisport kaying running biking
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um and they sort of look a bit puzzled
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and you go oh we've got an event back
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home called the coast to coast and then
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their eyes light up oh the coast to
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coast I know they're Coast to Coast so
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amazing how it's somehow got this um
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yeah reach that spans across the world
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yeah and and it it it surprises me
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endlessly that it's so um it's got so
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much mainstream popularity because um
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it's um it's not for [ __ ] is it you
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know the goats pass is a hell of a run
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and then you've got the the grade to
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kayak which is is what 70 K yeah correct
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it's a bloody it's a crazy event and the
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fact that it's um had this cut through
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and uh now there's like a weit list um
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for people trying to get in it's it's
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incredible really yeah yeah I it's sort
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of a writer passage in many ways as a
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kiwi I mean I'm not saying that and that
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you know everyone who considers
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themselves kiwi should go and do the
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coast to coast not at all um but there's
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something in our DNA as kiwis I think
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that we all have some sort of connection
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to Nature and a New Zealand nature
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really involves rivers and mountains and
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beaches and obviously with the coast to
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coast you start at one beach you move
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through the mountains and rivers and
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land at a beach on the other side of the
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country so there's just something about
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it I think that uh kiwis and their very
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DNA can relate to in some way that's
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cool it's cool and you're part of the
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fabric of that history you know there's
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there's a bunch of names that you
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associate with um coast to coast and
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you're one of those names yeah that's
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crazy to consider oh it is it is really
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it's cool Goosebumps actually just
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thinking about that Steve gy um who else
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was there user yeah Richard Usher was a
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huge um you know he was my idol I
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suppose when I came into the sport and
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then eventually I sort of had to try and
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stop thinking of him as an idol because
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I was busy trying to beat the guy but um
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yeah in my eyes I'd say Richard Usher
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would be probably the best athlete that
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ever won the race Steve gy obviously won
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the most races and he was a talent too
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and uh but yeah Richard Usher was just
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someone who I think took that race to a
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home whole new level and brought
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professionalism to that race too we'll
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get more into the into the coast to
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coast later because there's a lot to
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unpack there um but you just before we
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get into it what do you what what do you
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say would be at the age of 39 your top
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three career highlights so far gee
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there's a good question uh you know
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making it into Emirates Team New Zealand
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would be definitely a career highlight
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completely unexpected and something I'm
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very proud of winning the coast to coast
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there's a huge backstory to that and so
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yeah that would certainly be one as well
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and then probably third would be um
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winning an event unfortunately doesn't
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exist anymore it was challenge Monica
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when it was an Iron Man distance event
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and simply because that was the hometown
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race and again it took a bit of um
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perseverance I suppose to get to the top
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of that race and and won it on a day
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where there was a really classy
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professional field and I just remember
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running to the Finish Line past I sort
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of knew every second person I was
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running past that day so yeah that'd be
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my top three I and and you're the you're
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the course record holder for challenge
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Monica yeah yeah luckily for me though
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that that long distance side of the
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event doesn't exist now so I'm pretty
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it's safe it's loged in Lo forever okay
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let's talk about the team New Zealand
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this is um I think part of the cool
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thing about life so you know you're in
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your your late 30s I suppose you're
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thinking where's my athletic career
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going from now maybe you're at the Apex
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maybe you can keep going like Cameron
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Brown I I don't know what your plan was
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and then out of the blue something like
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the opportunity to you know Join one of
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our major national teams like Team New
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Zealand comes along so what's the story
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so was it was it Nick Gill I read that
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Nick Gill the um all black strength and
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conditioning coach he uh shoulder tapped
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you y you friends uh yeah we we met
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through uh he does Iron Man New Zealand
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or did Iron Man New Zealand no Iron Man
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Australia I think was his big one either
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way we met through Iron Man we um yeah
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and I've I studied physical education
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was really interested in you know uh
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Sports Science strength and conditioning
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and he's obviously world class you know
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with with the All Blacks worked as the
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strength he's been there forever I think
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I think he was there in Seaford Patrick
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probably um so anyway I think with the
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The Team New Zealand thing what they
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were looking for in this cup was they
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called cyc laws which are people that
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can push good power on a bike and uh I
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guess what people probably get a bit
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confused by is if you need good cyclists
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on the boat why don't you have you know
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t paga or you know two to France
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cyclists and and the reason in
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simplistic terms is the boat the
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America's Cup boat need absolute power
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put into it those top cyclists are
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really good because they have good power
