September 8, 2024 • 24 mins
Mahé was raised in Tauranga and attended Tauranga Boys' College before moving to Auckland for his sixth form and university studies. He took up rowing at university and enjoyed a highly successful 20-year career in the sport. He is a two-time Olympic Champion in the single scull, winning gold in 2012 and 2016 and a five-time World Champion.
In the 2008 Olympics, Mahé had the honour of being the Flag Bearer and Team Captain for New Zealand. He was named the Supreme Halberg Award Winner in 2006 and received the Sportsman of the Year award at the Halberg Awards in 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, and 2016. He was also inducted as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (M.N.Z.M) in 2009.
After retiring from rowing, Mahé became a Financial Advisor at Forsyth Barr Limited. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce in accounting and commercial law, a Graduate Diploma of Commerce in information technology, and is an ACA with Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand (CAANZ). Currently he is the Mayor of Tauranga.
He is married to Juliette and has three children.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News talk S ed B.
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Real Conversation, Real Connection, It's Real Life with John Cowen
on News Talks ed B.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Good a, Welcome to real life. I'm John Cown. My
guest tonight is Olympic gold medal rower and new mayor
of Toto, Mahe Drysdale.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Congratulations, Mahe, good evening and thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Now tell me am, I saying your name right?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yes, Mahey.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Yeah, So it's it's sort of not quite spelt that way,
but the acute makes it an a sound at the end,
so yeah, it's I get used to answering to a
lot of different things.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
I believe it's an island that you spent some of
your gestation and.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
That's right, So yeah, I guess I.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
The plan was I was going to be a Sachellian
and so my parents moved to the Seychelles to uh
to live and and have me. And then there was
a just been a cop and so my dad, being
a European.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Was unable to find a job.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
So yeah, they had to give up that goal and
I moved back to Australia and I was born there.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
All right, Okay, now that's an interesting start to your life.
But the turns and twists in your life have been
interesting too. And now you're the mayor of Totra. Why politics?
You know, you'd relaxed from professional sport. You had a
good job, regular hour, three young kids, a dog, and
life must have been pretty sweet. And then you think, oh, yeah,
I'm going to throw myself into the exhausting, demanding world
(02:01):
of politics. Why did that happen?
Speaker 4 (02:04):
My wife's asking the same thing, was I guess, you know,
politics had always been something that I was very interested in,
but I hadn't sort of found a role that, you know,
really I felt, you know, I can I can get
my teeth stuck into and make a real difference. So
you know, I sort of went on and as you say,
(02:25):
life was was pretty good. And then yeah, just just
kind of out of the blue, kind of decided to
throw our lives into chaos and and run for mayor.
And and here I am a few months later as
mayor of Taringer. And yeah, it's it's you know, it's
it's it's an exciting challenge. I think there's a really
exciting future for city. And as I say, I think
(02:47):
this is a job that you can make a real
difference to the city that you know, it's a great city,
but it can be better. And and you know, I'm
sort of looking forward to that challenge of trying to
be the one that leads us there.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
You mentioned that your wife is wondering why you did
it as well as Juliet hard to talk into the role,
I mean, the joy drop, and.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
She thought I was joking for a long time, and
then then she sort of realized that that maybe I
was serious, and she sort of saw my passion, and
I think more than anything, was like, oh no, because
she knew the writing was on the wall once, uh,
you know, once I sort of get set my mind
to something. But you know, it's been pretty hard, and
(03:34):
I'm very you know, very.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Lucky to have such a supportive wife.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
And family, and you know, it's it's I'm absolutely aware
that that she's kind of allowing me to do this,
and and that means that, you know, I am sacrificing
time time at home. But as I say, you know,
she's she understands that, you know, when I get set
on something, you know, I'll do my best to do
(04:02):
a good job and and you know that that's what
makes me happy, so she will support me in that.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
You say, when she saw the writing on the wall,
I guess when she saw the election banners and posters up,
she sort of realized that you were serious. Did she
take your camp? Did she take your campaign did she
take your campaign photos?
Speaker 4 (04:21):
I no, she didn't actually, but yeah she yeah, I
think yeah. As I spent more and more time in
towing her and and sort of came home with you know,
quite excited.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
I think she was. She was seeing you know.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
That that sort of you know, passion that I had
for it. So yeah, it's it's a huge role. But
as I think there's there's some really exciting things ahead
for the city, and you know, I'm really stoked to
have a team of ten around the table, and and
you know we're all working well together to try to
deliver for the city.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
All Right, you find yourself like the cocks and are
rowing well nine? They don't have going nines, do they?
