00:00:00
okay Runners only with dime Harley
00:00:03
Runners only with Don Harvey and Hayden
00:00:05
Jones g'day mate
00:00:07
you're going very well thanks for coming
00:00:08
over
00:00:09
um you must be sore today uh we're
00:00:11
recording this on a Monday and on
00:00:14
Saturday you ran the ring of fire and um
00:00:17
we're at tonkadero yes it sounds like a
00:00:19
Pepper eating contest or something but
00:00:21
it was a run around uh
00:00:23
from two I did the 50k which sounds like
00:00:25
a bit of a sellout because the whole
00:00:26
thing is 70k but I did uh I did the 50
00:00:29
so start at two dollar and end up at um
00:00:32
whakapapa and it broke me yeah so
00:00:34
there's there's numerous um with this
00:00:36
event Ring of Fire there's numerous
00:00:37
different events um I I'm mad at you
00:00:41
though for for like selling yourself
00:00:42
short and calling it a cop-out it's
00:00:44
still an ultra marathon and 50k is
00:00:46
nothing for anyone to scoff at
00:00:47
especially when it's an off-road thing
00:00:48
just because it's not the biggest event
00:00:49
on the day you gotta stop this shut the
00:00:53
[ __ ] out I didn't think I was going to
00:00:55
start with the telling off but check
00:00:57
yourself well Aaron too yeah so you
00:01:00
you're quite a late bloomer to running
00:01:01
when did you start how are you 47 now I
00:01:04
am I am 47. um oh I guess so well if you
00:01:07
want the long story this is a long
00:01:08
conversation isn't it yeah yeah well
00:01:10
let's set our stalls um well my family
00:01:13
were Runners and they were in kind of
00:01:15
Athletics you know in the 80s when John
00:01:17
Walker was running around with A
00:01:18
Beautiful Mind of he and all dick quacks
00:01:20
and all those sort of guys so my mum and
00:01:22
dad actually started the gore Junior
00:01:24
Athletic Club and my earliest memory of
00:01:25
running what's being very very annoyed
00:01:28
that the family relay there were four
00:01:31
four by 100 meters and there were five
00:01:32
in our family and I was about three so I
00:01:34
wasn't running and I was never selected
00:01:35
for the Jones family reload very very
00:01:37
annoyed so it started with kind of
00:01:40
Junior Athletics and stuff and I ran the
00:01:42
old half marathon and then just kind of
00:01:44
descended into middle age to it and
00:01:46
working in kids and marriage and
00:01:48
traveling and just life got in the way
00:01:51
and then last year I just think I was
00:01:52
just
00:01:53
I give everything so I just started
00:01:54
running
00:01:55
longer distances started small with 5Ks
00:01:58
and then a friend of mine ran Ultras
00:02:00
she's still running Ultras hi Helen
00:02:01
Baron and um just got into it and for
00:02:05
some reason the body loves to be
00:02:06
punished what do you what do you mean
00:02:08
when you say you got into it because
00:02:09
you're a bit sick of everything oh
00:02:19
just I have quite a rigorous I shouldn't
00:02:22
really complain every a great job at TV
00:02:24
and zebra get to go around and meet
00:02:25
people around the country but it's also
00:02:27
long hours early flights late nights
00:02:29
you know
00:02:31
um so it's really tiring and I've got
00:02:33
three kids and a wife you know I'm just
00:02:35
like everyone we've August got life and
00:02:37
I just sometimes I just you just get
00:02:39
worn down I felt like I needed to go
00:02:41
find something that Set Me Free a bit
00:02:43
Yeah brilliant brilliant so someone said
00:02:45
to midlife crisis and I feel like um the
00:02:48
phrase on itself midlife crisis gets bad
00:02:51
rep but when you do something like that
00:02:53
I feel like it's a good thing it's
00:02:54
almost like a midlife reset yes right
00:02:56
like if you keep the you if you're doing
00:02:58
things like 50k runs and you did the
00:03:00
Kepler challenge which is 60ks this is
00:03:03
going to set you up for the second half
00:03:04
of your life you're going to be a better
00:03:05
husband a better dad a better person a
00:03:08
better employee hope so I do feel more
00:03:11
alive like uh when I did the the first
00:03:14
Ultra I did was the The Tall Paul one it
00:03:16
was 50ks and I afterwards I felt amazing
00:03:20
like my wife said I don't know what's
00:03:22
happened to you but you need to keep
00:03:23
running because you've either sprinting
00:03:24
down the beach on the Monday after doing
00:03:27
it on the Saturday and just feeling so
00:03:28
alive and
00:03:30
remember doing the Kipling I was at an
00:03:31
aid station and a guy said to me because
00:03:33
I talk a lot I'm sorry to all the people
00:03:34
that I run with but I talk a lot and ask
00:03:36
people questions I try and distract
00:03:37
myself from the actual pain of running
00:03:39
by talking to people so it's a full-on
00:03:42
you know talk show all the way around
00:03:43
the track and I stopped at an aid
00:03:45
station and the guy said to me
00:03:46
hating you are high you are high as a
00:03:49
kite on dopamine you just I must have
00:03:51
just been blithering away and eating jet
00:03:53
planes and
00:03:54
just high on life oh yeah it's a
00:03:58
fantastic feeling it's like like nothing
00:04:00
else and you just feel
00:04:02
I I don't know I think even though you
00:04:04
have lows in these runs when you reach
00:04:05
that finish line and you achieve
00:04:07
something that you wondered if you were
00:04:09
able to do you just feel like a million
00:04:11
dollars and you feel like anything that
00:04:12
you put your mind to as a human being
00:04:13
you can do yeah really hard to explain
00:04:16
and it still sucks going out when you
00:04:18
get out the front door and you've got to
00:04:19
run for a training run in the first K I
00:04:21
still feel like in a complete plotter
00:04:23
and like I'm not going to last till 2ks
00:04:25
that just I don't think that ever goes
00:04:27
away my body's like oh do we have to run
00:04:29
today what's this all about yeah so were
00:04:32
you like largely
00:04:35
um like lazy or inactive in your 20s and
00:04:37
30s or what'd you do like so I've always
00:04:39
chased some sort of inflated ball like
00:04:42
usually a football and then I've played
00:04:43
cricket and Tennis has always that kind
00:04:45
of kid who played everything not amazing
00:04:47
at any of these sort of things played a
00:04:49
few reps of but just really enjoyed
00:04:51
Sports and loved team sports like if you
00:04:52
moved through a lot of towns and um if
00:04:56
you go to a new town just join us sports
00:04:57
team and you meet your buddies yeah it's
00:05:00
fantastic actually funny you should
00:05:01
mention cricket
00:05:02
um I I messaged a mutual friend of us
00:05:05
Mike Peru yesterday
00:05:07
um only because I worked with Mike and
00:05:09
radio for a number of years and yeah
00:05:10
he's from Gore
00:05:12
um so I thought I don't know he must
00:05:14
know something about Hayden and I said
00:05:15
oh what can you tell me about Hayden he
00:05:16
goes oh I didn't really know I'm that
00:05:17
well in Gore um but all I remember is
00:05:19
very good at Cricket ah Mike Peru yeah
00:05:22
he's like three of us from Gore Berry so
00:05:24
if I used to live beside his mum and
00:05:26
Mike Perdue who was the same year as me
00:05:28
and was big on the radio and and me as
00:05:31
well yeah he was great Mike still does
00:05:33
great yeah yeah so so you're from Gore
00:05:36
um where did you why did you decide to
00:05:38
get into radio or TV
00:05:40
initially right yeah yep well my first
00:05:43
job uh was at the gore enzyme which at
00:05:47
the time was New Zealand's smallest
00:05:48
daily paper 12 Pages six days a week
00:05:51
they called it the two minute silence
00:05:53
because that's how long it took to read
00:05:54
it and so I started in there just
00:05:56
writing uh when I was at high school I
00:05:58
just thought well I might as well give
00:05:59
it a go I want to be an accountant and
00:06:00
then I realized I couldn't count so went
00:06:02
to the newspaper and just said can I
00:06:04
write for you guys and they said yes
00:06:05
because working for free is one of the
00:06:07
ways to get up in the world that when
00:06:09
you're a kid 100 that's how I got my
00:06:11
start as well yeah exactly the same on
00:06:13
the radio station door yeah I I did like
00:06:15
a work experience thing at um 2xs which
00:06:18
was the station in Palmerston North yes
00:06:19
and just volunteered kind of made a piss
00:06:21
to myself and if they needed someone to
00:06:23
help out on the weekends with sausage
00:06:24
scissors or whatever I was that guy yeah
00:06:26
and then when a position came up they
00:06:27
just gave me the job because they knew I
00:06:29
was trustworthy reliable and desperate
00:06:32
and cheap yeah he's been working for
00:06:35
free for two years what do we have to
00:06:37
pay him yeah Oh no you're so right but
00:06:39
it's still a it's still a way now like
00:06:40
one of my um recent producers in radio
00:06:42
Carl Thompson he got in the same way
00:06:44
didn't do any study or anything just
00:06:46
came and he had that hunger and that
00:06:48
desire and uh it gets you a long way and
00:06:50
still can work that way oh still the
00:06:52
same rules still apply so I did that and
00:06:54
then um
00:06:56
went to University and otago for a year
00:06:58
and then the sports reporter resigned at
00:07:00
the at the gorian zone so they rang me
00:07:02
up
00:07:03
and I'm like oh I'd love to do that I'd
00:07:05
love to be a sportsporter that'd be fun
00:07:06
for New Zealand's smallest Daily
00:07:08
Newspaper but offering all the support
00:07:11
events
00:07:14
but but I just gone to otago University
00:07:17
from Gore and it seemed like Disneyland
00:07:20
like just you know everything going oh
00:07:24
it was fantastic I was in Campbell and
00:07:25
Hall were having the just the time of my
00:07:27
life so I did decide to pack it in and
00:07:29
go back to gore for you which was
00:07:31
difficult but they I just learned so
00:07:33
much from just working as a journalist
00:07:34
and then I moved to Palmerston North and
00:07:37
freshman agree at Massey and used to
00:07:39
listen to you on the radio and I
00:07:41
actually apply I um helped out at your
00:07:43
radio station Steve Road did you
00:07:45
actually yeah when were you there I did
00:07:48
uh radio commentaries for was it magic
00:07:50
oh Magic 828 yeah the AM station yeah
00:07:54
that's a hard case well did our paths
00:07:57
cross never no I've never met you
00:07:59
officially but just same building and
00:08:00
then I helped out at ZB down the road
00:08:02
and Steve I didn't mind that either so I
00:08:04
worked for both competing companies at
00:08:06
the same time well they go gave me some
00:08:08
money or 10 bucks an hour or something
00:08:09
or yeah yeah [ __ ] all no doubt free
00:08:11
pizza
00:08:12
um so so that was um that was in the 90s
00:08:14
yeah like uh mid 90s yeah and then it
00:08:17
was then how did you end up in Canada
00:08:18
you end up in Canada right yeah
00:08:21
um finished my
00:08:23
door and then the same guy in Palmer's
00:08:25
North Raymond said there's a job going
00:08:26
in New Plymouth got a job up there and
00:08:29
um you may not remember uh there was a
00:08:31
uh the police shot a guy called Stephen
00:08:34
Wallace and white oh I do I do yeah
00:08:36
smashing windows in the main street of
00:08:38
town yeah big story and I covered that
00:08:40
for radio and that just
00:08:43
um must have done a good job and then
00:08:45
started getting offers after that worked
00:08:47
up here
00:08:48
uh for radio news station and then um
00:08:52
went overseas and we moved to Edmonton
00:08:55
with my now wife and she was doing a