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to weight ratio so if you imagine your
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typical successful cyclist they're going
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to be quite strong on the bike but
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they're also going to be quite small
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human beings really so cycs generally
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are bigger Mass 90 to 100 kilo and the
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total power they can put into a bike is
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actually better than a to to France
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Rider which blows some people's minds
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but it sort of makes sense right if
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you've got another 30 kilo of muscle on
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your skeleton you're going to produce
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more power so so long story short what
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they were looking for was a very unique
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type of human someone who can ride a
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bike really well but it's also quite a
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big specimen so it became a little bit
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of a shoulder tapping exercise because
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they needed specific qualities to come
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and trial for the team so rowers made
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really good trialists uh track cyclist I
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was probably a bit of an odit in that I
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came from a multisport background but
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yeah that's essentially what took place
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and then we all showed up and showed our
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best hand on a bike and those that were
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good enough got chosen how many are
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there six uh there are nine cycle ORS to
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cover four positions on the boat for
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each Race So teams can sort of decide
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how they want to play their hand there
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um by the time the America's cut rolls
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around there could be two races a day
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weather depending and they they're
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usually spaced quite quickly apart maybe
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10 minutes between races so what you're
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likely to see as you know a group of cyc
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laws go on the boat for the first race
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climb off it fresh leagues perhaps climb
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on it for that second race not
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necessarily but it's probably what
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you'll see and who is some of the some
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of the big guns is Hamish Bond one yeah
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Hamish Bond y right Hamish Bond who was
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um won two Olympic gold medals with Eric
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Murray and then um made the commo games
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like a road cyclist yeah yeah unre way
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huge engine um cool obviously being
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privy to his training and and calling
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him a teammate's been pretty awesome
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yeah incredible and Simon vanoven is he
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to one yep that's right that that
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[ __ ] so you're from Foxton he's
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from Fielding
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cl to biggest legs I've ever seen on a
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human being yeah he's got big Trunks and
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yeah big ticker too he knows how to hurt
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himself uh brings huge experience of
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course bronze medalist in the Kieran
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race on the track uh when was that must
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have been London maybe he was actually
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bought into Team New Zealand in 2017 for
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the Bermuda cup which some people might
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remember was where New Zealand kind of
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surprised the world with these cycling
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Grinders so um he was yeah big big part
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of the shift from hand riding to what
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we've got now which is cycl yeah so um
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yes so so you get asked if you want to
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take part and then um what's involved in
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the testing I've seen a photo of you um
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at the I don't know if it was just one
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test or a series of tests but there's
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one where you're just like crouched over
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the bike you look completely spent and
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um like it's it's just a still image but
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you Blair ch's got his hand on your
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shoulder yeah yeah um that that I mean
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you've got a big ticker um and you're
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used to putting yourself in pain um but
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you look like a damaged man at that
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point yeah it probably tells you
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everything you need to know about the
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trials they were so hard really and see
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this is you saying that yeah yeah yeah I
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mean I I guess with events like the
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coasta coast you might race for 11 or 12
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hours and because of that you've sort of
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got to pace yourself at a certain level
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of exertion uh the requirements I mean
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in America's cut race will probably take
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20 to 30 minutes so you're all in for
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that period of time the intensity is so
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much higher and so for me with the
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trials um I it it was a
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relatively unfamiliar feeling for my
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body to push that hard and of course you
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sort of got an opportunity on the line
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so you're going to go even deeper than
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you'd normally be able to go so yeah I
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was I was pretty spent by the end I'm
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probably still recovering that was
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nearly two years
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ago so what is the test exactly well
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there was a bunch of tests they
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basically wanted to look they sort of
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wanted to profile your ability on a bike
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right so they wanted to know how hard
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you could Sprint for a short period of
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time but also how how well you can push
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for a longer period of time perhaps to
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sort of simulator in America's Cup race
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so there was a few different tests and
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from that they they could kind of decide
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who was bringing the right qualities to
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the team right and so out of the the
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nine people that end up getting those
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jobs like do do you like I wonder like
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you and you and Hamish Bond like were
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you were you the the best in terms of
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your output on the bike or do you think
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there's part of it that you're there for
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what you can bring in terms of like
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mental skills and experience with um
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your sporting careers yeah it's a good
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question and I probably don't fully
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understand how those decisions were made
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ultimately um obviously being a good
00:13:05
strong cyclist was a a factor but they
00:13:08
were probably also looking at it a
00:13:10
little bit more holistically like
00:13:12
personalities that would work within the
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team culture um maybe some bik qualities