That must be I remember reading a story about how
you went down to the need and at the start
of your rowing care with a rowing eight, and you said,
you know, none of you had done it much before
it was pretty terrible. I'm wondering about this council because
(05:16):
there's only one from the previous council on your team,
and I think only two of you that have had
any council experience at all. Are you find out the
direct Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Yeah, no, that's that's right.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
I think, you know, to be honest, I'm really excited
by that because while.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
We don't have a lot of prior council experience.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
We've we've got a lot of life experience and you know,
we've got some very successful people in various pursuits, and
you know that that has formed a really good basis.
But as you say, we've got two councilors with a
lot of experience, uh, and they add you know, a
lot as well. So you know, I think that's that's
(05:56):
very much. You know, I guess from high performance sport
is is trying to mold everyone together and say, okay,
you know, bring bring everyone's strengths together, and you know,
as a sum of parts very much stronger than the individual.
So you know, that's that's very much been the focus.
And and you know, so far, so good.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
I think I think.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
We're working really well together and and leaning on each
other to to use the skills that that each brings
to the table.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
What what surprising you about the job. I know that
you've probably had some expectations of what being mere would be,
but has there been any surprises for you?
Speaker 4 (06:34):
I think the biggest surprise is actually how much detail
you need to know. You know, I obviously understood that,
you know, we're we're sort of governing a city, and
I kind of thought it was going to be a
lot more high level. But you really need to be
down into the intricate details because that's that's what the
rate is, and the your constituents sort of expect, you know,
(06:57):
when they bring up an issue, that expect you to
know about it, and you know, So that's been that's
been a challenge, I guess, and in six weeks to
get over as much as as we possibly can. And
we've spent a lot of time in meetings and briefings
and just trying to get up to speed. But yeah,
I feel like we're starting to come out of that
(07:18):
now and and be able to now look a little
bit further ahead and say, you know, what are the
things we can make better.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
You mentioned about a lot of the people sitting around
your council table have got life experience. I know that
you've got business experience, and you've got a degree in
commerce and other training and things. But I'm wondering if
there's something from your sporting your professional sporting life that
is a transferable skill to the council table.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
I think a huge amount of my sporting life is transferable.
And you know, I guess, as I mentioned around that
team building and understanding that you know, you're stronger together
and effectively. You know, without a team you can't sort
of do do anything. And you know that people find
(08:08):
that strange being a single sculler. But you know, I certainly,
I certainly didn't achieve by myself. I was out there
racing by myself, but you get me there. There was
a huge amount of people that you know, got me
to the start line, and in that, you know, in
that success and then you know, I guess just just
the process of being successful, you know, is what I
(08:30):
learned from my sporting career is it's it's quite simple
in the fact that you know you've got to have
that version or that goal, You've got a plan and
make sure you've got the steps that you need to
get to to to get to that goal, and then
you've just got to work really hard. And you know
the combination of those three things, you know can can
give you that opportunity to succeed. So you know, that's
(08:52):
that's very much. I guess what I've brought here, and
you know we're trying to do as a as a counsel,
is you know, go through that a similar sort of process.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Right, And did you find that a buzz? I imagine
that sport that being in a in a race, especially
if you're in the front of the race, there's a
buzz in that. Did you find actually the actual electoral
race was a buzz? Or was it more like being
in a battle?
Speaker 3 (09:19):
It's no, it was it was a bit of a buzz.
You know, I love I love that sort of competition.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
I guess we didn't have the opportunity to really spa
against each other. You know, most of the meetings was
just you know, you're giving a one to five minute
speech about you know, what you sort of saw as
the opportunities for the city. But yeah, it was the
difference really was you know, with with rowing is your
(09:45):
success or winning the race is the end. It's the
culmination of all that hard work and everything coming together,
and in the council race you kind of you win
the race, and that's just that's just the opportunity to
work really hard and see what you can deliver. So
it was kind of a weird feeling for me. Everyone's like,
(10:05):
well done, you've won. I'm like, well what if I won?
Of of an heer to the job and you know,
the work's not done. So for me, you know, there's
there's no success, I guess until until you know the
job has done it at the end. And you know,
that's that's been the sort of the hard thing. I
think everyone's sort of congratulating you before you've done anything.
So you know, I'm looking forward now to sort of
(10:27):
getting down and doing that work.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Right. Do you have some big goals for the place? Yes?
Speaker 4 (10:33):
Absolutely, you know, I think as as I said right
at the start, I think this is a great city
and you know, we've got some amazing natural environment around us,
and you know we've we've got to, you know, really
sort of make the most of that.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Can you put a finer point on that? After you've
done your four years there and PEPs lining up an
other four years but what would you like to see achieved?
And that's four years as regards look, you know, as
someone like my selfie comes to toe wrong every so often,
and I can look around, I can say, ah, yes,
that's one of the things that Mahete wanted to do.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Yeah. Absolutely, So you know, I guess there's there's just
been a lot of under investment over years, and you
know that's meant that we've got a massive housing deficit.
