00:00:06
Courtney Duncan, welcome to my podcast.
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>> Thank you. Thanks for having me. I'm
00:00:10
stoked to be here.
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>> So nice to connect. Courtney Duncan, um,
00:00:13
the motocross rider regarded as one of
00:00:15
the most dominant female riders in the
00:00:17
sports history. This was written by Chat
00:00:19
GPT.
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>> Pretty humbling to hear that.
00:00:24
>> This is what AI thinks about you. um
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four times world motocross world
00:00:28
champion 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2023. And
00:00:33
the most successful rider in uh um WMX
00:00:36
history with 42 victories out of 80
00:00:39
starts.
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>> Yeah, that's pretty cool. I guess
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>> it's impressive.
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>> Yeah, thanks. Um you don't really resent
00:00:46
it at the time. You just as an athlete,
00:00:47
you're always looking forward and you
00:00:49
don't really count your victories or
00:00:51
listen to stats or anything like that.
00:00:53
So sitting here is, you know, when
00:00:55
life's tough at the moment, it's cool to
00:00:56
hear.
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>> You're you're a big deal and you you and
00:01:01
you, with all due respect, you're
00:01:03
probably not as famous as what you
00:01:04
deserve to be. Would that be a fair
00:01:05
thing to say?
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>> Yeah. I mean, I guess motorsport and and
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motocross in general here in New Zealand
00:01:12
is it's not mainstream. Like not too
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many people know about it. It's not one
00:01:16
of those big sports like footy or net or
00:01:19
anything like that. So, it probably
00:01:20
lives under the radar a little bit, but
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I'm a southern girl. I'm pretty low key
00:01:24
and I'm pretty cool with it.
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>> Yeah. So, it doesn't doesn't grind your
00:01:28
gears. It doesn't get you down.
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>> No, I enjoy it. I mean, you can go out
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and about and people don't notice you.
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And I think even more so like the fact
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that we race with a helmet. So, when
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when I'm ever on television, you don't
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really see what I look like. I'm always
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just full decked in guess. A lot of
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people don't really recognize me and
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just like living life under the radar.
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It's good.
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>> Yeah. Well, you are uh New Zealand
00:01:51
Sporting Royalty and it's an absolute
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honor to have you on the podcast today
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and uh you reached out to me and I I
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really appreciate that. It's so cool.
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>> Yeah, I'm here in um in Oakuckland and
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I've got a specialist appointment this
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afternoon. So, I got some time to fill
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and I've listened to quite a lot of your
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podcasts and uh previously and they're
00:02:10
awesome, man. Credit to you. You do a
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good job and a lot of inspirational
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people come on and I love podcasts. I
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think they're great. It's a great way to
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get insight into people's lives. And
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even with athletes, like a lot of the
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time you see the glory, right? You see
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like the the podium shot at the end with
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the trophy or the cup, but you don't
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really get to hear their journey. So, I
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think like being able to listen
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firsthand to that, it's pretty cool. So,
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>> Oh, thank you. Oh, that's a that's a
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huge compliment. Yeah. One thing I
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really love about it is um yeah, just it
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it makes people feel less alone, I
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think, when you realize that everyone um
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is going through some sort of adversity
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or some sort of struggle.
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>> Yeah.
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>> Um
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>> yeah, there's just so many lessons from
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the podcast I've done. And you realize
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that that you no one is like born super
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talented or super lucky. Um that the
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only cheat code really for anyone is
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hard [ __ ] work.
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>> Yeah, 100%. Like I mean talent it's it's
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not really a thing, right? It is hard
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work. Most people get to where they are
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in life and sport and business is just
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hour after hour of just hard work and
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doing the extras that aren't people
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aren't willing to do.
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>> Yeah, this is going I can tell already
00:03:16
this is going to be a great chat. I'm so
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excited. Okay, so you mentioned um
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you're in Oakuckland for a specialist
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thing. What's going on? You've got some
00:03:22
heart issues at the moment.
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>> Yeah, so um here I am in what May 25
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meant to be overseas. This time of year
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I'm always overseas for the last decade
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and I'm still here in New Zealand cuz
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I'm battling some health issues. So, um
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it's been a tough four or five months I
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think. I uh first got really ill at the
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end of January. Had severe chest pains
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and struggling to breathe. And at first
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I was just in and out of hospital. Like
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what the hell is wrong with me? And
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anyone that knows me knows like I'm
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never going to hospital. like I've got
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to feel like I'm dying to go to
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hospital. And that's what I how I felt
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like. I'm like, man, like am I going to
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get through this type thing? And I just
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went in and out of hospital and every
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and every doctor I saw and everyone in
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there was just like, nothing's wrong
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with you. I'm like,
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I've got this severe pain on my chest. I
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can't breathe. I'm gaspy for ears.
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Something is wrong with me. And I went
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through like four different doctors and
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hospitals. And man, it was a a long road
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and I finally got to see a cardiologist
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about 4 weeks later and diagnosed me
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with pericarditis. So, um people Yeah.
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>> What does that mean?
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>> It's exactly what I what I thought as
00:04:38
well. Like the hell is that? Like it's a
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inflammation on the lining of the heart.
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So, it's not the heart itself, but the
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lining of it. So, let's start with the
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the bad news is obviously it takes me
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out of the year and it's a long slow
00:04:51
recovery. like it can be anywhere
00:04:53
between 6 months to 12 months. We we
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don't know. Everybody's different. But
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the good thing is it's curable and I'll
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get back to 100%. But it's just one of
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those things where it's just time and
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just rest. And
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>> the old saying like rest is the best
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medicine. Like just letting the body
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just do nothing.
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>> And you're you're how old now?
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>> 29.
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>> Yeah. So you don't really want to What's
00:05:16
the sort of age that you pick in your
00:05:17
sport?
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>> I mean it's hard to say. Like you've got
00:05:21
an amazing 18year-old out there in MXGP
00:05:24
right now battling at the top step and
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he's battling like a 34 year old for the
00:05:28
world title. So it's hard to say. It's
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hard to put an age on it. I mean I
00:05:33
whenever the body kind of says no or
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whenever you believe it's time to go I
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think you know like
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>> a lot of good athletes go. You know they
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know when they know type thing. Um
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>> but I suppos I suppose for you like
00:05:44
you'd be you it'd be fair to say you're
00:05:46
in the second half of your career so you
00:05:48
don't want to lose a whole year.
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>> Yeah. Sure. I mean, the fact is we we
00:05:52
pretty much have in my sport, you race
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six World Cups a year. And if you don't
00:05:57
get on the line for that first World
00:05:58
Cup, it's pretty much championship done.
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Like, you can't accumulate enough points
00:06:02
to win the title, if that makes sense.
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And uh as soon as we got these issues
00:06:06
and and the cardiologist and my team and
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everyone was like, we're not going to
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make this first World Cup or the second
00:06:11
one, then it's like, okay, we really
00:06:13
need to focus on getting 100% healthy.
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like there's no point of coming back to
00:06:19
struggle your way through it for no
00:06:21
championship or or no results. So, um
00:06:24
right now it's in that phase of if it
00:06:26
takes six months, it takes 6 months and
00:06:28
we're just going to really focus on
00:06:30
getting back to 100% and I guess that'll
00:06:33
be the focus on next year.
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>> I know how hard how hard how hard how
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hard how hard how hard how hard how hard
00:06:37
how hard how hard how hard how you
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train. I've seen you on Instagram. Um,
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so I suppose it's like the iceberg. Like
00:06:41
people see you on the track doing these
00:06:44
incredible things, but they don't see
00:06:46
the stuff beneath the water on the
00:06:47
iceberg.
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>> But for anyone that's listening to this
00:06:49
that thinks, well, you know, why can't
00:06:51
you just ride your bike with a a sore
00:06:54
heart? Like what what is the answer to
00:06:56
that?
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>> I mean, it's so funny. Motocross riders,
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like we go through everything as well.
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Like we break our collar bone, we get it
00:07:04
plated, we ride 3 days later. Like it's
00:07:06
crazy. It's probably not right, but it's
00:07:08
what we do. We go through anything. We
00:07:11
just push through it. And this heart
00:07:13
condition, it's just been one of those
00:07:14
things where I physically can't. Like I
00:07:17
was just saying previously, like I just
00:07:19
walked up those stairs into studio and
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I'm like sweating and it's it's hard
00:07:23
work. There's no way I could go out
00:07:25
there and race a 30 minute moto at a
00:07:27
heart rate between 180 to 200. And in
00:07:31
order to even get to that level, you
00:07:33
need to be training day in day out at
00:07:36
that level to be able to compete at that
00:07:38
level on the weekend. And my body, like
00:07:40
I say, can't even get through like a 30
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minute walk at the moment. So that kind
00:07:44
of answers the question. It just
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>> and it makes a decision so much easier
00:07:48
because it's like physically I just
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can't be there.
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>> How's this been for you? You've been
00:07:54
through so much adversity. Um so when
00:07:56
you when you got the result from the
00:07:57
cardiologist like Yeah. How do you how
00:07:59
do you take that news?
00:08:01
>> It's tough. I think the hardest thing
00:08:03
about it is the uncertainty, right? Like
00:08:06
you go through an injury, you go through
00:08:08
an ACL and I mean it's people have gone
00:08:10
there before and and had the same thing
00:08:11
and you know like it's it's a four to
00:08:14
six month injury, maybe 9 months type
00:08:16
thing. And um you kind of get those
00:08:19
markers 2 weeks, four weeks, what you
00:08:21
can do and you just see that
00:08:23
progression. And with the with the
00:08:25
health it's just like a lot of the time
00:08:27
we have no answers. I can't I can't sit
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here with the cardiologist and he he
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tell me it's going to be 6 months
00:08:33
>> cuz we don't know. And I think that
00:08:35
uncertainty has been really hard. And
00:08:38
although it has been easier since I had
00:08:41
the diagnosis, before that, prior to
00:08:43
that, well, my anxiety was through the
00:08:47
roof.
00:08:48
Like, no one could give me answers. So,
00:08:51
what do I do? I sit there on my laptop
00:08:53
and I'm like, Dr. Google,
00:08:55
>> it's always cancer.
00:08:56
>> Oh, it's always like, I need a lung
00:08:58
transplant and everything. And I was
00:09:01
like, oh my god, I'm going to die here.
00:09:03
But um I had to put that to bed cuz the
00:09:06
anxiety was just going even more through
00:09:09
the roof. Um
00:09:11
>> but yeah, it's it's been tough and I
00:09:14
mean anyone that knows me is I'm busy. I
00:09:17
live life 100 miles an hour which
00:09:19
probably hasn't been great on the body
00:09:21
in hindsight like throughout my whole
00:09:23
career. And um it's been hard to just
00:09:27
accept it is what it is and you need to
00:09:30
rest. M
00:09:31
>> and um when we made the decision that we
00:09:34
weren't going to race the World Cup
00:09:35
prior to that before we knew the
00:09:37
diagnosis I was trying to train through
00:09:39
it just lightly just 30 minute spins on
00:09:42
the bike and it was making the symptoms
00:09:44
worse and once we decided okay we're not
00:09:47
going to be able to make that first
00:09:48
World Cup we ease back from the training
00:09:51
and I was like okay I'm resting but what
00:09:53
was I doing I was going out I was
00:09:55
meeting people I was going to
00:09:57
appointments I was doing this I was
00:09:58
traveling here there and there and I was
00:10:00
just getting worse. And it wasn't until
00:10:03
um my physiologists just said like, "You
00:10:05
can't do that. You just need to lie on
00:10:08
the couch for 2 weeks completely. Like,
00:10:13
don't even leave the house. You're
00:10:15
allowed to leave the house for 20
00:10:16
minutes each morning for a walk. Other
00:10:18
than that, you're housebound."
00:10:19
>> And that was like that was so hard. That
00:10:23
was way harder than everything I've ever
00:10:25
gone through. Just
00:10:26
>> like you say, having to rest. Yeah. What
00:10:30
did that look like for you? Do you you
00:10:31
break down? Have you got some like good
00:10:33
people in your team that you can talk to
00:10:34
about the stuff?
00:10:35
>> Yeah. Yeah, I do. I have amazing family.
00:10:37
I've got some amazing friends. And even
00:10:40
my sponsors, like my team, um Kawazaki,
00:10:43
my sponsors, Monster Fox, they've been
00:10:45
awesome. They just said, "Hey, like do
00:10:47
your thing. If it takes the year, it
00:10:49
takes a year." And I think I owe a lot
00:10:51
to them for just um having my back
00:10:54
through that and allowing me to Yeah.
00:10:56
supporting me as a person before an
00:10:57
athlete, I guess. a lot of time in
00:10:59
sport. Um, if you're not able to line
00:11:02
up, someone else takes your place and
00:11:04
uh, that's that. But I think just
00:11:06
loyalty as well. I've been with my
00:11:08
partners for for a long time, so they're
00:11:10
really understanding with that. And
00:11:12
yeah, I've got good people around me,
00:11:14
which makes it easier.
00:11:15
>> Oh, that's wonderful. And also, yeah,
00:11:18
they know this is hurting you more than
00:11:19
anyone else. Like I I can't you I mean,
00:11:21
you're super competitive. Like you don't
00:11:23
you get the results you've got without
00:11:25
being um that you driven sort of that
00:11:27
way. So, I can't imagine how hard it is
00:11:29
for you sitting sitting on the sofa,
00:11:31
twiddling your fingers and thumbs, not
00:11:33
doing anything, knowing that your
00:11:34
competitors are racing. They're making
00:11:36
all these gains and they're getting Is
00:11:38
that the mindset?
00:11:39
>> Yeah, it's tough. I mean, and like you
00:11:41
say, I'm no stranger to adversity. I've
00:11:43
gone through multiple injuries and
00:11:45
>> and one one way I I know that I can come
00:11:48
back from it and I know how to deal with
00:11:49
it. But at the other hand, like you say,
00:11:51
your competitors are getting better
00:11:53
every single day. And I feel like over
00:11:55
the last few years I've had a lot of
00:11:56
injuries and couch time and um you're
00:11:59
watching them progress forward and
00:12:01
you're you're going backwards type
00:12:03
thing. So I think it's been hard but
00:12:04
it's just been having to accept it for
00:12:07
what it is. Like there's nothing I can
00:12:09
do. It's out of my control.
00:12:10
>> Yeah.
00:12:10
>> Just got to focus on resting and getting
00:12:13
better.
00:12:13
>> And and right now am I right in saying
00:12:15
you should be in Italy in Sardinia?
00:12:18
>> Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think next weekend
00:12:21
is round three of the World Cup in
00:12:24
Germany. So, um those weekends that
00:12:26
there's a World Cup on, it's always
00:12:27
tough.
00:12:28
>> It's really tough. Although, I'm getting
00:12:30
a little bit better. I'm watching the
00:12:31
second moto of the WMX, which um in
00:12:35
previous years, I'd been really bitter
00:12:37
against it and hadn't been able to
00:12:39
watch. And
00:12:41
I've been able to step over that hurdle
00:12:43
and I'm at least being able to watch it.
00:12:45
So,
00:12:45
>> that's good. You're growing as a person.
00:12:47
We like that. Personal growth is good.
00:12:49
>> All right. Um should we we'll go back
00:12:51
and explore the early years e of
00:12:53
Courtney Duncan. So you're born in um
00:12:54
January 1996 in Otago
00:12:57
>> uh a town called Palmyston.
00:12:58
>> Mhm.
00:12:59
>> What are your earliest memories?
00:13:01
>> Oh man, just being a normal kid just you
00:13:04
know just going to school and just
00:13:06
loving the outdoors. Um
00:13:09
>> I played every sport there was at
00:13:11
school. like I don't know if it was
00:13:12
whether I could get out of school if I
00:13:15
you know put myself in every single
00:13:16
sport or what but just footy, tennis,
00:13:19
swimming, I mean I you name it, I did it
00:13:21
and just a real humble beginning.
00:13:24
Parents work super super hard. Um and I
00:13:27
think in one way that's kind of, you
00:13:30
know, lent over on me a little bit. I've
00:13:31
been able to watch my parents work
00:13:33
really hard to kind of get where they
00:13:34
are and um yeah, just got introduced to
00:13:37
a dirt bike at 7:00 and was just the
00:13:41
best feeling ever. I remember throwing
00:13:42
my leg over that and just loving it and
00:13:45
couldn't wait to get home from school.
00:13:46
Like it would be the first thing I want
00:13:48
to do. Like I'd quickly get out of my
00:13:50
school uniform and run to the garage and
00:13:52
I was fortunate that we we lived on a
00:13:54
little lifestyle block so I had a little
00:13:56
track behind the house and I could just
00:13:58
ride whenever and um just loved it. and
00:14:01
just wanted to race super competitive.
00:14:04
Wanted to win everything I did and
00:14:08
um a few tears along the way when I used
00:14:10
to get beaten a but um yeah here we are
00:14:13
still loving that dirt bike as much as I
00:14:15
did as I started. So
00:14:16
>> yeah. So who intro how yeah how do you
00:14:18
get introduced to a dirt bike at seven?
00:14:19
Was you did you was it older brothers or
00:14:21
your dad or?
00:14:22
>> Yeah, my stepdad introduced me to a bike
00:14:24
at seven and and me and my brother and
00:14:26
um yeah, I took to it like a fish at
00:14:28
water, but my brother wasn't too
00:14:29
interested it in it. But um yeah, just
00:14:33
super fortunate, I guess, had the
00:14:34
lifestyle block. I think that was
00:14:36
everything cuz a lot of kids that grow
00:14:38
up in uh cities, they're unable to just
00:14:41
go ride their bike. It's not like kids
00:14:43
that play footy, right? They can just go
00:14:44
down to the local field and kick a ball
00:14:46
around where dirt bikes is a little bit
00:14:48
harder than that. So, um, having a track
00:14:50
behind my house definitely
00:14:52
>> helped yeah, navigate my way to where I
00:14:54
am today.
00:14:55
>> Was your stepdad like in into the sport
00:14:57
or?
00:14:57
>> Yeah, he rode previously um as a junior
00:15:00
or something. Never in the professional
00:15:02
scene and um but yeah, he he was a good
00:15:05
amateur growing up and um yeah,
00:15:07
obviously taught me all the tricks and
00:15:09
trades to it from a youngster. M
00:15:13
how do you go from like clowning around
00:15:14
on a a dirt bike in the backyard to um
00:15:18
yeah taking the next step and competing?