00:13:17
that will complement other bike
00:13:18
qualities so like I'm not the best
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Sprinter in the team there's other guys
00:13:21
that can do huge power compared to me um
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one of my strengths is more kind of
00:13:26
sustained effort for a longer period of
00:13:27
time so yeah they'll probably trying to
00:13:28
B balance quite a few sort of qualities
00:13:30
across their squad of nine pyc laws I
00:13:33
guess yeah I'm guessing on the boat
00:13:35
there's um there's data as well so over
00:13:37
on knows what you're doing and how
00:13:38
you're performing so there's there's no
00:13:39
place to hide no there's yeah certainly
00:13:41
accountability in terms of performance
00:13:44
but it's good it's um sort of internal
00:13:46
uh competitive culture which you know my
00:13:49
wife's in real estate and she deals with
00:13:51
that on a day-to-day basis too you know
00:13:53
competition amongst colleagues and it's
00:13:55
no different in our team we we yes we
00:13:57
want to sort of beat each other but we
00:13:58
know that and so doing where hopefully
00:14:00
that Rising tide that raises all boats
00:14:03
or whatever that's saying is you know
00:14:04
we're all and we that's what we see is
00:14:07
by going out to kick each other's ass on
00:14:08
a daily basis we're all getting better
00:14:10
as a result yeah of course yeah you
00:14:12
drive and motivate each other so so so
00:14:14
when you have one of the races uh like a
00:14:16
proper race say 20 or 30 minutes
00:14:18
whatever it was you said um is it like a
00:14:21
burst of a few minutes going hard and
00:14:22
then you sort of sitting back relaxing
00:14:24
or are you pedling the whole time or
00:14:26
well again I I mean I'm probably giving
00:14:28
quite blurry answers but it's so much of
00:14:30
it depends right like conditions it can
00:14:32
depend on how strong the winds blowing
00:14:34
or in Barcelona you get a big sea state
00:14:35
so that sort of affects things as well
00:14:38
um but I think you know I I haven't
00:14:40
raced an America's Cup yet but some of
00:14:43
the guys have and by all accounts we can
00:14:45
just expect to go to the well and
00:14:47
basically Drive ourselves as hard as we
00:14:50
can for that period of time so sometimes
00:14:52
that's all you want to know really yeah
00:14:53
you don't want any more details then
00:14:55
you're probably going to did it die well
00:14:58
yeah yeah and also yeah clearly defined
00:15:00
roles that's good yeah if you know
00:15:01
exactly what you got to do um so do have
00:15:04
you had to have like a crash course in
00:15:06
sailing or anything like that um yeah I
00:15:09
mean a crush course kind of came as a
00:15:11
result of joining the team and just
00:15:12
getting stuck into rolls around the shed
00:15:15
I mean pyc laws are primarily there to
00:15:18
put power through the pedals on the boat
00:15:20
but um as is the classic sort of kiwi
00:15:23
way we also like to roll our sleeves up
00:15:24
and get involved in and around the team
00:15:26
in other ways as well there's 150
00:15:29
plus people that make up Team New
00:15:31
Zealand people don't realize just quite
00:15:33
how big the team is wow lot of moving
00:15:36
Parts you got Electronics Hydraulics um
00:15:38
you know mechatronics you've also got
00:15:41
all the other things a lot of companies
00:15:42
need like accountants and lawyers and so
00:15:45
there's a huge um series of moving parts
00:15:48
that kind of have to all fit together to
00:15:50
bring a winning boat to the to the event
00:15:53
and so as cycs we'll often just
00:15:55
basically as I say roll our sleeves up
00:15:56
and help out where we can which is been
00:15:59
pretty cool cuz I've learned lots of new
00:16:00
skills and you know I wasn't really a
00:16:02
Trader beforehand I'm certainly still
00:16:04
not a Trader but I'm probably a little
00:16:05
bit closer than I was before I started
00:16:07
with the team yeah so so what does what
00:16:08
does an average day look like you
00:16:09
weren't today's a beautiful day in
00:16:11
Oakland but you weren't on the water
00:16:13
today no I didn't sell today we um
00:16:15
will'll certainly aim to sail tomorrow
00:16:17
sailing a lot at the moment in the new
00:16:19
boat because we sort of want to learn as
00:16:21
much from it as we can before we have to
00:16:22
ship it across to Barcelona for the
00:16:24
event um and so today the boat was on
00:16:26
Shore but sometimes the non-selling days
00:16:29
can be busier than the sailing days cuz
00:16:30
it's an opportunity for all the people
00:16:32
that do all the important stuff behind
00:16:34
the scenes to sort of catch up yeah and
00:16:36
it's and how does it work in terms of
00:16:37
payment and stuff you you want just on
00:16:39
like a salary yeah yeah exactly it's
00:16:41
like um any other job I suppose um I was
00:16:45
coached for a lot of my later career in
00:16:47
multisport by Gordon Walker who
00:16:49
listeners might know is the coach of
00:16:51
Lisa
00:16:52
Carrington and uh we sort of had a
00:16:54
little bit of a laugh together when I
00:16:56
made it into Team New Zealand because I
00:16:58
was finally a professional athlete you
00:17:00
know I was I was doing multisport and
00:17:02
Trion for so long that uh you know it
00:17:05
was the first time I was on a salary to
00:17:07
do my sport so that was it must it must
00:17:08
be nice for you to have an income
00:17:10
because um yeah multisport there's not a
00:17:11
lot of money in it really is there it's
00:17:13
hard it's hard work yeah I think I I I I
00:17:17
did enjoy that side to the sport for a
00:17:19
number of reasons I've seen you know
00:17:21
other sports especially sports with a
00:17:23
lot of money with that comes a lot of
00:17:25
problems and challenges right you know
00:17:27
people used to say oh we never worried
00:17:29
that some of your competitors were
00:17:30
taking drugs and things and I I just
00:17:33
know that multisport is still such a
00:17:35
pure sport people do it because they
00:17:37
love to be outside and and in the hills
00:17:39
and meeting other people like that's
00:17:42
there's a real innocence to multisport
00:17:44
that I loved so yeah I mean it was
00:17:46
always a challenge to uh make it you
00:17:49
know a viable Pursuit especially when I
00:17:52
started having a family and things like
00:17:54
that but um Yeah you sort of had to
00:17:56
think outside the square a little and
00:17:57
yeah I sort of made it work but yeah
00:18:00
yeah and and um yeah how are you finding
00:18:02
the um transition from like being a solo
00:18:05
athlete to being part of a team yeah
00:18:07
that's been a huge highlight yeah sure
00:18:09
yeah yeah um I mean did a lot of
00:18:13
adventure racing I know Simone M's been
00:18:15
on the show before her and I were lucky
00:18:17
to travel the world and race together
00:18:18
you're you're part of a team in that
00:18:20
regard but with the coast to coast I I
00:18:22
used to think you know I had a team I
00:18:23
had my family my physio my massage
00:18:26
therapist there was people in your
00:18:27
corner but but it's not quite the same
00:18:30
as you know when we go sailing and you
00:18:32
you literally set sail on a yacht and
00:18:34
it's you and seven others and together
00:18:36
you guys are making this boat fly across
00:18:38
the water it's it's a pretty amazing
00:18:40
sense of belonging to a to a group that
00:18:42
have a you know a unified goal that
00:18:44
comes in October this year yeah so I
00:18:47
went for a run a couple of couple of
00:18:48
weeks ago like 6:00 a.m. 7: a.m. with um
00:18:50
BL chuk and that he he was about to go
00:18:53
for a game of touch rugby after that
00:18:54
like a morning game of touch rugby were
00:18:57
you part of the touch rugby Squad no
00:18:59
cycl are usually training at their time
00:19:01
but really you miss out on the good
00:19:03
stuff miss out on the touch yeah but
00:19:05
it's um I mean that's a good example of
00:19:07
how the team sort of coexist right like
00:19:09
yeah they they genuinely enjoy being
00:19:12
around one another and I think yeah it's
00:19:15
no wonder that the team currently have
00:19:17
the America's Cup because together
00:19:19
they're a pretty powerful force and I
00:19:21
remember BL saying years ago something
00:19:23
about it if if if anyone makes it on the
00:19:25
news or they get some publicity they
00:19:27
have to like shout morning tea sh some
00:19:29
beers oh that's news to me yeah so I was
00:19:31
going to ask like are you going to get
00:19:33
in trouble doing a podcast oh I'll
00:19:34
probably cough a bit of
00:19:36
flck um yeah one more thing so when when
00:19:39
you're on that boat and it's um it's
00:19:42
like you know unreal pain pain that
00:19:44
you've never experienced before do you
00:19:46
like what sort of techniques do you have
00:19:47
like do you have a a mentor that you
00:19:48
focus on um do you count do you what do
00:19:51
you do yeah I suppose um I mean it's not
00:19:55
unfamiliar anymore for me you know like
00:19:57
I've spent probably two decades kind of
00:19:59
taking myself to a place uh where that
00:20:03
sort of physical exertion can kind of
00:20:05
create some big question marks in your
00:20:07
head and you sort of got to come up with
00:20:08
answers on the spot and work your way
00:20:09
through it and that sort of thing but uh
00:20:12
I think you actually mentioned counting
00:20:14
there and I didn't even realize I did it
00:20:16
until quite recently I think someone
00:20:17
else asked me the same question how do
00:20:19
you sort of get through intervals and
00:20:21
stuff and the next thing I know I'm
00:20:22
doing these intervals and they're just
00:20:24
so hard and I'm counting backwards from
00:20:26
50 and that was that moment where I was
00:20:28
like oh I must count I hadn't actually
00:20:31
consciously realized I count but yeah so
00:20:33
that's one way I do it intervals might
00:20:35
take 5 minutes or two minutes but
00:20:37
regardless they're bloody tough and
00:20:40
so yeah I think um counting's maybe a
00:20:43
bit of a distraction but I also for as
00:20:45
long as I can remember I've um found
00:20:49
that if I become quite present and
00:20:51
actually rather than uh trying to fight
00:20:55
away the pain or resist it if I actually
00:20:58
sounds almost bit weird saying it
00:21:01
because it you know I don't speak it out
00:21:03
loud very often but I think what I do is
00:21:05
I I sort of embrace it like I I go right
00:21:09
you know you you're breathing heavily
00:21:11
your heart rate's through the roof sweat
00:21:13
pouring off you but if you actually
00:21:15
Center your thoughts and go is what I'm
00:21:17
doing right now manageable can I live in
00:21:20
this situation that I'm in right now you
00:21:22
go yeah I can stay here for a bit longer
00:21:24
if I need to and so I become really
00:21:26
present and I like that for me
00:21:28
personally because it's no longer me
00:21:31
versus the pain it's like oh the pain is
00:21:33
part of me and that's all good I mean I
00:21:36
make it sound like it's spiritual it's
00:21:38
not at all it sucks no it does sound
00:21:41
kind of spiritual but but then you're
00:21:43
like you're a Savage I feel like you're
00:21:44
a sucker for punishment so um yeah but
00:21:47
if you can if you can somehow
00:21:48
compartmentalize it like that I think
00:21:50
it's a good way of managing it yeah all
00:21:53
right um oh and who's going to Barcelona
00:21:55
is your wife and kids going yeah they'll
00:21:57
come over eventually yeah so I'll be
00:21:59
there for a big stint probably uh four
00:22:01
and a half 5 months that we're there uh
00:22:04