We've got you know, infrastructure issues, you know with our
roads and congestion. You know, there's no vibrancy in our CBD,
and so you know, there's a lot of those things
(11:29):
that we've got to try to solve, and we're not
going to solve for more than four years, but we
certainly put in in a place, a plan in place
that we can start to get there. So you know,
that's very much been the focus. I guess for me.
You know, we've got to fix this. The houses build more,
we've got to fix some of the bottle next we're
already started with one of those, and we've got to
sort out our CBD, and you know it's really exciting.
(11:51):
We've got eight tower cranes at the moment working in
our CBD with over one point five billion dollars being
invested there, and you know, it's it's pretty exciting. I
think as to what we we could have in sort
of the next probably five to ten years.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Well tell you what, if you can sort out the
question down, there is a job waiting for you up
here in Auckland too. I'm talking with I'm talking with
Mahe Drysdale, rowing champion and new mayor of Toronger. I'll
be back talking about his rowing career and all sorts
of things that made him who he is. This is
real life on News Talks.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
EDB Intelligent interviews with interesting people. It's real life on
News Talks ed B r A musing the mogion, what
shut mister Chase?
Speaker 2 (12:39):
The blogs? What's for the light times?
Speaker 1 (12:44):
The mulesing the.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Region?
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Shut mister Chase, the blogs? What's the light time?
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Welcome back to real life. I'm John Cown talking with
rowing champion Mahey Drysdale, who's getting into the the swing
of things as the new mayor of th Wronger. Mahey,
what are we listening to?
Speaker 4 (13:06):
Yeah? Eminem lose yourself. So that was always sort of
my my amp up song. Before going out for the
big races, and you know, I just just really loved
that that messaging, you know, around that that sort of
you know, your your one chance, one opportunity.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
So that was that was always an inspiration for.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Me, right stepping down from professional sport. Was that a
I mean, that had been your life since, you know,
for decades. That must have been a bit of grief.
Was a little bit of grief at leaving that behind.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Really interesting experience, I guess, not the way I expected
it to kind of happen. And you know, obviously you
know that the fairy tale was was to go to
to Tokyo and end it there. I always knew that
was the end, but it ended slightly early, about six
weeks earlier.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
But no, it was.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
It was actually quite seamless, and you know, I literally
I came home one day and said to Juliet, you know,
it's over, and she was kind of like what, and
you know I was, I was, you know, it was
a very clear, you know moment in time for me.
I just I just knew that was it, and you know,
(14:26):
and then it was really hard. I had I had literally,
you know, probably ten minutes of grief and that was
you know, when I went and spoke to the team, uh,
and and told them that I was done. You know,
that was that was really hard because suddenly all that
twenty years of you know, of work, of being part
(14:48):
of a really special team, you know, came to the fore.
And you know, I think I lasted about five seconds
before I burst into tears and you know, just just
speaking to that team and and uh, you know, you
know it was I was quite a mess for probably
ten minutes. And then you know kind of you know,
(15:08):
hugged everyone and walked out of the building and Juliet
was kind of like, are you okay, and I said,
I'm I'm great, you know, like it was just it
was just kind of that release that was done, and
you know, that was the you know, pretty much when
I walked out of that building, I drew a line
underneath my own career and said, that was Mahe the
(15:30):
Rah and now I'm excited about what's next, as you know,
Mahe the family man and Mahe the the you know,
the career is ahead of me. So yeah, it was
it was sort of seamless, but yeah, there was some
some hard, hard points in it.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
I wondered whether a career that goes that long in
sports starts to get a bit dreary. I mean, at
the start of your career and you rocketed away into
all sorts of successes and Olympic success, World championship success,
and then after a while, year after year you're having
to maintain that that standard, maintain that fitness and defending
(16:11):
your status. That can't be as much fun as as
getting there in the first place.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
To be honest, I always liked that I always had
there was always a new challenge, and I think that's
the key to it.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
You know, I was always focused on on being better
and what I could do better.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
So so you know, that was always always something that
I wanted to do and kept striving for. And you know,
so it never it never did get get dull. But
you know, certainly towards the end, my body was was
you know, I was in my forties, and you know
that that last year was was really the killer with
(16:50):
that that you know, extension from the Olympics, because I
was kind of only holding on and in twenty twenty
and then had to extend that another year and ultimately,
you know, wasn't able to get myself across the line right.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
I imagine your body working at that hard for that long.
I wonder if it starts to say, no, that's that's enough,
especially when you have things like jet skis running into you.
Did that ever have any long term effects you had
that accident out on the lake?