00:08:57
scholarship there in physical education
00:08:59
and uh I've tried to get a job on radio
00:09:01
there were no radio jobs so I just rang
00:09:03
up the TV station and went in and the
00:09:04
first two TV stations gave me a job so
00:09:06
it will offered me a job so I worked for
00:09:08
CBC there and then I just kind of made
00:09:11
coffee and made phone calls and then and
00:09:12
some everyone took holidays to the day
00:09:14
let me do stories I always remember the
00:09:16
first time I was on TV and the next day
00:09:18
the boss comes over and I had my desk by
00:09:20
the water cooler which no one wanted he
00:09:22
comes there and he puts his cup and he
00:09:23
kind of half fills the glass and he goes
00:09:25
Hayden he takes us sir fills it up but
00:09:28
mourning it that wasn't too bad and then
00:09:30
you'll see me do stories so I came back
00:09:32
to New Zealand with a you know a tape
00:09:34
from an overseas News Network and that
00:09:36
kind of you know got me in the door at
00:09:37
tvnz and applied for a news job didn't
00:09:40
get it bloody Charlotte Glennie got it
00:09:42
who was amazing and um home swung me up
00:09:45
and said
00:09:46
because I was a bit quirky and bit weird
00:09:48
and that's what they were looking for so
00:09:50
they said come and do a couple of
00:09:51
stories for us and then
00:09:53
I was there for I'm still there now
00:09:55
that's amazing now I I don't want to I
00:09:56
don't want to patronize anyone that's
00:09:58
listening to this but for anyone that
00:09:59
doesn't know Holmes was the 7pm show on
00:10:01
TV one uh now called seven chap
00:10:05
um but it was like game changing
00:10:08
groundbreaking current affairs TV it's a
00:10:11
massive show yeah uh like any big start
00:10:14
in New Zealand would go on homes yeah
00:10:15
Paul Holmes died a number of years ago
00:10:17
but he was at the Breakfast House on ZB
00:10:19
for a number of years into this TV show
00:10:21
like both ends of the day for many many
00:10:23
years I also love to smoke and drink as
00:10:25
well I have to love this buttery shahads
00:10:29
loved his ziggies
00:10:31
um he loved a big life a massive mess of
00:10:33
life and a massive heart wow so how did
00:10:35
it so so he so you didn't approach him
00:10:38
he just you ended up on his radar
00:10:41
somehow yeah that while they've
00:10:42
obviously saw my tape when I went for
00:10:44
this news job and yeah they rang me and
00:10:46
said you can't can you come down and do
00:10:47
a piece the assignment they gave me was
00:10:49
can you go to the viaduct and um
00:10:52
interview people about uh when someone
00:10:54
Russell coats was in a lingy for the
00:10:56
America's Cup and he was like Public
00:10:57
Enemy Number One so I went down with a
00:10:59
clipboard trying to sign people up for
00:11:01
the Russell Coots fan club that's
00:11:07
um that's a blast from the past that was
00:11:08
a big deal as well yeah Russell cooked
00:11:09
some bread butter with they were
00:11:10
considered like a massive massive
00:11:13
traitors [ __ ] now we're both sounding
00:11:14
old yeah yeah no but it's funny I feel
00:11:18
like um New Zealand's not the same now
00:11:20
like if um bleach and Peter Burling
00:11:22
decided to go and race for a different
00:11:24
Syndicate I feel like I felt people be a
00:11:26
bit more mature about it now I don't
00:11:27
know maybe not so yeah yeah but homsy
00:11:30
was amazing just gave his best and if we
00:11:32
couldn't get someone on the show
00:11:35
um I've never seen anyone else do this
00:11:36
he would get on the phone personally and
00:11:38
ring them up and he was great with
00:11:39
people just so good with people and nine
00:11:43
times out of ten they would get on the
00:11:45
show if he'd always Grumble about it he
00:11:47
thought the public didn't like him and
00:11:48
would get in the car because I'd produce
00:11:50
a lot of his field
00:11:51
um field work and he'd be like oh do we
00:11:54
have to go and do this this is going to
00:11:55
be terrible I didn't go out there and he
00:11:58
would charm them and get what he needed
00:11:59
and amazing and he was one of those guys
00:12:01
so annoying he knew everyone's name we
00:12:04
went to a like a teen mother's unit
00:12:06
whether they were going to have babies
00:12:08
obviously or they all had babies and
00:12:09
it's like this room but eight of them in
00:12:10
a circle and he shook them all and said
00:12:13
hi all the way through I said oh yeah
00:12:14
that's pretty good but on the way out
00:12:15
and he said Thank you Lisa thank you
00:12:18
share and just knew the whole that so
00:12:19
yeah and I was like man that is amazing
00:12:22
just everyone talked about homes having
00:12:24
like the the common touch or being the
00:12:26
man of the people or relatable or
00:12:28
whatever
00:12:29
um did he ever do you ever yell at you
00:12:30
he had a notorious Tantra model as well
00:12:34
not a disrespects oh no I think but I
00:12:37
feel I feel like this is part of the
00:12:38
League this isn't this isn't um [ __ ]
00:12:41
on a dead guy this is part of the homes
00:12:43
part of the fabric of what made him
00:12:44
wonderful we um we were going to the
00:12:46
Hawke's Bay because uh remember SARS I
00:12:50
think it was SARS no that women too
00:12:52
earlier than there's a bird flu or maybe
00:12:55
pigs pigs flew it's not a swine flux
00:13:00
and so we were going to the Hawke's Bay
00:13:02
to view the doctors and look at the
00:13:03
sealed unit and that sort of thing so we
00:13:05
were on a plane and look I'm about to go
00:13:06
and the other reporters from the homes
00:13:08
program it was like the the first victim
00:13:10
was in Danny Vic and we knew but we
00:13:12
shouldn't know and we were gonna go
00:13:12
knock on the door and try and get them
00:13:13
on camera and it was all like so I
00:13:15
couldn't tell homes that we knew because
00:13:16
it might intercept their relationship
00:13:18
with the hospital people and so he kind
00:13:20
of got one that I knew that something
00:13:22
else and he was like you're not
00:13:25
and we're not we are in the middle of a
00:13:26
plane about to take off and he's on one
00:13:28
side of the island I'm on the other and
00:13:29
he's like got his finger at me in my
00:13:30
face like
00:13:31
the show the name was on the market
00:13:33
what's the name on the market and I'm
00:13:35
trying to figure out what this Mark he's
00:13:36
talking about and he's talking about the
00:13:38
name on the show and the name on the
00:13:39
show's home you must tell me at all
00:13:43
time anyway torn absolute strip off me
00:13:46
and then we got off the plane and we had
00:13:48
a great day filming and went really well
00:13:50
and on the way home the planning oh
00:13:53
there was probably about much on the way
00:13:55
over but he was so likable and so
00:13:57
passionate about it you just yeah yeah
00:14:00
you take the good with the bad at the
00:14:02
time though being like a young a young
00:14:03
journalist uh working with the King of
00:14:05
New Zealand media that must have been
00:14:07
intimidating as [ __ ] like when he if
00:14:09
Holmes is telling you off it must yeah
00:14:11
feel like a telling off oh the first few
00:14:13
times I just didn't know yeah
00:14:20
the less he does he did yeah he just
00:14:23
knew when he was going to blow and he
00:14:24
was really
00:14:26
really sensitive in a
00:14:28
little like if something was going down
00:14:29
that he was in the pace and the paper's
00:14:30
a lot for stuff that wasn't to do with
00:14:33
his job he was news yeah he was and he
00:14:35
we would like in the bottom floor of the
00:14:37
tvnz car park he wouldn't want to walk
00:14:39
past the door where you could see end
00:14:41
because he thought there might have been
00:14:42
photographers there so we'd have to kind
00:14:43
of take the long way just to get to the
00:14:45
car where we were going sometimes that
00:14:47
sort of level of anxiety paranoia or
00:14:50
whatever was quite confronting for a boy
00:14:52
from Gore who walked for the gore enzyme
00:14:54
back in the day it was quite surreal
00:14:57
sometimes especially you'd go out with
00:14:59
other people too and they would like
00:15:01
foreign
00:15:07
it's funny I just want to pick up on
00:15:09
something you just said because um Mike
00:15:11
Peru who I mentioned before this is
00:15:13
something he said a lot he phrased it
00:15:14
differently like whenever he experienced
00:15:16
some success in his life like whenever
00:15:17
we won Radio awards together or had a
00:15:20
good time in the ratings or he got a new
00:15:22
job had referred to himself as like um
00:15:24
not bad for a like a small gay Maori boy
00:15:27
from Gore
00:15:28
um you had a few lists adjectives there
00:15:30
but do you think like growing up in a
00:15:32
tiny small town like that you'd have
00:15:34
sort of lower expectations for what you
00:15:35
should achieve well you don't have
00:15:37
expectations like to tell you I mean
00:15:40
moving Telethon was in Dunedin we never
00:15:42
drive that was too far for us but just
00:15:45
TV never came to gore you never saw
00:15:47
anyone from your town on TV there was no
00:15:51
other there was nothing else so the idea
00:15:52
that I would end up on TV was just
00:15:54
Preposterous we're just like too much of
00:15:57
a leap I thought if I absolutely kicked
00:15:59
every goal in life I could be a sports
00:16:01
reporter at the south end times
00:16:03
that would be just [ __ ] okay
00:16:06
absolutely and that is a great job and
00:16:10
but just it's amazing it's just small
00:16:12
step say you just keep keep trying yeah
00:16:15
and just got to find something you enjoy
00:16:17
doing mostly because if you enjoy it you
00:16:18
might actually be okay at it I'm from
00:16:21
like a like a huge City compared to
00:16:23
where you guys are from I'm from
00:16:24
Palmerston North but I feel like it's
00:16:25
the same sort of thing in a place like
00:16:26
Palmerston North like you you have low
00:16:28
expectations for what you should achieve
00:16:31
um and I look back now and I think if I
00:16:33
put my mind to just about anything
00:16:34
within reason yeah I probably could have
00:16:36
achieved it you know
00:16:38
um it's quite quite funny I wonder if
00:16:40
it's still like that in the regions and
00:16:42
the provinces of New Zealand well maybe
00:16:43
it's more accessible now because of the
00:16:45
internet so people can be the internet
00:16:46
YouTube stars from their you know
00:16:48
bedroom or garage you know you can make
00:16:49
a garage TV show or whatever which is so
00:16:51
exciting because there was no access for
00:16:53
any of that sort of things so you've
00:16:54
thought you'd make the local paper or
00:16:56
you know but you were big when I was at
00:16:58
Varsity you were massive you and Mike
00:16:59
West right yeah yeah that's right yeah
00:17:02
yeah
00:17:05
yeah I I think we were quite um ahead of
00:17:07
its time for like a regional a regional
00:17:09
radio show Mike is still there now he's
00:17:11
still doing the breakfast show now it's
00:17:13
the station's not called to exist
00:17:14
anymore it's called more FM but yeah
00:17:15
he's been there forever and he was he
00:17:17
was so good to me and instrumental in my
00:17:19
career like um yeah he was you had Paul
00:17:21
Holmes I probably had Mike West
00:17:24
um yeah he just installed a work ethic
00:17:26
in me and you know like tore me a new
00:17:28
one when he needed to yeah um but also
00:17:30
praised me when it was deserved which
00:17:32
was rare that's
00:17:33
yeah
00:17:35
Jake either way if you've done a bad job
00:17:37
then just let me have it I think I'd
00:17:39
rather I'd rather know that than um