and so Amy and the kids will come over
00:22:06
maybe sort of halfway through that trip
00:22:07
so I'll be really looking forward to
00:22:09
seeing them by the time they get there
00:22:10
and and parents or anything are they
00:22:12
coming over parents probably won't um
00:22:14
they they're still living in Foxton and
00:22:16
you know trip to paliston North is
00:22:17
probably a good good day out for them so
00:22:20
um or maybe Wellington um so Barcelona's
00:22:23
probably a bit far away but uh yeah I'm
00:22:25
I'm hoping there'll be a few friends and
00:22:27
things that that'll be there for the cup
00:22:29
yeah it's it's it's surreal are you much
00:22:31
of like a goal Setter or a planner do
00:22:34
you know like not explicitly but in
00:22:37
recent times actually since joining Team
00:22:39
New Zealand I've come up with a few
00:22:40
little goals in my head around certain I
00:22:42
guess metrics on the boat that I've or
00:22:44
sorry metrics on the bike that I've
00:22:46
wanted to achieve But to answer your
00:22:47
question not really
00:22:49
no yeah I suppose I was asking it like 5
00:22:53
years ago you could never have foreseen
00:22:54
this as something you'd be doing
00:22:56
especially in the final year of your 30s
00:22:57
it's crazy and it's cool totally yeah
00:23:00
it's really cool yeah and that's
00:23:01
probably um how how things have sort of
00:23:05
worked for me in my whole kind of adult
00:23:07
life I mean I I started doing multisport
00:23:10
originally because I was getting
00:23:12
concussion on Rugby and had to stop
00:23:13
playing rugby and uh I you know
00:23:16
multisport was sort of coming to a bit
00:23:18
of an end for me with the coast to coast
00:23:20
I my last race was particularly hard and
00:23:23
um the next thing you know that door's
00:23:25
sort of closing and this one open so
00:23:27
it's funny when you reflect you go all
00:23:29
these kind of roadblocks as they seemed
00:23:32
at the time actually created
00:23:33
opportunities that you didn't know
00:23:35
existed beforehand yeah I you just
00:23:37
mentioned the motorport thing was coming
00:23:38
to an end for you um yeah why why you
00:23:42
feel like you were losing
00:23:45
competitiveness why couldn't you keep
00:23:46
going what about Cameron Brown yeah yeah
00:23:48
no age goal is there he's he's like 50
00:23:51
he's unal yeah yeah yeah I don't think
00:23:53
there'll be too many people like cam
00:23:55
Brown now or ever again but um I mean
00:23:58
for me it was yeah the the coast to
00:24:02
coast probably would have always had a
00:24:04
shelf life it's um it it had given me a
00:24:06
lot for a long time but um I had wed a
00:24:09
couple of times and unfortunately or
00:24:12
fortunately whichever way you look at it
00:24:14
I was either going to go back and win
00:24:16
again or it's going to be a failure CU I
00:24:18
didn't win it sort of thing so the
00:24:20
Purity that came early on of just going
00:24:23
there and and having your best race
00:24:25
focusing on the process sort of enjoying
00:24:28
the whole kind of day itself regardless
00:24:30
of the outcome those days were long gone
00:24:33
so there was yeah a lot more pressure
00:24:35
it's it's funny to think back I mentally
00:24:38
I coped a lot better leading into an on
00:24:41
race day early in my career by the end
00:24:43
of it my last couple of races I was
00:24:46
getting a lot more anxious leading into
00:24:47
the race I was yeah I certainly wasn't
00:24:49
in the same sort of Happy Head space
00:24:51
that I had been before that it's funny
00:24:53
that isn't it yeah yeah I didn't expect
00:24:56
that to come about like I'm not a
00:24:58
particularly anxious person but I mean
00:25:01
when I think back to my last Coast to
00:25:03
Coast I thought man it would be cool to
00:25:06
to win today and and that would give me
00:25:08
three races that I've won which puts me
00:25:11
in the company of people like Gordon
00:25:12
Walker Sam Clark Richard Usher Braden
00:25:14
Curry people that I've idolized for a
00:25:16
long
00:25:17
time and uh the race itself turned into
00:25:20
a plan B course it was weather affected
00:25:23
one of my strengths was the kayak that
00:25:24
got shortened um and I as I said before
00:25:28
I was not in a great head space before
00:25:30
the race got into the race got into the
00:25:33
run things went panning out as I'd
00:25:35
planned the next thing I broke my ankle
00:25:37
I didn't realize it was broken at the
00:25:38
time but I knew I'd done something
00:25:40
pretty bad to it and I kind of just um
00:25:43
got through the rest of the day it
00:25:45
wasn't much fun my ankle was ballooning
00:25:47
by the time I got to the end and uh
00:25:49
emotionally I was completely empty and I
00:25:51
thought I cannot believe this is the way
00:25:53
that my Coast to Coast career is going
00:25:55
to finish
00:25:56
but as I say it's funny how life works
00:26:00
so so did you um snap your ankle on
00:26:02
goat's pass I did yeah that's a hell of
00:26:04
a run that one isn't it for anyone
00:26:06
that's been lucky enough to do that it's
00:26:08
um yeah like as as someone that's done
00:26:11
um most of his running on the road all
00:26:13
be at a very slow pace it's like um it
00:26:16
always amazes me when people like you
00:26:17
and Daniel Jones and you know insert
00:26:20
name here do well on the road and then
00:26:22
also well on goats PK it's not even
00:26:24
really a run a lot of it it's like
00:26:26
you're scrambling over Boulders and the
00:26:28
last N9 or so K is just along a like a
00:26:31
dry River Bank running over Stones I'm
00:26:32
not surprised you [ __ ] your ankle yeah
00:26:34
yeah it was probably a long time coming
00:26:36
I'm probably lucky it took as long as it
00:26:37
did for it to happen but so how many how
00:26:39
many times derck and you've done um
00:26:41
goats pass all up including training
00:26:43
runs and yeah well I guess if I've done
00:26:46
the race itself 10 times I probably
00:26:49
always wanted to get through the run at
00:26:50
least probably four times each summer
00:26:52
leading up so I must have done it more
00:26:54
than 50 oh my God oh my God your poor
00:26:57
ankles
00:26:58
one the anle was like n that's it we're
00:27:00
out yeah yeah yeah okay all right let's
00:27:03
go let's go right back let's talk about
00:27:04
um the early years so you're from Foxton
00:27:07
the fox town of New Zealand that's us
00:27:09
yeah yeah I love Foxton FZ Foxton Fizz
00:27:12
what else has it got Fox it's got got
00:27:14
the windmill the windmill the windmill
00:27:16
did you know about the windmill you must
00:27:18
know about the windmill I don't think
00:27:19
that was the when I was growing up in P
00:27:21
that's a recent is that up near the that
00:27:23
big water tower thing yeah it's probably
00:27:25
yeah along Main Street there no you're
00:27:26
probably right the windmill came bit
00:27:28
later on and was the was the fast food
00:27:30
restaurant Big Tex there when you were
00:27:32
little or no yeah Big Tex that was on
00:27:33
the corner of my street actually
00:27:35
actually going back to the windmill
00:27:37
people need to know this cuz it's no
00:27:39
longer called this but the cafe adjacent
00:27:41
to the windmill for a long time was
00:27:43
known as The Dutch oven that was its
00:27:47
name the Dutch oven and apparently the
00:27:50
owner got sick of the jokes cuz it
00:27:52
sounds like that was never his intention
00:27:54
for it to be oh sounds like someone um
00:27:57
wanted to have a bus that was going to
00:27:58
go
00:28:01
viral yeah I don't know what it's called
00:28:03
now but it's another thing um okay yeah
00:28:05
so so you're from um Foxton which is a
00:28:08
small town in between Levin and paliston
00:28:10
north um your dad was a runner growing
00:28:13
up yeah correct and and I've heard you
00:28:16
say in podcast like he you know he
00:28:18
wasn't he wasn't good good but he was
00:28:20
still like a one and a half hour half
00:28:21
marathon runner correct so not slouchy
00:28:23
he wouldn't have been were there many
00:28:25
events for him to take part in or I like
00:28:27
it's been a surge and running events but
00:28:30
yeah yeah half marathons were pretty big
00:28:32
back then right like there was no such
00:28:34
thing obviously as Ultra marathons like
00:28:36
there is now um and maybe because of
00:28:38
that halves and full marathons probably
00:28:41
I don't know if they're more popular but
00:28:43
they carried a lot more weight um if you
00:28:45
did a marathon it was a big deal um Dad
00:28:48
focused more on the half marathons but I
00:28:49
was so proud growing up because uh he
00:28:51
was a runner in a small town before
00:28:53
running was as popular perhaps as as it
00:28:55
is now and he was a teacher at the high
00:28:58
school and at lunchtimes he would sneak
00:29:00
away and go for his run and he'd come
00:29:02
back and he taught me actually and I
00:29:03
remember it straight after uh lunch time
00:29:06
if he taught the next period after lunch
00:29:08
he would always come armed with a hanky
00:29:09
to dabit his sweaty forehead so he'd
00:29:12
finish his run jump through the shower
00:29:14
but still sweating he'd start teaching
00:29:16
the next period and he'd always have
00:29:17
this hanky to wipe the sweat away but
00:29:19
why I was proud was because people just
00:29:22
thought it was amazing that your dad can
00:29:24
run non-stop for an hour at lunchtime
00:29:26
you know like that was that was a big
00:29:28
thing back then and yeah I I'm sure it
00:29:31
inspired a lot of the things I went on
00:29:32
to do growing up yeah you did you did
00:29:35
you run a bit as a kid or just the
00:29:37
standard School cross country road run
00:29:39
yeah basically that I I did um cross
00:29:43
country at school I I I I'm pretty sure
00:29:47
I went from dead last to to winning it
00:29:50
within a a year or two like I used to be
00:29:52
right at the back and um always tried
00:29:55
though I didn't come last through lack
00:29:57
of trying but I don't remember what age
00:29:59
it was probably in my mid- teenage years
00:30:01
I suddenly became really good at the
00:30:02
cross country I don't know what changed
00:30:04
but so that that was probably the extent
00:30:06
of my running I suppose I was busy
00:30:08
playing rugby and basketball which
00:30:09
obviously have a lot of running involved
00:30:11
so that was kind of my childhood oh yeah
00:30:13
you I heard about that so you really
00:30:15
wanted to play rugby and your mom made
00:30:16
you um your mom said something like if
00:30:19
you want to play rugby you need to play
00:30:20
net wol first yeah how do you know that
00:30:23
I I heard it somewhere on another
00:30:25
another podcast what was the thing have
00:30:27
you asked me what the thinking that was
00:30:28
yeah so you do like a season or two of
00:30:30
net before you allowed to play rugby why
00:30:32
a good question I need to ask you that I
00:30:35
wonder if it was just to buy herself a
00:30:37
whole another year of not having to
00:30:39
worry about her son getting injured but
00:30:40
I mean as it turned out you know her her
00:30:43
worries were Justified because I did end
00:30:45
up having a range of concussion problems
00:30:47
and things in first 15 but yeah I don't
00:30:49
know why I had to play net ball maybe it
00:30:50
was she hoped that it would capture me
00:30:53
and you know what this is actually what
00:30:55
I want to play I don't want to play
00:30:56
rugby obviously backfire cuz I came back
00:30:58
the next year and said no I still want
00:30:59
to play rugby so was it a was it a a
00:31:01
boys team or a mixed team or a n back
00:31:04
then no mixed rugby was mixed too right
00:31:07
is that right so Foxton in the 1990s