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Yeah, no, thankfully no.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
So you know, like I, I had a very fortunate
career that you know, I didn't have any you know, yeah,
obviously I had had issues to deal with, but no
real injury concerns. Earlier in my career. Then I had
a pretty serious back injury that was in two ten,
you know, which was arthritis, and so I kind of
(17:43):
had to manage that throughout, you know, the next kind
of you know, six or seven years, and then those
last few years, you know, that was really my body
saying look, you're you're right at the limit here, and
you know, there's only so much and it was really
I could do the work, but I just didn't recover.
So if I had a really hard session, I just
(18:04):
had to sort of take it easy for a few
days to to sort of get back. And that was
the difference between you know, earlier in my career and
later in my career. I could do the same things,
but I couldn't. I couldn't then back it up day
after day like I could earlier in my career.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Mmmmm, when you were watching the Olympics on TV, Actually,
I don't know did you go to the Olympics this
year at all? Or you just watch it well? And
you're watching them out on the water, and were you
there in the boats with them? Were you saying I
know what that feels like and you know what they're
going through and that I can see what they're doing
in their strategy. Do you do you actually identify really
(18:42):
strongly with the sports doom?
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Oh? Absolutely, and you know the New Zealand Cruise.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
A lot of those guys I rode throughout my career
and you know, been big parts of my life. So
I think I lived every every stroke with him quite
animated on the couch. So, no, it was. It was
awesome to watch and this this Olympics. Definitely, I was
in a place where you know, I kind of I
kind of got excited and hyped up about being in
(19:08):
that moment, but kind of was was quite happy that
I hadn't had to do all the work.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
To get there. So yeah, it was.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
It was quite nice to enjoy and great to see
the success across the wider team.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Yeah, they did well getting you to where you were
on that podium. I've read that no Olympic athlete gets
there without family on board. And one of the things
I've read about about you is that you particularly at
your grandparents in the role that they had and getting
you to where you are.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
Absolutely, you know, I think my grand grandfather taught me
a lot around you know that just determination and hard
work and you know around you know, my business and
you know how to how to run a business from
an early age.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
You know.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
My grandma was was amazing as well, just so supportive
and you know she was the one that stumped up
when when I quit my job and moved to Carapero,
she gave me two hundred dollars a.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Week to live.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
So yeah, like they were massive parts of of my
life and and helping me achieve you know what I
did and you know, pretty special in London. I I
won my gold medal on my late grandfather's birthday, so yeah,
it was it was pretty cool to do that.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Now he had an influence in your political life too.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
Yeah, so he's he's a former mayor of Tottonga, And yeah,
I've got got a couple of pictures in my office,
you know, one with my grandma and granddad wearing wearing
the Merrill chains and and another one of Granddad is
as his sort of headshot as Mare. So it's nice,
(20:59):
you know. I think he did a huge amount for
the city and had had the vision around the port,
you know this that's why he moved here. He could
see the what the port could be and in those
days it wasn't a port at all. So you know,
it's been a huge part of the city and I hope,
you know, to be able to live up to some
of the legacy and continue that that sort of vision
(21:22):
on to you know, to just keep improving the city.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
I know we're not much into royalty and dynasties and
things in New Zealand, but I can't have hurt your
chances too much with having a grandfather that had done
such a good job and intil wrong has passed that
people actually mentioned to you that they were sort of
remembered your granddad and were voting for you because you're
of that line.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
I think there's a lot of a lot of people
that remembered him. I think yeah, I guess I very
much purposely ran my campaign that you know, I was
a different, different person because you know, I don't think
because my granddad was successful as as a reason that
I will be too.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
But you know, certainly, certainly the lessons he.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
Taught me, and you know, I guess that that was
very much, you know, it was a purposeful thing that
I wouldn't bring it up, you know, by myself, but
I certainly acknowledge him if if someone someone did. But
you know, I think I think, you know, very much
ran on on what how I've been successful, But you know,
a lot of that comes back to some of those
(22:28):
lessons that that he taught me as I was growing up.
So yeah, I think I think there's a big part
of that. And then obviously, you know, there's a team
around me, as I've said, Juliet and the kids and
my mom, you know, my number one supporter, Juliette's parents.
You know, they've all been huge and in uh, you know,
(22:49):
supporting us because you know, sport.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Is hard and and.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
It's a pretty selfish endeavor, so you know, you need
that that sort of support around you to to pick
you up and you know and allow you not to
go to all the family functions or weddings and things
like that, because you know, you've you've got to focus
on that. So yeah, it's great to have that support
and that they're still around today.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
It's been great talking with you. Mahem, we'll go out
with another song that you've pecked. What are we going
to be listening to?