00:15:20
>> Yeah. I think also like we were super
00:15:23
fortunate then back then in our
00:15:24
community like in down in Otago there
00:15:26
was a lot of opportunity for racing like
00:15:28
grassroots would almost have a club day
00:15:31
or some sort of race meeting locally
00:15:33
every weekend and I guess that's a
00:15:35
teaser like that's you're there every
00:15:37
weekend you're racing and you fall in
00:15:39
love with it and you just go further. My
00:15:41
parents happened to see I had a little
00:15:42
bit of you know talent or skill at it
00:15:45
from a young age and um fortunately
00:15:47
they're in a position to help me pursue
00:15:49
that and would take me just further a
00:15:51
field and through those amateur days
00:15:54
like from 8 till 16 we're away racing
00:15:57
every weekend like it's crazy if I told
00:16:01
you stories about how my family did it
00:16:02
like my dad would finish work at on a
00:16:05
Thursday evening about 5:00 we'd hop in
00:16:08
the van we'd drive through the night to
00:16:10
the ferry would catch the 6 a.m. ferry,
00:16:12
would drive all the way to say Talpo or
00:16:14
Oakland or wherever the race was in the
00:16:16
North Island and uh get there Friday
00:16:18
evening. I would race Saturday, Sunday,
00:16:22
we'd hop in the van Sunday afternoon,
00:16:24
boot it to try to catch the fury, like
00:16:27
the last fury of the evening, and then
00:16:29
drive all the way through the night, get
00:16:31
home at Monday morning, my dad would go
00:16:33
to work, and I'd go to school, and that
00:16:37
was normality.
00:16:38
>> At what age for you? I'm I think I did
00:16:40
my first trip to the North Island at
00:16:42
10:00 and we were racing. I think there
00:16:44
was some times we'd race 20 weekends a
00:16:46
year in the North Island. Like that's a
00:16:49
crazy commitment from the family and
00:16:51
>> crazy commitment. And you I mean you
00:16:53
look back now with the benefit of
00:16:54
hindsight and it's um I mean it's worked
00:16:56
out really well for you, but at 10
00:16:58
there's it's a hobby at that point. Like
00:17:00
maybe you're good at it for your age
00:17:01
group, but there's nothing to suggest
00:17:02
that you're going to become a world
00:17:03
champion.
00:17:04
>> No.
00:17:05
>> That is so selfless. Now that that makes
00:17:07
me quite emotional just hearing that. Is
00:17:09
this um not that this is overly
00:17:11
relevant, but is this your stepdad or
00:17:12
your biological dad that you
00:17:14
>> No, my stepdad,
00:17:15
>> right? Yeah.
00:17:15
>> So, yeah, I heard you talk about him in
00:17:17
some podcast and um
00:17:18
>> you talked about how he's big on hard
00:17:20
work, ownership, respect.
00:17:22
>> Yeah.
00:17:22
>> Yeah.
00:17:22
>> Yeah. Huge on those lessons. Like
00:17:25
>> like I talked about earlier, like I
00:17:26
hated to lose. I hated it. And um I
00:17:30
remember once like I was really young.
00:17:32
This is the first time. And I come and I
00:17:33
got beaten by my mate and I threw my
00:17:35
bike in my helmet and I was crying. My
00:17:37
dad just come in and like he said, "If
00:17:39
you do that one more time, I'm going to
00:17:42
sell the bike." He put the bike on the
00:17:44
trailer. I hadn't even got out of my
00:17:45
gear and I was sent home. And I think
00:17:48
just stuff like that, like it holds you
00:17:49
accountable. It shows you like, "No, you
00:17:51
can't act like this, you know?" So, I
00:17:54
think that definitely helped my attitude
00:17:56
towards respect to my opponents. and um
00:18:00
it's okay to be pissed off at it, but
00:18:02
you know, still have respect towards him
00:18:04
and just things like that. I was never
00:18:06
allowed to make excuses like on the bike
00:18:09
or the tires or the track and yeah, he
00:18:11
he just kept me um yeah, I guess like
00:18:15
accountable to that, right? Like we're
00:18:16
all here, we're all racing the same
00:18:18
track and if you didn't win, tough luck.
00:18:22
Uh give it a go again next weekend. So
00:18:24
that's what we did.
00:18:25
>> Seems like a good role model. How how
00:18:27
long has he been in your life?
00:18:28
>> Uh yeah, since I was seven. So well,
00:18:31
six, seven. So
00:18:32
>> you still have a relationship with your
00:18:33
biological dad.
00:18:34
>> Yep.
00:18:34
>> Yeah.
00:18:35
>> Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I was just speaking
00:18:37
to him last night. So um and he's super
00:18:40
supportive, too. Would come watch. He
00:18:41
was at the first World Cup that I won.
00:18:43
So um World Championship that I won. So
00:18:46
um I've had really supportive parents
00:18:48
and my mom too. She's u been the been
00:18:51
the backbone towards it all. And um
00:18:54
yeah, she doesn't like me racing, so she
00:18:57
doesn't tend to watch. She'll like she
00:18:59
will just turn the TV off until someone
00:19:02
texts her and says, "The race is done.
00:19:04
Courtney's safe." And then she'll turn
00:19:06
it on and watch a replay.
00:19:07
>> Oh, she's worried about you hurting
00:19:09
herself. Yeah,
00:19:09
>> even now.
00:19:10
>> Oh, yeah. Yeah.
00:19:11
>> How did she handle it when you were 10?
00:19:13
>> I mean, actually, that was easier for
00:19:15
her.
00:19:15
>> Really?
00:19:17
>> Well, you're on mini bikes and you're on
00:19:19
the mini track. You're not going as
00:19:20
fast. you're not in the air for like
00:19:22
five, six seconds at a time.
00:19:24
>> And and at that age, I hadn't had too
00:19:25
many injuries. I mean, now, I mean, I
00:19:28
>> I don't really blame her. I've put
00:19:30
myself through I f through injuries and
00:19:33
hospital visits and a lot of tough
00:19:35
times. So, um
00:19:37
>> yeah, I suppose like, um a mother's
00:19:39
concern is probably the like the worst
00:19:40
case scenario. There's um a another girl
00:19:42
I've had on the podcast, I don't expect
00:19:44
you to know who she is, um but her
00:19:45
name's um Casey Brady, and she was a
00:19:47
motocross rider. She had this real funny
00:19:49
she was about to race in Toppo on the
00:19:51
track there.
00:19:52
>> Ah yeah. Okay.
00:19:53
>> Yeah. And she had a real funny feeling
00:19:55
about the day and
00:19:56
>> just didn't feel 100% and she rode and
00:19:58
then she long story short she ended up
00:20:00
like um breaking her knee or back and
00:20:02
getting airlifted to hospital and
00:20:04
>> now she's um gosh she's so inspirational
00:20:06
but she's she's confined to a wheelchair
00:20:08
but she is determined
00:20:10
>> to walk again.
00:20:11
>> So I mean it's the same for you like
00:20:13
something could happen in an instant
00:20:14
that could completely change your life.
00:20:16
>> Yeah.
00:20:17
>> Forever.
00:20:17
>> Yeah. Sure. And it does like the off,
00:20:20
you know, we we do see injuries like
00:20:21
that. But I mean the thing is I I've
00:20:24
always said like that can happen in
00:20:26
anything, right? It can happen if you
00:20:28
know step foot outside crossing the road
00:20:30
or driving a car. And um I guess it's
00:20:33
also why we train hard and why we try to
00:20:35
work on the skills and the technique is
00:20:37
to be as safe as possible and um to be
00:20:40
one with the bike.
00:20:42
>> But I mean you always have those
00:20:43
variables and you always have those
00:20:44
things that are out of your control. But
00:20:46
I guess as a racer, you don't really
00:20:48
think of that at the time.
00:20:49
>> Yeah. Have you seen that happen to any
00:20:51
of your peers or anyone you've raced
00:20:53
against?
00:20:53
>> Um
00:20:54
>> like an accident that's that's so bad
00:20:55
that someone ends up paralyzed.
00:20:57
>> Yeah.
00:20:57
>> Yeah.
00:20:57
>> Yeah. Yeah. I've saw that and even a few
00:20:59
deaths and stuff, but um
00:21:01
>> a few deaths.
00:21:02
>> Yeah. It's few and far between. Like you
00:21:04
don't hear of it that often. Um but
00:21:06
>> still too many for my liking.
00:21:08
>> Yeah. Sure. Sure. But like man, like I
00:21:11
say, it's in anything. It's in anything.
00:21:15
Yeah. When you have a bad um accident,
00:21:17
how do you Yeah. How do you not lose
00:21:19
your nerve?
00:21:20
>> Um yeah, it's never really phased me to
00:21:23
be fair. Um yeah, I've kind of got
00:21:26
through those injuries pretty good. I
00:21:27
mean, I've had multiple ACL's and I
00:21:30
think the first few weeks I've been a
00:21:32
bit hesitant with putting that leg out
00:21:33
around the corner cuz I don't want to
00:21:35
dab it. Um but it wears off pretty quick
00:21:38
and you're back to it and you forget.
00:21:40
You're just so in tune and you're just
00:21:42
so in the moment and Yeah. you're not
00:21:44
really thinking about anything like
00:21:45
that.
00:21:47
>> Yeah. So, uh, when you're 12, um, you
00:21:50
see the World Champs on TV.
00:21:52
>> Mhm.
00:21:52
>> And like, is that a pivotal moment for
00:21:55
you? Is that a moment where you're like,
00:21:56
"Shit, I could do this."
00:21:57
>> I still remember it. Yeah. I was sitting
00:21:59
in the lounge and um yeah, the world
00:22:02
championship was won on TV at the time
00:22:04
and back then we we did have like a
00:22:06
strong field like in the in the MXGP
00:22:08
overseas like we had Ben Townley, Josh
00:22:10
Cppins, we had Kathern Prom, we had a
00:22:13
lot of Kiwis overseas kind of winning
00:22:16
races and um I guess that in itself adds
00:22:18
to that aspiration, right? You're able
00:22:20
to see it. It's live and a Kiwis's over
00:22:22
there doing it. And I remember just just
00:22:24
watching it then and just going from
00:22:26
that day like that's going to be me. And
00:22:29
um yeah, it took longer than expected.
00:22:33
Like I didn't do my first season until
00:22:34
19 or no I was 20 maybe. Um but yeah, we
00:22:39
we got there and I mean I had so many
00:22:42
nights where I just manifest like I
00:22:44
remember just visualizing crossing the
00:22:46
finish line with both hands in the air
00:22:48
being crown world champion. And I'd run
00:22:50
the roads as a as a young kid and I'd
00:22:52
have goals written everywhere. Like
00:22:54
they'd be written everywhere. Like
00:22:56
>> a young kid as in what age?
00:22:58
>> Yeah. 13, 14.
00:23:00
>> And what what goals?
00:23:02
>> Just I'm going to be world champion. I
00:23:04
want to be the best in the world and it
00:23:05
would be all over the wall in my
00:23:06
bedroom. Like they would be stuck
00:23:09
everywhere on my door. So the first
00:23:11
thing I saw in the morning was just like
00:23:13
world champion. And um you know, no one
00:23:17
kind of gave me that mindset. They just
00:23:19
I don't even know where it come from. It
00:23:21
was just like you have a goal and you're
00:23:24
going to do whatever it takes to achieve
00:23:26
it. Like
00:23:27
>> I don't care what I'm going to go
00:23:28
through, I'm going to get there type
00:23:30
thing. And um went through some
00:23:32
hardships in those first few years and
00:23:34
there was a point where I was just like
00:23:36
I might quit. Like I too many injuries
00:23:39
and um glad I keep going.
00:23:43
>> [ __ ] That's powerful. E, and I suppose
00:23:45
that just demonstrates the difference
00:23:47
between um like a dream and and a goal.
00:23:50
Like a dream would be like I want to be
00:23:51
a world champion, but a goal is that
00:23:52
like
00:23:53
>> reverse engineering it and going out and
00:23:55
running on the roads or you doing all
00:23:57
the beneath the iceberg stuff that you
00:23:58
did
00:23:59
>> to get there.
00:24:00
>> Yeah, sure. That's one thing like Yeah.
00:24:02
Like you say, just dreaming about it,
00:24:04
riding it down, but it's everything that
00:24:06
went down to doing it as well. Just like
00:24:08
the 6 a.m. wakeups and just running the
00:24:10
rope before school. And I'd have an
00:24:13
exercise bike in my room. And I remember
00:24:15
my mom would come in and she's like,
00:24:16
"It's 8:00. You should be ready for
00:24:18
school." I'll be like, "I'm training.
00:24:21
Can you not see?
00:24:23
Leave me alone. Wait till I'm finished.
00:24:25
I'm going to get the principal in here
00:24:27
and he's going to drag you to school."
00:24:31
>> What were you So, but you say you to
00:24:33
your mom you were training, but like
00:24:35
what were you training for then?
00:24:37
>> Like to be the world champion like 10
00:24:39
years later?
00:24:40
>> No. Like Yes. to know. I mean, I was
00:24:43
also training for the moment like I
00:24:45
wanted to win everything. So, it wasn't
00:24:47
like that was
00:24:48
>> the goal five, six years down the track,
00:24:50
but also we had goals gone racing. Yeah,
00:24:53
I was still racing every weekend at the
00:24:55
time. So, the goals were
00:24:56
>> um shortterm as well. So, I was training
00:24:58
to be the best I could next weekend and
00:25:00
um just wanted to outwork my competition
00:25:04
and just work harder and just wanted to
00:25:07
win
00:25:08
>> and that's all I knew was just like hard
00:25:10
work will get me there.
00:25:16
>> Are you familiar with the 10,000 hours
00:25:18
theory?
00:25:19
>> No. Yeah, a little bit.
00:25:21
>> Yeah, it's a guy called Malcolm Gladwell
00:25:23
put this book out. Um I think it's he's
00:25:26
got a few books. They're all great. I
00:25:27
think that's this one's in the book um
00:25:29
the tipping point. Yeah.
00:25:30
>> And he talks about it sort of takes
00:25:31
10,000 hours to get to sort of expert
00:25:34
level or a level where your gains after
00:25:36
that point are going to be just really
00:25:38
really incremental.
00:25:39
>> Um and from what you're explaining like
00:25:41
you know racing every weekend from the
00:25:44
you know a very young age you would have
00:25:46
got your 10,000 hours in
00:25:48
probably by the end of your teenage
00:25:50
years.
00:25:50
>> Yeah for sure I would say so. I mean,
00:25:52
some of my bikes had like
00:25:55
300 hours on them. 300 plus hours on
00:25:58
them a year. I remember those bikes we
00:26:01
would just put hours on them. And I
00:26:03
mean, it was just I just loved it. I was
00:26:05
just a kid just obviously wanting to
00:26:07
win, but just loving it. Just I'd have
00:26:09
friends come over and ride in the
00:26:10
backyard and we just
00:26:12
>> ride for two hours, come in and eat, go
00:26:14
back out, ride for another two hours,
00:26:16
and I'd make tracks all around the
00:26:18
paddics and yeah, just had fun.
00:26:21
>> Yeah. And that that is fun, but what's
00:26:23
not fun is getting up at 6:00 a.m. and,
00:26:25
you know, going for a run or being on
00:26:27
the exercise bike before school. That's
00:26:29
the not so fun stuff, right?
00:26:31
>> Yeah. Well, you would think so, but I
00:26:33
loved it.
00:26:34
Maybe I'm a strange person or a strange
00:26:37
kid because No, I didn't see any of my
00:26:39
peers doing that.
00:26:40
>> Um, and the kids I raced against
00:26:42
certainly weren't doing it or if they
00:26:43
were doing it, like you say, it was a
00:26:45
chore.
00:26:46
>> But, um, I loved it. I would get up and
00:26:48
I'll swim a 100 lengths before school
00:26:50
and in the pool and or run, you know,
00:26:53
10ks. I just loved it. I don't know why.
00:26:55
Maybe hard work gets you to where I was
00:26:58
or was just part of the road to to get
00:27:01
there. And um but even now like I still
00:27:04
enjoy the hard work side of it, even if
00:27:06
I'm not on the bike type thing. So
00:27:08
>> do do you have anything in the way of
00:27:09
natural talent? Like when you first got
00:27:11
on the bike,
00:27:12
>> I mean natural talent is a hard one
00:27:14
because you always believe in like the
00:27:16
hard work, but at the same time like it
00:27:18
come easy. Yep, it did. Like the first
00:27:20
time I threw a leg over felt pretty
00:27:23
natural to me. I won my first ever race
00:27:25
and
00:27:26
>> um yeah, it it came pretty easy, I
00:27:29
should say.
00:27:30
>> Yeah. It's only going to get you so far,
00:27:32
though, wasn't it?
00:27:32
>> Oh, yeah. Absolutely. some some of the
00:27:34
most talented kids in the world and um
00:27:36
especially through the amateur scenes,
00:27:38
but they don't make the pros when it
00:27:39
becomes, you know, everyone's
00:27:41
>> kind of working hard, everyone's on good
00:27:43
equipment and um yeah, that kind they
00:27:46
kind of dwindle off.
00:27:48
>> The um the time and energy and money, I
00:27:51
guess, that your parents poured into
00:27:52
this like how how do you reflect on that
00:27:54
now as a a woman in her late 20s?
00:27:56
>> Super appreciative. At the time, like
00:27:59
you say, you're so young and you
00:28:00
probably don't see it, right? When
00:28:02
you're young, the world the world
00:28:03
revolves around you.
00:28:04
>> Yeah, it's just normal. Yeah, it's
00:28:06
normal.
00:28:07
>> You don't realize
00:28:08
>> I'm driving 15 hours on a Thursday back.
00:28:10
That's normal.
00:28:11
>> So, your dad would have been driving
00:28:13
while you were just I guess crashed out
00:28:14
sleeping in the back. Like
00:28:16
>> that's him like basically sacrificing
00:28:18
sacrificing his life and his free time
00:28:21
um for the betterment of you. It's a
00:28:22
massive massive sacrifice.
00:28:24
>> It's hugely humbling.
00:28:25
>> Eh.