00:17:41
just get smoke blown up your ass at the
00:17:43
time I feel like in today's culture
00:17:45
where we're at now it can only go one
00:17:47
way though like you can't you you can't
00:17:49
hear someone a new one anymore it'd be
00:17:51
an HR thing like Holmes would be a bully
00:17:54
yeah
00:17:55
terms he would be he would be yeah but
00:17:58
people used to have back in the day in
00:18:00
there when I you know at tvn's in the
00:18:02
early 2000s people would have The
00:18:04
Newsroom they'd be Rouse and people you
00:18:06
know especially in that kind of move to
00:18:07
long form current affairs which is kind
00:18:09
of 2020 I moved to but just kind of
00:18:11
upstairs in that Bureau there are
00:18:12
hardened reporters and hardened
00:18:13
producers and they all had their own
00:18:15
really distinct opinions so they'll be
00:18:17
like stand-up routes all the time and
00:18:18
all that sort of rigorous debate oh yeah
00:18:20
it was fantastic it was awesome some
00:18:23
sort of drama going down and yeah I love
00:18:26
that it's healthy but I feel like you
00:18:27
can't do it now you can't raise the
00:18:28
voice in the week no no which is
00:18:30
probably for the better yeah but yeah
00:18:32
the good blazing rounds always yeah so
00:18:35
um you're you're busy now and you've got
00:18:36
a you're in a very unique position so
00:18:39
you work from taranaki uh and you do
00:18:42
good sorts which is on um Sunday nights
00:18:45
on one news at the end of the news uh
00:18:47
you also do fear go and you're the
00:18:49
full-on for Jeremy Wells so if you if
00:18:51
you turn on um seven sharpen and uh
00:18:54
there's a good looking guy there
00:18:59
um how did how did you get this over was
00:19:01
this your call like to leave Auckland
00:19:03
and move to taranaki and that must have
00:19:04
been a terrifying Prospect because it's
00:19:07
um
00:19:08
a lot of people in the media are very
00:19:10
insecure so you think out of sight out
00:19:11
of mind you get out of Auckland to get
00:19:13
out of the picture why people said my
00:19:15
career was done yeah do they yeah like
00:19:18
you know just why are you leaving
00:19:19
Auckland the media hub is Auckland how
00:19:21
are you ever gonna carry on there's a
00:19:23
small step you missed
00:19:25
um I wanted to give live television a go
00:19:27
but couldn't really honestly crack it
00:19:28
they wouldn't give me a go on breakfast
00:19:29
uh so um remember good morning yes
00:19:32
between nine and midday yeah yeah Mary
00:19:35
lamby did it for a while Brendan pong
00:19:37
yeah yes who else I did it with Brendan
00:19:39
and Sarah Bradley for a year
00:19:41
and I always see their audience was
00:19:44
those are in prison or those with new
00:19:46
babies or those in Rest Homes so people
00:19:48
didn't really have any control their own
00:19:50
free will but um
00:19:52
it was weird it was like half half
00:19:54
advertorial yeah
00:19:57
there was a lot of cooking was big at
00:20:00
the time I couldn't cook to save myself
00:20:02
to be with this chef
00:20:04
but there was great experience in terms
00:20:06
of learning and getting the to relax
00:20:08
around live TV and just knowing it'll be
00:20:10
okay and there's always in fact I find
00:20:12
life easier because
00:20:13
um it's gone right it's like live radio
00:20:15
it's gone yes and also I suppose
00:20:17
something like breakfast just the
00:20:18
quantity of hours you're doing you're
00:20:19
getting you know you're getting the hour
00:20:20
isn't it yeah you're getting your feet
00:20:22
you've got to go and do it you just got
00:20:23
to somehow find the opportunity to go
00:20:25
and do it no matter what it is if you
00:20:27
can just get a chance to do it for money
00:20:28
for love if you're a high level or a low
00:20:30
level like people ask me about
00:20:32
broadcasting
00:20:33
um like student school students and
00:20:35
stuff and I'm like man go and find your
00:20:36
local Access Radio just give it a go and
00:20:38
then you'll know whether you like it so
00:20:41
yeah so yeah now that you bring that up
00:20:43
um there's one clip that goes to one
00:20:45
that went viral where Brendan pongia
00:20:46
farted were you there that day were you
00:20:49
on that show do you know what I'm
00:20:50
talking about I know exactly what you're
00:20:52
talking about it was before my time but
00:20:54
I can confirm well according to Brandon
00:20:56
prong yeah he did not fart
00:20:58
so I think it might have been on eating
00:21:00
media lunch and I think dreaming well
00:21:01
they added it and um they needed to oh
00:21:04
okay oh that's a bit means for it
00:21:06
that's been pongia's story so who knows
00:21:09
yeah okay so you do you do good morning
00:21:11
then so how do you end up back in
00:21:13
taranaki with um with all these um
00:21:15
little jobs on your hands oh well I just
00:21:18
um to be honest I found that a bit of a
00:21:20
challenge some of the content and good
00:21:21
morning so after a year it was pretty
00:21:23
much really
00:21:24
um I decided to leave and I thought that
00:21:26
in TV they were offering the kind of
00:21:28
things I've done back in Auckland so
00:21:30
it's a bit of a Crossroads really and um
00:21:31
we just had my wife just had her first
00:21:33
child she was about one so I was like
00:21:35
she wanted to go home to be close to her
00:21:38
family and stuff and we'd meet new
00:21:39
plumbers so that was that was kind of
00:21:40
really our home so
00:21:42
I said okay so we went and did that and
00:21:44
I just worked a couple of weeks a couple
00:21:46
of days a week on good sorts and looked
00:21:49
after my daughter and we hit every
00:21:50
playgroup in the whole town trying to
00:21:51
find the best baking and we had a great
00:21:53
time for a couple of years and then
00:21:55
seven chat rang me up and said can you
00:21:57
do some stories for us so I'm making
00:21:58
that change from
00:22:00
oh there's been so many iterations of
00:22:01
that show I can't remember which one
00:22:02
maybe win close up at sevens right Mark
00:22:05
sainsbury yeah maybe sainsbury yeah so
00:22:08
they I was in there so I helped them do
00:22:10
some stories for that and then kind of
00:22:13
became a full-time gig and I kept doing
00:22:14
good sorts throughout all that time so
00:22:16
and then kind of just
00:22:18
just happened by accident I kind of I
00:22:20
learned to shoot and eat it which I
00:22:21
really love
00:22:22
so that kind of and so the tvz kind of
00:22:25
gets the finished product which is a
00:22:27
control freak which we all are really
00:22:29
yeah and also I suppose it adds more
00:22:31
value to what you can do and makes you
00:22:33
more indispensable in a way hopefully um
00:22:35
just backing up the truck a little bit
00:22:37
so so your wife's family's from um
00:22:39
taranaki yes um so was there like a like
00:22:43
a much of a debate there like you you
00:22:44
saying to your wife Santa you know this
00:22:46
is going to be going to be career
00:22:47
suicide for me I'm going to be [ __ ] or
00:22:49
were you quite open to the idea no I was
00:22:52
hoping without dear and I'm
00:22:53
wanted to maybe make some my own
00:22:55
programs which I had to go out which
00:22:57
weren't very successful but
00:22:59
um I really enjoyed the process and the
00:23:01
freedom of it and um I just I think I
00:23:04
enjoyed getting out of The Newsroom it's
00:23:06
probably good for my mental health
00:23:08
because there's so many other people in
00:23:09
there and they all want to do this
00:23:10
similar feeling I think it's great to
00:23:12
just get some air and and just
00:23:14
concentrate on what you're supposed to
00:23:16
do which is you know what they call it
00:23:17
content these days yeah content yeah so
00:23:19
so the good sorts thing that was um a
00:23:21
concept you came up with I read you um
00:23:23
you ripped the idea off from uh you saw
00:23:25
it in America and it was called um it's
00:23:27
called heroes or something yeah so you
00:23:29
came back gave it a more kiwi name and
00:23:31
boom yeah it wasn't really the same
00:23:33
thing they did this thing was like half
00:23:34
an hour and it was really
00:23:36
so American and I have a blonde it was
00:23:38
amazing it was you know
00:23:40
people pulling cats on fire out of trees
00:23:42
and saving disabled it was just amazing
00:23:44
and it was like highly highly produced
00:23:46
it would have been a crew of thousands
00:23:48
and I thought what about if we just had
00:23:49
something that's a couple of minutes
00:23:51
long and people in the community get to
00:23:53
say who goes on TV and the sort of
00:23:56
low-level things that never ever make
00:23:57
the news ever they do now in other
00:23:59
places but when I first started it was
00:24:02
all victim TV and some really heavy
00:24:04
stuff going on television I thought what
00:24:06
about something that is really family
00:24:07
friendly and that you can sit down with
00:24:09
your family and feel a bit inspired and
00:24:11
stuff that it happens in 99 of our
00:24:14
communities but never makes a news
00:24:15
because it uses the top 10 worst things
00:24:17
that happened in the world today and
00:24:18
descending order from worse too yeah
00:24:20
yeah well I mean for anyone that hasn't
00:24:22
hasn't seen it and I'd struggle to find
00:24:23
anyone that hasn't seen at least good
00:24:25
sorts once
00:24:27
um yeah it's just right at the end of
00:24:29
the Sunday night news just before seven
00:24:30
o'clock on one and uh you're just
00:24:32
basically awarding you know just
00:24:34
acknowledging people that are doing good
00:24:36
[ __ ] in the community yeah in their
00:24:37
Community yeah pretty much they feel
00:24:39
amazing too that's been good for long
00:24:41
time
00:24:45
that's speed dating because so 50 a USA
00:24:48
yeah for your high 40s em at 40 is a
00:24:51
year and then yeah for 14 15 years
00:24:53
you're joking yeah so you've been in
00:24:55
taranaki that long no no I started doing
00:24:57
good thoughts in Auckland okay in 2009 I
00:24:59
think it was 14 years yeah every time I
00:25:02
knew I don't know what the boss every
00:25:05
time there's a new director of news or
00:25:06
something do you like sort of fear a
00:25:08
little bit that they're going to be you
00:25:09
know how a new boss comes along and they
00:25:10
always want to change direction or do
00:25:12
something different yeah is there an
00:25:13
element of theory every time a new
00:25:15
person comes into The Newsroom I think
00:25:16
none of them have been brave enough just
00:25:18
getting rid of it because it's such a
00:25:20
nice positive thing yeah and I think I
00:25:22
think the number of crunches at tvnz
00:25:24
would like they call Accelerated flow so
00:25:26
it helps the news program flow into
00:25:29
country calendar without people having
00:25:31
the chance to swap channel so keep them
00:25:33
happy get him out of the new show into
00:25:34
country calendar don't change the
00:25:36
channel
00:25:37
um
00:25:38
it's quite a science is there one that
00:25:42
stands out as your as your favorite of
00:25:43
all time or um um they just you've done
00:25:46
too many to
00:25:48
well I love them all for the week
00:25:49
they're on and then you know they do
00:25:51
drift back but there is one called Joe
00:25:52
Poland who is she's from Port waikato
00:25:55
and I just had my corner of
00:25:57
circumstances in my life but I just had
00:25:58
uh my first child I've got three now and
00:26:02
um
00:26:02
so I was really big on it and she was
00:26:05
about 60 odd it's very dangerous to try
00:26:07
and guess a woman's age it's just
00:26:09
dangerous territory but she if in doubt
00:26:11
just have it she was 30.