Speaker 3 (23:20):
So this is Guns n' Roses November Rain. This was
another one.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
This is more a sort of a calming song that
I'd listen to, you know, just when I'm sort of
trying to relax and visualize the race. And then obviously
we'd finish off that last song is that Lose Yourself
by Eminem.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Okay, so as you go into a council meeting, you're
listening to em and m. You come out on Guns
and Roses at the end of the council meeting to
wind out. Perhaps this isn't a bad song to listen
to it on a Sunday night as we're winding down.
But it's been great talking to you. I wish you
every success and your new venture, and wish a lot
of success to to Roger as well. Thank you so
much for being on real life.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
This is real life. I'm John Cown. Looking forward to
being back with your next Sunday.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
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Speaker 2 (00:33):
Good a, Welcome to real life. I'm John Cown. My
guest tonight is Olympic gold medal rower and new mayor
of Toto, Mahe Drysdale.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Congratulations, Mahe, good evening and thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Now tell me am, I saying your name right?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yes, Mahey.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Yeah, So it's it's sort of not quite spelt that way,
but the acute makes it an a sound at the end,
so yeah, it's I get used to answering to a
lot of different things.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
I believe it's an island that you spent some of
your gestation and.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
That's right, So yeah, I guess I.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
The plan was I was going to be a Sachellian
and so my parents moved to the Seychelles to uh
to live and and have me. And then there was
a just been a cop and so my dad, being
a European.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Was unable to find a job.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
So yeah, they had to give up that goal and
I moved back to Australia and I was born there.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
All right, Okay, now that's an interesting start to your life.
But the turns and twists in your life have been
interesting too. And now you're the mayor of Totra. Why politics?
You know, you'd relaxed from professional sport. You had a
good job, regular hour, three young kids, a dog, and
life must have been pretty sweet. And then you think, oh, yeah,
I'm going to throw myself into the exhausting, demanding world
(02:01):
of politics. Why did that happen?
Speaker 4 (02:04):
My wife's asking the same thing, was I guess, you know,
politics had always been something that I was very interested in,
but I hadn't sort of found a role that, you know,
really I felt, you know, I can I can get
my teeth stuck into and make a real difference. So
you know, I sort of went on and as you say,
(02:25):
life was was pretty good. And then yeah, just just
kind of out of the blue, kind of decided to
throw our lives into chaos and and run for mayor.
And and here I am a few months later as
mayor of Taringer. And yeah, it's it's you know, it's
it's it's an exciting challenge. I think there's a really
exciting future for city. And as I say, I think
(02:47):
this is a job that you can make a real
difference to the city that you know, it's a great city,
but it can be better. And and you know, I'm
sort of looking forward to that challenge of trying to
be the one that leads us there.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
You mentioned that your wife is wondering why you did
it as well as Juliet hard to talk into the role,
I mean, the joy drop, and.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
She thought I was joking for a long time, and
then then she sort of realized that that maybe I
was serious, and she sort of saw my passion, and
I think more than anything, was like, oh no, because
she knew the writing was on the wall once, uh,
you know, once I sort of get set my mind
to something. But you know, it's been pretty hard, and
(03:34):
I'm very you know, very.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Lucky to have such a supportive wife.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
And family, and you know, it's it's I'm absolutely aware
that that she's kind of allowing me to do this,
and and that means that, you know, I am sacrificing
time time at home. But as I say, you know,
she's she understands that, you know, when I get set
on something, you know, I'll do my best to do
(04:02):
a good job and and you know that that's what
makes me happy, so she will support me in that.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
You say, when she saw the writing on the wall,
I guess when she saw the election banners and posters up,
she sort of realized that you were serious. Did she
take your camp? Did she take your campaign did she
take your campaign photos?
Speaker 4 (04:21):
I no, she didn't actually, but yeah she yeah, I
think yeah. As I spent more and more time in
towing her and and sort of came home with you know,
quite excited.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
I think she was. She was seeing you know.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
That that sort of you know, passion that I had
for it. So yeah, it's it's a huge role. But
as I think there's there's some really exciting things ahead
for the city, and you know, I'm really stoked to
have a team of ten around the table, and and
you know we're all working well together to try to
deliver for the city.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
All Right, you find yourself like the cocks and are
rowing well nine? They don't have going nines, do they?
That must be I remember reading a story about how
you went down to the need and at the start
of your rowing care with a rowing eight, and you said,
you know, none of you had done it much before
it was pretty terrible. I'm wondering about this council because
(05:16):
there's only one from the previous council on your team,
and I think only two of you that have had
any council experience at all. Are you find out the
direct Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Yeah, no, that's that's right.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
I think, you know, to be honest, I'm really excited
by that because while.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
We don't have a lot of prior council experience.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
We've we've got a lot of life experience and you know,
we've got some very successful people in various pursuits, and
you know that that has formed a really good basis.