00:28:26
>> Yeah. Yeah. It's it is really it really
00:28:28
is looking back at it. like we did some
00:28:30
miles and we did the hard yards and
00:28:33
>> um but at the end of the day it's where
00:28:35
why I am where I am today. Um and at the
00:28:38
same time like you see I think from my
00:28:40
parents side of it like I say they saw
00:28:43
how much effort I was putting into it.
00:28:45
Like they saw all the early mornings,
00:28:47
they saw all the hours on the bike. I
00:28:49
mean you want to do everything you can
00:28:51
to pursue your kid's dream at the end of
00:28:53
the day. And I think that was their side
00:28:54
of it. Like Courtney's putting 100% into
00:28:57
this. we're going to put 100% into this
00:28:59
as well. And I know right now that if I
00:29:02
was just halfassing it, there's no way,
00:29:05
you know, we we as a family would have
00:29:07
done that. But it was just the the
00:29:08
amount of effort and how bad I wanted. I
00:29:10
mean, I used to sit at the dinner table
00:29:12
tell telling my parents how bad I want
00:29:14
to be world champion and that I'll be
00:29:16
there one day. And I think as a parent,
00:29:18
if you're, you know, resenting that,
00:29:20
like you're going to do whatever it
00:29:22
takes to help them achieve it.
00:29:26
>> Yeah. You you high performance people,
00:29:28
you're a bit different, eh? Um I haven't
00:29:30
had um I haven't had her on the podcast,
00:29:33
but uh Dame Lydia Co, I've had her um
00:29:36
high performance coach on.
00:29:38
>> Oh, yeah.
00:29:38
>> And he worked with her at a um Dave Ney.
00:29:40
And he worked with her at a really young
00:29:41
age, and he said the issue he had was
00:29:43
actually like sort of slowing her back.
00:29:45
>> Yeah.
00:29:45
>> Um because she wanted to like overtrain.
00:29:48
>> Yeah.
00:29:48
>> Um at a really really young age. It
00:29:50
sounds like there's parallels with you
00:29:51
and her. completely different sports,
00:29:53
but you know, just young young Kiwi
00:29:55
girls that um just want to be the best
00:29:57
in the world.
00:29:58
>> Yeah. Yeah. Funny you say that. Like my
00:30:00
parents did say like when I would get up
00:30:02
at 6, do you need to be doing that?
00:30:04
You're going to break your body. I'm
00:30:06
like, no, I'm doing it. So, yeah, I
00:30:09
guess we we probably at times I should
00:30:12
have been held back and told like,
00:30:13
"You're doing way too much." But, um as
00:30:16
a I was pretty stubborn as a kid, too.
00:30:19
>> I was going to say that. I don't know if
00:30:20
you would have listened. Yeah.
00:30:22
>> And how was it a male dominated sport
00:30:24
early on for you? Was there a female
00:30:26
league or female races or
00:30:28
>> That's a good question because um the
00:30:31
growth to the this day is huge. Like
00:30:33
when I first started riding there were
00:30:36
especially in the South Island side of
00:30:38
things in the in the southern like there
00:30:40
would be no girls. Like I'd be the only
00:30:43
girl on the entry list. There was
00:30:45
absolutely no way there'd be a girls
00:30:47
class. like I'd just have to front up
00:30:49
with the boys and um nowadays like you
00:30:53
go to the like I was at a race last
00:30:54
weekend just a local race and there was
00:30:57
almost more girls and boys in the minis
00:30:58
division so it's awesome to see that
00:31:01
growth but yeah growing up there was not
00:31:03
a lot of that and I just had to race the
00:31:05
boys but at the end of the day it it
00:31:08
made me me um it made me way more
00:31:10
aggressive way more hungry and I had to
00:31:13
have pretty big elbows um at the end of
00:31:15
the day the boys hated getting beaten by
00:31:18
a girl. Like they hated it. And the
00:31:20
parents, man, the parents even more so.
00:31:22
Oh, I went through some tough times as a
00:31:25
kid like that. Parents screaming at me
00:31:27
like, "You need to make your mind up if
00:31:29
you're a boy or a girl. Like, you can't
00:31:31
race both classes." And stuff like this.
00:31:34
They hated their sons getting beat by a
00:31:36
girl. But I was so young. I was just
00:31:39
like so chill. Just like
00:31:41
>> Oh, that's um Yeah. Yeah. So, water a
00:31:45
duck's back for you. What about for your
00:31:46
parents?
00:31:48
>> Oh, that would
00:31:48
>> a parent and you just want to protect
00:31:50
your kid. That would piss you off.
00:31:51
>> Yeah, I fired my stepdad up multiple
00:31:53
occasions. Yeah, it just like f off.
00:31:56
Yeah.
00:31:57
>> Really?
00:31:59
>> Bring it on. He's just like to me just
00:32:01
go out there and wax him even more.
00:32:04
>> Is it quite um
00:32:06
>> Yeah. Is it Is it quite a um
00:32:08
confrontational sport in terms of the
00:32:10
elbows and stuff? Do you mean like
00:32:11
pushing and shoving? At the end of the
00:32:13
day, it's it's an individual and you're
00:32:15
there for yourself and it's everyone
00:32:17
against each other. Everyone wants to be
00:32:18
the best and you'll do whatever it takes
00:32:20
to win. So, um, a lot of the times I I
00:32:23
got along with everyone, but I didn't
00:32:25
have too many close friends in this
00:32:26
sport. I kept it pretty separate with
00:32:28
school and stuff. I had some great
00:32:30
friends at school and um I I honestly
00:32:33
like my stepdad taught me up. We just
00:32:35
arrived. We had to do a job and we leave
00:32:37
type thing. So, I would just show up,
00:32:39
race, and I'd race multiple classes,
00:32:41
too. Like, that's something like if we
00:32:43
had 10 classes on the weekend or or say
00:32:46
six classes. If I was eligible for
00:32:48
three, I'd race three. So, I'd just be
00:32:50
on the track all the day. And um yeah,
00:32:53
didn't have too much time to mingle with
00:32:54
the with the other kids. I was just
00:32:56
there for I guess business.
00:32:58
>> Get a job done. Okay. So, um yes. So,
00:33:01
try and track us through a path here.
00:33:02
So, you finished school, year 17, 18. Do
00:33:04
you go to university after that or what?
00:33:07
No, I didn't. Um I just always had that
00:33:10
dream to to go overseas and I went
00:33:12
actually my first year I went to the
00:33:14
States. I went to a training facility um
00:33:16
in America for six 7 months I think. Um
00:33:20
and there was at the time there was a
00:33:21
pretty good woman's scene in the States
00:33:23
with the pros and I kind of I had raced
00:33:26
as an amateur in the states so we chose
00:33:28
to go there after I left school and um I
00:33:32
ended up getting injured. I ended up
00:33:33
having a massive concussion actually and
00:33:36
um coming home and I remember when I
00:33:38
come home at that point I I didn't want
00:33:40
nothing to do with a dirt bike. Uh I
00:33:43
just had a really bad headnock and it
00:33:44
took me a long time to get over it. took
00:33:46
me probably 6 months and um I kind of
00:33:49
dabbled in a bit of jobs here and there
00:33:51
and just rode a little started to ride a
00:33:54
little bit casually there again and then
00:33:56
started to to build back into it when I
00:33:58
was about 18 and and from then it was
00:34:00
like preparing and having the eyes on
00:34:02
the world championship scene in Europe
00:34:04
and um yeah so no uni and and nothing
00:34:08
like that I've kind of come from school
00:34:09
straight into the pro scene really
00:34:11
>> right how were you paying for it early
00:34:12
on
00:34:13
>> did you manage to get some sponsors
00:34:14
early on or some help local businesses
00:34:16
or
00:34:17
>> Yeah. Yeah, we did. We were always
00:34:18
pretty fortunate. I had some really good
00:34:20
sponsors even as a kid growing up. Um
00:34:23
that yeah, obviously helped my parents
00:34:25
and me do what I was I was able to do.
00:34:27
And also I was with Yamaha for like 12
00:34:30
years all the way through the junior
00:34:32
scene and and they were unbelievable
00:34:34
with support. Um they actually like
00:34:37
helped me get overseas a couple of times
00:34:40
and stuff like that. So um yeah,
00:34:42
otherwise it would have been very hard
00:34:44
to do like my parents would have had to
00:34:46
I don't know dig deep
00:34:49
on the
00:34:50
>> Yeah. So So when you had that first trip
00:34:52
to the States in your in your late
00:34:53
teens, who went with you? Did you go on
00:34:55
your own or
00:34:55
>> uh Yeah. Well, my stepdad come for a bit
00:34:58
to kind of get me settled in there and
00:34:59
um I had a mechanic over there at the
00:35:01
time, too. But um yeah, I I didn't have
00:35:04
any family there and that hit home. That
00:35:08
hit home. I was like I had a like I said
00:35:10
I had a really I'm going to say normal
00:35:12
upbringing but it's not normal after the
00:35:14
stories I've given you. But I was still
00:35:15
around my family. I loved my brother, my
00:35:18
sister, my mom and my friends at school.
00:35:20
Went through school and played public
00:35:22
sports and I had that environment and
00:35:25
then I went to going to the States and
00:35:27
pretty much like being on my own and
00:35:29
just missing that. Um, it just made me
00:35:33
not negative against the sport, but just
00:35:37
it just wasn't fun. And it was like the
00:35:39
first time I experienced not having fun
00:35:42
riding a bike. And
00:35:43
>> that's when I realized like if I'm not
00:35:45
having fun, I'm not getting results
00:35:47
either. That's why the the fun factor is
00:35:49
super important for me. Um, and having
00:35:51
good people around me, you know,
00:35:55
>> you think it was an element of
00:35:57
homesickness or something, first time
00:35:59
away from home and You're very young as
00:36:01
well.
00:36:02
>> Yeah. Yeah. I was crazy. I had even
00:36:03
cooked a meal for myself and I'm like
00:36:06
overseas. I'm like I can remember
00:36:07
calling my mom like how do I wash my
00:36:09
sheets? Like what do I put in the
00:36:11
washing machine? Like I had no idea. I
00:36:14
was just this kid overseas just trying
00:36:15
to navigate life. And I guess it Yeah.
00:36:19
made me grow up pretty fast.
00:36:21
>> Well, you have to. E. And and I suppose
00:36:23
it was just um a reality check like
00:36:25
you'd been in your bedroom through your
00:36:26
high school years like you know getting
00:36:28
up early doing the exercise and you
00:36:30
realize oh [ __ ] if I want to be the best
00:36:31
in the world this is what I have to do.
00:36:33
>> Yeah. Yeah.
00:36:34
>> This is the next level.
00:36:35
>> Yeah.
00:36:35
>> Um yeah. And when did you first start to
00:36:38
believe you could be the best in the
00:36:39
world?
00:36:39
>> Um I always had that.
00:36:41
>> Yeah.
00:36:41
>> I always had that inner belief I think.
00:36:44
Um,
00:36:44
>> now was there a moment like in a in a
00:36:46
race or a moment where you're like, "Oh,
00:36:48
okay, actually I can I I will do this?"
00:36:51
>> Um, like from when I was already racing
00:36:53
overseas or before
00:36:55
>> when you started having some results. So
00:36:57
you thought, "Okay, I've had this dream
00:36:59
in my in my bedroom and we've been
00:37:01
>> going around all these races in New
00:37:03
Zealand over the weekend, but I can
00:37:05
actually do this."
00:37:06
>> Honestly, like like I say, that was just
00:37:08
from day one. Like that day I watched
00:37:09
the TV and I said like I was watching
00:37:12
that and wanting to do that. It wasn't
00:37:13
even I I didn't even say to my parents I
00:37:15
want to do that. It was I'm going to do
00:37:17
that. Like I remember saying it was just
00:37:20
super cheeky. I was like to my dad, I
00:37:22
reckon I could beat them on my 85 and
00:37:24
that's like a mini bike. There's no way
00:37:26
I could have. But that's the, you know,
00:37:27
that's how much confidence I had in
00:37:29
myself and in a belief. So, um I think
00:37:33
deep down I've always believed I can be
00:37:36
the best at what I do and and win
00:37:38
championships. And you need that. M
00:37:40
>> you need that when you get down to the
00:37:42
nitty-gritty championship stuff. When
00:37:45
you go into the line with title on the
00:37:46
line, you need to believe you're going
00:37:48
to win it. Like
00:37:50
>> that's half the race.
00:37:52
>> So reflections on 2016. So this is the
00:37:55
year you um burst onto the world stage
00:37:57
and you won the first ever Grand Prix in
00:38:00
Qatar. So So that's nine years ago. How
00:38:02
old are you in then?
00:38:04
>> 20.
00:38:05
>> Yeah. 1920 was the start of the year.
00:38:07
>> Yeah.
00:38:09
um huge moment for me. Uh I actually we
00:38:13
we had worked with Yamaha about going
00:38:16
overseas in 2015 to do two World Cups,
00:38:20
see how I stacked up. Um and before we
00:38:22
committed to a full series and it's kind
00:38:24
of like one of the things in our sport
00:38:26
is you can't just ring from New Zealand,
00:38:27
ring a team, hey, I'm pretty good. I've
00:38:29
got some talent. Can I have a ride? No,
00:38:32
you have to go over there and showcase
00:38:34
what you've got to get a ride. And
00:38:36
that's costly. like I think that's tough
00:38:39
on a family.
00:38:40
>> And um so the idea was to go over Yamaha
00:38:43
were going to take me over New Zealand
00:38:45
and um put me in for a couple World
00:38:46
Cups, showcase what I got to sign me for
00:38:48
hopefully a contract for the following
00:38:50
year. And 3 weeks before I was about to
00:38:53
go, I had and it was playing basketball
00:38:58
and my knee popped out. Ended up doing
00:39:00
an ACL.
00:39:02
Devastating at the time. Like I felt
00:39:04
like my dream was over. Anyway, fast
00:39:06
forward. We missed that whole year. I
00:39:08
got back on the bike at the end of the
00:39:10
year and um I started having some good
00:39:12
results. I moved up to Nelson to work
00:39:14
with the coach Josh CPP and it was going
00:39:16
to prepare me for that next season to
00:39:18
hopefully go over to a World Cup that
00:39:20
year. And we had some really good
00:39:22
results at the end of that season. Like
00:39:24
I ended up winning a Grand Pricks
00:39:26
against the men, first girl to ever I
00:39:28
think at the time or still to this day
00:39:30
win against the guys at um MX2 level in
00:39:33
New Zealand. And we're like, and I
00:39:35
remember saying like, I want to go race
00:39:37
now. Like, I I'm ready. I want to go
00:39:39
over now. They committed to helping me
00:39:42
get to the first World Cup of the
00:39:43
season, but there was nothing guaranteed
00:39:46
for the year because at that time of the
00:39:49
year, like contracts are signed and I
00:39:51
hadn't showcased anything yet. And um so
00:39:54
my my stepdad and me went over for that
00:39:55
first World Cup and I I remember at the
00:39:57
time like Josh calling me before and
00:40:00
he's like I don't want to put any
00:40:02
pressure on you but I'm just going to be
00:40:04
honest like you have to go there and you
00:40:06
have to dominate
00:40:08
>> if you want a contract to go on further
00:40:10
you know cuz most of the contracts are
00:40:12
off the table and I'm like holy [ __ ]
00:40:14
like
00:40:15
>> oh talk about pressure you know
00:40:17
otherwise I'm coming back to New Zealand
00:40:19
and my my stepdad at the time was also
00:40:21
like man we need to make it happen.
00:40:23
Otherwise, we're probably coming back
00:40:24
and going to university or school or
00:40:26
getting a job.
00:40:27
>> Yeah. You're running out of sort of
00:40:29
runway or options at that point, huh?
00:40:30
>> Yeah. So, um I was like, "Okay, here we
00:40:33
go." Nothing like a little bit of extra
00:40:35
pressure. And off I go to that first
00:40:38
World Cup in Qatar of all places. Boy,
00:40:41
bizarre for a little girl from Deneda to
00:40:43
head over to the Middle East. And
00:40:45
everything was so different in itself,
00:40:46
let alone the competition. And um
00:40:49
>> you're not in Palestine anymore.
00:40:50
>> Not in Palmy. Hey, I'm like, "Wa, this
00:40:52
place is unreal." And um
00:40:54
>> well, there's there's buildings that are
00:40:55
taller than two stories.
00:40:57
>> I remember that day of that World Cup.
00:40:59
Like, it's a bit of a different schedule
00:41:01
in Qatar. We race in the evening under
00:41:03
lights as well, so it was all new. And
00:41:05
we do quali and and free practice the
00:41:07
day before the race. And I qualified
00:41:09
fourth. I was 2 seconds off the pace.
00:41:12
And I was like I went there,
00:41:14
>> is that good? Is that good or bad?
00:41:17
>> Terrible. Like I went there just winning
00:41:19
a Grand Prix in New Zealand against the
00:41:21
boys like the men. I expected to go
00:41:24
there and wax them just you know like
00:41:26
and I was like fourth. I was like 2
00:41:28
seconds and I was stressed. I remember
00:41:30
that night I did not sleep at all
00:41:33
because like I'm like I'm fourth. I need
00:41:36
to win to go further. Like I want this
00:41:39
to be like my career. I need to dominate
00:41:42
tomorrow. Thankfully, like I woke up the
00:41:44
next day and um was able to go 1-1,
00:41:47
commanding wins and um signed a contract
00:41:50
to go on further the end of the year.
00:41:51
But the time poor talk about pressure.
00:41:55
How
00:41:55
>> Yeah. How did you turn that around? How
00:41:56
did you go from fourth on the one day to
00:41:58
winning twice the next day?
00:42:00
>> Well, actually funny. S my coach
00:42:02
messaged me. He wasn't there. Josh
00:42:03
wasn't there, but he I remember him
00:42:04
messaging me and goes, "Hey, don't worry
00:42:06
about the qual. Those Europeans are very
00:42:08
good at qualification. like they've had
00:42:10
to have so much empathy on it growing up
00:42:13
because it goes on gate pick where
00:42:14
they're in New Zealand we don't have to
00:42:16
do one hot lap we just race and to
00:42:19
choose our gate pick we choose a peg
00:42:22
it's like ah 15th oh 15th gate picks and
00:42:25
nothing goes off a hot lap um and he
00:42:28
just said they're really good at don't
00:42:29
worry you're a racer you'll out race
00:42:31
them and end of story and um I just
00:42:35
believed in that and once the gate
00:42:37
dropped it's just you forget about
00:42:38
everything right it was just so in the
00:42:40
zone that we can like I'm just so in the
00:42:43
zone and just Yeah. made made it happen.