00:26:15
she um her one of her relatives had got
00:26:19
addicted I think methamphetamine
00:26:21
addiction and um she got an email went
00:26:24
round the family and there were triplets
00:26:25
and it was who's going to take these
00:26:27
kids or they're going into stake here
00:26:29
and she was 60 odd just starting you
00:26:31
know getting near retirement at a time
00:26:33
in her life where her own children were
00:26:35
out in the world and it was kind of her
00:26:38
time and she took on three
00:26:40
three-year-olds and there was like
00:26:41
parenting books by a beard because she
00:26:44
was like it's just different but the
00:26:46
same and I'm not sure how I'm going to
00:26:47
appear and I just thought
00:26:48
changing your whole life on a dime she
00:26:51
said the photos in the email was what
00:26:53
got him when she saw the photos of the
00:26:55
kids she thought I was gonna have to I
00:26:56
gotta do this and I just saw man that's
00:26:58
so selfless isn't it yeah and
00:27:00
life-changing for three of those kids
00:27:02
well that's three humans that you'll
00:27:03
like
00:27:04
swinging their life around it and I saw
00:27:06
them 10 years later I did a where are
00:27:08
they now kind of good sort special and I
00:27:09
drove them to boarding school well
00:27:11
they're important get in there to get
00:27:12
the boarding schools leave again I said
00:27:13
I'd get in the car I'll take it you know
00:27:15
it's just amazing they were kind of
00:27:16
telling me in the car about
00:27:18
just the aspirations these days and what
00:27:20
Joe had done in here it was like good
00:27:22
honor God that is cool yeah do you keep
00:27:25
in touch with many of the people yeah
00:27:27
yeah like social media if you will hit
00:27:29
you up for bits and pieces and you see
00:27:30
some in the street and your brain is
00:27:32
like I'm on a full Panic about [ __ ] who
00:27:33
is this well it's been a lot of years
00:27:37
[Laughter]
00:27:42
wow yeah but it is really nice you can
00:27:44
go in the most towns and it'll be
00:27:45
someone someone you know so it's a real
00:27:47
um honor and a joy to be able to do it
00:27:49
for so long and
00:27:51
it's also hard work in terms of getting
00:27:53
to the place every week or you know
00:27:55
sometimes it's Friday nights or Saturday
00:27:56
nights at the laptop and the lounge
00:27:57
cutting stories madly because it you
00:27:59
can't miss a Sunday and there's no I'm
00:28:01
sick I'm not going to do it this week or
00:28:03
I've taken annual leave that doesn't
00:28:04
work either so it's you know I haven't
00:28:06
missed one in a long time so it's yeah
00:28:09
it's a it's a commitment but it's worth
00:28:11
it like anything in life yeah real
00:28:12
rewarding um and I suppose there's no
00:28:14
shortage of applicants as well no and
00:28:16
the best ones are like just kids will go
00:28:18
can you my mum's pretty good can you
00:28:20
come and see her so I've done a few of
00:28:22
those and you just back yourself to find
00:28:24
something because no one's boring you
00:28:26
just need to spend the time with them
00:28:27
and they'll they'll tell you things yeah
00:28:29
yeah that's really sometimes do you do
00:28:31
you go away from a session and go oh
00:28:33
[ __ ] you know you know it's good but I
00:28:36
haven't you know what I mean it's like
00:28:38
oh it's no who's the lady you said
00:28:39
before Joe Joe Poland yeah it's not it's
00:28:41
it's good but it's no Joe Poland OH it's
00:28:45
not well you've got to just set your
00:28:47
expectations yeah you know it's it is
00:28:49
what it is so you don't want to create
00:28:51
something that's not there and you've
00:28:53
just gotta trust this story and I've
00:28:56
there's just
00:28:57
funny little things that people do that
00:28:59
don't even know they're doing that I
00:29:00
really focus on and find quite
00:29:01
Illuminating I can't give you an example
00:29:03
at the moment but just yeah there's
00:29:04
stuff all the time yeah oh that's cool
00:29:06
and and fair go
00:29:08
um hand on heart I need full disclosure
00:29:10
I haven't watched it in in years but it
00:29:13
was part of the fabric of our family
00:29:15
growing up uh back I think maybe this is
00:29:18
even before TV3 when there was just two
00:29:19
channels in New Zealand Virgo was a big
00:29:21
thing and you'd even you'd even overhear
00:29:24
people at restaurants or supermarkets or
00:29:25
whatever or at the mechanics shouting
00:29:28
out I'm going to take this to Fair go I
00:29:30
feel like um surely like over the years
00:29:32
with social media and stuff that sort of
00:29:34
diminished what what does Figo look like
00:29:37
now
00:29:38
um is it more quirky than what it was
00:29:40
back in the day or still same sort of
00:29:42
fabrics I think the the same fabric is
00:29:45
there in terms of the people are really
00:29:48
pissed off and like it's the show that a
00:29:51
no one wants to be on because you've
00:29:52
either been ripped off or you're ripping
00:29:53
people off so no one wants to be on this
00:29:55
TV show so these people are desperate
00:29:57
enough enough that things have happened
00:29:58
so bad that I I'm going to tell the
00:30:00
country about it and the hope that
00:30:02
they'll fix it yeah so there's a real
00:30:03
like and you've got to feel for them
00:30:06
um
00:30:07
the bad guys are still the same they
00:30:09
kind of go under categories it's kind of
00:30:11
your dodgy trading they're still out
00:30:13
there they're everywhere and the problem
00:30:15
is is you know a lack of kind of
00:30:17
Licensing and stuff you can stick a roof
00:30:19
up and no one really you know or you
00:30:21
know plumbers sort of thing I'll get in
00:30:22
trouble
00:30:23
um and but there's also crafty
00:30:25
corporates like you buy a phone these
00:30:26
days it's like a four-page contract
00:30:28
terms of conditions they're locking your
00:30:29
doors no one's reading it no one is
00:30:32
reading them so this kind of crafty
00:30:34
corporates your dodgy tradies there's
00:30:36
people that just skip town
00:30:38
there's um food producers who stick like
00:30:42
three chips in the chip you know there's
00:30:44
all sorts of crafts and things they're
00:30:45
making big boxes with tiny things in
00:30:47
them
00:30:48
it's and and the internet is full of
00:30:50
just don't buy stuff on Facebook people
00:30:51
the Internet is just full of things
00:30:53
we've good honest people are just going
00:30:55
wrong they're being duped or ripped off
00:30:57
so in fact with the internet and stuff
00:31:00
we're needed more than ever but people
00:31:01
think we're a public service
00:31:03
oh can you guys fix this so this guy
00:31:06
hasn't paid me this money or this
00:31:07
thing's broken
00:31:08
yeah pretty much and then and then you
00:31:11
go oh yeah that's great so we'll come
00:31:12
around with the camera
00:31:13
um next Thursday at two and they're like
00:31:15
oh no I'm not going on TV
00:31:19
I just want you to fix it and you're
00:31:22
like you know come on it's all about
00:31:23
content you don't relate to a TV show
00:31:26
yeah this is how the whole game works is
00:31:28
that you know you have to go on TV so
00:31:30
yeah and what aspirations do you have
00:31:32
like what do you want to do next any
00:31:34
goals are you just quite happy cruising
00:31:35
and doing what you're doing you seem to
00:31:36
have quite a good balance between your
00:31:37
family life and your life in taranaki
00:31:39
and the super stardom of Auckland yeah I
00:31:42
like to keep creating so yeah there's a
00:31:44
thousand ideas and I find the ideas of
00:31:46
the easy part in your brain to you know
00:31:49
and running is one of those things where
00:31:51
you've got hours and hours to
00:31:52
contemplate your life and where you're
00:31:53
going I'm quite impatient and quite
00:31:55
itchy so
00:31:57
um yeah I think I'm just gonna keep
00:31:59
playing on down the track but I I love
00:32:01
I'm very lucky to be able to you know
00:32:03
live in the provinces they have those
00:32:04
sort of provincial values kids can run
00:32:06
around and bare feet we're not you know
00:32:08
there's no traffic there's you know
00:32:10
everyone down your street I really love
00:32:12
that but also I get to see the best
00:32:15
parts of New Zealand on Figo the worst
00:32:16
parts of New Zealand all in the same
00:32:18
week so okay that's pretty lucky yeah
00:32:20
good so it's in bad so it's yeah you
00:32:22
want to be on the Sunday show not the
00:32:23
Monday yeah
00:32:25
um now you mentioned your wife Xander
00:32:27
before so you go yes you guys must have
00:32:29
been together a long time so you went to
00:32:30
Canada together so you met you met when
00:32:32
like late teens early 20s oh
00:32:34
um for those who are familiar with new
00:32:36
Plymouth
00:32:37
um we met through friends she was a bit
00:32:40
younger than me so maybe my friend of
00:32:41
asking my babysitter that sounds really
00:32:43
dodgy
00:32:45
how big is the age Gap it's five years
00:32:47
five years five years so she was really
00:32:49
babysitting her younger brothers and
00:32:50
sisters it's got to get back to you yeah
00:32:51
but
00:32:53
um
00:32:54
what was the question
00:32:55
um yeah how did you guys meet oh well we
00:32:57
went through there and then you know we
00:32:59
got we were friends for a year and then
00:33:01
um we wrote letters to each other gosh
00:33:03
she was at a Target she was at otago
00:33:05
University and I was working at um
00:33:07
energy family Plymouth so
00:33:09
um we wrote letters to each other and
00:33:11
then she came home one summer and
00:33:14
kind of followed her overseas and
00:33:17
yeah amazing this is It's funny little
00:33:20
things like that really age the
00:33:21
conversation it's like the commit like
00:33:23
writing letters to each other is that
00:33:25
because toll calls were just so [ __ ]
00:33:26
expensive it would have been a remember
00:33:28
when yeah yeah you made a tall call and
00:33:30
it was like a zillion dollars a minute
00:33:32
or something do you remember the five
00:33:34
dollars or you can talk week years you
00:33:37
could bring one phone call once one
00:33:39
phone number once for five bucks and I'd
00:33:41
come home from the pub and palmy and
00:33:43
ring my girlfriend and Dunedin and fall
00:33:45
asleep on the phone in the in the hall
00:33:47
because the phone was only in the hall
00:33:50
to give value for money yeah yeah they
00:33:52
did like a yeah talk they had animals on
00:33:54
the TV and it was a big Telecom special
00:33:55
yeah
00:33:56
yeah people just taught for hours and
00:33:58
hours and I was like the whole country
00:33:59
ground to a hole because they were
00:34:01
getting their five dollar phone call I
00:34:02
mean we didn't know any different at the
00:34:04
time because it was just how it was but
00:34:07
um yeah yeah and people would do the OA
00:34:09
and go overseas and you wouldn't you
00:34:11
know you'd feel well your kids and
00:34:12
they'd go over to the UK for a year you
00:34:14
may not hear from them for three months