But as you say, we've got two councilors with a
lot of experience, uh, and they add you know, a
lot as well. So you know, I think that's that's
(05:56):
very much. You know, I guess from high performance sport
is is trying to mold everyone together and say, okay,
you know, bring bring everyone's strengths together, and you know,
as a sum of parts very much stronger than the individual.
So you know, that's that's very much been the focus.
And and you know, so far, so good.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
I think I think.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
We're working really well together and and leaning on each
other to to use the skills that that each brings
to the table.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
What what surprising you about the job. I know that
you've probably had some expectations of what being mere would be,
but has there been any surprises for you?
Speaker 4 (06:34):
I think the biggest surprise is actually how much detail
you need to know. You know, I obviously understood that,
you know, we're we're sort of governing a city, and
I kind of thought it was going to be a
lot more high level. But you really need to be
down into the intricate details because that's that's what the
rate is, and the your constituents sort of expect, you know,
(06:57):
when they bring up an issue, that expect you to
know about it, and you know, So that's been that's
been a challenge, I guess, and in six weeks to
get over as much as as we possibly can. And
we've spent a lot of time in meetings and briefings
and just trying to get up to speed. But yeah,
I feel like we're starting to come out of that
(07:18):
now and and be able to now look a little
bit further ahead and say, you know, what are the
things we can make better.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
You mentioned about a lot of the people sitting around
your council table have got life experience. I know that
you've got business experience, and you've got a degree in
commerce and other training and things. But I'm wondering if
there's something from your sporting your professional sporting life that
is a transferable skill to the council table.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
I think a huge amount of my sporting life is transferable.
And you know, I guess, as I mentioned around that
team building and understanding that you know, you're stronger together
and effectively. You know, without a team you can't sort
of do do anything. And you know that people find
(08:08):
that strange being a single sculler. But you know, I certainly,
I certainly didn't achieve by myself. I was out there
racing by myself, but you get me there. There was
a huge amount of people that you know, got me
to the start line, and in that, you know, in
that success and then you know, I guess just just
the process of being successful, you know, is what I
(08:30):
learned from my sporting career is it's it's quite simple
in the fact that you know you've got to have
that version or that goal, You've got a plan and
make sure you've got the steps that you need to
get to to to get to that goal, and then
you've just got to work really hard. And you know
the combination of those three things, you know can can
give you that opportunity to succeed. So you know, that's
(08:52):
that's very much. I guess what I've brought here, and
you know we're trying to do as a as a counsel,
is you know, go through that a similar sort of process.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Right, And did you find that a buzz? I imagine
that sport that being in a in a race, especially
if you're in the front of the race, there's a
buzz in that. Did you find actually the actual electoral
race was a buzz? Or was it more like being
in a battle?
Speaker 3 (09:19):
It's no, it was it was a bit of a buzz.
You know, I love I love that sort of competition.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
I guess we didn't have the opportunity to really spa
against each other. You know, most of the meetings was
just you know, you're giving a one to five minute
speech about you know, what you sort of saw as
the opportunities for the city. But yeah, it was the
difference really was you know, with with rowing is your
(09:45):
success or winning the race is the end. It's the
culmination of all that hard work and everything coming together,
and in the council race you kind of you win
the race, and that's just that's just the opportunity to
work really hard and see what you can deliver. So
it was kind of a weird feeling for me. Everyone's like,
(10:05):
well done, you've won. I'm like, well what if I won?
Of of an heer to the job and you know,
the work's not done. So for me, you know, there's
there's no success, I guess until until you know the
job has done it at the end. And you know,
that's that's been the sort of the hard thing. I
think everyone's sort of congratulating you before you've done anything.
So you know, I'm looking forward now to sort of
(10:27):
getting down and doing that work.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Right. Do you have some big goals for the place? Yes?
Speaker 4 (10:33):
Absolutely, you know, I think as as I said right
at the start, I think this is a great city
and you know, we've got some amazing natural environment around us,
and you know we've we've got to, you know, really
sort of make the most of that.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Can you put a finer point on that? After you've
done your four years there and PEPs lining up an
other four years but what would you like to see achieved?
And that's four years as regards look, you know, as
someone like my selfie comes to toe wrong every so often,
and I can look around, I can say, ah, yes,
that's one of the things that Mahete wanted to do.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Yeah. Absolutely, So you know, I guess there's there's just
been a lot of under investment over years, and you
know that's meant that we've got a massive housing deficit.
We've got you know, infrastructure issues, you know with our
roads and congestion. You know, there's no vibrancy in our CBD,
and so you know, there's a lot of those things
(11:29):
that we've got to try to solve, and we're not
going to solve for more than four years, but we
certainly put in in a place, a plan in place
that we can start to get there. So you know,
that's very much been the focus. I guess for me.
You know, we've got to fix this. The houses build more,
we've got to fix some of the bottle next we're
already started with one of those, and we've got to
sort out our CBD, and you know it's really exciting.