00:42:46
>> Yeah, you did. And so that's 2016 and
00:42:49
then um 2019 that's when you win your
00:42:51
first world title.
00:42:52
>> Yep.
00:42:52
>> Yeah. Let's go there.
00:42:54
>> Yeah. So 2016 to 2019 after winning my
00:42:57
first ever race. It takes three years to
00:42:59
win a title.
00:43:00
>> Amazing.
00:43:00
>> Like
00:43:01
>> what was that longer than what you
00:43:02
expected?
00:43:03
>> Oh yeah.
00:43:05
>> You're impatient. Well, I you're just a
00:43:09
kid and you don't understand. Like,
00:43:11
that's what I mean. You don't
00:43:12
understand. You just think, "I'm the
00:43:14
fastest. I should win." And it's not
00:43:15
about that. Like, there's so much more
00:43:17
that goes into it. You got to manage a
00:43:19
championship. You got to be consistent.
00:43:21
And I'd never had to learn how to manage
00:43:23
a championship. It was all new. And I
00:43:25
was so inexperienced in that field. And
00:43:28
also with Europe, like, you're racing so
00:43:30
many different countries and traveling
00:43:32
to all these different cultures and
00:43:33
different terrains. And I mean I
00:43:35
remember showing up to Holland and we're
00:43:37
like, "Yeah, we're going to go ride the
00:43:38
sand." I'm like, "Oh yeah, like I've
00:43:39
rode the sand." Like talking about down
00:43:41
at the beach. I arrived to Europe, I was
00:43:43
like, "Wow, we what is this?" Like this
00:43:46
is like nothing I've ever experienced
00:43:48
before in my life. Going to Belgium and
00:43:50
Holland and riding the sand with like
00:43:52
holes like 2 m off the ground. It's just
00:43:54
a complete different style. So there was
00:43:56
so much for me to learn. and also living
00:43:59
overseas without family for you know 6
00:44:01
months of the year like there was so
00:44:03
much that you're not naive at the time
00:44:06
too. Um
00:44:07
>> and yeah, a lot of it's all my own
00:44:09
fault, right? Like I had some
00:44:10
misfortunes but at the same time I made
00:44:12
so many mistakes and um
00:44:14
>> misfortunes like like injuries or
00:44:17
>> Yeah, like I had the photographer I did
00:44:19
my ACL in 2017 mid-season. So I had
00:44:22
>> Wait, you you hit the photographer?
00:44:24
>> Yeah, in 2016. Yeah, they were standing
00:44:26
on the course.
00:44:29
>> Clipped. Just clipped,
00:44:31
>> but it blew me off the bike.
00:44:32
>> All right. Was the photographer okay?
00:44:35
>> Yeah, she got a ban actually. She wasn't
00:44:37
allowed to get
00:44:38
>> Oh, she was in the wrong.
00:44:39
>> Yeah, she was standing on the track and
00:44:41
I come over a brown and didn't see her
00:44:42
and just clipped the clipped my
00:44:44
handlebars and just flew down the track.
00:44:46
And so, we had like a lot of things
00:44:48
happen out of our control as well. But,
00:44:50
>> weird luck, eh?
00:44:51
>> Yeah. Yeah. But at the same time, there
00:44:54
was so many moments through those years
00:44:55
that I made dumb mistakes, you know, and
00:44:57
there's no one to blame for those that
00:44:59
other than myself. Like I could have
00:45:00
been so much more patient. I had so much
00:45:02
more speed than anybody yet. I would
00:45:04
just blow it away. And um so it took me
00:45:07
a while to figure that out. And um yeah,
00:45:10
like I say, every year I had a big
00:45:12
injury as well. Um 2018 I think I had 30
00:45:16
point lead with two rounds to go. And in
00:45:19
a rac's mindset like that's pretty much
00:45:21
change. you pretty much got like one
00:45:23
hand on the cup like you're almost
00:45:24
there. And then at a offseason race I
00:45:27
ended up um not crashing but I ended up
00:45:29
crushing my foot and um yeah did my Liz
00:45:33
Frank in the foot and I remember going
00:45:35
in and going to see the surgeon. This
00:45:37
was maybe like
00:45:39
3 weeks or two weeks before the the
00:45:41
second to last um World Cup and I was
00:45:44
like I still want to race. like this
00:45:47
thing could be broken in pieces and I'm
00:45:49
still lining up like I've got to win
00:45:52
this championship and he's like you
00:45:54
can't like if you go out there now and
00:45:56
try to ride with this foot and cuz like
00:45:58
there's so many little bones in the foot
00:46:00
and blow that to pieces your foot may
00:46:02
never be the same. You're just going to
00:46:04
have to forth it. Um so that was 2018. I
00:46:07
went through a pretty tough time then.
00:46:10
You know like one year of misfortunes or
00:46:12
missing missing out. It's like okay
00:46:14
we'll get it next year. 2017 missed out
00:46:18
by two points. Went through an ACL
00:46:20
operation then whole offseason off and
00:46:24
felt devastated that year as well and
00:46:26
then 18 it's like third year lucky and
00:46:28
then I say had one hand on the cup and
00:46:30
then you know just had to default like
00:46:33
wasn't able to race. So um I was in the
00:46:36
dumps in 2018.
00:46:37
>> Yeah. What did they do?
00:46:38
>> Real dumps. Um I don't want nothing to
00:46:41
do with a dirt bike. I stepped away from
00:46:43
it. I was really down. I didn't want to
00:46:45
talk to anyone. I just felt like I was a
00:46:48
failure. Like honestly, like I just felt
00:46:51
like I let everybody down. I just felt
00:46:53
like I let my parents down, my um team,
00:46:56
my country. Like I was this unbelievable
00:47:00
gifted kid. Like so much talent was
00:47:03
written about in the newspapers to being
00:47:05
a world champion at, you know, such a
00:47:07
young age. And here my chance was and I
00:47:10
kind of lost it. like and it's like you
00:47:12
have those thoughts like [ __ ] maybe I'm
00:47:15
just good but maybe I can't just win a
00:47:17
championship maybe it's just not for me
00:47:20
I I was struggling and that time you
00:47:23
know contracts are pretty much off the
00:47:24
table and a lot of people lose faith in
00:47:26
you like you're a super fast kid but you
00:47:28
don't have what it takes to
00:47:30
>> win championships and um I kind of wrote
00:47:32
myself off and
00:47:34
>> yeah I just I guess I woke up one
00:47:36
morning was just like a few months later
00:47:38
like man I'm so close I'm just going
00:47:40
going to have to give it another crack.
00:47:43
So yeah, but yeah, there was there was
00:47:45
not a whole lot of offers and most
00:47:47
people had wrote me off as well and like
00:47:49
I say, even times I'd kind of wrote
00:47:51
myself off there at one stage. So um it
00:47:54
was pretty tough to go through being so
00:47:56
close and just not getting it three
00:47:58
years in a row. You know,
00:47:59
>> that's a bummer. And then um I suppose
00:48:00
self-doubt creeps in and yeah, you you
00:48:03
start to think, oh, do I am I just not
00:48:04
mentally tough enough? Am I not talented
00:48:06
enough? Am I just a big fish in a small
00:48:09
pond? Um yeah, there's a quote from I
00:48:12
think it's a Thomas Edison quote, you
00:48:13
know, the dude that invented the light
00:48:14
bulb and it's something like um success
00:48:16
is going from failure to failure without
00:48:18
losing any enthusiasm.
00:48:20
>> Yeah.
00:48:20
>> And it sounds like that's kind of I mean
00:48:22
you had a lot of wins in between.
00:48:24
>> Yeah.
00:48:24
>> Um but yeah, a lot of adversity and a
00:48:26
lot of failure as well on the path.
00:48:28
>> Yeah. Yeah. 100%. And then um a lot of
00:48:31
success like I'd have wins and I'd
00:48:33
dominate by 30 40 seconds and then I'd
00:48:35
just have the downfall of just crashing
00:48:37
out and having injuries and this and
00:48:39
that and um yeah you I guess it's like a
00:48:42
seesaw though cuz you you go back and
00:48:44
you win and it keeps that confidence
00:48:46
there type thing but yeah end of 18 it
00:48:48
was yeah pretty tough pretty all time
00:48:50
low but um
00:48:53
>> part of it have you ever played any
00:48:55
golf? Um like golf, the reason I bring
00:48:59
that up is like um I'm a very [ __ ]
00:49:01
golfer, but you can have like 10
00:49:04
absolute [ __ ] shots in a row, then one
00:49:06
amazing shot, and it's that one amazing
00:49:07
shot that sticks with you and keeps you
00:49:09
coming back.
00:49:10
>> Just that feeling. You're like, there's
00:49:12
something there.
00:49:13
>> I think that's why I don't play it.
00:49:17
>> I'm like, man, I go out and have a game,
00:49:19
man, I'm good at this. And then I go out
00:49:21
the next day and I'm just horrible. I'm
00:49:23
like, how do people play this? Yeah.
00:49:25
Where's Courtney from yesterday?
00:49:26
>> Yeah, exactly.
00:49:28
>> Um so, so yeah. So 2019, um that was the
00:49:32
year that everything came together.
00:49:34
>> Yeah. Yep.
00:49:35
>> So yeah, your your first world title and
00:49:37
you'd won this you you had this locked
00:49:39
up before the final race.
00:49:41
>> A 2019.
00:49:43
>> Yeah. The first one. So it was so it was
00:49:45
like in the bag.
00:49:46
>> Yeah.
00:49:47
>> Yeah. With I won the first race and
00:49:48
clinched the title before the last race.
00:49:50
Um 2019 just it was an unbelievable year
00:49:54
actually. Um I come in I signed with
00:49:56
Kawazaki that year. Like I said there
00:49:58
wasn't a whole lot of offers and um yeah
00:50:00
Kawi come through and at the time I
00:50:02
hadn't I I actually signed with a team
00:50:05
that I knew nothing about. I moved from
00:50:09
Holland in Belgium where I was the
00:50:10
previous three years over to England and
00:50:14
um yeah rode a brand that I'd never read
00:50:17
before in my life and I just signed it
00:50:19
and I was just like betting on myself
00:50:21
like let's go let's give this thing a
00:50:23
try. And
00:50:23
>> is that is that a big deal? Why is that
00:50:25
a big deal?
00:50:26
>> Well, there's a lot of unknowns there.
00:50:28
Like I mean most people would at least
00:50:30
go meet the team or ride the bike at
00:50:32
least. Like I'd never even rode a Kawi
00:50:34
before in my life before I signed that
00:50:35
contract. And um so it was just a lot of
00:50:39
re like it was just refreshing I guess.
00:50:41
And I think with one of the the reasons
00:50:44
that worked so well as as the team
00:50:46
manager Steve he allowed me to commute a
00:50:49
bit more. So the seasons over course of
00:50:52
6 months and I'd previously just stayed
00:50:54
over in Europe for like 7 months and um
00:50:58
this this year changed. I was able to
00:51:01
kind of commute so I able to fly over do
00:51:03
a couple races and come home if need be.
00:51:05
If it was like anywhere between 4 to 6
00:51:07
week gap, I'd come back home. And I
00:51:10
think that's really tough to do, but at
00:51:12
that time, that's what I needed. I
00:51:14
needed to reconnect with home. I needed
00:51:16
to just go back to riding with my mates
00:51:18
that I grew up with. Like it would I I
00:51:20
mean, I was riding weekends just like I
00:51:22
was as a kid. Just back to the humble
00:51:25
beginnings and and just having fun. And
00:51:27
it bring the fun element back into it.
00:51:29
And I'll just fly over fresh, ready to
00:51:32
go race, win, fly home, train, fly over
00:51:37
a few weeks early, get over jet lag,
00:51:40
ride the bike a couple times, and it was
00:51:41
just fresh.
00:51:42
>> Um,
00:51:43
>> it's kind of like your childhood all
00:51:44
over again. Just get in, get the job
00:51:46
done, get out again.
00:51:47
>> At the time, it's what I mean, and
00:51:48
needed. I mean, it's tough on the body,
00:51:50
right, to do four trips to Europe and
00:51:52
stuff like that. And sometimes it can be
00:51:54
really difficult if the bikes aren't
00:51:55
quite the same on New Zealand and the
00:51:57
state um and Europe. But thankfully I
00:52:00
could bring my suspension over back home
00:52:02
to New Zealand. So I was training on the
00:52:04
same bikes type thing. And like I say at
00:52:07
the time that's what I needed. I needed
00:52:08
to fill the cup up again, be home, be
00:52:11
back with my family and friends and um
00:52:14
yeah, just bring the fun back and had
00:52:17
the fun in life and it just translated
00:52:18
over to bikes and uh yeah, felt like a
00:52:21
really effortless year. Just
00:52:25
>> everything everything came together.
00:52:27
>> Yeah.
00:52:27
>> Well, that you said something
00:52:28
interesting before. I did wonder about
00:52:30
that. So, you don't travel with a bike.
00:52:31
You
00:52:32
>> Yeah, you you just travel with parts.
00:52:34
>> Uh
00:52:35
>> suspension, you said. No,
00:52:36
>> not really. like you everything's in
00:52:38
Europe so I just arrive over to the team
00:52:40
and everything's there but like coming
00:52:42
home to New Zealand my bike and
00:52:43
everything will be here but
00:52:45
>> I like to bring my suspension back at
00:52:47
least um so I'm on the same suspension
00:52:50
settings and everything else you can get
00:52:51
here right they're just off the shelf
00:52:53
sort of things and not
00:52:55
>> um anything factory or something you
00:52:57
can't buy so yeah
00:53:00
>> so what does it feel like when you cross
00:53:02
the line and you know you're the world
00:53:03
champion so do you do you know
00:53:05
immediately that you're the world
00:53:06
champion or are you waiting on other
00:53:08
results or
00:53:09
>> No. No. I mean like that race, you know
00:53:13
where you're sitting. Like you come in,
00:53:14
mindset's the same. It's like I'm just
00:53:16
going to go out there and do the exact
00:53:17
same thing I've been doing all year.
00:53:19
Like if I go out there and win and it
00:53:22
gives me the championship, cool. If I go
00:53:24
out there and something's not right or
00:53:27
like it has to wait till another motor,
00:53:28
it does. Like I'm not putting on any
00:53:30
pressure on myself to make it happen
00:53:31
this race. And obviously it unfolded and
00:53:34
I knew if I won the race I was going to
00:53:36
be champions and obviously my team have
00:53:38
it on the pit board last lap you are the
00:53:40
world champion and it's just like just
00:53:42
gives you goosebumps you know like yeah
00:53:44
I remember crossing the the line and um
00:53:46
my family and and stuff were there was
00:53:48
just monkey off the back here we go like
00:53:52
three four years of just grinding like
00:53:54
is this ever going to happen is it ever
00:53:57
going to happen and it finally happens.
00:54:00
>> Yeah. What's that moment like? Is that
00:54:02
the happiest you've ever been in your
00:54:03
life or is it relief or
00:54:06
>> all of the above?
00:54:07
>> Yeah,
00:54:08
>> definitely relief.
00:54:10
>> Um,
00:54:11
unbelievable feeling. Like that's the
00:54:13
moment you manifest like you know as a
00:54:16
kid every single day I went to sleep as
00:54:18
a kid dreaming about crossing the finish
00:54:21
line being a world champion. Like and
00:54:23
and that's no joke. Like that's it's
00:54:25
just how it was. That was everything to
00:54:27
me. That's just my vision, my goal every
00:54:29
day. And that doesn't just get handed to
00:54:32
you straight away. You have to persevere
00:54:34
and takes four years. Four years to
00:54:37
finally happen. Especially after winning
00:54:39
that first World Cup. You know, it puts
00:54:41
you on a pedestal.
00:54:42
>> Sets your sights and everyone around you
00:54:44
really, really high.
00:54:46
>> And in hindsight, I needed to win that
00:54:48
first World Cup, but it probably damaged
00:54:50
me if not, you know, cuz it sets the
00:54:53
standards very high. Um but yeah, when I
00:54:56
crossed the finish line, it was just
00:54:57
like relief and just
00:55:00
almost just numb.
00:55:03
>> But it it wasn't a disappointing feeling
00:55:05
like, you know, cuz you'd had this goal
00:55:06
for so many years. There was all the
00:55:08
sacrifices you made through high school,
00:55:10
the early starts and all that.
00:55:12
>> Um it was everything you imagined it to
00:55:14
be.
00:55:14
>> Yeah, it was special. It was really,
00:55:16
really special. And um I mean I'd go
00:55:20
through everything I've gone through,
00:55:22
every single thing. like that's I'm
00:55:24
going through what I'm going through
00:55:25
today. Like it's okay cuz we'll come out
00:55:27
the other end and you'll, you know, can
00:55:29
go for another championship. And um
00:55:31
yeah, I guess there's been sacrifices,
00:55:33
but at the same time, like people say
00:55:35
that like you've missed out on school
00:55:37
proms and birthdays and this and that,
00:55:39
but at the same time, there's nowhere
00:55:42
I'd rather be than overseas racing for
00:55:44
World Cup wins and victories. So, it
00:55:46
hasn't really felt like too much of a
00:55:48
sacrifice just cuz there's been so much
00:55:50
love and passion in it and it's where I
00:55:52
want to be at the end of the day.
00:55:54
>> Yeah. It's like that that saying if you
00:55:56
love what you're doing then you're not
00:55:58
actually working, are you?
00:55:59
>> Yeah.
00:55:59
>> Yeah.