00:31:09
yeah and I remember that because quite
00:31:11
Progressive one of the uh we played a
00:31:13
team in Levin every you know fourth
00:31:16
Saturday or whatever it was and we just
00:31:18
feared playing this team because they
00:31:19
there was a girl in this team that was
00:31:21
so damn strong she just run through us
00:31:23
all so we're always so worried about
00:31:24
playing the leevin team with the really
00:31:26
strong girl and the tire me remember it
00:31:28
was mixed rugby was it was it weird
00:31:30
tackling tackling girls well we with her
00:31:33
we couldn't P us out of the way um but
00:31:36
no very normal I think and actually I
00:31:38
think I remember at Primary School um
00:31:40
you know lunchtimes at Primary School
00:31:42
playing rugby and the girls would play
00:31:43
too so I suppose if it's if it's a
00:31:45
weight based thing and you know similar
00:31:47
sizes there's no sort of yeah um and
00:31:49
then you you go to denan to study what
00:31:51
you studied like PE and yeah yeah I um
00:31:54
so last year of high school I applied to
00:31:56
get into phys school which back then I
00:31:58
think they took about 200 on each year I
00:32:01
didn't actually get in um so there a big
00:32:04
big part of my life that moved because
00:32:07
I'd never been on an airplane and the
00:32:09
next thing I'm flying down to denen to
00:32:11
do a PE degree but I hadn't actually got
00:32:13
into PE so I was doing like a bridging
00:32:14
year and I was having to stop playing
00:32:17
rugby because of my concussion so there
00:32:19
was a lot going on for me at that moment
00:32:21
but um as it turned out you know
00:32:22
catching that flight to the needen
00:32:24
change my life for the better but um
00:32:26
yeah I still reflect and I go man I'm so
00:32:28
glad I was brave enough to do that
00:32:29
because as I say there was a few
00:32:31
roadblocks in place yeah what would you
00:32:33
have done otherwise yeah good question I
00:32:35
think even at that age I I think i' have
00:32:38
found perhaps through um in paliston
00:32:41
North there was probably some courses
00:32:43
and things that might have been a bit um
00:32:45
easier for me to sort of bridge into but
00:32:48
anything to do with Sport and exercise I
00:32:50
think was really interesting me at that
00:32:52
time and it was actually perhaps even as
00:32:55
it is now like I'm not actually that
00:32:58
interested in high performance sport I'm
00:33:01
really interested in population Health
00:33:03
even at that time it was man there's so
00:33:07
much going on in the world but every
00:33:10
single type of you know every Walk of
00:33:12
Life could benefit in some way from
00:33:14
exercise so yeah that was how I looked
00:33:17
at it back then and now with you know
00:33:19
we've got a much deeper understanding of
00:33:20
mental health as well as physical health
00:33:23
I believe it more than I've ever
00:33:24
believed it that exercis is yeah a very
00:33:27
important uh thing for us oh yeah
00:33:30
absolutely yeah the two go hand in hand
00:33:32
yeah the um yeah the benefits um for
00:33:34
exercise on you know on what's Happening
00:33:37
above the neck it's it's incredible it's
00:33:39
remarkable we always sort of thought
00:33:41
exercise probably naively was just for
00:33:43
the body but yeah the the stuff it does
00:33:45
for the mind as well it's yeah
00:33:47
incredible and I don't even enough if we
00:33:49
probably quite understand you know we
00:33:51
through our own experience we probably
00:33:53
go well yeah exercise when I'm having a
00:33:55
[ __ ] day I go for a run I always come
00:33:57
back feeling a bit
00:33:58
even if I haven't solved the problem at
00:34:00
I'm actually in a better place to start
00:34:02
to understand it so anecdotally we all
00:34:05
know that it's there but I think we're
00:34:06
still a long way behind the true sort of
00:34:09
evidence-based information that will
00:34:11
help hope hopefully fuel those decisions
00:34:14
that come later on for us all to sort of
00:34:16
spend more time and invest more of
00:34:18
ourselves and exercise yeah absolutely
00:34:21
and and you were um so your first half
00:34:23
marathon and den you ran like an hour 19
00:34:25
or something that's right yeah which is
00:34:27
which is bloody so you you were
00:34:29
naturally naturally were you doing any
00:34:31
sort of proper training at that point
00:34:33
yeah I joined the harri's club so that
00:34:35
was 2005 my third year at University
00:34:38
where I took a year off playing any
00:34:40
sport first year university focused on
00:34:42
getting into PE school second year I did
00:34:44
get into the PE school and tried I sort
00:34:47
of still hoped that rugby could be a
00:34:49
thing for me but unfortunately that year
00:34:51
I made it through the season but I was
00:34:52
still getting head knocks and things so
00:34:54
the third year I knew it was that was
00:34:56
the end of rugby door was well and truly
00:34:58
shut and I joined the university Harry's
00:35:00
club and straight away you know um made
00:35:04
new friends learned new things started
00:35:06
you know I think Tuesday and Thursday
00:35:07
night was um like individual training
00:35:10
with the group and so that hour 19 half
00:35:12
marathon certainly came off the back of
00:35:14
a pretty robust kind of buildup yeah
00:35:16
that's a that's a mean what is that like
00:35:18
three 3 minute 45k pace yeah yeah it
00:35:21
would be something like that yeah yeah
00:35:23
it's no it's no joke it's like it's it's
00:35:25
a very very good time um yeah where
00:35:29
where did that come from that sort of
00:35:30
disciplin or drive I'm thinking if I was
00:35:32
your age like an 18 17 18 19 year old
00:35:35
from from Foxton and I'm inan it's like
00:35:38
the whole it's like yeah it's like a
00:35:41
lolly store but you you s of gravitated
00:35:43
towards exercise rather than you know
00:35:45
any other the sort of um I don't know
00:35:47
the party side of denan why is that I
00:35:49
still had a bit of bit of involvement in
00:35:52
the party scene as well of course um but
00:35:55
no I mean I
00:35:56
think what what I like what I love and
00:36:00
what I always loved about training for a
00:36:04
sport and performing in a sport was um
00:36:07
literally the more you sort of dedicate
00:36:10
yourself to something the more those
00:36:11
rewards are available so I think I just
00:36:14
fell in love with the idea that you can
00:36:16
work hard at something whether it was
00:36:18
rugby earlier in my life or running in
00:36:20
multisport as it sort of turned into and
00:36:23
um see the reward that comes from sort
00:36:26
of the hard work m
00:36:28
and that that 11 19 half marathon um I
00:36:31
believe there's some story about there
00:36:32
your flatmate like snaked you or
00:36:34
something yeah yeah no did right so I
00:36:38
was in a flat um with a few other boys
00:36:40
who sort of thought my running habits
00:36:42
were a bit weird um but one of them
00:36:44
actually got quite keen on running
00:36:46
himself which I I loved that about him
00:36:49
was that he you know instead of just
00:36:51
sitting there poking fun at me like the
00:36:52
other boys he actually joined me for a
00:36:54
few runs and went oh this is pretty cool
00:36:56
so we trained for the den and half
00:36:57
marath on Ben was his name the the other
00:36:59
Runner and Nate who was sitting on the
00:37:01
couch every day poking fun at us for
00:37:03
going out for a run said to Ben I be I
00:37:06
can beat you in the denan half marathon
00:37:08
Ben's like where does this come from I'm
00:37:10
going to smoke you so poor old Ben
00:37:12
innocently runs the half marathon to his
00:37:14
best ability meanwhile Nate's run off
00:37:17
the start Line Round the Corner jumped
00:37:19
in the car with one of my other flat
00:37:20
mates driven to close to the Finish Line
00:37:23
waited until be's a couple of minutes
00:37:25
away from finishing the half marathan
00:37:27
squirts his head with water to make it
00:37:29
look like sweat runs across the Finish
00:37:31
Line collapses on the ground and Ben was
00:37:33
devastated when he crossed the line to
00:37:35
see n had beat him I don't think he
00:37:36
found out for years after that that it
00:37:39
was all a piss T oh the golden days
00:37:41
before like timing chips I guess yeah
00:37:43
exactly yeah yeah yeah and cell phones
00:37:46
to catch the guy jumping in the car and
00:37:48
you know got away with it um so where
00:37:51
did the multispot thing come from why
00:37:52
why didn't you just stick with running
00:37:54
like you obviously had real promise
00:37:55
there yeah um just get bored or you want
00:37:58
to do something else I did mount bike a
00:38:01
bit growing up um and I had a cousin who
00:38:03
I was really close with growing up who
00:38:05
was doing multisport and uh I just I
00:38:08
think I loved that multisport gave you
00:38:12
more connection to Nature arguably
00:38:14
because of that kaying thing being you
00:38:16
know water-based um mountain biking you
00:38:19
know again reach different speeds it's a
00:38:22
whole different kind of experience to
00:38:24
running trail running so I don't know I
00:38:26
think when I S of put running biking
00:38:28
kaying together I thought man the world
00:38:30
is your oyster right you can well with
00:38:32
the coast to coast being an example you
00:38:33
can cross the country under your own
00:38:35
steam so I think it was just uh further
00:38:38
opportunity to be in nature and
00:38:40
experience kind of being in the outdoors
00:38:42
and and competing against other people
00:38:44
yeah and in Den at the time they had
00:38:46
some um like $5 series or something
00:38:48
didn't they that's right not pay five
00:38:50
bucks to a yeah do TR long then get it
00:38:53
like a sausage in a c oh it was
00:38:54
brilliant and again this is things have
00:38:56
changed a bit there's a little bit more
00:38:58
you know liability and health and safety
00:39:00
and things but back then there was a guy
00:39:03
Neil Burrows who was a bit of an old
00:39:04
school legend of multisport himself and
00:39:07
somehow he could uh you know through his
00:39:09
own time I'm sure he was basically
00:39:12
running at no he wouldn't be making any
00:39:15
money at all if anything he'd be
00:39:16
covering the cost of the sausages and
00:39:17
the can of fan but for $5 every second
00:39:21
Sunday through the winter months anden
00:39:23
you'd sharpen kayak bike run on a
00:39:26
different course usually on the
00:39:27
peninsula and and finish it with a
00:39:29
sausage Sizzle and a can of Fizz and
00:39:31
that was literally how I sort of learned
00:39:33
and cut my teeth in the sport amazing
00:39:36
yeah yeah not a good not a good business
00:39:38
model not a good business model but man
00:39:41
I yeah I do wish that there was more of
00:39:43
those opportunities for people now yeah
00:39:45
and and I know it's a very low entry
00:39:46
point isn't it it's cool definitely and
00:39:49
Glen Curry's a good friend of mine he's
00:39:50
the race director with the coast to
00:39:52
coast and and he would say the same
00:39:54
himself he goes I you know he would say
00:39:56
he regrets that the coast to coast for a
00:39:58
lot of people was really their only
00:40:00
opportunity to kayak Bike Run um each
00:40:03
year because back then there were a lot
00:40:05
of Cheaper smaller multisport events
00:40:07
around and and for whatever reason now
00:40:10
there aren't as many yeah all right so
00:40:12
let's get into the into the coast to
00:40:13
coast so I think everyone um has
00:40:17
probably heard of this event but not a
00:40:18
lot of people would know the ins and
00:40:19
outs of it so run through it from start