(11:51):
We've got eight tower cranes at the moment working in
our CBD with over one point five billion dollars being
invested there, and you know, it's it's pretty exciting. I
think as to what we we could have in sort
of the next probably five to ten years.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Well tell you what, if you can sort out the
question down, there is a job waiting for you up
here in Auckland too. I'm talking with I'm talking with
Mahe Drysdale, rowing champion and new mayor of Toronger. I'll
be back talking about his rowing career and all sorts
of things that made him who he is. This is
real life on News Talks.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
EDB Intelligent interviews with interesting people. It's real life on
News Talks ed B r A musing the mogion, what
shut mister Chase?
Speaker 2 (12:39):
The blogs? What's for the light times?
Speaker 1 (12:44):
The mulesing the.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Region?
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Shut mister Chase, the blogs? What's the light time?
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Welcome back to real life. I'm John Cown talking with
rowing champion Mahey Drysdale, who's getting into the the swing
of things as the new mayor of th Wronger. Mahey,
what are we listening to?
Speaker 4 (13:06):
Yeah? Eminem lose yourself. So that was always sort of
my my amp up song. Before going out for the
big races, and you know, I just just really loved
that that messaging, you know, around that that sort of
you know, your your one chance, one opportunity.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
So that was that was always an inspiration for.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Me, right stepping down from professional sport. Was that a
I mean, that had been your life since, you know,
for decades. That must have been a bit of grief.
Was a little bit of grief at leaving that behind.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Really interesting experience, I guess, not the way I expected
it to kind of happen. And you know, obviously you
know that the fairy tale was was to go to
to Tokyo and end it there. I always knew that
was the end, but it ended slightly early, about six
weeks earlier.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
But no, it was.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
It was actually quite seamless, and you know, I literally
I came home one day and said to Juliet, you know,
it's over, and she was kind of like what, and
you know I was, I was, you know, it was
a very clear, you know moment in time for me.
I just I just knew that was it, and you know,
(14:26):
and then it was really hard. I had I had literally,
you know, probably ten minutes of grief and that was
you know, when I went and spoke to the team, uh,
and and told them that I was done. You know,
that was that was really hard because suddenly all that
twenty years of you know, of work, of being part
(14:48):
of a really special team, you know, came to the fore.
And you know, I think I lasted about five seconds
before I burst into tears and you know, just just
speaking to that team and and uh, you know, you
know it was I was quite a mess for probably
ten minutes. And then you know kind of you know,
(15:08):
hugged everyone and walked out of the building and Juliet
was kind of like, are you okay, and I said,
I'm I'm great, you know, like it was just it
was just kind of that release that was done, and
you know, that was the you know, pretty much when
I walked out of that building, I drew a line
underneath my own career and said, that was Mahe the
(15:30):
Rah and now I'm excited about what's next, as you know,
Mahe the family man and Mahe the the you know,
the career is ahead of me. So yeah, it was
it was sort of seamless, but yeah, there was some
some hard, hard points in it.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
I wondered whether a career that goes that long in
sports starts to get a bit dreary. I mean, at
the start of your career and you rocketed away into
all sorts of successes and Olympic success, World championship success,
and then after a while, year after year you're having
to maintain that that standard, maintain that fitness and defending
(16:11):
your status. That can't be as much fun as as
getting there in the first place.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
To be honest, I always liked that I always had
there was always a new challenge, and I think that's
the key to it.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
You know, I was always focused on on being better
and what I could do better.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
So so you know, that was always always something that
I wanted to do and kept striving for. And you know,
so it never it never did get get dull. But
you know, certainly towards the end, my body was was
you know, I was in my forties, and you know
that that last year was was really the killer with
(16:50):
that that you know, extension from the Olympics, because I
was kind of only holding on and in twenty twenty
and then had to extend that another year and ultimately,
you know, wasn't able to get myself across the line right.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
I imagine your body working at that hard for that long.
I wonder if it starts to say, no, that's that's enough,
especially when you have things like jet skis running into you.
Did that ever have any long term effects you had
that accident out on the lake?
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Yeah, no, thankfully no.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
So you know, like I, I had a very fortunate
career that you know, I didn't have any you know, yeah,
obviously I had had issues to deal with, but no
real injury concerns. Earlier in my career. Then I had
a pretty serious back injury that was in two ten,
you know, which was arthritis, and so I kind of
(17:43):
had to manage that throughout, you know, the next kind
of you know, six or seven years, and then those
last few years, you know, that was really my body
saying look, you're you're right at the limit here, and
you know, there's only so much and it was really
I could do the work, but I just didn't recover.