00:56:00
>> Um and so what do you get for winning
00:56:02
the world championship? Is there is
00:56:04
there like a massive ceremonial check
00:56:05
that you get? Is there a
00:56:07
>> actually like you have
00:56:08
>> in the in the business or
00:56:10
>> you get like contingency from your
00:56:12
sponsors and stuff but the or um the
00:56:14
series itself doesn't have prize money
00:56:16
which is pretty crap to be fair
00:56:19
>> like I think that's why you don't have
00:56:20
too many on the line like you only have
00:56:22
pros and um guys with contracts really
00:56:25
cuz they're able to make you know good
00:56:27
money through contingency but the series
00:56:29
itself doesn't um there's not too much
00:56:32
of a celebration afterwards like you get
00:56:33
your you know your medal or your replica
00:56:35
medal um a gold plate and stuff and you
00:56:38
actually get flow in business to Monaco,
00:56:41
helicoptered in um put up in like a this
00:56:44
amazing resort in the weekend in Monaco
00:56:46
with Yeah. the motorsport athletes or
00:56:49
motorcycleycling athletes for the award
00:56:51
ceremony which is pretty cool. That was
00:56:53
epic.
00:56:53
>> Oh my god, that's badass.
00:56:54
>> Yeah, it was badass. Here I am like this
00:56:57
little kid like growing up like walking
00:56:59
in bare feet to school like
00:57:02
just in Palmyon and next minute I'm
00:57:04
flying like business and then like
00:57:06
getting helicoptered from Nissan to
00:57:07
Monaco and escorted to the hotel and red
00:57:11
carpet and I'm just like
00:57:14
I'm just a motocross rider you know
00:57:17
>> just little Courtney when something like
00:57:19
that happens I think I think everyone
00:57:20
sort of goes back to like themselves as
00:57:22
a little kid. Yeah. So you're like you
00:57:24
were like little Courtney from Palmyon.
00:57:26
What the [ __ ]
00:57:26
>> Yeah.
00:57:28
>> So so cool. Oh man, that's amazing. And
00:57:30
what was the reaction? Was it was there
00:57:32
any sort of media response or reaction
00:57:33
back home?
00:57:34
>> Yep.
00:57:35
>> Like did it blow up here a bit? I can't
00:57:36
remember.
00:57:37
>> Yeah. Yeah, it was. Yeah. Yeah. like
00:57:39
breakfast and TV and I had a you know
00:57:41
big welcome at the airport and stuff
00:57:43
like all the high schools and um yeah
00:57:46
local community and stuff gave me a
00:57:49
really nice welcoming and um yeah it was
00:57:52
it was pretty cool. I mean it was
00:57:54
special. I mean all my family and my
00:57:56
grandparents were there and they've kind
00:57:58
of lived that life with me, you know,
00:58:00
like my aunties and cousins like they've
00:58:02
saw everything that's gone on. And
00:58:04
they've been, like I say, I'm really
00:58:05
close with my family. So, it just feels
00:58:08
like when I win every, you know, they
00:58:10
all win. Like, it was really nice
00:58:12
feeling for us all.
00:58:13
>> Well, it really is a team effort, eh?
00:58:15
>> Yep.
00:58:16
>> 100%. It It really is. It's Yeah, you
00:58:19
can't do it alone.
00:58:21
>> And did anything change after winning
00:58:23
that first championship either in how
00:58:24
how people saw you or how you saw
00:58:26
yourself?
00:58:29
That's that's really good as well cuz
00:58:32
you know like that was everything for me
00:58:35
growing up like I just wanted to be a
00:58:37
world champion and when I missed out I
00:58:39
was felt like like I said I felt like a
00:58:41
failure you know
00:58:42
>> and when I did won that win that world
00:58:45
championship it was like it just put it
00:58:47
into perspective that you know you're
00:58:49
still Courtney whether you win or lose
00:58:51
you're still Courtney and I think I
00:58:54
don't know why but maybe leading up to
00:58:57
it I thought different in that term. Um,
00:58:59
>> you thought it might sort of change.
00:59:01
>> Well,
00:59:02
it's not so much like that, but just
00:59:04
like it doesn't define you, if that
00:59:08
makes sense. Like whether you're winning
00:59:10
a world championship 10 or five times,
00:59:12
like this doesn't define who I am.
00:59:15
>> I'm still Courtney. Like if I
00:59:17
>> decide I don't want to ride dirt bikes
00:59:19
again, like I'm still the same person
00:59:21
>> type thing. So, um, yeah, it was, yeah,
00:59:25
it was pretty special though, for sure.
00:59:27
It will always go down as the best
00:59:28
title, that first one.
00:59:31
>> Yeah, cuz of how much work just went
00:59:33
into that.
00:59:34
>> And then 2020, um,
00:59:36
>> yeah, you win that one as well.
00:59:38
>> Y
00:59:38
>> um, but you go into that with a with a
00:59:40
target on your back. Um, did that change
00:59:42
anything in terms of your like your
00:59:44
preparation or your nerves or anything?
00:59:47
>> Not really. I no because I felt like
00:59:49
I've always had the target on my back.
00:59:52
I've never been another dog. I've always
00:59:54
been the one expected to win every, you
00:59:57
know, even if I don't win the title,
00:59:58
people like I duck like I'm still
01:00:00
expected cuz I'm I've always had the
01:00:02
speed and people just, it doesn't matter
01:00:05
if I'm coming back from an injury, I've
01:00:06
still been able to come back and win or
01:00:08
hasn't been my strongest conditions.
01:00:10
I've usually been able to find a way to
01:00:12
battle to win type thing. So, I've
01:00:14
always been expected to win. So, I
01:00:16
didn't really resent that any different.
01:00:18
Um, it was a tough year. We got um the
01:00:21
year got split up with co um back home
01:00:24
here in New Zealand. So, the series got
01:00:26
put on hold and it was like I don't know
01:00:28
if we're going to go back and race. And
01:00:30
when we went back to race in September,
01:00:32
there was only there was three rounds
01:00:34
left, I think. And I remember my mom
01:00:37
saying, "You're not going." And I'm
01:00:39
like, "Oh, hell yeah. I'm going. There's
01:00:40
a championship on the line. I'm going,
01:00:42
Mom. See you. Love you.
01:00:46
And um the first race I actually had a
01:00:50
huge crash. It's on it's on YouTube.
01:00:52
You'll have to have to Google it. Um in
01:00:55
Monta Italy and I flew through the air
01:00:58
and I landed and my handlebars snapped.
01:01:01
>> Oh, I saw that.
01:01:02
>> Yeah.
01:01:02
>> You had quite a soft landing though,
01:01:03
were you? You were sweet. You stood up
01:01:05
straight away.
01:01:06
>> Yeah, I was sweet. Yeah. Bike wasn't I
01:01:09
run to my bike like cuz that's the first
01:01:11
thing that happens. I could cartwheel
01:01:13
like 20 m down the road and I'm just
01:01:15
running back to my bike cuz I've lost so
01:01:17
many championships also by like two or
01:01:19
three points. It makes me think, okay,
01:01:20
every point counts. Even if you get back
01:01:23
to seventh, that point can make or break
01:01:26
a championship. So, I'm fighting back
01:01:28
for points and I get to my bike and I
01:01:30
pick it up and there's no handlebar. I'm
01:01:32
like, no freaking way because that's 25
01:01:36
points lost then.
01:01:38
Oh, so you just want to get back on the
01:01:39
bike and finish. Even though you
01:01:41
finished last, but you still finish the
01:01:42
>> cuz championships on my mind and I'm
01:01:45
like, I need points like and I go 25
01:01:49
points down. That's very hard to claw
01:01:51
your way back. Two rounds remaining. I
01:01:54
think I was at a deficit of like 16
01:01:55
points. I knew that I needed to almost
01:01:58
win every single race now to then to be
01:02:01
champion. It was pretty stressful times.
01:02:07
That's such an interesting insight
01:02:08
because I I literally saw that clip
01:02:10
yesterday and I thought, "Oh, Courtney's
01:02:11
all right. Everything's sweet." Oh, you
01:02:12
were just worried about the bike. Oh,
01:02:14
that's so funny.
01:02:16
>> Yeah. And then I think I come back. I
01:02:18
won the next round. Um and then I went
01:02:21
into the final round, which was like 3
01:02:23
weeks later with I think I was
01:02:29
I don't know maybe eight or seven points
01:02:31
behind. Anyway, I needed to win. So
01:02:34
yeah, and I crashed on the first corner
01:02:37
and then I was just like, "Fuck, I got
01:02:39
to go." I had one of the most um
01:02:43
unbelievable races of my life. It was
01:02:45
just like one of those races. Very few
01:02:47
times in your life any athlete will
01:02:49
probably say they're just fully in the
01:02:50
zone. Like they don't see, hear
01:02:53
anything. They're just in the zone. And
01:02:56
thankfully I was in the zone that race.
01:02:58
I was able to claw my way back and win.
01:03:01
Goodness knows how I did that. But um
01:03:03
and that gave me the title. So yeah, it
01:03:07
was a a pretty special moment that one
01:03:09
too cuz you crash at the on the first
01:03:11
corner, you're like, "Oh no, like that's
01:03:14
how am I going to win this?"
01:03:15
>> Cuz how long is the race? How long do
01:03:17
you have to
01:03:17
>> 25 minutes?
01:03:18
>> Okay. Yeah.
01:03:19
>> Um so yeah, that's how I won title
01:03:22
number two. So I was also special on its
01:03:24
own feet. It was
01:03:26
>> I really had to make it happen. The year
01:03:28
prior, right? Like I said, it came
01:03:29
pretty easy. I won almost every I think
01:03:31
I won nine out of 10 races and this next
01:03:34
year I was like clawing my way back and
01:03:38
yeah it was definitely a different
01:03:39
scenario and different way to win.
01:03:41
>> That's amazing. Yeah. What you're
01:03:44
talking about I've heard that described
01:03:45
as flow state.
01:03:46
>> Yeah.
01:03:47
>> Yeah. Oh man that's amazing.
01:03:49
>> Yeah.
01:03:50
>> Just muscle memory. E muscle memory.
01:03:52
You're not even years and years.
01:03:54
>> Yeah. You're not even thinking really.
01:03:55
It's just like
01:03:56
>> just happens.
01:03:57
>> Yeah. So the world champs won 2019 2020
01:04:00
which we've just talked about 2021 then
01:04:02
2023.
01:04:03
>> Yeah.
01:04:03
>> So two of those through the sort of co
01:04:06
area. How how many stints in MIQ did you
01:04:08
do?
01:04:09
>> Um
01:04:10
>> or did you just stay in Europe?
01:04:11
>> No, I came back. Yeah. Because the the
01:04:14
2020 it was fine to get a um spot in
01:04:17
quarantine. But 2021
01:04:20
I hadn't booked a spot to come back. I
01:04:22
left mid-season and I I had to leave for
01:04:24
the year because well for 6 months
01:04:27
anyway and I didn't know when I was
01:04:29
going to fly home because depending on
01:04:31
if you win the championship you have you
01:04:33
know sponsors um requests and different
01:04:35
things that obligations you have to do.
01:04:38
So obviously I just had the one-way
01:04:39
flight and I have a visa so it's fine
01:04:41
and um then all of a sudden they like
01:04:44
block the quarantine spots and I
01:04:47
couldn't get home. So, the the last like
01:04:50
um few races I was racing for a
01:04:52
championship and I had that uncertainty
01:04:54
of maybe not being able to get home this
01:04:56
year. That was pretty gnarly in its own
01:04:58
right. And um yeah, I couldn't get home.
01:05:00
I ended up having to stay for maybe 7
01:05:03
weeks after the season before I finally
01:05:05
got home. And I got home on Boxing Day.
01:05:08
>> So, yeah.
01:05:09
>> It's a surreal time to look back on. E I
01:05:12
remember that the um the MIQ lottery
01:05:13
system.
01:05:14
>> Yeah. So every couple of weeks um you
01:05:16
have to get online and try and get
01:05:19
register for a spot.
01:05:20
>> Yeah. I remember like racing
01:05:23
>> for a world cup and then that evening
01:05:25
after I finished racing I'll be lying in
01:05:27
my hotel bed on my computer like cuz
01:05:29
obviously the time difference. So, I'd
01:05:31
have to wait up till like 1:00 a.m.
01:05:33
12:00 or whatever time it was trying to
01:05:36
get in. And then I'd be like waiting,
01:05:38
waiting, waiting. And then it would come
01:05:39
up and you like you're like 2,853
01:05:43
in Q. I just slam the laptop down. E,
01:05:48
>> I'm not waiting, man. Slam that thing
01:05:50
down. Oh, next week. I think I ended up
01:05:53
doing that like
01:05:55
10 weeks in a row trying to get home. M
01:05:58
>> yeah it was a stressful and a cruel time
01:06:00
for a lot of people eh
01:06:02
>> so 2022 you missed out um on winning the
01:06:05
world champions
01:06:06
>> y
01:06:07
>> uh that was an injury plagued season
01:06:10
>> yeah yeah there was a lot of lessons
01:06:12
learned in 2022 um that was a year in co
01:06:16
that I got stuck overseas so I didn't
01:06:17
arrive back until
01:06:19
end of end of December start of January
01:06:22
and I pretty much had no riding or offse
01:06:25
and um yeah just come in so
01:06:27
underprepared.
01:06:28
>> No excuses. Just so underprepared and
01:06:30
had a shocking first World Cup and um
01:06:33
that just put me on pressure. Really put
01:06:35
me on pressure just coming I think I got
01:06:38
like a ninth or something and then
01:06:40
>> it kind of just puts you like I say
01:06:42
under pressure and you're stressing
01:06:43
leading into the next World Cup and I
01:06:45
made a mistake and uh Portugal and quali
01:06:47
and broke my collarbone and rest was
01:06:50
history.
01:06:53
>> Why didn't why didn't you give up then?
01:06:54
Yeah. I mean, you had a three, Pete.
01:06:56
Three world titles in a row.
01:06:58
>> Mhm.
01:06:59
>> That would have been enough.
01:07:01
>> I know. It's It's never enough.
01:07:06
>> I want more.
01:07:07
>> Yeah. Yeah.
01:07:07
>> Yeah. I don't know. I'm just a You know,
01:07:09
you Yeah. Exactly. So, you got like
01:07:11
those two different athletes, right? I
01:07:13
know athletes are like, I want to be
01:07:14
world champion. They get world champion
01:07:17
and then it's like life's done. Life's
01:07:19
complete. Or you got other ones, it's
01:07:21
like they win. It's like, now what else
01:07:23
can I win? I want another one and
01:07:25
another one and another one. They become
01:07:27
addictive. And that's just me. Just
01:07:30
like, oh well. As soon as I lost that
01:07:32
one, I was just like, I'll just have to
01:07:34
rest up, come back, win, and I remember
01:07:38
I think I said on on national TV when
01:07:40
they were videoing my broken collarbone,
01:07:42
I'm like, oh, it's just a stepping stone
01:07:44
in coming back to win next year. And
01:07:46
that's what I was able to do. So, um,
01:07:49
yeah.
01:07:51
>> Did that knock your confidence? Well,
01:07:53
not really.
01:07:54
>> No, no,
01:07:56
>> I was obviously pretty upset about it
01:07:58
like cuz I wanted to fall and um yeah,
01:08:03
that kind of put that to end and um in
01:08:05
hindsight I think it was good lessons
01:08:07
learned. You know, like I say, I was
01:08:09
underprepared. things weren't aligned
01:08:12
and um I think a lot of the time I'd
01:08:14
kind of won those previous titles on a
01:08:16
lot of skill and and just being a bit
01:08:19
more speed and a bit better and um
01:08:22
hadn't kind of
01:08:25
worked in other areas that well kind of
01:08:27
just relied on like I said my skill set
01:08:29
and um yeah just opened it up a bit and
01:08:32
was like okay like I need to do more
01:08:34
work in different areas. So
01:08:36
>> sometimes, you know, like that saying,
01:08:37
you learn more if you lose than when you
01:08:39
win.
01:08:39
>> 100%.
01:08:40
>> I think I just in those years, I just
01:08:42
stayed on top of the peak. You know, I
01:08:43
never come back down. I never reassessed
01:08:45
the year and looked and reviewed it. I
01:08:47
just stayed on top and just won and won
01:08:50
championship and another championship.
01:08:52
And
01:08:54
>> what about 2024? What happened there?
01:08:56
>> Yeah, last year was a really tough year.
01:08:58
Really tough year. I had a big um injury
01:09:02
in the offse. I had another knee, micro
01:09:05
fracture. And at the time, I'd already I
01:09:07
had resigned with another team. Um,
01:09:10
and in hindsight, it probably wasn't
01:09:12
good timing because when I was due to be
01:09:14
back on the bike was like 2 weeks before
01:09:16
the first World Cup and I had to, you
01:09:19
know, get used to a complete new
01:09:22
environment, new team, new people in a
01:09:24
new motorcycle with, you know, different
01:09:26
brands and parts. And we were just so
01:09:28
underprepared in that aspect. Like I
01:09:31
didn't have the time. And then you come
01:09:33
in, everyone else is prepared and at the
01:09:35
best and top of their game and you've
01:09:36
just had all offseason off and you're
01:09:38
just on the back foot. You're just
01:09:39
clawing your way back. And it took me
01:09:41
until like mid-season to find my feet.
01:09:44
So tough year, but again just some
01:09:47
learnings and stuff. There was some a
01:09:49
lot of success in some areas like I had
01:09:51
my best sand performance of my career
01:09:54
last year which was pretty special to
01:09:55
battle for the win there. Um so plenty
01:09:59
of good but just overall a really tough
01:10:01
year. Yeah. Right. So, there's enough
01:10:02
positives you can take from it. So, so
01:10:04
this year 2025 um is a write off because
01:10:07
of the heart stuff.
01:10:08
>> Um and then back into it next year.
01:10:10
>> Yeah, that's the plan.
01:10:12
>> Um
01:10:13
>> number five, baby.
01:10:14
>> That's what we'll be working towards.
01:10:16
It'll be just Yeah. I mean, I had a
01:10:19
memory pop up on my phone yesterday of
01:10:21
um my victory in France, me spraying
01:10:23
champagne. I'm like, "Oh, dang." Like, I
01:10:26
miss this feeling. like I crave this
01:10:28
feeling, you know, like just the
01:10:30
pressure and
01:10:32
just getting to perform on the weekends.
01:10:34
I I miss that, you know. I'm not ready
01:10:36
to give that up. I
01:10:37
>> I'm still hungry. I'm still motivated.
01:10:40
>> Um so I can't wait to get back.
01:10:44
>> So many highs, but so many lows as well.