00:34:15
I have no idea what they're up to yeah
00:34:17
letter writing was the most effective
00:34:18
form of communication yeah [ __ ] crazy
00:34:20
doesn't seem like that long ago
00:34:22
something on a piece of paper
00:34:24
someone
00:34:27
it's crazy
00:34:29
um so
00:34:30
um you've got three kids how old are
00:34:32
your kids uh 13 11 and 9 right which is
00:34:36
a great age hilarious all good kids all
00:34:39
quite different nah they're red bags no
00:34:41
they're great they're good uh 13 year
00:34:43
old wants a phone we haven't given her a
00:34:45
phone yet so that's a big kind of debate
00:34:46
at the moment
00:34:48
um but everyone else in the class has
00:34:50
got one they have she's like she's
00:34:52
literally the only person at school that
00:34:54
doesn't have one we offered her um one
00:34:56
of those phones kind of Granddad phones
00:34:59
it can only text and and cool and she
00:35:01
said that's it's more embarrassing
00:35:02
knowing one of those and did not have a
00:35:03
phone so right I feel sorry for her yeah
00:35:06
it's a funny thing because it's um my
00:35:07
sister she's got kids from similar age
00:35:09
like 13 and it's like oh Edie's got a
00:35:11
phone but it's just for emerging season
00:35:12
I'm thinking we I don't know we never
00:35:14
had emergencies back in the day
00:35:17
hey they were just yeah yeah so that's
00:35:21
uh Molly's uh 13 and I got Archer he's
00:35:23
11 so he's kind of into everything he
00:35:25
ran the last couple of guys with me on
00:35:28
Saturday so that's that's kind of cool
00:35:29
to finish classification Finish Line
00:35:31
with your kids that's real fun and Perry
00:35:34
is uh as nine and yeah she's all over it
00:35:36
too soon oh that's cool yeah that's cool
00:35:38
are you a good dad you think you're I
00:35:41
mean no I mean there's always there's
00:35:42
always room for improvement but you um
00:35:45
yeah I suppose where I'm getting with
00:35:46
this we'll get into getting to your your
00:35:48
past what if you want to yeah that's
00:35:51
okay
00:35:51
um yeah you lost your dad very you lost
00:35:54
your dad at five years old yeah yeah
00:35:56
yeah and uh he was out running as well
00:35:58
yeah
00:36:01
I think about my own children being the
00:36:03
best parent I can be I'm like geez I
00:36:05
never had a dad so I really want to be
00:36:08
the best one I can be and you know
00:36:10
there's obviously we all get tired and
00:36:11
cranky and all that stuff and that's
00:36:13
yeah I'm all of that but I do try and
00:36:15
like if there's something happening at
00:36:17
school or an event on or whatever or if
00:36:19
they need a cricket coach or whatever
00:36:20
I'm you're dropping I'm putting where
00:36:22
can where it can be sick and I'm getting
00:36:24
down there and I'll just work later on
00:36:25
at night or whatever so that's I know
00:36:27
every parent doesn't have that it's a
00:36:28
bit of a privilege but that's kind of
00:36:30
um where my focus is so often look at my
00:36:33
kids and think man I'm
00:36:34
they're not lucky but I'm so glad to be
00:36:37
around
00:36:38
and being able to offer that that I
00:36:40
didn't have when I was a kid yeah
00:36:42
yeah because you're dead Murray Jones
00:36:45
um so you you were five when you lost
00:36:47
him
00:36:48
um uh yeah there's an article on stuff
00:36:51
about this
00:36:51
um which you you wrote it like about 10
00:36:53
years ago and uh do you like do you want
00:36:56
to you want to talk about the accident
00:36:58
um yeah
00:37:00
I mean I feel like it's one of those one
00:37:02
of those events that can't help but
00:37:03
shape who you are as a person today yeah
00:37:05
well I do think about it it's still like
00:37:07
losing a loved one everyone will know
00:37:09
who's lost a loved one it doesn't the
00:37:11
hurt never leaves but it kind of
00:37:13
diminishes but it does come back from
00:37:14
time comes comes and waves sometimes and
00:37:17
so dad was um
00:37:20
as you if you're listening to the
00:37:21
earlier part of the podcast about 45
00:37:22
minutes ago uh Dave was into running he
00:37:25
was a big Runner and we just moved uh
00:37:26
from a ototo you'd call it now but back
00:37:29
then it was hot out here
00:37:31
um he was in the um post office which uh
00:37:35
I feel like I had to explain this to the
00:37:36
post office was postage surprise
00:37:38
surprise uh telephone calls and banking
00:37:41
it was all in one funny operation uh
00:37:44
government owned so he was a phone
00:37:45
technician so he used to move every
00:37:48
couple of years to these kind of country
00:37:49
exchangers and maintain them and drive
00:37:50
around these little boxes that look like
00:37:52
sewing machines inside them so I mean
00:37:54
there's a kid running up and down aisles
00:37:55
of looked like the inside of a sewing
00:37:57
machine so we just moved to gore and we
00:37:59
just been in this house uh 10 days and
00:38:01
he was out running
00:38:03
other camper friends
00:38:04
and um
00:38:06
it was just by the gore Racecourse and a
00:38:08
car came it only had one headlight on
00:38:11
and
00:38:12
um so there were three of them in the
00:38:14
first guy uh moved just down onto the
00:38:16
road Weaver because they thought it was
00:38:17
a motorbike with one headlight
00:38:19
obviously and he died straight away my
00:38:22
dad was second and he was in hospital
00:38:24
for 10 days and the third guy survived
00:38:26
luckily so
00:38:28
um
00:38:29
I do remember
00:38:30
going to see that and um
00:38:33
Mama kind of told me on the phone that
00:38:35
uh because he'd just been in hospital
00:38:37
and he has wisdom teeth out so I said is
00:38:38
it like that and she goes yeah it's kind
00:38:40
of like that and I don't present her for
00:38:42
because I was five so she didn't know
00:38:44
how to no frame it either yeah I yeah
00:38:48
I've never heard anything about that but
00:38:50
um so I went to see him and remember
00:38:52
talking to him and that sort of thing
00:38:53
and then I don't remember being told
00:38:55
that he died but I remember going to his
00:38:56
funeral and
00:38:57
we went to counseling as a family which
00:39:00
I think was a really good thing and I
00:39:02
remember
00:39:03
Scout
00:39:04
um
00:39:05
Scouts sucked a bit because we'd have to
00:39:07
go the Father and Son Dennis and
00:39:09
you'd be at the end of the table with
00:39:11
the four other kids at the new dad's the
00:39:13
poor old scout master was very busy but
00:39:15
there was um
00:39:19
I always loved my football coaches and
00:39:21
that sort of thing because I kind of
00:39:22
took them on upstairs and they were um
00:39:26
dates
00:39:27
we would have one dead taught me how to
00:39:29
fight that was pretty hilarious because
00:39:31
yeah I read about them this article that
00:39:33
I referenced before that you wrote yeah
00:39:34
yeah one of your mates his dad used to
00:39:37
wrestle you and stuff yeah do you feel
00:39:39
like some um
00:39:40
some um sorry I'm getting emotional as
00:39:42
well this is a lot man
00:39:44
um do you feel like some appearance like
00:39:47
that have like your mates they tried
00:39:48
maybe extra hard with you because they
00:39:50
knew that you had this sort of void in
00:39:52
your life do you know what I mean so
00:39:53
yeah they would have been aware to pick
00:39:56
up the slack a little bit yeah yeah
00:39:57
that's really cool it was funny that
00:40:00
wrestling thing on there was like on the
00:40:01
lounge floor
00:40:04
I mean okay yeah if he does let's do
00:40:07
this and all this sort of stuff and it
00:40:09
was hilarious and really
00:40:11
um I guess it you know it gave me some
00:40:12
confidence I think there was a few
00:40:14
scrapes and cool yeah but um yeah my
00:40:17
football coaches I was just I remember
00:40:19
be like man
00:40:20
wish I had one of these these look
00:40:22
pretty cool in the old um birthday cake
00:40:24
when you pull out the candles always
00:40:25
wished for a dead that was like oh mate
00:40:28
yeah oh [ __ ] and um in in this article
00:40:31
you talk about so um the accident occurs
00:40:35
and then your dad's on um he's
00:40:37
unconscious or he's on live support for
00:40:38
10 days and your mum made you go to the
00:40:40
hospital and talk to him yeah do you
00:40:42
remember much about that or oh just it's
00:40:45
funny the stuff you remember I remember
00:40:46
the corridor a lot walking down the car
00:40:48
and going the same when I mean my kind
00:40:49
of as um couldn't see any like physical
00:40:52
D just looked like dead in a in bed
00:40:55
really I remember you know you have the
00:40:57
wires out his arm and stuff and
00:40:59
I've never felt weird talking to him
00:41:01
because he couldn't talk back yeah
00:41:03
hi Dad how's it going and I've been
00:41:05
doing this today and that stuff but we
00:41:07
only did that once which I think is
00:41:09
probably enough
00:41:10
but I it was a nice to go and see him
00:41:13
so I was thinking about you on my run
00:41:15
this morning before you came in and uh
00:41:18
yeah I'm uh I've just turned 50 recently
00:41:20
and I'm very very lucky that both my
00:41:22
parents still alive I mean I was trying
00:41:24
to think about the memories I had of
00:41:26
like my own dad before the age of five
00:41:28
and there are some but I like do you
00:41:31
remember much about your dad yeah
00:41:34
um man I wonder like I wondered I guess
00:41:36
if the memories are stronger for you
00:41:37
because you didn't have any new ones to
00:41:39
replace them or yeah it's funny at
00:41:41
Christmas because my brother and sister
00:41:43
they're five and six years older so they
00:41:44
have more memories but there's like
00:41:47
anyone the stuff you remember random at
00:41:51
the dump chasing seagulls
00:41:54
because then we'd go to the dump and the
00:41:56
dump was kind of wide open and there's
00:41:58
heaps of Seagulls so dad was driving
00:42:00
around the dump chasing seagulls in the
00:42:02
Cortina and he had a trailer on and it
00:42:04
jackknifed and he tried to blame us kids
00:42:06
for encouraging them
00:42:10
that is awesome yeah it's so cool
00:42:12
actually yeah like the weekend trip to
00:42:14
the dump in palmy that was um I I used
00:42:17
to hate it if I was out at sporting Dead
00:42:18
Winter dump without me I'd always go
00:42:20
back with something you pick up some
00:42:22
other junk that other people have
00:42:23
dropped off yeah the seagulls and the
00:42:25
smell that dump smell yeah and you could
00:42:27
give it a look through for everything
00:42:28
you said get out of the way of the the
00:42:29
Digger the Digger
00:42:33
occasion's life is obviously a bit
00:42:34
different but yeah it's like just stuff
00:42:36
like that
00:42:37
um you remember and I used to how follow
00:42:40
them around all the time and we had a
00:42:42
good great veggie garden and
00:42:44
um a terrific mow and you went a Chuck
00:42:46
house and hit a radio attached to a car
00:42:49
battery
00:42:50
and he'd have the radio on in the in the
00:42:52
garden while he was working and all
00:42:53
these wires to this car battery and yeah