So if I had a really hard session, I just
(18:04):
had to sort of take it easy for a few
days to to sort of get back. And that was
the difference between you know, earlier in my career and
later in my career. I could do the same things,
but I couldn't. I couldn't then back it up day
after day like I could earlier in my career.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Mmmmm, when you were watching the Olympics on TV, Actually,
I don't know did you go to the Olympics this
year at all? Or you just watch it well? And
you're watching them out on the water, and were you
there in the boats with them? Were you saying I
know what that feels like and you know what they're
going through and that I can see what they're doing
in their strategy. Do you do you actually identify really
(18:42):
strongly with the sports doom?
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Oh? Absolutely, and you know the New Zealand Cruise.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
A lot of those guys I rode throughout my career
and you know, been big parts of my life. So
I think I lived every every stroke with him quite
animated on the couch. So, no, it was. It was
awesome to watch and this this Olympics. Definitely, I was
in a place where you know, I kind of I
kind of got excited and hyped up about being in
(19:08):
that moment, but kind of was was quite happy that
I hadn't had to do all the work.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
To get there. So yeah, it was.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
It was quite nice to enjoy and great to see
the success across the wider team.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Yeah, they did well getting you to where you were
on that podium. I've read that no Olympic athlete gets
there without family on board. And one of the things
I've read about about you is that you particularly at
your grandparents in the role that they had and getting
you to where you are.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
Absolutely, you know, I think my grand grandfather taught me
a lot around you know that just determination and hard
work and you know around you know, my business and
you know how to how to run a business from
an early age.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
You know.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
My grandma was was amazing as well, just so supportive
and you know she was the one that stumped up
when when I quit my job and moved to Carapero,
she gave me two hundred dollars a.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Week to live.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
So yeah, like they were massive parts of of my
life and and helping me achieve you know what I
did and you know, pretty special in London. I I
won my gold medal on my late grandfather's birthday, so yeah,
it was it was pretty cool to do that.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Now he had an influence in your political life too.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
Yeah, so he's he's a former mayor of Tottonga, And yeah,
I've got got a couple of pictures in my office,
you know, one with my grandma and granddad wearing wearing
the Merrill chains and and another one of Granddad is
as his sort of headshot as Mare. So it's nice,
(20:59):
you know. I think he did a huge amount for
the city and had had the vision around the port,
you know this that's why he moved here. He could
see the what the port could be and in those
days it wasn't a port at all. So you know,
it's been a huge part of the city and I hope,
you know, to be able to live up to some
of the legacy and continue that that sort of vision
(21:22):
on to you know, to just keep improving the city.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
I know we're not much into royalty and dynasties and
things in New Zealand, but I can't have hurt your
chances too much with having a grandfather that had done
such a good job and intil wrong has passed that
people actually mentioned to you that they were sort of
remembered your granddad and were voting for you because you're
of that line.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
I think there's a lot of a lot of people
that remembered him. I think yeah, I guess I very
much purposely ran my campaign that you know, I was
a different, different person because you know, I don't think
because my granddad was successful as as a reason that
I will be too.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
But you know, certainly, certainly the lessons he.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
Taught me, and you know, I guess that that was
very much, you know, it was a purposeful thing that
I wouldn't bring it up, you know, by myself, but
I certainly acknowledge him if if someone someone did. But
you know, I think I think, you know, very much
ran on on what how I've been successful, But you know,
a lot of that comes back to some of those
(22:28):
lessons that that he taught me as I was growing up.
So yeah, I think I think there's a big part
of that. And then obviously, you know, there's a team
around me, as I've said, Juliet and the kids and
my mom, you know, my number one supporter, Juliette's parents.
You know, they've all been huge and in uh, you know,
(22:49):
supporting us because you know, sport.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Is hard and and.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
It's a pretty selfish endeavor, so you know, you need
that that sort of support around you to to pick
you up and you know and allow you not to
go to all the family functions or weddings and things
like that, because you know, you've you've got to focus
on that. So yeah, it's great to have that support
and that they're still around today.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
It's been great talking with you. Mahem, we'll go out
with another song that you've pecked. What are we going
to be listening to?
Speaker 3 (23:20):
So this is Guns n' Roses November Rain. This was
another one.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
This is more a sort of a calming song that
I'd listen to, you know, just when I'm sort of
trying to relax and visualize the race. And then obviously
we'd finish off that last song is that Lose Yourself
by Eminem.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Okay, so as you go into a council meeting, you're
listening to em and m. You come out on Guns
and Roses at the end of the council meeting to
wind out. Perhaps this isn't a bad song to listen
to it on a Sunday night as we're winding down.
But it's been great talking to you. I wish you
every success and your new venture, and wish a lot
of success to to Roger as well. Thank you so
much for being on real life.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
This is real life. I'm John Cown. Looking forward to
being back with your next Sunday.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
For more from US Talk set B listen live on
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