01:10:46
Out of all the injuries you've had, like
01:10:48
what's been the most um physically
01:10:49
painful?
01:10:51
>> Um physically painful?
01:10:56
Ah, they haven't been too bad.
01:10:58
>> Oh my god, you're a badass.
01:11:00
>> Um, the knees are like I think I
01:11:04
>> Okay,
01:11:05
>> I think I'm just so used to them.
01:11:06
>> Okay. I I thought they was um I thought
01:11:09
that was a reasonable question. I I used
01:11:11
to do a bit of road cycling and I fell I
01:11:12
fell off a there was a a pile up and I I
01:11:15
had a crash on the bike once and I broke
01:11:17
fractured a collar bone.
01:11:18
>> Um physically it's one of the most
01:11:20
painful things I've ever done. Yeah.
01:11:29
>> Impossible.
01:11:30
>> Yeah.
01:11:31
>> I ask you this question. You've broken a
01:11:32
collar bone. You've done your knee
01:11:33
numerous times. You're like, "Oh, not
01:11:35
too bad."
01:11:36
>> I did. Like you say, I said, "I broke my
01:11:38
collarbone in Portugal." Funny you say
01:11:40
that. And I I had a crash. I got up and
01:11:42
I'm like, "Oh, it's a bit sore." I hop
01:11:44
back on my bike and I carry on free
01:11:46
practice. I'm doing these jumps and I'm
01:11:48
landing. I'm like, "Oh, it's pinching."
01:11:50
I'm going through like roller sections
01:11:52
and just a jarring. I'm like, "Oh." I
01:11:54
pulled into the um pit lane and I said
01:11:56
to my mechanic, I'm like, "Man, like my
01:11:59
collarbone sore. Should we go get it
01:12:01
checked?" And then he's And then I was
01:12:03
like, "I'll go out and I'll do one more
01:12:04
good lap, like one more fast lap, then
01:12:06
we'll go get it checked." So, I go back
01:12:08
out, put a heater in. I think I go P3 in
01:12:11
free practice. And um I pick him up and
01:12:14
we go up to the um ambo and we get a ex
01:12:17
x-ray and yeah it shows a fracture like
01:12:20
a broken collarbone. I'm like oh that's
01:12:23
what's bro like that's a pain. And
01:12:25
anyway go back to the team and I'm
01:12:27
determined to go race with this broken
01:12:30
collarbone. Like I'm determined. So the
01:12:32
race comes around cuz like at that point
01:12:34
I hadn't lost the championship. I'm
01:12:36
still in it and I still want to be
01:12:38
there. It's hard for me to just go, I'm
01:12:40
not racing cuz that's championship done.
01:12:41
So I go down to the starting line and um
01:12:44
I'm like they're like no you're deemed
01:12:47
unfit to ride. I'm like no I'm I'm
01:12:49
racing but like medical terms if you've
01:12:52
just showed you have a broken collarbone
01:12:54
you're deemed unfit. So for safety and
01:12:56
stuff you're not allowed to ride. So I
01:12:58
got wheeled back to the team team tent.
01:13:01
But I was pretty devastated. I was going
01:13:03
racing.
01:13:06
>> You're a savage.
01:13:08
This is so funny. Honestly, anyone
01:13:10
that's had a collarbone injury will know
01:13:12
how excruciating it is. It's so
01:13:14
annoying.
01:13:14
>> Yeah. The next morning I woke up and you
01:13:16
are right. I was like struggling to put
01:13:18
my t-shirt on and and then I was like,
01:13:19
"Oh, I don't think I would have been
01:13:21
able to race today anyway."
01:13:23
>> What was you think it was just like
01:13:24
adrenaline at the time?
01:13:25
>> Yeah, it was pretty fresh. I'd only
01:13:27
broken it like an hour or two before.
01:13:29
So,
01:13:30
>> yeah, I think adrenaline and you're just
01:13:31
kind of you're not seized up yet. And
01:13:33
the next morning I woke up and I was
01:13:34
like, "Oh yeah,
01:13:36
>> she's definitely broken."
01:13:37
>> What's the closest you've come to like
01:13:38
packing it all in?
01:13:40
>> Um,
01:13:41
>> have you seriously contemplated throwing
01:13:44
it all in, throwing it all away, or you
01:13:46
just had like glimpses like an hour or a
01:13:48
day here and there?
01:13:48
>> No. 2018 I was like
01:13:52
I I wasn't phased whether I'd go back or
01:13:54
not. Like I was like, "Oh, well." Cuz
01:13:56
like I say, I didn't have a ride. No
01:13:58
phone. The phone wasn't calling. Like I
01:13:59
had no ride. I was with Yamaha and they
01:14:02
decided to put all their eggs on one
01:14:03
basket and go down um with the the
01:14:06
current world champ. She was with um
01:14:08
with Yamaha at the time and she had won
01:14:09
six titles and they chose her. So um
01:14:13
yeah, I guess uh from that aspect it was
01:14:15
like oh well if no one wants me, no one
01:14:18
wants me. I'm not too faced. And then I
01:14:20
just had people in my corner be like man
01:14:23
are you really serious? Like you have a
01:14:25
lot of talent. You've look how close
01:14:26
you've come. Like you've had some
01:14:28
misfortune. Like you'll get there.
01:14:29
You'll get there. And then just, you
01:14:31
know, you you give it a few months and
01:14:33
you come around, you're like, "Ah, yeah,
01:14:34
I miss it. We'll give it another crack."
01:14:37
But it well was close.
01:14:39
>> Yeah. You just need that dust to settle
01:14:40
in and get a bit of clarity. You imagine
01:14:42
if you threw it away then like imagine
01:14:44
that four world titles that you would
01:14:45
have missed out on.
01:14:46
>> Uh that's the thing that kept me going
01:14:48
back. Like when I did think about it, I
01:14:50
was like, I don't think I'll be able to
01:14:52
sleep. Like I don't think I'll live with
01:14:54
myself knowing that I walked away when
01:14:56
that had been my dream from such a young
01:14:59
kid. and I'd got close so many times
01:15:02
like I was like I said I was almost
01:15:04
there. We just needed to kind of piece
01:15:06
it all together, work on a few things
01:15:08
and um yeah, it would have been a crazy
01:15:11
Yeah story if I hadn't have done that.
01:15:13
>> I I think there's um there's so many
01:15:15
lessons in that for like so many people
01:15:18
like the the point uh where you were the
01:15:20
closest to giving it away
01:15:22
>> uh was the point where you've never been
01:15:23
closer to unimaginable success.
01:15:26
>> Mhm. Yeah, I know. and just how
01:15:28
different things could have been if you
01:15:29
if you did decide to quit then.
01:15:31
>> Yeah. Yeah. Who knows what I'd be doing.
01:15:33
>> Yeah. Hey, I said on Instagram you're
01:15:35
coming in here. There's heaps of heaps
01:15:36
of questions.
01:15:38
>> What do we got?
01:15:39
>> So, these are sort of random and all
01:15:40
over the place, but um someone wants to
01:15:42
know uh you've had long-term
01:15:44
relationships with Monster and Fox. Is
01:15:46
it good money?
01:15:48
>> Yeah, it's all right. It's pretty good
01:15:49
to be fair. I'm pretty grateful for what
01:15:51
I've got. I've been able to, you know,
01:15:52
purchase some property and have a pretty
01:15:54
good lifestyle. But um if it's compared
01:15:57
to like the males, no, not at all. Yeah.
01:16:01
So
01:16:02
>> work to be done there, eh?
01:16:03
>> Yeah, definitely. Um in terms of that,
01:16:06
but um I never kind of like to look at
01:16:08
what others have. I'm just kind of
01:16:11
pretty happy with just living my own
01:16:13
life and not comparing myself to others.
01:16:16
>> Yeah. You just hope that if you're the
01:16:17
best in the world and not a fluke, like
01:16:19
a fourtime world champion, that you get
01:16:21
to the end of your career and you've put
01:16:23
so much into this that you've got
01:16:24
something to show for it. Yeah. Yeah.
01:16:26
Exactly. Yeah.
01:16:27
>> Uh what's the first Kiwi thing you do
01:16:29
when you land back home?
01:16:31
>> Oh, straight for a coffee.
01:16:32
>> Really?
01:16:33
>> Yeah. Flat white. Kiwi flat white, mate.
01:16:35
Straight there.
01:16:38
>> You can um you can get a good flat wine
01:16:41
overseas, can't you?
01:16:42
>> Uh well, you know, I spend a lot of my
01:16:46
time in Belgium and Holland, and that's
01:16:48
very few and far between. Like, you
01:16:50
know, the filtered coffee, and
01:16:53
>> yeah, it's just different. Um, but since
01:16:55
I've been there a much longer time now,
01:16:58
yeah, I can find some good flat whites.
01:16:59
But, um, I'm just stoked I think at that
01:17:03
time to see my family as well. Like
01:17:04
that's probably the thing I've missed
01:17:06
the most. My family and my friends.
01:17:08
>> You've been overseas offshore for like 6
01:17:10
months or whatever you've been. It's
01:17:11
just like get back home and back to
01:17:15
Yeah. how you grew up and going for a
01:17:17
walk along Sinclair or just seeing the
01:17:19
mates.
01:17:22
Yeah, there's something about coming
01:17:23
back home e um even when I've been
01:17:26
overseas even that m if you're flying if
01:17:27
your last leg of your flights an New
01:17:29
Zealand flight there's something quite
01:17:30
comforting about just even getting into
01:17:32
>> an air New Zealand flight seeing the
01:17:33
Kora magazine seeing your name on the
01:17:35
little screen
01:17:37
>> like it just it feels like you're one
01:17:38
step closer to being home
01:17:40
>> I feel you on that one and just yeah
01:17:42
especially when you're coming into land
01:17:43
you just peek out the window and it's
01:17:45
just like I don't know I just get this
01:17:47
>> rush like this feeling it's just like
01:17:49
I'm home here I I am. I'm home.
01:17:52
>> How good. And then um you fly to Newton
01:17:54
airport. Get a cheese roll at the
01:17:55
airport. Do you I always get a cheese
01:17:58
roll at airport. Do you or no?
01:18:01
>> No, I haven't. But how good's a southern
01:18:03
cheese roll?
01:18:04
>> Sushi of the south. They say
01:18:06
>> they're good, eh? They are good. Yeah.
01:18:08
>> I just noticed your nails. Are you a
01:18:09
nail biter?
01:18:11
>> Yeah.
01:18:11
>> Are you?
01:18:12
>> Yeah.
01:18:12
>> What is it? Is it a stress thing? An
01:18:14
anxiety thing? Do you do it when you're
01:18:15
thinking or concentrating?
01:18:17
>> It's so funny. my mom and um she's
01:18:20
always like, "Stop biting your nails.
01:18:22
Just stop it." Especially my friend
01:18:24
Amanda, like she's always like, "Stop
01:18:27
it." Like, I don't know. I just I just
01:18:30
do it. I don't know.
01:18:31
>> I do it as well, but I I I tend to do it
01:18:33
when I'm thinking or concentrating and
01:18:34
then I'll catch myself
01:18:35
>> or bored or Yeah.
01:18:37
>> But a lot of people do it as like a
01:18:38
stress or an anxiety thing.
01:18:40
>> Yeah.
01:18:40
>> Yeah. I just I don't know.
01:18:43
>> Just recreational. Yeah. Yeah.
01:18:46
>> Um, is motocross the kind of sport where
01:18:48
people slide into your DMs trying to
01:18:50
impress you? And if so, what's the
01:18:52
weirdest fan message you've had?
01:18:54
>> Um, yeah, I've had a few. Um,
01:18:57
>> what have you got? Like groupies?
01:19:00
>> I can't remember what the weirdest one
01:19:02
is, though.
01:19:04
>> Oh, none that's coming to my mind off
01:19:07
off the topic. But,
01:19:09
>> uh, what's your pre-race pump up routine
01:19:12
and what music gets you in the zone? Um,
01:19:14
depends on the moment, you know. I do
01:19:16
like to listen to tunes before the race.
01:19:18
Um, I like Fred again. Um, depends
01:19:22
though. Depends on the mood. Like if I
01:19:24
need amped up, if I need to just, you
01:19:25
know, calm down or
01:19:27
>> can vary a bit, chuck a bit of Post
01:19:29
Malone on or um, it's funny. My best
01:19:32
year it was um, 2023. I had an awesome
01:19:36
teammate, Jack Chambers. He was
01:19:37
American. And man, we had some good
01:19:40
times that year. would just be blasting
01:19:42
the music in the truck before the race
01:19:43
and Post Malone would just be screaming
01:19:46
out the speaker and yeah, I do recall
01:19:49
those were good times and um amp me up a
01:19:52
bit and off to the line I'd go and got
01:19:54
some good results that year. So yeah.
01:19:56
>> Do do you have a like a sort of routine
01:19:58
or superstitions?
01:19:59
>> Not really. No, I I have the odd routine
01:20:02
but no superstitions. No like left foot,
01:20:05
right foot, tap the helmet, blah blah
01:20:06
blah type stuff. M
01:20:08
>> um just like to get ready at a certain
01:20:10
time and like I said listen to a bit of
01:20:12
music like the food I eat and the timing
01:20:15
that I eat and stuff like that and make
01:20:17
sure I check the track before I race and
01:20:19
this and that but but nothing
01:20:20
superstitious.
01:20:23
>> Have you ever had a hilarious fail on
01:20:25
the bike that you can laugh about now?
01:20:28
>> I don't imagine any of them would be
01:20:30
particularly funny.
01:20:32
Oh, you do get the the old one where you
01:20:34
like wash the front or
01:20:36
>> where you what
01:20:37
>> like just lose the front. Lost the front
01:20:39
for the camera like TV won a few times.
01:20:42
I'm like, "Oh, get up and have a look
01:20:44
and just like ease." That was a bit
01:20:46
embarrassing. But um yeah, I wouldn't
01:20:48
say that they're funny. They were not
01:20:50
funny. They're sore. Some big crashes. I
01:20:53
don't think I'm laughing at the other
01:20:54
end of it.
01:20:56
>> That's the answer I expected. What a
01:20:58
dumb question. Yeah. Uh, what do you
01:21:00
hope young girls watching you on TV or
01:21:02
online or even to this podcast take away
01:21:04
from your journey.
01:21:06
>> And nothing in life is easy. Nothing's
01:21:08
given to you, you know, like nothing's
01:21:10
guaranteed. You got to earn what you
01:21:12
get. And um, just work hard. I think I
01:21:15
I've, you know, noted that multiple
01:21:17
times in this podcast. Just hard work
01:21:18
gets you to where you want. And, uh,
01:21:20
anything is possible as well. I was a
01:21:22
little Kiwi girl from Denedan and had
01:21:24
dreams to become a world champion. and
01:21:28
um in Europe and uh yeah that can be
01:21:31
seen as like yeah too far a field and um
01:21:35
yeah so whatever you set your mind to
01:21:36
you can do and
01:21:38
>> yeah even if it's for the girls type
01:21:40
thing it's not a male dominated sport as
01:21:42
yeah there's still a road for females
01:21:44
you can still be successful and you can
01:21:46
still foot it with a boy so
01:21:50
>> yeah I love that that's a great answer
01:21:52
when you're at school like say secondary
01:21:54
school and you you you're sort of manif
01:21:56
esting this and you're dreaming this.
01:21:58
>> Did anyone try and like sort of squash
01:22:00
your dreams
01:22:03
or tell you, you know, just tell you to
01:22:05
pull your head in or anything?
01:22:06
>> Uh, not really. No.
01:22:08
>> No. I know I've heard of stories and
01:22:10
like athletes have that, but I think I'd
01:22:13
had so much success as well like as a
01:22:16
junior. So people like like I said it
01:22:19
was more like they expected it of me as
01:22:21
well like to be world champion. people
01:22:24
expected that from like as young as like
01:22:27
10, 11. Like they said like you'll be
01:22:29
world champion one day. Like I remember
01:22:31
getting told that a lot. Um so I didn't
01:22:35
really have that negative side of you'll
01:22:37
never really make it. I mean maybe the
01:22:39
odd person here and there. Um
01:22:43
but yeah.
01:22:44
>> What about what about internally
01:22:45
self-doubt? Um,
01:22:49
only 2018 really, you know,
01:22:52
>> um,
01:22:53
>> prior to that, not really. No, I was
01:22:55
probably on the other side of that, like
01:22:57
overconfident, pretty confident.
01:23:01
>> Needed a couple of setbacks in life
01:23:03
potentially.
01:23:03
>> Yeah, maybe. Like I didn't really Yeah.
01:23:06
have much self-doubt.
01:23:08
>> Um, what do you do to unwind or reset
01:23:11
after a big race or a tough season?
01:23:14
>> That's a good one. Um I think like
01:23:18
especially in my early careers like I
01:23:20
would win and I would already I would
01:23:23
win that World Cup celebrate like on the
01:23:25
podium blah blah blah and then as soon
01:23:26
as I walk down from the podium it's like
01:23:28
okay next next race next win my mind had
01:23:31
already switched and I I think that's
01:23:33
also part of an athlete that has a lot
01:23:35
of success having that mindset but I
01:23:37
think what I learned over you know the
01:23:39
last few years is just to also enjoy
01:23:41
that moment. So like that evening might
01:23:43
go out with a group of friends and have
01:23:45
like a nice dinner or you know take the
01:23:47
next day off and if it suits like with
01:23:50
the schedule maybe take the Monday off
01:23:52
to sightsee in the city or um just to
01:23:56
soak it in for a bit before you switch
01:23:57
and get back to the next goal. And um as
01:24:02
far as like the the offseason type
01:24:04
thing, you'll come back. I usually um my
01:24:07
favorite place is Queenstown. So I'll
01:24:10
usually go up there and just chill, you
01:24:13
know, not have a schedule. I think
01:24:14
that's the biggest thing for you. You're
01:24:16
so like on a schedule for the season
01:24:18
type thing. So it's nice just to wake up
01:24:21
when you want. Um train when you want,
01:24:23
do what you want for for a few weeks
01:24:25
there.
01:24:26
>> Queenstown's beautiful. Who who do you
01:24:28
know that lives there?
01:24:29
>> Yeah, so I have like um my grandparents
01:24:30
live there. So, um obviously I've been
01:24:32
going there since I was little and um I
01:24:35
have some really good mates there.