00:42:56
just stuff like that and a real cool
00:42:57
train set that wound down from the
00:42:59
garage ceiling but I wasn't allowed to
00:43:00
play with it and I always wanted dying
00:43:02
to play with it just you know all that
00:43:04
stuff and how's your mum she's still
00:43:06
still alive and kicking yep she's uh
00:43:09
just cracked 80 and she runs she goes to
00:43:11
the Masters games and does 100 meters in
00:43:13
about 25 seconds but so proud of it
00:43:16
I got a bad news you should probably
00:43:18
give me a run at the moment yeah she
00:43:21
surrounding and she talks about when dad
00:43:23
died she really hit the Atomic in terms
00:43:25
of
00:43:26
terms of reconna got her through so um
00:43:29
it's interesting hey like you you should
00:43:31
have easily gone like the other one and
00:43:33
just been you know triggered by running
00:43:34
because of that the event he was doing
00:43:36
at the time yeah um
00:43:39
so who was in the house so you how many
00:43:42
other siblings I've got an older brother
00:43:43
and sister they're five and six years
00:43:45
older so I think um my older sister took
00:43:47
on oh okay some responsibility of kind
00:43:49
of keeping everyone online and and
00:43:52
getting things done I think you know mum
00:43:53
obviously helped as well they kind of
00:43:55
worked together I think
00:43:57
um it's funny that the way he died I ran
00:44:00
a um a relay around the mountain relay
00:44:03
on tunnelaki I ran a couple of leagues
00:44:04
for a law firm the way you all again we
00:44:07
started my league was at six am in the
00:44:08
morning and it was dark so I remember
00:44:10
running and I didn't have enough
00:44:11
lighting I remember running along this
00:44:13
road and these trucks it wasn't past me
00:44:14
I was like
00:44:15
bloody hell this is too close for
00:44:17
comfort this is like you know I felt
00:44:18
this is
00:44:20
really it's trigger yeah I can imagine
00:44:23
yeah it's strange there's sort of the
00:44:25
odd thing that pops up like that um
00:44:28
but you know onwards and upwards yeah
00:44:30
yeah I mean it must be something that um
00:44:32
like when you you your kids are all past
00:44:34
the age that you were now like it must
00:44:36
have been something that's like you know
00:44:37
very clear in your mind when they're the
00:44:40
same age as what you were when you lost
00:44:41
your dance yeah
00:44:42
things like that yeah it does um really
00:44:45
make you
00:44:48
um you know just really enjoy those
00:44:50
moments that you have with them and take
00:44:52
heaps of photos and I've always got the
00:44:54
sometimes I have a camera out or there's
00:44:55
a camera on my phone you know all that
00:44:57
stuff just
00:44:58
you've got to make the most of it yeah
00:44:59
yeah kind of you think I'd be proud of
00:45:02
um the man you've become
00:45:03
oh yeah I'm not perfect by any means but
00:45:06
um
00:45:07
I think you're probably gonna chuckle
00:45:08
out of the
00:45:09
hunting and stuff and um
00:45:12
he was quite technical so he would have
00:45:15
probably enjoyed all the technical bits
00:45:17
and pieces of tally because I'm on the
00:45:18
technical side too into the main get
00:45:20
making it and getting it up to Auckland
00:45:21
he would have uh loved all that he loved
00:45:25
um he had a great mustache which tvnz
00:45:27
don't like my mustache they keep telling
00:45:29
me to show them off you don't have one
00:45:31
today when is it a movember thing or oh
00:45:34
no over summer usually right where you
00:45:36
can just go over and then the odd time
00:45:38
of Grandma and during the year and um
00:45:40
yeah the odd boss doesn't like it works
00:45:42
I mean we whisper
00:45:45
sorted out tidy it up yeah sort it out
00:45:47
we'll get someone else mate there's a
00:45:49
million other people behind you that can
00:45:51
do your job yeah so with you with the
00:45:54
move to taranaki I suppose um you know
00:45:56
another piece that Springs to mind is um
00:45:57
Matt Chisholm uh yes similar sort of
00:46:00
thing did a bit of TV current affair
00:46:02
stuff was hosting Treasure Island
00:46:04
um he made a call to move out of
00:46:05
Auckland moved down to the South Island
00:46:07
and um hasn't worked as well for him I
00:46:09
don't think like he got he was quite
00:46:11
open about being [ __ ] can from Treasure
00:46:12
Island last year as the host yeah they
00:46:14
they it's quite funny because whenever
00:46:17
something like that happens they always
00:46:18
say oh you can control the narrative you
00:46:20
know you can control the narrative and
00:46:22
uh but he he went on Instagram and was
00:46:24
very vocal about the fact that it wasn't
00:46:25
his call
00:46:27
because um I worked with metals on Figo
00:46:29
for a while yeah
00:46:31
so and he was great on figure he loved
00:46:33
chasing people
00:46:34
um he's such a chaser that he um
00:46:38
I think he really and he'll openly about
00:46:40
he
00:46:41
uh kind of consumed him the the demands
00:46:44
of the jobs so I think going down south
00:46:46
family loves it and I'm very envious of
00:46:48
his social media game with his you know
00:46:51
wide open space he's living in a
00:46:52
beautiful part of the country yeah wife
00:46:54
and kids and the rest of it's kind of
00:46:56
small fry isn't really absolutely yeah
00:46:59
it is it is how some how's your mental
00:47:02
health been over the years oh oh it's
00:47:03
good not pretty good I'm not a I don't
00:47:06
get too down my wife would probably
00:47:08
disagree in terms of I'm quite
00:47:09
impatience so if things don't happen
00:47:11
more quickly you know
00:47:13
um tell me about that sort of thing and
00:47:15
you know nearly in the air you you like
00:47:17
everyone you get tired you get to kind
00:47:18
of November or December and I just don't
00:47:20
want to see another plane or another
00:47:21
motel room and you know and Far Away
00:47:25
places but
00:47:26
um other than that really good I've
00:47:28
spent January at a little place called
00:47:30
near like door Paul and that's kind of
00:47:33
just drag the kids around the lake on
00:47:34
the boat and just run the tracks are
00:47:37
amazing so I run lots and yeah watch
00:47:40
cricket on the couch and just chill out
00:47:42
I think that's really important to try
00:47:44
and get rid of your phone and just you
00:47:46
know chill out yeah are you quite good
00:47:49
at knowing um what makes you feel good
00:47:51
mentally and you know what makes you
00:47:53
makes you feel bad mentally and
00:47:54
separating the two and yeah I think too
00:47:57
much looking at social media can you
00:47:59
just because the world is perfect on
00:48:01
social media and you can if you watch
00:48:02
too much of it you think ah they're
00:48:04
doing this and you're doing that and so
00:48:05
you can feel inadequate like suddenly
00:48:08
what you're doing is not enough or
00:48:10
whatever which I think is a real
00:48:11
dangerous kind of rabbit hole to go down
00:48:12
yeah so I think you need to just ease up
00:48:14
on there and
00:48:17
um just get off it just just get off it
00:48:21
it's hard though wasn't it because it's
00:48:23
um yeah I I said look you sound like my
00:48:26
girlfriend she's always like oh you're
00:48:27
on Instagram again just zombie scrolling
00:48:29
and I'm like oh no but I need to for the
00:48:31
podcast reality is I mean I could I
00:48:34
could I could put like it's put aside
00:48:35
like 30 45 minutes a day where I do my
00:48:38
work on Instagram or social media yeah
00:48:41
um but instead every time I've got
00:48:42
nothing to do I'll just pick my phone up
00:48:44
and I'm on it and I know it's uh has a
00:48:46
negative impact on your mental health
00:48:47
yeah but it's um so [ __ ] addictive
00:48:50
it's terrible it's dangerous this sounds
00:48:52
really cheesy but um we're lucky enough
00:48:54
to live quite close no Beach views and
00:48:56
we live like probably 300 meters from
00:48:58
the beach down the end of our road so
00:48:59
take the dog getting it I got my first
00:49:01
dog like from four years ago and I'm
00:49:04
like we are never getting a dog and then
00:49:06
this dog came into our lives and um
00:49:09
because it wants to go to the beach
00:49:11
every day and just walk down the beach
00:49:13
or I can run with me for about 5k and
00:49:15
then it's had enough
00:49:17
um and that's just the great reset even
00:49:20
if the kids are cranky taking down the
00:49:21
beach and just throw sticks for the dog
00:49:23
or have a swim or just it's just a great
00:49:26
reasons free share vitamin D yeah yeah
00:49:29
all those things so were you um you
00:49:32
would have been at tvnz when um Greg
00:49:33
Boyd was there
00:49:35
yes yeah were you quite close with him
00:49:36
or no no no I thought he was amazing and
00:49:39
so funny one of the most funniest
00:49:42
underrated guys in terms of because he
00:49:44
started he was the first host of seven
00:49:47
sharp with that yeah tell us some more
00:49:49
and Jesse Mulligan yeah and I just never
00:49:51
thought somehow it really
00:49:54
showcased how funny he could be because
00:49:56
he was hilarious I yeah I was obviously
00:49:58
shocked when he when he took his life
00:50:00
but I wouldn't say I was yeah close to
00:50:03
him yeah my friend on radio that um took
00:50:05
his life a similar time to Greg and uh
00:50:07
that sort of set me on a I don't know a
00:50:10
social I don't know like a mental health
00:50:13
like journey of Discovery I guess and
00:50:14
yeah just because I my friend Daryl I
00:50:17
thought oh if Daryl can can be this low
00:50:20
then what's stopping anyone else you
00:50:22
know being in the same sort of position
00:50:23
so it forced me to make some like big
00:50:25
changes like personally which is good do
00:50:27
you feel free doing this now see what's
00:50:29
happened I've started interviewing you
00:50:30
yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
00:50:32
um I I do I I love what I'm doing now I
00:50:35
I feel it's better for my soul yeah you
00:50:38
know I feel good about having good
00:50:39
conversations with people
00:50:41
um with less sort of restriction yeah
00:50:43
unless it's the opposite of what you
00:50:44
were doing right you were on the four
00:50:45
minute keep it quick and snappy yeah
00:50:47
yeah getting the gags move on to
00:50:49
something else sort of yeah well I mean
00:50:51
if if this was a radio interview and one
00:50:53
of your answers went for like more than
00:50:54
say 30 45 seconds everyone would be
00:50:56
looking at the watch like [ __ ] tell
00:50:58
Aiden to hurry up his answer's too long
00:51:01
and we've got to get to a funny question
00:51:02
yeah sort of thing but it's nice to have
00:51:04
these conversations with people where
00:51:06
you can cover some deep stuff and let
00:51:07
stuff breathe yeah
00:51:09
um but that's good because my wife's
00:51:11
worst nightmare me talking for 45
00:51:13
minutes
00:51:15
um and what's um what's next for you
00:51:17
like running wise what are you doing
00:51:18
you've got any events lined up oh well