00:40:20
to finish yeah okay so you've got the
00:40:23
the you can do it in two days which is
00:40:25
the same course but you stop halfway for
00:40:27
a night sleep get up and go again or you
00:40:29
can do it on one day which is generally
00:40:30
sort of considered the elite side of the
00:40:32
race not necessarily but yeah obviously
00:40:35
you not getting that halfway stop that's
00:40:37
the longest day if you one day yep and
00:40:40
so for both races you're starting on the
00:40:42
west coast and Kumar Beach which is sort
00:40:45
of between Greymouth and hakka you run
00:40:47
off the beach in the dark 2 kmers up the
00:40:49
road climb on your bike ride for 55k
00:40:53
finish in a big Paddock where your
00:40:54
support crew are waiting with your
00:40:55
running gear that's where you run as you
00:40:57
sort of described before it's not a
00:40:59
trail a lot of the way it's you're just
00:41:00
basically following a river beard up
00:41:02
over the main divide of the Southern
00:41:03
Alps which is Go pass in this instance
00:41:06
drop down the other side again more or
00:41:08
less just following River beds and uh
00:41:10
that's about a 30k run that's where
00:41:12
you'd normally stop on the on the
00:41:13
two-day format and the one day you carry
00:41:15
on little bike ride 15K to get you to
00:41:17
the start of the river pedal that's a 70
00:41:19
km about a 4 or five or even six hour
00:41:22
kayak down grade two sort of Rapids
00:41:24
through the beautiful W Makar Gorge and
00:41:27
then you finish with a 70 km um ride to
00:41:30
New Brighton Beach so you know for the
00:41:33
for the top uh males in the one day that
00:41:37
might be about 11 hours the top females
00:41:39
are probably more like 12 hours so it's
00:41:40
a big day out oh my God it's massive
00:41:44
it's so much and you're not [ __ ]
00:41:46
around either you know like you're you
00:41:48
know you're pushing it the entire way
00:41:50
how what are you doing in terms of
00:41:51
nutrition is it just gels do you do you
00:41:54
like tape um like bananas or something
00:41:56
to the front of the canoe what are you
00:41:57
yeah it's a bit of a combination really
00:41:59
uh you do have transition areas of
00:42:01
course where your support crew can give
00:42:02
you sort of solid foods if you want them
00:42:04
sandwiches or cream rice or I used to
00:42:07
love boiled
00:42:08
potatoes um but while you're actually
00:42:11
racing it's sports drink gels um maybe
00:42:15
bananas bars Coca-Cola those sorts of
00:42:18
things so probably the sort of day out
00:42:20
that your dentist would have a heart
00:42:22
attack if they saw it but sometimes
00:42:24
youve sort of got to fuel the machine
00:42:25
right yeah and and the event was um he's
00:42:28
not involved with it anymore I don't
00:42:29
think but Robin Judkins do you do you
00:42:32
have any Robin Judkins stories what's
00:42:34
your um not a not a huge number of sort
00:42:37
of personal stories I loved jud's still
00:42:40
around I'm talking about him like he's
00:42:43
no longer with us but he is um but back
00:42:45
then I loved Judy because uh the coast
00:42:49
to coast was his success story but
00:42:51
before that he had so many trials and
00:42:53
tribulations he tried to run events you
00:42:56
know that'd last a year or to that'd
00:42:57
fail he probably lost all his money and
00:42:59
he would try something else again and
00:43:01
these were crazy ideas it was like the
00:43:03
Alpine Iron Man and queens toown where
00:43:05
you'd get dropped by helicopter ski
00:43:07
you'd paddle through a grade four
00:43:09
section of the River on the shot over
00:43:10
like hectic kind of events and then
00:43:13
summer along the way here and a few
00:43:14
mates traveled through what is now the
00:43:16
coast to coast course and sused it out
00:43:19
and he sort of thought well that would
00:43:21
probably make a pretty cool event in I
00:43:23
think it was 1983 the First Coast to
00:43:25
Coast was born so I just love that he
00:43:28
was a kiwi Pioneer out there doing it
00:43:31
himself um not afraid to fail and
00:43:34
somewhere along the way had the success
00:43:36
that is now the coast to coast so anyone
00:43:38
who's ever done the coast to coast
00:43:39
obviously has a lot to thank chudy for
00:43:41
yeah he's he's a brilliant man he's in
00:43:43
his um 70s now and he's still energetic
00:43:45
still wears his Mambo shirts um I I Iran
00:43:49
gos past one year as a guide for a I
00:43:51
think it was the year after the the what
00:43:53
year was the event where the where the
00:43:55
kayak was cancelled uh
00:43:58
2020 uh all cancelled completely 200 I
00:44:03
think so all changed or yeah there's
00:44:05
been a few bad years 2022 was the most
00:44:08
recent right because the The Story Goes
00:44:10
he was at the race briefing um and it
00:44:12
was no longer his event so he had sold
00:44:14
the event but he was just there as an
00:44:15
ambassador or whatever and they were
00:44:17
talking about like um changing the route
00:44:19
or whatever for health and safety
00:44:20
reasons and he he stormed out really
00:44:22
stormed out he was like it's PC gone man
00:44:24
it's ridiculous um yeah I mean it's a
00:44:27
it's it's just a a a phenomenal event
00:44:30
it's crazy that he got off the ground in
00:44:31
the first place and crazy that it's
00:44:33
become this institution that it is now
00:44:35
yeah yeah because it's a lot to take in
00:44:37
yeah um okay so 10 Podium finishes so
00:44:40
how how many years did you do it before
00:44:42
did you make the podium every time you
00:44:44
took p uh no nine out of 10 so yeah I
00:44:47
did the first back then you had to do
00:44:49
the two-day before you're allowed to do
00:44:50
the one day so my first race was on the
00:44:52
two-day format which I managed to win
00:44:54
and for the next nine I did the one day
00:44:56
and I po podiumed and eight out of those
00:44:58
nine
00:45:00
so is that a that's an incredible
00:45:02
outcome is it a result that you're proud
00:45:03
of or very proud in fact more I guess
00:45:07
fundamentally proud that I managed to
00:45:10
finish all 10 times that I started
00:45:12
there's so many variables there's so
00:45:13
many things hiding on that course that
00:45:15
want to end your day you know and I
00:45:17
broke my ankle on the last one so
00:45:18
there's lot so many more opportunities
00:45:21
to not finish than there are to finish
00:45:24
and so a bit of luck went a long way but
00:45:26
also so just yeah I was able to kind of
00:45:29
cope with every situation and make it to
00:45:31
the end so that's what I often say to
00:45:33
people because I think that's a really
00:45:35
important message I I'm most proud that
00:45:37
I finished that race every time I
00:45:39
started it yeah and and the great
00:45:41
results how many times we on the the
00:45:42
podium before winning uh yes so that's a
00:45:46
good question I think five times I
00:45:50
podiumed in the two uh in the one day
00:45:52
race before I won it and it was 10 years
00:45:56
because I took a break to sort of focus
00:45:58
on Iron Man Trion and things um but yeah
00:46:01
so I I did my first one day coast to
00:46:03
coast in 2009 and I won the race for the
00:46:06
first time in 2019 right wow um please
00:46:11
don't take this the wrong way but did
00:46:13
you was there there points there where
00:46:15
you wondered if like you you lacked
00:46:17
something mentally or absolutely yeah
00:46:20
cuz you're right there you're yeah yeah
00:46:22
like you're right there and um finish
00:46:24
Podium finishes like is no joke in
00:46:26
itself but you must have I guess
00:46:29
wondered at at times it's like why why
00:46:31
am I not making the step up yeah yeah
00:46:34
and like probably like a lot of people
00:46:37
I've always had that sort of impostor
00:46:38
syndrome anyway I've always stood on the
00:46:40
start line of the co Coast thinking what
00:46:42
am I doing here like I don't deserve to
00:46:43
be here especially as the years went on
00:46:46
and my race number got lower and lower
00:46:47
and I'm wearing like a two or a three or
00:46:49
which is kind of your your seaing in the
00:46:51
the event it never felt like I deserved
00:46:54
it so I did have to kind of overcome
00:46:56
that
00:46:57
in some way cuz you're never going to
00:46:58
win a race unless you truly believe you
00:47:00
can so that was a big part of the
00:47:02
challenge was that mental battle with
00:47:04
not winning it for as long as I did
00:47:05
before I finally managed to God it must
00:47:07
have yeah it's funny to hear that that
00:47:09
you had impost I mean I can understand
00:47:11
you having imposter syndrome now being
00:47:12
part of Team New Zealand you know likeon
00:47:15
syndrome being on the D Harvey Show I've
00:47:16
had it everywhere I've gone yeah I know
00:47:19
but no no but you know what I mean like
00:47:21
it's you're not not a sailor you're not
00:47:22
from a sailing background but to be and
00:47:24
to be there with BL and Pete and Grant
00:47:25
Doon whatever but I mean you earned your
00:47:27
Coast to Coast Stripes it makes no sense
00:47:30
that you'd have impostor syndrome in
00:47:31
that environment but I don't think
00:47:33
imposter syndrome makes sense does it no
00:47:35
no it completely doesn't yeah I mean do
00:47:36
you get it you must get it always yeah
00:47:39
yeah yeah always completely and it it is
00:47:42
messed up like it makes no sense I can't
00:47:43
figure it out yeah how's how's your
00:47:45
mental health been for the most part I
00:47:48
in the sport you do there's there's a
00:47:49
lot of adversity involved isn't there a
00:47:51
lot of Highs but also a lot of lows yeah
00:47:53
yeah definitely I think without sport it
00:47:56
would be a big challenge for me with
00:47:58
sport it's just taught me so much and
00:48:01
probably given me so many tools Without
00:48:03
Really realizing it that I I guess
00:48:05
Sports probably armed me really well for
00:48:07
life as well um I mean I'll I'll have a
00:48:10
big challenging transition away from
00:48:13
being an athlete when the time comes
00:48:15
it's probably going to come at the end
00:48:17
of this year after the America's Cup um
00:48:19
but you know I'll I'll cross that bridge
00:48:21
when I come to it but for my whole adult
00:48:23
life I've a big part of my identity has
00:48:26
been being an athlete so I'm in for a
00:48:28
bit of a transition there but what I'll
00:48:30
hope to lean on through that period is
00:48:32
as I say everything that sports taught
00:48:34
me to this point yeah what are some of
00:48:36
the um you know the biggest adversities
00:48:38
you've gone through I'm sure there there
00:48:39
must been a lot of times where you
00:48:40
thought about packing it in oh yeah yeah
00:48:43
I think um yeah the if I reflect like a
00:48:48
big challenge for me was came through
00:48:50
forced removal of rugby from my life
00:48:53
even though I look back and I like with
00:48:55
hindsight I go what I was myself I was
00:48:57
never going to be an all black or
00:48:58
anything but it doesn't matter at that
00:49:00
time rugby was just so important to me
00:49:03
so making a decision on my own terms
00:49:07
luckily because it was definitely the
00:49:08
right decision that concussions were not
00:49:10
good for me I you know that was a really
00:49:13
hard decision to make but you know that
00:49:16
that paved the way into M sport but um I
00:49:20
I think one of the biggest challenges
00:49:23
for me was always going to be
00:49:25
transitioning away from the coast to
00:49:27
coast and certainly on that last race
00:49:29
that you know that that was just
00:49:31
everything I didn't want to happen
00:49:33
happened that day you know like not