01:24:36
>> Some of my best mates live there. So, uh
01:24:38
it's perfect. It's like a nice balance
01:24:40
between not having too many people, but
01:24:43
also having a good group of friends that
01:24:45
you can count on.
01:24:46
>> Who Who are your your best mates down
01:24:48
there? You got any high performance
01:24:49
mates down there like Zoe or Nico or?
01:24:53
>> No.
01:24:53
>> Do you not hang out with them because
01:24:54
they're Red Bull and you're monster?
01:24:56
>> No, I've met Zoe a few times. She's a
01:24:58
cool chick actually. I think just we're
01:25:00
so busy in our own lives like and we're
01:25:02
different seasons.
01:25:03
>> Yeah. You're on a dirt track. They're on
01:25:05
they're on snow.
01:25:05
>> Yeah. So like this time of year I'm also
01:25:08
never home and that's their winter
01:25:09
season so they're home. But um I've met
01:25:11
her a few times. She's a cool chick. But
01:25:13
um I got some good mates like um and
01:25:17
also outdoorsy people like one of my
01:25:19
best mates Moren. She's um into like
01:25:22
adventure running and um yeah like
01:25:25
skiing and everything like on the
01:25:27
outdoors. And uh Scotty is also a good
01:25:29
mate of mine. Owns um off-road
01:25:31
adventures. So if anyone wants to give
01:25:34
dirt biking go and some cool back
01:25:37
country, hit up off-road adventures. And
01:25:39
yeah, we always go out and do some trail
01:25:41
riding in the hills and mountain biking
01:25:43
and like stand up jet skis and just do
01:25:47
cool stuff that this beautiful country
01:25:49
has to offer.
01:25:50
>> Yeah, Queenstown's amazing. God, it must
01:25:52
be surreal for you for your
01:25:53
grandparents, eh?
01:25:54
>> Yeah. like they they remember you being
01:25:56
a little girl that had this massive
01:25:58
dream and you've made it come true. Like
01:25:59
I can't imagine how how much pride they
01:26:02
have.
01:26:02
>> Yeah, they're pretty. Yeah.
01:26:04
>> Are they Are they scrapbookers? Is it
01:26:06
Who's the scrapbooker in the family? Who
01:26:08
who rips out every newspaper article
01:26:10
there?
01:26:11
>> That was my nana on on my other side of
01:26:13
the family and and she kept every like I
01:26:16
knew we had this funny thing. I knew I
01:26:18
was in the newspaper because at 7:00
01:26:20
a.m. in the morning, I'd wake up to like
01:26:21
a photo of me in the newspaper for my
01:26:24
from my nana and she would send it
01:26:25
through. She's like, "Yeah, you're in
01:26:27
the paper today." And uh yeah, she she
01:26:30
has kept every single newspaper clipping
01:26:32
that I've had since I was like eight.
01:26:34
And um but it's cool. Like my
01:26:36
grandparents um they tell all their
01:26:39
friends about it. And my granddad
01:26:41
actually said as um he was dropping me
01:26:43
to the airport, he's like, "Would you
01:26:44
mind coming to Seniors on a Friday?" cuz
01:26:46
all the all the oldies want you to talk.
01:26:48
So I'm off to seniors in a couple of
01:26:50
weeks to do a we speech for them. So
01:26:52
they're super proud and um yeah grateful
01:26:55
to have such loving caring grandparents.
01:26:57
>> Yeah, that's wonderful. Jeez. Um yeah,
01:27:01
my dad needs a lesson from your nana.
01:27:02
Like dad will message me say, "Oh, Dom,
01:27:04
you're in the paper for something. I'll
01:27:06
send you the article." And I'm thinking,
01:27:08
[ __ ] if you could just learn how to
01:27:09
take a photo on your phone, like you
01:27:12
could save the admin of like putting it
01:27:14
in an envelope and setting it up today.
01:27:17
>> Yeah, I'll teach him next time I'm down.
01:27:19
Um, what's your favorite place in the uh
01:27:22
to ride in the world?
01:27:26
>> Oh, that's hard. I love coming home and
01:27:28
riding in front of home, but at the same
01:27:30
time, like favorite World Cup, like in
01:27:32
terms of atmosphere would have to be
01:27:34
France. I think I think it's such a
01:27:37
special unique place in the world to
01:27:39
race. Like the French crowd is just
01:27:41
crazy air horns and they just dress up
01:27:43
and go crazy over the fences and um to
01:27:46
add to that they're probably my favorite
01:27:48
tracks on the circuit, the French
01:27:50
tracks. So really old school big hills
01:27:52
kind of what I grew up racing. So I'm
01:27:55
going to have to go with France.
01:27:56
>> Nice.
01:27:57
>> Do you do anything special to keep your
01:27:59
mindset strong like journaling, phys
01:28:01
visualization, anything like that?
01:28:06
I think it's all natural, you know, just
01:28:08
like
01:28:09
I guess I do, but it's not like
01:28:11
intentional.
01:28:12
>> Um,
01:28:13
>> yeah,
01:28:16
>> when you're not uh racing or training,
01:28:18
what do you love doing just for you?
01:28:21
>> Um, I love going for like a stroll on
01:28:24
the beach with a mate and a cup of
01:28:26
coffee. Um, I do enjoy going down to
01:28:29
Sinclair and doing that or like I say in
01:28:31
the lake or um when I'm up in
01:28:33
Queenstown, I love going on my on my
01:28:35
mountain bike. Specialize hook me up
01:28:37
with sick bike and um I love going up in
01:28:40
the hills. I think if if I wasn't to do
01:28:44
motocross as a profession, I would
01:28:45
definitely want to do downhill or
01:28:47
something towards that. Um I don't know
01:28:50
everything outdoors. So I'm I'm very
01:28:52
fortunate because like my hobbies are
01:28:55
also part of my job. So yeah,
01:28:59
>> you just love type two fun, eh?
01:29:00
>> Yeah.
01:29:01
>> Um, if you could FaceTime 16-year-old
01:29:05
Courtney and give her one savage pep
01:29:07
talk, what would you say?
01:29:09
>> Um,
01:29:11
be patient,
01:29:13
>> you know, you don't have to rush. I
01:29:15
think my whole life I was looking
01:29:16
towards people like older and I was
01:29:19
never even just in my age group. It was
01:29:21
always like gauging myself on the older
01:29:24
kids and trying to keep up, shall I say,
01:29:26
instead of just taking my time and
01:29:29
letting it do its course. Um, and I
01:29:32
think that was the same thing like when
01:29:34
I first entered the pro scene, I was
01:29:35
like, I need it now. I need to win now.
01:29:37
Like I won my first World Cup. I should
01:29:39
be world champion now. And it's like
01:29:41
things take time. Good things take time.
01:29:44
>> And you need to experience that and you
01:29:46
need to grow and mature and just let it
01:29:48
happen. And I think I was just impatient
01:29:51
a lot of the times and yeah, didn't
01:29:54
really understand, I guess.
01:29:56
>> Yeah, it's um it's hard when you're that
01:29:58
age though, right? Cuz you want
01:29:59
everything to happen all at once.
01:30:01
>> Um and then you look back and I suppose
01:30:03
you can see how it how it plays out. And
01:30:05
>> yeah.
01:30:06
>> Yeah. It's hard though. It's be hard.
01:30:08
It'd be hard having that conversation
01:30:09
and telling you to be patient.
01:30:11
>> Yeah. Yeah. Just be patient because I
01:30:12
can't really say enjoy the just enjoy
01:30:15
the journey because I have enjoyed the
01:30:16
journey. Um, so I just say,
01:30:19
>> yeah,
01:30:20
>> if you could be doing um if you could be
01:30:23
with anyone doing anything right now,
01:30:25
who would it be and what would you be
01:30:26
doing?
01:30:27
>> Oh, Jesus.
01:30:29
>> It's a good question, too.
01:30:31
>> It's a tough one, isn't it?
01:30:32
>> That's a really tough one.
01:30:32
>> Someone's going to be offended.
01:30:35
>> Oh, that's a really I don't know.
01:30:38
>> I got so many things I'd love to be
01:30:39
doing right now, especially right now in
01:30:41
this current state. I mean, I would want
01:30:42
nothing more just to be at the mates
01:30:44
local dirt bike track and cluther riding
01:30:46
around with my best friends on bikes.
01:30:48
Like, that would just be so good. Um,
01:30:50
>> or like I say, just hiking the hills in
01:30:53
the back country or out my mountain bike
01:30:56
and
01:30:57
>> Yeah.
01:30:57
>> Oh, yeah. You can't even do that from a
01:30:59
physical nothing. So, that's a really
01:31:03
>> Yeah, yeah, that's a cruel question.
01:31:05
There's many things I'd love to be doing
01:31:06
right now.
01:31:07
>> Yeah. This um this current adversity
01:31:09
that you're going through. Yeah. What's
01:31:10
it Yeah. What sort of impact has it had
01:31:12
on your mental health?
01:31:14
>> Um,
01:31:15
yeah. I think, like I say, I've gone
01:31:17
through some tough times before, like,
01:31:20
yeah, so I feel like I'm kind of, it's
01:31:22
nothing new. It's not like this is just
01:31:23
out of the woodwork and be, you know,
01:31:25
hit me, but at the same time, it is new
01:31:27
in terms of a health issue. Um, when we
01:31:30
first started talking about the heart, I
01:31:31
was like, why would we want to talk
01:31:33
about the heart? Like, I'm 28, you know,
01:31:36
like I'm fine. There's nothing wrong
01:31:39
with my heart, but I think just
01:31:40
understanding that, you know, you're
01:31:42
going through some some pretty tough
01:31:44
times with the health and the importance
01:31:46
of health. I think that's the most
01:31:48
important thing in the world. Really, it
01:31:50
is because
01:31:50
>> 100%.
01:31:51
>> When I was lying in bed through that
01:31:53
acute stage like I couldn't do nothing
01:31:56
like I had a feeling of my chest like
01:31:59
having something stuck in my chest and I
01:32:01
couldn't get air. I was gasping for air.
01:32:04
I was I remember being like
01:32:07
like I've got no use right now. This is
01:32:09
nothing to me. Like I'm just here. And
01:32:13
um this went on for a few weeks and you
01:32:16
soon puts it into perspective of how
01:32:18
important health is. And I think that
01:32:21
was why I'm like, you know, taking it
01:32:22
pretty seriously and want to make sure
01:32:24
I'm doing everything right and and very
01:32:26
cautious of it because I don't want to
01:32:29
go back to that state I was in. I'd love
01:32:32
to get back to doing what I'm doing, but
01:32:33
there there is no rush. I just need to
01:32:36
make sure that I heal 100% and correctly
01:32:39
because like I say, I love the outdoors.
01:32:42
I love putting my body through the hurt
01:32:45
locker and everything and I can't wait
01:32:46
to get back to doing that. I
01:32:48
>> couldn't imagine life without it.
01:32:51
>> What are the biggest lessons you've got
01:32:52
from all this adversity?
01:32:54
Um, I think it's going to make me way
01:32:57
wiser as an athlete around prioritizing
01:33:00
recovery.
01:33:01
>> Mhm.
01:33:01
>> And um, you know, understanding that you
01:33:04
don't have to be super human. You don't
01:33:06
have to put your body through like, you
01:33:08
know, the pain every single day. You can
01:33:10
just nurture yourself and have that odd
01:33:12
day to yourself and just really optimize
01:33:15
rest when it's needed. I think a lot of
01:33:17
times, and it probably stems back to my
01:33:19
upbringing, right? like traveling 15
01:33:21
hours, arriving home, back to school,
01:33:23
blah blah blah. Everything's been go
01:33:25
going 100 miles an hour and you never
01:33:27
really slow down. And it has been taxing
01:33:29
probably over the years on my body. So,
01:33:31
I think just moving forward, it's just
01:33:33
realizing that you can work hard, but
01:33:35
you you do need to have some days where
01:33:37
you just allow your body to have its
01:33:39
rest. And
01:33:40
>> it's really I've really noticed that by
01:33:43
how I progressed forward with having
01:33:46
those two weeks of full rest. Like I
01:33:48
took a big step forward then. So it's
01:33:51
like okay like rest is so important for
01:33:54
your health.
01:33:56
>> Yeah. You're you're a a super resilient
01:33:59
person. Do you think do you think you're
01:34:00
sort of born with that or is it like a
01:34:01
muscle that you've developed over the
01:34:03
years?
01:34:04
>> What are your thoughts? Do you think
01:34:05
much about resilience or No.
01:34:08
>> No. It does come natural. I mean I don't
01:34:11
know where it comes from. I really don't
01:34:13
know. Maybe I was born with it. Um, I
01:34:16
mean I think
01:34:17
>> all the [ __ ] you've been through would
01:34:18
have would have helped as well. It's
01:34:20
like scar tissue.
01:34:22
>> Yeah, sure. And you get hit with
01:34:23
something else and I know I'd get hit
01:34:25
with an injury and most people would be
01:34:27
pretty devastated or like said as like,
01:34:30
oh, they'll never come back from it. I'm
01:34:31
just like, oh,
01:34:33
>> another one,
01:34:34
>> we'll deal with it type thing. It's just
01:34:36
>> been through worse than this.
01:34:36
>> Yeah, but that's the thing. And and
01:34:38
there's always someone worse out there
01:34:40
than you,
01:34:41
>> you know? So, it's like really hard for
01:34:42
me to even sit here and explain what
01:34:44
I've gone through cuz I don't want to
01:34:46
sound like the poor me because there's
01:34:48
been so many people in worse situations
01:34:50
than what what I've gone through.
01:34:52
>> I'm not the only one going through some
01:34:53
health issues. So, um this is someone
01:34:55
always worse off than you.
01:34:56
>> Yeah, it can really um bum you out if
01:34:58
you compare up
01:35:00
>> like so say you watch your um
01:35:02
competitors racing that could really bum
01:35:04
you out. But if you compare down Yeah.
01:35:06
there's a lot people far worse off.
01:35:08
>> Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. There is. So, um,
01:35:11
it's just another one and you just got
01:35:12
to kind of embrace it for what it is.
01:35:14
That's the biggest thing is stressing
01:35:16
about it, worrying about it just makes
01:35:18
things worse. And, um, I think I've
01:35:20
still got that race or that athlete
01:35:21
mentality though that I'm still like
01:35:24
still trying to work out what race I can
01:35:25
get back from. And it's like, man, you
01:35:27
can't even walk up the hill. Like, I
01:35:29
can't even walk up a hill yet. I think I
01:35:31
need to be able to walk up a hill before
01:35:32
I can focus on my return to the track.
01:35:34
>> Yeah, just chill. Stop potting. Stop
01:35:37
potting. Um, so yeah,
01:35:39
>> how are you with um like vulnerability?
01:35:41
Like are there people in your team that
01:35:43
you can talk to about what you're going
01:35:44
through and in a real honest and open
01:35:47
and unfiltered way?
01:35:49
>> Yeah, I've probably got better better at
01:35:51
it. I would say definitely as a
01:35:53
youngster I wasn't very good at it. I
01:35:54
just kind of bottled everything up. Um,
01:35:58
didn't really show too much emotion like
01:36:00
that. Just kind of dealt with it and uh
01:36:03
yeah, I guess wasn't very open. I would
01:36:06
say still these days not not the best at
01:36:09
it but um yeah learning
01:36:13
>> it's hard as as long as you're aware of
01:36:16
it you can make more of an effort. Yeah.
01:36:17
Who who who do you talk to? Who can you
01:36:20
talk to in a real open and unguarded
01:36:22
way?
01:36:24
>> Yeah. I've got some really good friends
01:36:25
that I can talk to. Obviously my mom. Um
01:36:28
I feel like I've got a lot of moms too.
01:36:29
like I've got a lot of um yeah, good
01:36:33
older people looking out for me and um
01:36:36
yeah, I've got people there if I need
01:36:38
them for type thing.
01:36:39
>> I'm just one of those Kiwi girls that
01:36:41
kind of just gets on with it.
01:36:43
>> Yeah, I love that. I love that. That's
01:36:45
um definitely the impression I've got
01:36:46
from you today.
01:36:48
>> Just rough and tumble and yeah, just
01:36:50
crack on with it. Do you are are you
01:36:52
very a very emotional person?
01:36:54
>> Do you when was the last time you cried?
01:36:58
definitely emotional around. Yeah, I am.
01:37:00
I am like um my my nana passed away two
01:37:05
years and that was really hard on me.
01:37:07
>> Um I got real emotional over that. I
01:37:09
would she got really sick just all of a
01:37:11
sudden ended up in hospital and passed
01:37:12
two weeks later and I remember I would
01:37:14
visit her every day and just sit by her
01:37:16
and I would cry every time I left her.
01:37:19
And um I think I am emotional when it
01:37:22
comes to my racing like cuz I care about
01:37:24
it. like I really care about my
01:37:26
performance and I want to do the best
01:37:28
for my people and and for myself. So I
01:37:30
get a bit emotional if I don't quite get
01:37:32
the results I want. Um but um I'm also
01:37:36
getting better at that like nowhere near
01:37:38
like I used to be but yeah
01:37:40
>> maturity.
01:37:41
>> Yeah. Yeah. But still like I I have
01:37:43
feelings like Yeah.
01:37:45
>> What would you say your best and worst
01:37:47
habits are?
01:37:49
Poor
01:37:52
>> impatience
01:37:54
>> as a kid. Yes. No, I'm all good. I've
01:37:57
lived in I've lived in England, you
01:37:59
know, that that taught me so much about
01:38:00
my patience. I can Well, I'll be stuck
01:38:04
in traffic for hours. And I mean, I grew
01:38:06
up in Palmer, right? My mom still goes
01:38:08
to Deneden and she's like, "Oh, the
01:38:10
traffic is just so bad. I just can't
01:38:12
stand it. I can't wait to get home." And
01:38:14
I'm like, "Mom, like it's there's
01:38:16
nothing. I've sat in traffic for hours
01:38:19
and you learn like you got to like let
01:38:21
traffic in to keep the flow going.