00:51:20
this was kind of I was going to take a
00:51:22
week break after this but the internet
00:51:24
is full
00:51:25
Oxford I was looking at the other day
00:51:27
it's New Zealand's toughest marathon and
00:51:29
it's
00:51:30
um I think it's three and a half K's
00:51:32
uphill so you just go up and down
00:51:33
there's still one up another one and
00:51:35
that's in like middle of April it seems
00:51:37
because I've got to a place you've
00:51:38
already got the fitness well I'm quite
00:51:40
fit and it's like I don't want to
00:51:41
completely waste it I play football
00:51:43
during the winter but it's like but I
00:51:45
don't want to run and kind of grind away
00:51:47
in Winter either because
00:51:49
running is amazing but also you're tired
00:51:51
and sore sometimes on Sundays and I'm
00:51:54
not a morning person so I came to run
00:51:56
when it's dinner time
00:51:59
if you've got three kids you must be a
00:52:01
morning person no like what time do they
00:52:03
wake you up or are they at ages now
00:52:05
where they're quite respected it's up at
00:52:07
seven right he'll try and sneak in the
00:52:09
lounge and turn the TV on if he can get
00:52:11
away with it
00:52:12
um but but Perry will wake up at eight
00:52:14
we have to drag her out of bed to get to
00:52:16
school you know by 8 30 8 45. Howard's
00:52:18
pairing nine nine and the half 13 year
00:52:21
old's a bit of a sleeper too so
00:52:23
um
00:52:23
yeah we're not like early we're really
00:52:26
lucky early birds so no I can't I wish I
00:52:28
could get out of bed at six and run for
00:52:30
an hour and be full of the joys of the
00:52:32
World by seven and you know ready to
00:52:34
kick ass and take names there there is
00:52:36
something very smug and satisfying about
00:52:38
getting that long run done like Before
00:52:40
Sunrise yeah you know what I mean so
00:52:42
you've got a 30k training run get up at
00:52:44
four in the morning get it done catch
00:52:46
the sunrise and be finished before your
00:52:48
kids even wake up yeah it's hard to do
00:52:51
to get you out of bed but once you've
00:52:52
done it it fell a million dollars
00:52:54
otherwise it doesn't don't you find it
00:52:55
just if you're doing it in the afternoon
00:52:56
or evening it just sort of hangs over
00:52:58
your head all day oh yeah you gotta know
00:53:00
you got to do it but I've found the joy
00:53:01
in night running so as long as you don't
00:53:03
eat too much dinner give it a bit of
00:53:05
time give it like an hour
00:53:06
I'd take the dog sometimes because she
00:53:08
loves chasing cats and seems to be more
00:53:10
cats out at night so the cats are
00:53:11
outside the dog's like all over the
00:53:13
place you kind of got the place yourself
00:53:14
so you can run up some
00:53:15
um some great walkways in your Plymouth
00:53:17
you can run up and down and the moon's
00:53:18
out and it just there's no one else
00:53:20
around it's really peaceful just the um
00:53:23
get home at 10 o'clock at night and
00:53:25
you're you know oh you're going you're
00:53:26
going late late yeah night running yeah
00:53:28
and yeah you gotta hit torch or
00:53:30
sometimes we'll just run in the um with
00:53:32
the road lights but you get back at 10
00:53:33
and you're so you're super pumped and
00:53:35
you're not going to bed you're out yeah
00:53:37
then you'd be wired just the endorphins
00:53:39
playing for a couple of hours yeah and
00:53:40
I've got a real Joy of a cold beer after
00:53:42
a run yeah you've earned it so I do like
00:53:44
I know all the nutritionists say you
00:53:46
probably shouldn't do that but
00:53:48
especially I found you and get out of
00:53:50
the mountain Mount taranaki so I never
00:53:52
really got up there a lot so I've been
00:53:53
up there there was obviously good
00:53:55
training and just yeah it's amazing up
00:53:56
there yeah what's your relationship like
00:53:58
with alcohol pretty healthy one
00:54:01
uh you I'm 47 now yeah so um tending to
00:54:06
knock it on there I find I still love a
00:54:07
beer and you know there's a few weekends
00:54:10
there's 10 guys from Gore we all get
00:54:11
together once a year and that we give
00:54:13
that a good nudge but I've most of us
00:54:15
are like by midnight because the
00:54:18
hangover just like never ending so no
00:54:21
I'm matured yeah it's my boy from Gore
00:54:24
we all gave it a notice back in the day
00:54:25
yeah no different to any other kid yeah
00:54:27
it definitely seems like there's a
00:54:28
movement in the in New Zealand towards
00:54:30
um you know non-drinking not not sort of
00:54:33
becoming like the fashionable or popular
00:54:34
thing but definitely more of a movement
00:54:36
I feel it more of an understanding of
00:54:37
you people if someone says they choose
00:54:39
not to drink you're not gonna call them
00:54:41
a [ __ ] or no or or bully them into
00:54:44
having just one
00:54:46
yeah well I David Seymour on the podcast
00:54:48
a couple of months ago and he he um just
00:54:51
prior to the last election he had like
00:54:53
two years where he didn't drink at all
00:54:55
um and he said he'd go to a bar or
00:54:57
something and ask for a non-alcoholic
00:54:58
drink and he said he said I'd look at
00:54:59
him like he's got a penis growing out of
00:55:00
his ear
00:55:02
um which is a funny way of looking at it
00:55:04
but it's um yeah I feel like that is
00:55:07
sort of being diminished now yeah I'd
00:55:09
like to think it is anyway stats that
00:55:11
we're drinking especially young people
00:55:12
like we worry about the young people and
00:55:13
all the stuff they're into but the stats
00:55:15
um say they're drinking less than yeah
00:55:17
we did whenever we were around yeah so
00:55:19
also um back to this Marathon you're
00:55:21
talking about the world's New Zealand's
00:55:23
most difficult marathon with a lot of
00:55:24
videos yeah you're gonna do that or I
00:55:26
give that a crack and then I was on
00:55:27
Facebook the other day and I saw a
00:55:28
friend who had run the Milford track in
00:55:30
one day because Milford tracked you or
00:55:33
it's all booked out all year well you
00:55:34
can only go in summer but it's booked
00:55:35
out all summer but you can get the boat
00:55:37
there and then run it and then get the
00:55:38
boat out at night and you don't have to
00:55:40
book because it's still open as a track
00:55:42
I thought oh that seems fun how fast the
00:55:45
move for track what's that 60 15 it's 52
00:55:47
yes I think and piece of History
00:55:52
um yeah just stuff like that like just
00:55:54
have Adventures because there's not a
00:55:55
lot of Adventure left in life it's life
00:55:58
is very structured and you can't do this
00:55:59
and you can't do that and you know
00:56:01
there's but there you can eke out the
00:56:03
odd Adventure on Saturday I was stuck in
00:56:06
what seemed like the desert on the far
00:56:07
side of mounted who couldn't see anyone
00:56:10
trying to find where the next poll is
00:56:12
you know suffering away and there's a
00:56:14
part of you that just thrives for a day
00:56:16
it's fantastic yeah oh the policy tomato
00:56:18
like those big middle warranties I think
00:56:20
there's no track over there it's just
00:56:22
kind of hopping through rocks and we've
00:56:24
I got lost for a bit and then I saw
00:56:26
another Runner kind of up a few hundred
00:56:27
meters up the mountains had to kind of
00:56:29
go back up there and find the spot and
00:56:31
just you feel alive I had to run like
00:56:34
that a few years ago called the uh the
00:56:35
Moto tapu challenge which goes from um
00:56:37
it goes from Wanaka to arrowtown and I
00:56:40
thought this is a good entry level Ultra
00:56:42
it's like 52 55k whatever yeah so not
00:56:45
too much further than a road Marathon
00:56:46
but [ __ ] it was the steepest thing I've
00:56:48
ever done so much food and I was
00:56:50
standing at the the start line with um
00:56:52
with my head torch on the first couple
00:56:54
of K's are just flat on a gravel road
00:56:55
before you hit the trail I was looking
00:56:57
around sizing up all my competitors
00:56:59
thinking of that elderly lady I'll beat
00:57:01
her yeah those those guys I beat them
00:57:03
and I was just smoked by everyone all
00:57:06
these people with poles who obviously
00:57:08
knew what to expect were just passing me
00:57:10
throughout the run it was the most
00:57:11
challenging thing and there's Parts you
00:57:14
you know these waratahs these poles that
00:57:16
you're talking about as a guide like
00:57:17
you're running along and sometimes
00:57:18
they're hard to see you can't see a
00:57:20
competitor in front of you or behind you
00:57:22
but it's the most I don't know man
00:57:24
versus wild sort of thing like this you
00:57:27
know City dwellers like us can
00:57:29
experience that's why the thing I do
00:57:31
love about ultra running is it's not
00:57:32
really a rat or not a My Level it's not
00:57:34
really a race you're not racing anyone
00:57:36
so you catch up to someone and I stop
00:57:38
and I might stop we have a yam with them
00:57:40
we check things out they have a gun and
00:57:42
are you doing where you're from what are
00:57:43
you doing poor bastards they get bloody
00:57:45
interrogated by me but I got it you're
00:57:47
not filming are you
00:57:50
hey guys love your work and then he goes
00:57:52
have you considered covering the feel of
00:57:54
the Fielding field day
00:58:01
this isn't for your [ __ ] TV
00:58:06
there's one person across the swing
00:58:08
bridge and there's a big pile up there
00:58:11
there the queue and the woman turns
00:58:13
around and goes ah is this going to be
00:58:15
on the news tonight
00:58:17
yeah I'll just put my camera out of my
00:58:19
ass I've got no day off yeah
00:58:22
but it is great then those Ultra events
00:58:24
that there's no real racing because
00:58:25
you're just trying to survive and get to
00:58:27
the end and there's a kind of feeling of
00:58:29
together rather than anyone's an
00:58:31
opponent it's just you know how are you
00:58:33
doing do you need help yeah I agree it's
00:58:35
um yeah it's quite different to Road
00:58:36
Road events say this that real sense of
00:58:38
community that's really cool and no one
00:58:39
really well at the level no one cares
00:58:42
about time like I was eight and a half
00:58:43
hours
00:58:43
on um Saturday and you feel like you
00:58:47
kind of go oh maybe I could do eight but
00:58:48
I've never done it before and then you
00:58:49
just I was about halfway with a 1-8
00:58:51
session I was like five hours I'm like
00:58:53
oh my God I'm gonna be forever but you
00:58:55
don't not concentrating on your watch I
00:58:57
don't try not to look at my watch yeah
00:58:59
it's not about that so you've got any
00:59:00
aspirations to go real long like do a
00:59:02
100 Miler or
00:59:04
I don't know my friend
00:59:06
um it kind of coaches me on the side
00:59:08
Elaine Baron she just did the 160k at um
00:59:12
tarawera and I was following her dot
00:59:14
around the map like you know she thinks
00:59:16
she finished at 2AM and I'm just like
00:59:18