00:49:35
winning the race ending up injured
00:49:37
realizing it was probably my last race
00:49:40
um that would have been a real [ __ ] kind
00:49:42
of into things but again saved somewhat
00:49:46
by the opportunity that's come through
00:49:47
Emirates te New Zealand so I feel like I
00:49:49
keep falling and landing on a mattress
00:49:51
or something you know yeah did they not
00:49:53
hear about that last
00:49:55
race this guy's broke
00:49:58
down actually one one setback that came
00:50:00
was um after the shoulder tapping hey do
00:50:03
you want to trial for Emirates Team New
00:50:04
Zealand well hell yeah of course I do um
00:50:08
I did uh it's called the Motu challenge
00:50:09
a multisport event in the Bay of Plenty
00:50:11
and and no one knew it at the time but
00:50:13
for me that was my last ever multisport
00:50:15
race and so that happened in October so
00:50:18
I had two months to train specifically
00:50:20
for the trial for Team New Zealand my
00:50:23
coach Gordon Walker knew that I knew
00:50:25
that my family knew that not many others
00:50:27
did about and that was a short period 8
00:50:30
weeks is not long to go from an ultra
00:50:32
endurance athlete to producing as much
00:50:34
power on a bike for 5 seconds to 20
00:50:36
minutes as you can unfortunately to make
00:50:39
it even more testing I fell off my
00:50:42
mountain bike on my own about a month
00:50:43
into that two-month build and knock
00:50:45
myself unconscious which straight away
00:50:48
was bad given my history with
00:50:50
concussion and from that the doctor
00:50:53
basically said you need to stop training
00:50:56
effective immediately and it was so bad
00:50:59
the headaches were so bad and even light
00:51:01
and cell phones and things gave me such
00:51:04
painful headaches I basically lay in bed
00:51:06
with the curtains closed with my eyes
00:51:07
closed for a couple of days and so that
00:51:09
was all happening about a month before
00:51:10
the team New Zealand trial so at that
00:51:12
moment there was no way I was getting
00:51:14
get into Team New Zealand and on top of
00:51:17
that I knew I'd been I was finished with
00:51:19
multisport so that was a real moment for
00:51:21
me where it was like man this is the end
00:51:24
of life as I now you know I've always KN
00:51:26
it what comes of this meanwhile you know
00:51:29
headaches and it was all horrible but
00:51:32
luckily for me a few days later I was
00:51:35
able to sort of spit sit on a indoor
00:51:37
bike with my eyes closed no music no
00:51:39
sort of visual stimulation and just turn
00:51:41
the legs over and just gently from there
00:51:43
build my way back to getting to the
00:51:46
trials and more or less one piece
00:51:49
terrifying yeah yeah
00:51:51
terrifying um yeah I heard another story
00:51:53
about an event you did um where was it
00:51:56
you got hypothermia yeah Iron Man Canada
00:51:59
2015 yeah so you maxed out the credit
00:52:02
cards to get there yeah yeah and I had
00:52:03
an 8-month-old son Flynn was born at
00:52:05
that stage so I was still I guess living
00:52:09
on a whim a little bit the way I always
00:52:11
had but the big difference now was I
00:52:13
actually had a a kid that you know a
00:52:16
dependent and my wife was a full-time
00:52:19
mom like raising our child so I was
00:52:21
actually my job was to provide and and
00:52:24
I'd gone to Iron Man Canada basically
00:52:27
under this illusion I suppose but at the
00:52:29
time just knowing in my heart of hearts
00:52:32
that I was going to do well enough in
00:52:33
the race to get the sort of prize money
00:52:35
that would at least help us Break
00:52:37
Even uh and got to it was in Whistler it
00:52:41
was 30 degrees every day it was there
00:52:43
bushfires ironically the big talk was we
00:52:46
need rain like it's there bush fires
00:52:48
it's so hot it's a drought everything's
00:52:50
so dry well the rain came and it came on
00:52:52
race day and I think it was about 8° and
00:52:55
the heavens opened and I was out on the
00:52:56
bike so I hadn't dressed for that uh I
00:52:59
knew it was going to happen somewhere on
00:53:01
the race but I only brought a certain
00:53:03
amount of clothing across from New
00:53:04
Zealand so I could only wear what I had
00:53:06
with me got cold got a bit Delirious
00:53:08
ended up in the medical tent ended up in
00:53:10
tears um you know I'm under the survival
00:53:13
blanket shivering as I'm sort of
00:53:15
starting to gain coherence again and all
00:53:17
I could think about was I've completely
00:53:19
[ __ ] up here
00:53:20
my my family have no money now because
00:53:23
of me and I've dragged them across the
00:53:24
world to this race that I'm sitting in a
00:53:26
middle having not
00:53:27
finished so that was pretty tough [ __ ]
00:53:32
how's your wife with this stuff she
00:53:33
quite understanding and yeah yeah
00:53:36
thankfully I mean it's been um yeah it's
00:53:40
been
00:53:41
a the sort of uh life I suppose if
00:53:46
sometimes I sort of it it sounds a bit
00:53:48
stupid but I say to her like if our life
00:53:50
was a book like would we want to read it
00:53:52
like is it going to be a page Turner or
00:53:54
not you know and that's sort of how
00:53:55
we've tried to look at up and and when
00:53:57
you're talking about getting hypothermia
00:54:00
at Iron Man Canada and having no money
00:54:02
and having to find a way out of that I'd
00:54:03
be turning the pages to find what
00:54:05
happens next oh yeah yeah M we're just
00:54:07
scratching the surface I mean there's um
00:54:09
yeah there's stage runs that you've done
00:54:11
on the desert there's um oh wasn't there
00:54:13
like an Iron Man in China where you shat
00:54:15
yourself no yeah no definitely shoted
00:54:17
plenty in China it just comes with the
00:54:20
with the territory over
00:54:22
there yeah yeah yeah I it's a yeah it's
00:54:25
a hell of a page
00:54:26
it's been it's been epic I I yeah I just
00:54:29
wonder if you if if you're nervous about
00:54:31
the second half of your life being born
00:54:34
you've done so so much yeah yeah but I
00:54:37
mean if we rewind and like I said I
00:54:39
finished high school in Foxton and my
00:54:41
first ever time on an airplane was to
00:54:44
fly to University so I'm I'm not even
00:54:46
quite I'm 17 at that stage nearly 18
00:54:49
first experience sitting on an airplane
00:54:51
so you know I've caught up since then
00:54:53
obviously but uh I remember sitting down
00:54:56
with my first ever coach A lady called
00:54:58
Val Burke and moniker and uh doing a bit
00:55:00
of goal setting this was 2009 and goal
00:55:03
setting as I said to you has never been
00:55:04
really a focus for me but she asked one
00:55:07
simple question and she said listen I'm
00:55:09
I'm happy to coach you for multisport
00:55:11
and things but I I just want to know
00:55:13
what do you want to get out of this and
00:55:15
I just I had to think for a moment and I
00:55:17
said I just want to see the world I just
00:55:19
want to travel and I want to see the
00:55:20
world and if sport can help me do that
00:55:22
that's that's all I can ever ask from
00:55:23
the sport so I've certainly achieved
00:55:26
that you know Brazil China Abu Dhabi
00:55:29
Sweden you name it like I've been to
00:55:30
lots of cool places even now you know we
00:55:32
get to go to Barcelona um and with
00:55:35
multisport and adventure racing it's not
00:55:37
you're not going to London and going to
00:55:39
the pubs you're going to the absolute
00:55:40
Outback in China or Brazil racing
00:55:43
through the jungle and coming across
00:55:45
Villages that don't have electricity and
00:55:46
haven't seen a white person before so to
00:55:49
me it's given me these experiences that
00:55:51
I could have only ever dreamed of when I
00:55:53
was growing
00:55:54
up yeah you what do you think you will
00:55:56
do next will it be like coaching will
00:55:59
you still have your finger in the p and
00:56:00
be involved and yeah I mean I don't know
00:56:03
to be quite honest my wife my
00:56:05
longsuffering wife Amy she's supported
00:56:08
me through what's been
00:56:10
a very uh challenging kind of career
00:56:14
choice um oh yeah it's not for the faint
00:56:16
is it no no and she's been dragged Along
00:56:19
on that and thankfully um you know Flynn
00:56:24
and Matilda are 9 and seven they they
00:56:25
develop more and more Independence Amy's
00:56:28
gone into real estate in Monica she's
00:56:30
about 3 years deep she's very good at it
00:56:33
she loves it she works hard at it and
00:56:35
it's probably about time I support her
00:56:37
on that and I've wanted to for the last
00:56:39
three years but I've obviously still
00:56:40
been so fixated on my own persuits from
00:56:43
the outside looking in people often
00:56:45
compliment us I can't believe you guys
00:56:47
are awesome the way you do all these
00:56:48
things it's [ __ ] hard and I'm away
00:56:51
from home a lot um I wouldn't change a
00:56:53
thing I'm I'm living a life I could only
00:56:56
have ever dreamed of Amy supports me I
00:56:59
support her but it's hasn't been easy
00:57:01
and so coming back to your question
00:57:03
what's next I really want to just throw
00:57:06
way more of myself and Amy in her career
00:57:08
and what she's driven by oh mate I I
00:57:10
love that I've had um Alex pler on the
00:57:14
the podcast basketballer and um he said
00:57:17
the same sort of thing he you know his
00:57:19
um wife supported him through the tail
00:57:20
end of his basketball career and then um
00:57:22
he was diagnosed with bow cancer and she
00:57:24
was his Rock through that and he like
00:57:26
now it's um her time to shine yeah cool
00:57:29
yeah that's cool it's really neat um
00:57:32
yeah you've done all right for a kid
00:57:34
from Foxton eh do you ever you ever sort
00:57:37
of paused to reflect about where you've
00:57:39
come from and what you've done I I try
00:57:41
to I should do it more often but um yeah
00:57:45
I think like I've gone back to Foxton
00:57:47
couple of times spoken at the high
00:57:49
school and things and the the message
00:57:52
I've sort of tried to drive there and
00:57:55
and especially to like any sort of small
00:57:58
town around the country is you don't
00:58:00
have to be from the big city to to
00:58:02
achieve the things you want to achieve
00:58:04
and that's what I hope uh my journey
00:58:08
sort of shows to the friends and family
00:58:10
I still have back in Foxton is you you
00:58:12
can do anything coming from Foxton and a
00:58:15
lot of people have you know there's a
00:58:16
lot of uh friends and family from Foxton
00:58:19
that have gone on to do lots of awesome
00:58:21
stuff themselves so it's really cool
00:58:23
yeah I feel like um I don't know this is
00:58:25
proba from when I was growing up but I
00:58:26
feel like when you're from like a small
00:58:28
town or the regions you do sort of put
00:58:30
limits on yourself of what you think
00:58:32
you're capable of maybe that's changed a
00:58:34
bit with the growth of the internet and
00:58:35
stuff like that I'm really not sure yeah
00:58:37
I think that's probably still a factor
00:58:38
right and um yeah I'd like to think
00:58:42
things are changing as you say we're
00:58:43
more connected than we've ever been and
00:58:45
that sort of thing but yeah yeah oh um
00:58:48
oh godzone let's talk about God Zone a
00:58:50
bit as well so you what is the god Zone
00:58:52
event most people won't even know what
00:58:54
this is It's like a 5 day race no can be
00:58:57
yeah can be uh God's owners what we call
00:59:00
Expedition adventure racing so adventure
00:59:03
racing being a team format of multisport
00:59:05
right kaying sometimes drafting mountain
00:59:07
biking running whatever the team side of