01:38:24
>> Kiwis are so bad at that, man. So bad. I
01:38:27
just let people in. I'm pretty patient
01:38:29
on that aspect. Um
01:38:31
>> I feel like I've definitely grown in in
01:38:34
that. I could definitely tell you that
01:38:35
was something when I was younger, but I
01:38:37
feel like I'm grown up in in that. Worst
01:38:40
habits, maybe my nails.
01:38:43
>> Well, if that's your worst habit, you're
01:38:44
doing okay. That's not That's not the
01:38:46
end of the world, is it?
01:38:47
>> Yeah.
01:38:47
>> What are you most afraid of?
01:38:49
>> Um, afraid of
01:38:52
h actually I'm a pretty I am a scaredy
01:38:56
cat. Like I'm afraid of a lot of
01:38:57
animals. Like even if I don't know
01:39:01
someone's like dog or cat, I'm like I'm
01:39:03
a bit standoffish. Um, and which is
01:39:06
crazy. I grew up on like a lifestyle
01:39:07
like we had cows and sheep and
01:39:09
everything. Um, I I'm not a big fan of
01:39:11
heights. I remember my mom got me like a
01:39:14
um for one of my birthday presents the
01:39:17
um bungee jump in Queenstown one year.
01:39:20
Signed up, got all suited off, went and
01:39:22
walked there and I was just like, "Nope,
01:39:24
nope. Can't do it. Can't do it." So, she
01:39:27
paid and jacked it all up for my
01:39:28
birthday. I was just like, "I'm sorry,
01:39:29
Mom. It's teary teeyed and walked off. I
01:39:33
I don't like heights." Um so, I'm afraid
01:39:36
of that.
01:39:38
>> Yeah. Yeah. You know how absurd that is
01:39:41
cuz you see videos of you racing online
01:39:43
and you're you're you're very high and
01:39:46
you're in the air and you're on this
01:39:48
bike and you may be in the air for like
01:39:50
four, five, six seconds, I don't know,
01:39:51
but you're not tethered to a rope or a
01:39:53
platform or anything either.
01:39:55
>> Yeah. So people say that cuz like they
01:39:57
say, "What do you love about the sport?"
01:39:58
And I'm like, "Well, the least things I
01:40:00
love about it is the speed and the
01:40:01
height." They're like, "What?
01:40:03
That doesn't make sense, you know?" But
01:40:05
that's like my least two things I love
01:40:07
about the sport is the speed and the
01:40:08
height. So, um, yeah.
01:40:12
>> Oh, you're a mixed bag. Um, what what
01:40:15
about your future goals? So, when you're
01:40:17
29 now?
01:40:18
>> Yep.
01:40:18
>> Where do you see yourself at? Like 35,
01:40:20
40, even 50.
01:40:22
>> Probably that ahead far ahead. I'm 52
01:40:25
now. Honestly, it it creeps up on you so
01:40:27
fast.
01:40:29
>> Honestly, it feels like you have a
01:40:30
couple of naps and there you are.
01:40:31
>> Yeah. No, I believe it. I often go, "Wa,
01:40:34
like was that 6 years ago type thing?"
01:40:36
Um, I don't know far a field like that.
01:40:39
I I don't know. I think I'm pretty like
01:40:41
just let life do its course. I don't
01:40:43
tend to stress and worry about anything
01:40:46
like that. Even like with anything in
01:40:49
life, it's like it will work its way
01:40:51
out. I think that's what life taught me
01:40:52
in in 2018 when things weren't going
01:40:55
well and I kind of just went down the
01:40:57
path it took me. So, I've always just
01:40:59
trusted the instinct like you you end up
01:41:00
where you're meant to be and life will
01:41:02
always work out for you. But, um I know
01:41:06
I'm all I can say is I'm not done. I
01:41:08
want to come back. I want to win more
01:41:09
races, more GPS, and more championships.
01:41:13
For how long, I don't know. We'll see.
01:41:15
We'll see how long the body lets me do
01:41:17
it. But in the meantime, I still have
01:41:18
the hunger and the desire, and um yeah,
01:41:22
I miss it. So, hopefully just more wins.
01:41:25
>> Oh, we haven't talked, we didn't even
01:41:26
mention the Hellburg Awards. So, you've
01:41:28
been you've been nominated for the uh
01:41:29
the Halberg Awards for sportswoman of
01:41:31
the year. How many times?
01:41:33
>> Three times.
01:41:34
>> Yeah, three or four times, I think.
01:41:36
>> Yeah. And you you you're yet to win it.
01:41:40
>> Um [ __ ] What?
01:41:41
>> Dame Lisa, right?
01:41:43
>> What do you have to Yeah. So, did she
01:41:45
win every year that you were in the
01:41:46
finals?
01:41:47
>> Yeah.
01:41:47
>> Who were the other finalists? Drop some
01:41:49
names.
01:41:49
>> Zoe. Zoe's been in it every year with
01:41:51
me. Um
01:41:53
>> Lydia Dame Lydia Co.
01:41:54
>> She's been in it a couple times, but
01:41:56
it's always Zoe. It's always been me,
01:41:58
Zoe, and Lisa, and then there's like the
01:41:59
fourth person would change each year.
01:42:01
Um, but man, you're coming up against
01:42:04
GOAT, so it's hard to win that.
01:42:06
>> Are you are you genuinely like at peace
01:42:08
and happy just to be in the final with
01:42:10
those guys?
01:42:10
>> I mean, it's such a surreal like just a
01:42:14
little bit like the World Championships.
01:42:15
I grew up watching the Hellbergs. Like I
01:42:17
mean, I've been a big fan of sport. My
01:42:19
mom's a huge sport fan. Like, she played
01:42:21
hockey and she wanted me to be a a black
01:42:24
stick. Like, and we just love sport. We
01:42:26
just have family that love sports. So I
01:42:28
grew up watching the Halbergs. It was
01:42:30
that one night a year where I was
01:42:31
allowed to stay up late the Wednesday or
01:42:34
the Thursday night and I just loved it.
01:42:35
And I remember also thinking like I
01:42:37
wonder if I could be there one day like
01:42:40
that. I would love to be there and I
01:42:42
really wanted to be there and I got that
01:42:44
phone call. So it was just an
01:42:45
achievement in itself and I think it's
01:42:47
one of those things where it's not like
01:42:48
you're fighting for a world title,
01:42:50
right? You're fighting for award and
01:42:51
you're generally like stoked for
01:42:53
everyone that's there. They're all
01:42:55
representing New Zealand. They're all
01:42:56
amazing at what they do and they're
01:42:58
putting New Zealand on the map. So
01:42:59
whether you win that evening or you
01:43:01
don't, like you're just stoked to be a
01:43:04
part of it. Like you and you're stoked
01:43:06
to see Carrington win how many ever gold
01:43:09
medals she has for the country. And Zoe
01:43:11
killer at the X Game. She'll just
01:43:14
>> just cool to be a part of and be part of
01:43:16
that history, I guess.
01:43:17
>> Do do you like those events? You like
01:43:19
frocking up?
01:43:20
>> Yeah. Yeah, I do. I love to dress up and
01:43:23
um the red carpet and stuff. There's not
01:43:24
too many opportunities. I get to do it a
01:43:26
few times a year, but yeah, I enjoy it.
01:43:28
I enjoy Yeah. the big night out under
01:43:31
the lights. It's pretty cool.
01:43:33
>> And um and did you meet Dame Lisa? You
01:43:36
know her?
01:43:36
>> Uh briefly. Yeah. Not a whole lot
01:43:38
obviously. I'm down in Denedan. She's up
01:43:40
here in Oakuckland. Um
01:43:42
>> so I haven't had a whole lot to do with
01:43:43
her, but I've obviously followed the
01:43:45
journey and
01:43:46
>> Amazing, right? It's just it's
01:43:48
remarkable. It's
01:43:50
>> it's pretty awesome. I think what people
01:43:52
don't understand is
01:43:54
>> it takes some amazing things to be able
01:43:57
to win to be able to win at world level,
01:43:58
but to be able to retain that year in
01:44:02
year at at that level for almost a
01:44:04
decade like
01:44:06
>> that speaks volume in itself. Like
01:44:08
people don't understand that like you
01:44:11
know like you can win once and it's
01:44:13
sweet but that comes with so much added
01:44:14
pressure and expectations and to be just
01:44:16
be able to handle that like I say
01:44:18
sustain that for a decade is just it's
01:44:22
amazing. We don't they you don't see too
01:44:24
many athletes ever do that. So um
01:44:26
>> and this isn't a word that um champions
01:44:28
like you or her would use but normal
01:44:30
people like me would sacrifice.
01:44:32
>> Yeah.
01:44:33
>> Like it comes at a huge cost to remain
01:44:35
at that level for that long.
01:44:36
>> Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Like
01:44:40
>> your whole life revolves around it. It's
01:44:42
you you have to like you say like
01:44:44
there's late nights and there's things
01:44:46
that you'd love to go to but you can't
01:44:48
because the training and you know the
01:44:51
routine has to come first because if you
01:44:52
know if you don't do that that might be
01:44:55
the difference between winning or losing
01:44:57
at world level. And if that comes down
01:44:59
to it and you didn't win and you go back
01:45:01
and what if I did that you know never
01:45:03
live with yourself. You have to put it
01:45:04
all on the table to get those results.
01:45:06
And at the end of the day, like if it is
01:45:07
a sacrifice, which it isn't really for
01:45:09
me, like I spoke about for others, it's
01:45:11
such a short period of your life, you
01:45:14
know, 10 years or I know Richie spoke
01:45:16
about it. He threw everything into it
01:45:18
for such a short period of time, but
01:45:20
life goes on after that and you have
01:45:22
plenty of time to do the things you love
01:45:23
with the people you love and do
01:45:25
different things after. So yeah.
01:45:27
>> Yeah. Have Have you thought about that
01:45:28
part of the puzzle like what you want to
01:45:30
do after this?
01:45:31
>> No, not really. People do often ask. One
01:45:35
day I wake up and go, "Oh, maybe I'd
01:45:36
like to do that." And the next day,
01:45:38
maybe I could do that. But I mean, the
01:45:40
thing is like I went through school and
01:45:42
I just had the ambition and just passion
01:45:45
to be a racer. Like that was all I saw.
01:45:47
So I didn't even
01:45:49
>> go through school thinking I might be
01:45:50
like a, you know, accountant or what
01:45:52
what do I want to do? It was just I'm
01:45:54
going to be a racer. That's all I ever
01:45:56
had. And I've kind of been fortunate
01:45:58
enough to have that lifestyle where I've
01:45:59
just been an athlete for such a long
01:46:02
time. So um that time will come
01:46:04
obviously and uh decisions will be made
01:46:06
whether I stay in the sport or stay in
01:46:09
sport or what I would do. I think it
01:46:12
would be cool like I've gone through a
01:46:14
lot to be able to kind of help people
01:46:16
and you know like I feel like it's
01:46:19
wasted if you're not able to share and
01:46:21
advise people kind of moving forward
01:46:23
with with their journey and stuff. So
01:46:25
>> yeah 100%. So, so it could be Yeah, it
01:46:27
could be commentary or coaching or
01:46:29
>> Yeah, maybe. Yeah, we'll we'll see.
01:46:32
>> Ah, well, that's something to worry
01:46:33
about another day.
01:46:34
>> Yeah, we got we got enough on the cards
01:46:36
at the moment.
01:46:37
>> Okay, this uh sounds a little bit
01:46:38
morbid, but imagine it's your funeral
01:46:42
and your family and friends are all
01:46:44
around. Uh, what three words would you
01:46:47
like them to use to describe you? Um,
01:46:51
oh
01:46:54
Jesus, I never really thought that far
01:46:56
ahead.
01:46:57
>> Um, I really like this. There's a reason
01:47:00
I really like this question. It's um, it
01:47:02
seems like a like a I'm a trivial one on
01:47:05
the surface, but if you come up with
01:47:07
these three words, you can sort of
01:47:09
reverse engineer your life and live in a
01:47:10
way where it's likely that they will be
01:47:12
the three words that people would use to
01:47:14
describe you when your life comes to an
01:47:16
end, if that makes sense.
01:47:18
So, it's actually quite a big one.
01:47:20
>> It is a big one.
01:47:26
Loyal, I guess. I don't know.
01:47:29
>> Why are you saying it so reluctantly?
01:47:31
>> I don't know. I'm just trying to think
01:47:32
of words. I'm just trying to I don't
01:47:35
really know if I'm allowed three to
01:47:36
describe myself. Like, I don't want it
01:47:38
like
01:47:39
>> You don't want to waste one.
01:47:41
>> Oh, I don't know. Like,
01:47:43
>> it can be just how you feel that feeling
01:47:44
right now. I I like driven, focused,
01:47:47
determined. It could be that if you
01:47:48
want.
01:47:49
>> Yeah, sure. I mean, they're all of the
01:47:50
above, but I feel like
01:47:53
>> you're more than that.
01:47:54
>> Yeah. You just want to be like known for
01:47:56
being
01:47:57
>> there for your friends.
01:47:58
>> Yeah.
01:47:58
>> Right. Like I'm still there to pick up
01:48:00
the phone for my mates.
01:48:01
>> Yeah. I'm still pretty caring. Like
01:48:04
>> um have a lot of love for my family and
01:48:08
even though like you say, I'm focused,
01:48:10
I'm still
01:48:12
Yeah. I'm still Courtney as a person for
01:48:13
for my family and friends. So, it's
01:48:15
that's quite a hard one to kind of
01:48:16
separate those two, I guess.
01:48:18
>> Yeah.
01:48:19
>> Well, there's a lot of words there.
01:48:20
>> There's Yeah.
01:48:21
>> But I can I can Yeah, I know what you're
01:48:23
meaning. You're you're a good person and
01:48:25
you care.
01:48:25
>> Yeah. A good person would be would be
01:48:27
nice to be remembered by. Um Yeah.
01:48:30
>> Are you proud of yourself?
01:48:32
>> Um yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I am.
01:48:37
>> That didn't sound convincing.
01:48:40
Is that is is that just a small town? I
01:48:43
I know you are, but I I feel like you
01:48:44
struggle just to say it because it
01:48:46
sounds I don't know boastful or
01:48:48
something.
01:48:48
>> Yeah, I think I'm definitely proud like
01:48:51
in terms of I was like I said I was that
01:48:53
young kid with big dreams and I
01:48:54
fulfilled them. Um
01:48:56
>> and I'm proud that we're you know as a
01:48:59
family able to achieve that and cuz a
01:49:01
lot of kids don't get to fulfill their
01:49:03
dreams that they had as a young kid. So
01:49:05
to be able to do that definitely through
01:49:07
what I've gone through through the
01:49:08
hardships definitely makes me proud to
01:49:10
climb up the climb out the other side of
01:49:13
it. But in one way I still feel like
01:49:16
I don't know if I ever I don't know if
01:49:18
I've reached my potential like in what I
01:49:21
was destined to do as a young kid. Like
01:49:23
I just feel like I probably could have
01:49:26
potentially gone further. um like I had
01:49:30
a so much success and as a young kid and
01:49:33
coming through that I feel like I could
01:49:35
have expanded a bit more into the male
01:49:37
scene and I probably just sheltered
01:49:40
myself from that and just um yeah I
01:49:45
didn't kind of go for it in that sense.
01:49:48
I feel like I could have probably
01:49:50
achieved a bit more but I mean it's
01:49:52
always easy to say that right on the
01:49:53
other side. though. Uh, I've still
01:49:56
achieved some cool things.
01:50:02
>> That's it. We'll end it there on those
01:50:04
four words. I still achieve some cool
01:50:06
things, honestly. Uh, yeah. Where's that
01:50:09
introduction card again from GPT?
01:50:12
Seriously. Um, regarded as one of the
01:50:15
most dominant female riders in the
01:50:16
sports history. four world championship
01:50:19
titles 2019, 2020, 21, 2023, and the
01:50:23
most successful rider in WMX history
01:50:26
with 42 victories out of 80 starts.
01:50:29
I've achieved some things.
01:50:31
>> Yeah, sure. I guess yeah, listening to
01:50:34
that, like you like I say, like I mean
01:50:37
my trophies and medals, I don't even
01:50:39
know where they are. They're just hidden
01:50:41
somewhere. I don't go home and look at
01:50:43
what I've achieved and I'd have to dig
01:50:46
out to find them. Um, so I guess yeah, I
01:50:51
never really
01:50:53
Yeah. understand it until someone on the
01:50:55
other side kind of explains, you know,
01:50:56
what you've achieved.
01:50:58
>> Um, yeah.
01:50:59
>> Yeah. Interesting. Maybe the maybe the
01:51:01
time for reflection will come
01:51:02
afterwards.
01:51:03
>> Maybe there's a time and place for that,
01:51:04
but maybe it's not now.
01:51:06
>> Yeah, I guess so. I mean, some people
01:51:08
are so different in that aspect. And I
01:51:09
think maybe maybe that's me. Maybe
01:51:12
that's why I've gone on to kind of keep
01:51:14
trying to achieve every year cuz you're
01:51:16
always focused on more and you're always
01:51:18
looking to what's coming next instead of
01:51:21
what you have potentially. Yeah. One day
01:51:23
you'll sit back and hopefully can say,
01:51:26
"Yep, that was pretty special."
01:51:30
>> You are pretty special. Uh Courtney
01:51:32
Duncan, thank you so much for coming on
01:51:34
the podcast today.
01:51:35
>> Yeah, it was awesome.
01:51:36
>> How's it has it has it been all right
01:51:37
for you? H
01:51:38
>> It's been stoked. I'm so stoked to chat
01:51:40
with you and like I say, you you're
01:51:41
great at what you do. You make it so
01:51:43
easy and um it's cool to share my story
01:51:46
and the insides and outs cuz I haven't
01:51:48
done a whole lot of it. So, it's cool to
01:51:50
do it with you, mate. Appreciate it.
01:51:52
>> Thanks, mate. Likewise. I'll tell you
01:51:53
what, it's hard to pump up someone's
01:51:55
tires if they if they don't want their
01:51:56
tires pumped up.
01:51:59
>> You're so casual, but I love it.
01:52:01
Honestly, you can take the girl out of
01:52:02
Palmyon, but you can't take the Palmyon
01:52:05
out of the girl. Eh,
01:52:05
>> that's a good way to put it.
01:52:07
>> Yeah. I love to connect.
01:52:08
>> Yeah. Awesome. Thanks, Don.