this is insane it's horrible yeah 160
00:59:21
cases yeah that's the mile all right 100
00:59:23
miles yeah it's just insane it's like
00:59:25
running Palmas North to Wellington yeah
00:59:26
I think she took uh Bonkers 22 hours or
00:59:28
something yeah just a so much admiration
00:59:31
for it and also the Liberation for the
00:59:33
event but admiration for the training
00:59:35
because that's about that no one sees
00:59:37
and you know she was getting up at 3am
00:59:39
and running 50 K's before breakfast and
00:59:41
yeah it's like yeah that's that's the
00:59:43
thing that the event itself the 22 hours
00:59:46
which sounds like torture to most normal
00:59:47
people is actually the Victory lap yeah
00:59:50
right that's the that's the thing you do
00:59:51
with this um support Crews and
00:59:53
Spectators and you get the Panama at the
00:59:55
end and you feel like a rock star for a
00:59:58
couple of minutes but what people don't
00:59:59
see is the six months eight months 12
01:00:01
months before that where you're going
01:00:02
out in the middle of the night doing
01:00:04
those 50k runs and their families
01:00:09
by 6 p.m that day they must be totally
01:00:11
rigged I don't know how people function
01:00:13
yeah oh well
01:00:15
it's been great to chat with you today
01:00:16
yeah thank you for having me it's
01:00:17
fascinating I really really appreciate
01:00:19
you coming over I'm surprised our parts
01:00:21
have never crossed out at an event it
01:00:23
seems like we've done a lot of it when
01:00:24
did you do Kepler last year no I didn't
01:00:26
December which it was last year yeah
01:00:28
right I have seen you at
01:00:31
uh they call it New Zealand's easiest
01:00:33
marathon it's the was it the no mistake
01:00:35
marathon it's Mountain to surf in New
01:00:37
Plymouth and you were always running the
01:00:39
half you know that's right I did that a
01:00:42
number of years ago yeah how'd you enjoy
01:00:44
that I hated it it was awful it's
01:00:46
straight down mostly mostly downhill a
01:00:48
year starts at meant taranaki finishes
01:00:49
in waitara
01:00:50
um but the last um the last 10 or 15 K's
01:00:54
it's just like a flat road yeah into
01:00:56
white truck there's no no people
01:00:57
cheering on the side of the road you
01:01:00
look in front of you you can't see
01:01:01
anyone look behind you can't see anyone
01:01:03
you wonder if you're on the right path
01:01:07
yeah it was um that was all right I I
01:01:09
was supposed to get a Kepler last year
01:01:10
as well but I um did you did you get
01:01:13
like a celebrity passing or did you have
01:01:14
to get up at three in the morning and uh
01:01:16
reset the computer like everyone else no
01:01:18
well
01:01:20
I was doing a good sort in the root burn
01:01:22
track as a a warden Hut Warden and we
01:01:25
had three hours to walk into his heart
01:01:27
he was here to established a trapping
01:01:28
program
01:01:29
and so we've got three hours to you know
01:01:31
cheered away and he's told me how he'd
01:01:33
done this Kepler Challenge and the
01:01:35
training had done at the time I'd never
01:01:36
done much running
01:01:38
really back into it and at the time I
01:01:40
thought oh imagine spending a weekend
01:01:42
running God I'd be unpopular at home I'm
01:01:43
never gonna do that and then bloody
01:01:46
Facebook it came somehow it must have
01:01:48
heard me talking to the stock warden in
01:01:50
the middle of nowhere in the root bread
01:01:51
and Facebook scrolled down and Kepler
01:01:54
Challenge and I click interested and my
01:01:57
mum who must have a PhD in Facebook like
01:02:00
10 seconds later my phone's ringing are
01:02:02
you doing the keeper challenge I just
01:02:03
saw you're interested in I'm like oh
01:02:05
no I'm not I mean I didn't think about
01:02:07
it again and then at the deadline pass
01:02:10
because you gotta get up at 6am to try
01:02:12
and oh yeah so it's easier to get
01:02:14
tickets to Harry Styles than to get into
01:02:16
the kit it sells out in like a minute
01:02:18
right yeah and then there's a wait list
01:02:20
that's longer than the actual list of
01:02:21
competitors so it was none of this and I
01:02:24
thought oh so I emailed them and they
01:02:26
said there's a charity entry we pay a
01:02:28
thousand dollars
01:02:30
and you can get in with there's 20
01:02:32
places of those and the money goes
01:02:33
directly to a Tiano organization I think
01:02:36
it was for new Cricket uh pitch and
01:02:38
there's a shade sale the Kindle or
01:02:39
something that yeah cool and I was like
01:02:41
okay
01:02:42
I think I can do that and actually by
01:02:44
paying a thousand dollars it made me
01:02:46
really committed because maybe I'm a
01:02:48
tight ass but I was just like okay
01:02:50
yeah I've paid a grain for this so I'm
01:02:53
you know if this money could be going to
01:02:54
other things in our family so I'm that
01:02:57
made me committed which is really a good
01:02:59
thing yeah you enjoy it oh loved it
01:03:02
absolutely loved it yep just well loved
01:03:05
the first five hours hey hey hey I had
01:03:08
the last couple but the first five hours
01:03:10
that's up hella minutes downhill right
01:03:12
yeah uphill to um the luxemore yeah and
01:03:15
then all the way downhill yes
01:03:17
yes many cases in the mountains but they
01:03:19
say the race really well the event
01:03:21
really begins once you've done the
01:03:22
mountain section because you get down
01:03:24
right on the 30k mark and you think ah
01:03:26
30k is a flat I can do that but then all
01:03:29
the mountains and stuff that your legs
01:03:31
have gone through oh your legs are just
01:03:33
shot yeah so I got 10ks from the end I
01:03:35
had a mate from invercargill and he I'd
01:03:36
never done this thing before and he'd
01:03:38
never support group before I said oh can
01:03:41
you can you have a bottle of coke so I
01:03:42
heard Coke's quite good for you to get
01:03:43
you oh flat coat yeah it's like petrol
01:03:45
well Flat's the operative word he didn't
01:03:47
know even though it was supposed to be
01:03:49
playing so I chugged this coke felt
01:03:53
amazing for about a k and then my
01:03:55
stomach just
01:03:56
absolutely
01:03:59
and you just need to drop a couple of
01:04:01
Mentos
01:04:04
I was supposed to be um unless he's
01:04:06
Kepler I managed to get a spot
01:04:08
um but I had knee issue um but they were
01:04:11
the organizer had been kind enough to
01:04:12
defer my entry to this year and I just
01:04:14
can't wait yeah I'm chomping to do it
01:04:16
fantastic it's like a lifelong gold do
01:04:18
they keep the challenge well I say no
01:04:20
one cares about time and ultra distance
01:04:22
but I you get greedy right so I did
01:04:24
eight hours in one minute
01:04:25
so I'd love to go back and do something
01:04:28
with seven somebody I'll see you at the
01:04:29
stat line I think that's that's the
01:04:31
thing once you've done it once you have
01:04:32
like a benchmark don't you like a
01:04:33
personal Benchmark to compare it to yeah
01:04:35
and I met people on that track that had
01:04:37
done seven times eight times and all the
01:04:40
time I was wondering why I would have
01:04:41
brought them back but I can see now why
01:04:43
they would just pray for good weather
01:04:45
yeah well maybe I'll see you there this
01:04:47
year yeah maybe we can share a room
01:04:49
together at the distinction because
01:04:50
there were this other place there's like
01:04:51
one hotel where you stay at yeah my
01:04:54
friends remember cargo he stayed in the
01:04:56
room with me a distinction we got we got
01:04:57
up at 5am sorry this podcast will never
01:04:59
end we'll get up at 5am and like let's
01:05:02
role play this what's going to happen
01:05:04
because what am I going to forget
01:05:04
because I forget everything so I've got
01:05:06
all my bag on and got my gun I got my
01:05:08
drinks got my food got my running shoes
01:05:10
got my number what can go wrong Cocker
01:05:12
who got out got in the car got to the
01:05:14
start line 10 minutes to go looked down
01:05:17
and I'm like oh that guy must be on home
01:05:19
detention he's got an ankle bracelet and
01:05:20
I'm like oh that's a transponder that
01:05:22
you need for your time my friend Nick
01:05:24
drove 140 K's back how to get the
01:05:27
transponder now I got there the minute
01:05:29
to go
01:05:30
God but at the start of this panic but
01:05:33
then at the end I was just sitting there
01:05:34
chatting to a Stuart to the guy with a
01:05:35
steward and I was like oh look it's
01:05:37
eight or ten hours of running if I start
01:05:39
five or ten minutes late is it really
01:05:41
gonna matter
01:05:42
yeah that's true that's a good way of
01:05:43
looking at it yeah but did you manage oh
01:05:45
so you managed to start with the rest of
01:05:46
the day right at the back which I do
01:05:49
like starting at the back because you
01:05:51
can pass people which is good for your
01:05:53
morale and saying it's not a race but it
01:05:55
always makes people you'd rather pass
01:05:56
people than be passed and there's plenty
01:05:58
of people to check to on the way up and
01:05:59
it also makes me go slow so you don't
01:06:02
have all sprinted out of the gate and
01:06:04
then paid for it later on 100 what you
01:06:07
say it's good it's good starting at the
01:06:08
back hello this is Kanye my dog he just
01:06:10
arrived Kanye that's Hayden how's it
01:06:13
going buddy hey come here
01:06:15
um well you say you love to chat to
01:06:16
people but if you start at the back last
01:06:17
year it's lucky that you even yeah I
01:06:20
mean Brody Kane she was running last
01:06:22
year she loves a conversation oh you're
01:06:24
lucky that you got past it well I don't
01:06:26
know where she was
01:06:28
yes because we um text away but
01:06:31
afterwards I said congratulations and
01:06:32
stuff and I didn't see her I thought it
01:06:35
would have heard her you normally heard
01:06:36
her before you see her she did a lot of
01:06:38
instagramming while on the um on the
01:06:40
Kepler challenge yeah there's a lot of
01:06:41
stories doing it yeah while she was
01:06:43
doing it she looked like she was having
01:06:44
more fun than anyone else that day yeah
01:06:48
Hayden Jones thank you so much for
01:06:50
coming over Matt I really appreciate I'm
01:06:53
going to wrap this up now because my dog
01:06:54
is trying to lick my face off full-on
01:06:56
making out session
01:06:58
um it's been I was exactly the same as
01:07:00
you you mentioned before you got a dog a
01:07:01
few years ago and you were the family
01:07:02
member that was handbraking the idea
01:07:04
yeah I was exactly the same did not want
01:07:06
this dog at all this was a a 40th
01:07:09
birthday present to my ex-wife JJ yeah
01:07:12
um but he loves me the most uh
01:07:14
and um I wouldn't have it any other way
01:07:16
I'm obsessed with him he's a huge part
01:07:17
of my life they choose you yeah they do
01:07:19
hey um thanks very much for your time I
01:07:22
really appreciate it and you truly are a
01:07:24
good source thank you very much
01:07:27
[Music]