00:59:10
that generally is four-person
00:59:12
teams usually the ruling says You must
00:59:14
have at least one of each gender most of
00:59:16
the competitive teams are three male one
00:59:18
female I mean there's been good examples
00:59:21
of more gender Balan teams but anyway
00:59:23
stage racing is a bit like say the toy
00:59:25
of France you'll Race for a day you'll
00:59:27
stop go to a hotel eat sleep get up the
00:59:29
next day race again that's stage racing
00:59:31
so God's Own is Expedition racing and
00:59:33
that is one start line One Finish Line
00:59:36
get between them as quickly as you can
00:59:39
stop and sleep if and when needed you
00:59:41
know eat along the way all that sort of
00:59:43
thing so um the winning team for the god
00:59:46
Zone will usually take between sort of
00:59:48
four and six days the course is
00:59:50
generally open for at least of 8 to 10
00:59:53
days for some of the slower teams so uh
00:59:57
New Zealand based event there's
00:59:58
Adventure races Expedition Adventure
01:00:00
races all around the world um but God's
01:00:03
Own is the New Zealand branch of that
01:00:05
and uh yeah I've done it a couple of
01:00:06
times the more recent time I think was
01:00:10
2021 where I did it with Simone Meer um
01:00:14
former guest of the show Theo woodsworth
01:00:16
and a guy I don't know if you've heard
01:00:18
of Richie mcco yeah yeah wasn't he a
01:00:20
ringing like a a CO ring I was the
01:00:22
ringing oh you were the ringing yeah um
01:00:25
not a bad
01:00:26
yeah yeah was it Richie's team it was
01:00:29
Richie's team yeah right by the way um
01:00:31
Simone myone that hasn't her that she's
01:00:32
like the the female you really oh she's
01:00:35
kind of like the queen of the coast to
01:00:36
coast yeah she's much more impressive of
01:00:37
the coast to coast than me she's a
01:00:39
Savage she's won five times more than
01:00:41
double me uh but good friend of mine for
01:00:43
a long time both W both used to work at
01:00:46
the swimming pool there when we were
01:00:47
dreaming of bigger and better things but
01:00:49
um yeah
01:00:50
Richie Richie and Simone and Theo had a
01:00:53
team with um Rob uh former players
01:00:56
manager Rob nickel does the Coast to
01:00:59
Coast with them mostly yeah that's right
01:01:00
and uh it was when the O lockdown
01:01:02
happened which I'm sure orlanders still
01:01:05
remember um and he I think was nursing a
01:01:08
bit of a knee injury but regardless the
01:01:10
lockdown was the final um nail on the
01:01:13
coffin for him so I think it happened
01:01:14
about four days before the god Zone was
01:01:16
due to kickoff and
01:01:18
roro got asked to race at 4 days notice
01:01:21
and um long story short said yes flew up
01:01:24
there and and got stuck in with those
01:01:26
guys we finished second but um I mean
01:01:29
for me it was just the most amazing week
01:01:31
of racing with a couple of friends I'd
01:01:34
raced with Simone and Theo before but
01:01:36
obviously we all know Richie and to be
01:01:38
privy to Richie's uh psyche for a week
01:01:41
of hardship was pretty special yeah yeah
01:01:45
what did you what did you learn from
01:01:46
that any sort of takeaways or lessons or
01:01:49
memorable conversations you had yeah I
01:01:52
had lots of conversations um in those
01:01:54
races you sleep de priv a lot so I would
01:01:57
often um ask questions if I was fighting
01:02:00
off what we call the Sleep monster which
01:02:01
is basically an um irresistable urge to
01:02:04
fall asleep even if you're walking or
01:02:06
biking so um there were times sort of
01:02:08
3:00 a.m. walking through the bush where
01:02:10
I'd just Hound Richie with questions and
01:02:12
he would answer them and together would
01:02:13
just keep each other awake kind of thing
01:02:15
but I still very vividly remember a lot
01:02:17
of that conversation um but I mean
01:02:20
ultimately what I learned from from
01:02:22
Richie was what you know what makes the
01:02:26
antic and just how mentally tough he is
01:02:29
like he was racing that event with three
01:02:32
I guess quote unquote you know Elite
01:02:36
multisport athletes oh completely I
01:02:38
don't think it's offensive to say he's
01:02:39
the weak link on the team yeah perhaps
01:02:41
physically I mean he carried an extra 20
01:02:43
kilos of muscle for a start yeah and
01:02:45
didn't have the same training history in
01:02:47
the sport that we had but more than made
01:02:49
up for that with his mental toughness
01:02:51
really yeah it was Unreal but one thing
01:02:53
he would say quite often in the tough
01:02:55
times and I I remember one moment we
01:02:58
were carrying mountain bikes through
01:03:00
Blackberry in the middle of the night I
01:03:02
mean think of something worse than that
01:03:04
you know it's hard enough it's a
01:03:06
mountain bike stage you can't even ride
01:03:07
your damn bike you know so I'm cursing
01:03:09
everything I see in here at the time cuz
01:03:11
this sucks and he would just sort of
01:03:13
quietly go well someone out there is
01:03:15
having a worse day than us and then just
01:03:17
carry on and then it would just leave me
01:03:19
reflecting and I'd go [ __ ] I'm not you
01:03:22
know I'm not in Africa starving to death
01:03:25
I'm not in a War stricken country like
01:03:26
he's dead right like this doesn't suck
01:03:29
there's way worse hardships in the world
01:03:31
right now so pick your lip up and carry
01:03:33
on attitude that is a good way of
01:03:36
looking at it eh there's that same
01:03:38
comparisons the theft of Joy but yeah if
01:03:40
you compare down you don't actually have
01:03:42
to look too far yeah wow that's cool did
01:03:45
it feel like you're being almost told
01:03:47
off yeah pretty much yeah sorry richy
01:03:50
yeah yeah I I heard um you do another
01:03:53
podcast somewhere where um
01:03:57
he not I was going to say he played a
01:03:59
game with you guys but not a game I
01:04:00
guess but just a thing probably the
01:04:02
talking thing that you're mentioning
01:04:03
where um he wanted everyone to come up
01:04:06
with their three funeral words yeah
01:04:08
that's right yeah what was that exactly
01:04:11
well he he yeah again it was probably a
01:04:14
tactical moment in the race where we're
01:04:15
all quite tired and needed a bit of
01:04:17
stimulation but he did he said um if you
01:04:22
were at your own funeral what are the
01:04:24
three kind of key words you'd want to be
01:04:27
remembered by you know I I can't
01:04:29
actually remember what my answer was um
01:04:33
but I remember one of his words was
01:04:34
Integrity I remember that much I can't
01:04:36
remember the other two but I remember
01:04:38
him using the word integrity and I
01:04:40
thought that was a pretty cool word and
01:04:42
in the short time in the week that I
01:04:43
know him I thought well it's funny you
01:04:45
say that because that would be one of
01:04:46
the words I would use for Richie how
01:04:49
good you what would yours be America's
01:04:51
Cup
01:04:53
winner don't count your chickens before
01:04:55
they hit
01:04:56
yeah yeah I'm not sure yeah I think
01:05:00
um I'm pretty sure this is what um yeah
01:05:03
when I had Simone on the podcast she she
01:05:04
described she said he was clumsy yeah
01:05:07
yeah she said he was clumsy but I'm
01:05:09
thinking [ __ ] if I've been like you know
01:05:11
walking and running and cycling over the
01:05:12
place for 4 days I'd probably be clumsy
01:05:14
as well yeah well if any if you want
01:05:17
anyone to I think he crashed at quite a
01:05:19
high speed at one stage on the bike
01:05:21
might have been going 40 car an hour or
01:05:23
something and you never want to see your
01:05:24
teammate crash but I do remember
01:05:26
thinking if any of us are going to crash
01:05:28
at 40K an hour let it be Richie cuz he's
01:05:31
going to bounce up and carry on which is
01:05:32
exactly what he did um but yeah Simone's
01:05:36
got a funny way with words and um yeah I
01:05:38
think there was a period of time there
01:05:39
where Richie was probably just
01:05:41
completely fatigued and slep deprived
01:05:43
where he took a few spills and all that
01:05:44
did was upset Simone cuz we got to carry
01:05:47
on come on stop being so clumsy poor
01:05:50
Richie she's she's a s j she's
01:05:53
unbelievable hey that's really cool cool
01:05:55
mate it's been so good to um spend time
01:05:58
with you today yeah it's it's really
01:06:00
cool so um so we're recording this yeah
01:06:03
on your 39th birthday um so you're going
01:06:05
out for dinner tonight with your uncle
01:06:06
and auntie and then um back to work
01:06:09
tomorrow anac day yeah we'll be sailing
01:06:11
tomorrow yep so uh The Show Must Go On
01:06:14
I'm sure um people that want to attend
01:06:16
the dawn ceremony will have the
01:06:17
opportunity to do that and then uh the
01:06:19
rest of the day yeah will'll be focused
01:06:21
on keeping sailing keeping learning and
01:06:23
hopefully keeping moving towards the
01:06:25
America's Cup goal unreal who knows what
01:06:28
your 40s are going to bring I mean in
01:06:30
mid-30s you could never have imagined
01:06:31
you'd be part of Team New Zealand one of
01:06:33
our big you know I suppose Flagship
01:06:36
Marquee teams who knows what the 40s are
01:06:39
going to bring but I'm sure it's going
01:06:39
to be epic yeah thanks Dom yeah yeah
01:06:41
we'll wait and see I guess oh and and
01:06:43
last one what do you you've got a
01:06:45
fantastic sleeve um on your left arm oh
01:06:47
yeah um are you moldy at all or no no no
01:06:50
no grew up in Foxton so I sort of feel p
01:06:53
as the token white boy what what does
01:06:56
that mean what's the design yeah so it's
01:06:58
a koui which is when a paky gets a I
01:07:00
guess a tle put on their body so um yeah
01:07:04
the the top half I suppose um is all
01:07:07
about my family so um Amy and the kids
01:07:10
my parents my siblings that sort of
01:07:12
thing and then the lower lower half's
01:07:14
fairly new actually but it's in
01:07:16
Albatross at too which is the northern
01:07:18
Royal albatross in denen and um in a
01:07:21
storm and I just I love Albatross they
01:07:24
uh I mean they the multi sporters of the
01:07:26
bird world right they can fly they can
01:07:28
swim they can run along land they can
01:07:30
you SE them in a kayak exactly but
01:07:32
they're also endurance athletes the
01:07:34
torto will leave um its nest and its
01:07:37
opportunity to learn to fly is basically
01:07:39
jumping off a cliff and flying around
01:07:41
the world for the next four to six years
01:07:42
before it makes its way back so um
01:07:45
there's that sort of endurance side to
01:07:46
them that I've always love navigating
01:07:48
their way around the world through
01:07:50
storms you know there's a lot of I guess
01:07:52
symbolism that comes with that um
01:07:54
fragility there obviously
01:07:56
um suffering a lot with things like
01:07:57
climate change and plastic waste and
01:07:59
those sorts of things so that's I love
01:08:02
that thanks for sharing that I love the
01:08:03
significance of it are you are you done
01:08:04
with tattoos or I guess you're never
01:08:07
done with tattoos e but um content at
01:08:09
the moment you just may maybe keep
01:08:12
adding to them as the um as the DG Allen
01:08:14
story progresses perhaps yeah you never
01:08:16
knowa I love it hey mate it's great to I
01:08:18
feel like I know you already but it's
01:08:19
great to me and um yeah I appreciate the
01:08:21
opportunity to pick your brains today
01:08:23
yeah thanks Dom long time listener First
01:08:26
Time guest great priv not the last not
01:08:29
the last we'll have you back oh thanks
01:08:31
mate I appreciate it
01:08:36
[Music]
