#048 - Interview - Gary McKenzie. AFL umpire, player and Hawaiian Ironman

It was our pleasure to interview Gary McKenzie, an unbelievable 75 year old athlete. His achievements are many including Triathlete, Hawaiian Ironman (180km bike, 3.5km swim and 42km run), AFL player and umpire along with being a gym addict !!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Welcome Sports Biz Family and welcome to episode number 48 with more frivolity fun and pheromones of Mr. Martin Winnell, aka the dog. Howdy everybody. And myself, John Briggs. Today we have a very special guest. It is Mr. Gary McKenzie, and I say Gary because some people might think I've said Barry. But Barry was a different person. Gary McKenzie. Very different. Very different. He pointed Percy at the portal and did. Oh now you know who I'm talking about. But you'll be pleased to know that Gary is not dressed as Dame Edna. But Gary, I've just got a bit of a rundown here for you. Next AFL player, umpire everywhere, many different countries, Iron Man, all over the world. Six how many marathons? Three marathons. Represented in Australia in world triathlons, married for 53 years, three kids, and the lads have now been successful in sport too. Where shall we start? First of all. Hello.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Hello.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

That's very polite.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

You're very welcome. Martin, you've got a question. Yeah, I can I can start this off uh for the listeners. I don't know where, to be honest. There's so much going on there with this man. Um mate, just give us a quick um quick overview. What's um what got you started in all your sport, how long you've been doing it, and then we'll sort of go into some details as we can.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Um yeah, I I was brought up in a small country town in Victoria, and um Name Evoka.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Avoka.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

It's Central Victoria. Yeah. Um the only thing like sport was was the main thing that you did. Uh you played cricket in the summer and football in the or tennis or football in the winter. Um, yeah, it was just a a way of of everyone in the town getting together and uh. Yeah, small country town, small country town.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Everything comes from the football oval.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Yep. Yep, absolutely. So, what did you find as a junior? What did you find your your favorite sports were? AFL's clearly going to be one from Victoria. Yeah. So uh what else did you excel at back then?

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Um, well, just going back to AFL, I I I got into I was I was 11 and I was playing under 16s, and once I got up to around 15 or 16, my dad was playing in the reserves, so then I played reserves with my dad. So that that was really special for both of us. Um being an only child, and yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

Um so hang on. I've got I I just want to follow something up there.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

I went off track, sorry.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

No, no, no, no, no. So you're playing country football, reserve grade at what age? Uh 16. 16. So for those that aren't gonna know this, country football is not the same as watching AFL, it's a fair bit more brutal. Um, and that means you're playing men. You're playing men in their late 20s, early 30s, size-wise. Yeah. So that is a fair effort, mate.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

Well, I I was actually a big boy. I I was uh yeah, I was basically overweight when I was younger. Um yeah, so I could kind of look after myself and if what I couldn't do, dad dad would look after me anyway.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Gary, what what position were you playing in those days?

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Um I was centre half forward as a in the sixteens and just just anywhere to fill a hole in the reserves.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

I used to actually play reserves and then I'd run the bounty for seniors. Yeah. To get a can of coconut pie. So I've I've always been interested in in in sport and exercising and you beat me to my next question.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

So it led no, no, be sorry, don't. It it lay it that leads into how I've met you, which is in the gym, and amazing, really. And if you don't mind me saying, for 120 you don't look too bad at all.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Sometimes I feel 120. No, it's um to me, age is just a number. Yeah. Just keep doing what you can for as long as you can. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

So just for the listeners, how old are you, Gary?

SPEAKER_00 4:19

75.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

75, that is ridiculous. It's uh so we'll we'll put a photo by the end of it. But holy crap, dude. I told you it didn't I, Martin. Yeah. I've seen what this guy does in the gym, and just the skipping alone is absolutely absurd. It's fantastic to see. And and and a total inspiration, to be honest with you. Well, we we can happily move on from there, because you know my thoughts on skipping. Yeah, you can't do it. No, I can't do it. Don't don't need to do it. It's purely it's it's not a sport. No, it's not a sport. Just because boxes do it and I like boxing. Legitim legitimalisers. That's it. Legitimalises? That's a new word. That's uh well, I knew what I meant. Um okay, uh Gary, uh so let's keep going. So as you got through When did you take up the umpiring? Um from an AFL point of view.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Well, I I played until I was 40. Yep. Um, and I finished playing and I thought, well, I still want to be involved, so I decided to take up umpiring.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Um and what level when I mean you got through to 40 years of age playing. Uh what level did you get to in regards to the AFL?

SPEAKER_00 5:28

Oh, I played major leagues in Victoria.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

Yeah. Uh Goblin Valley, Ballarat, um, Wimrah. So they're they're all like major leagues in Victoria.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

Yeah, they're all um feeding zones. Yeah. Aren't they? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So did you play with famous people as well who are now known to be famous?

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Um, yeah, a chap by the name of Jim Jess. Uh-huh. He was he's a legend. He we he went and played with Richmond. Yeah. He was a local vocal boy. Um he actually used to work in the post office. Uh in those days it was you'd ring up and they'd hello, number please, and then because my wife actually worked day shift and he worked night shift. Yeah, wow. But uh yeah, Jim Jess, they called him the ghost. He was uh he's alleged with Richmond. Right.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Yeah, okay. Bloody hell, that's fantastic. So did you ever think about trying to make it yourself in a career like that?

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Or very hard, very hard in those days. Yeah. If you lived in the country, it was really hard. Um there were so many good players that in the metropolitan that the AF the AFL clubs used to concentrate on. Yeah. It's not like now we're where each AFL club's got an academy, so all their players go and play in the academy and they they pick from from from there. Yes. They had zones in that in those days. Um I think a Vogue was in uh well Vogel was in Richmond zone. So the Richmond would recruit any of the good youngsters from those zones that yeah, but back in those days they're only pulling two or three guys from from country.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

Yeah. That would have been all they needed back in those days. So yeah. Very as you said, very difficult to to make a living. So what attracted you to umpiring?

SPEAKER_00 7:06

Um well uh just to I still wanted to I wanted to stay involved. Yeah and always respected umpires. Never abused an umpire in the whole 30 years that I played football. So I had a lot of respect for umpires. Um and I suppose the monetary, monetary value, so you get paid to umpire.

unknown 7:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Um chance of coat, buys. But and you're still involved. And and and I also I I took up umpiring, um not umpiring, sorry, coaching. So I took up coaching as well. Yeah, right. When we when we moved up to the Gold Coast here, I um actually coached at Broadbeach Juniors. Okay. Uh while I was still umpiring.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

Yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

And actually coached Nick Rewald.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Okay. Yes, of course. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

Yeah, Nick very good family friend. Nick Nick and my oldest boy are best mates. Yeah still.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

Yeah. So your oldest boy is he's gonna be a player?

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Is he He didn't he played with Southport. Okay. And then Southport, that was then was the the the top club in Queensland. Yeah. Um they m uh Travis and Nick moved from Broadbeach when they were sixteen and went and played with Southport. Right. Like sixteen-year-olds, and they were getting eighty dollars a game. Yeah. Never heard of. Um but they both played in premierships with Southport and Nick got Nick got drafted and Travis didn't.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

And Travis decided to go over to Canada and play AFL in Canada. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

As as you do when when they don't pick you up in uh in the AFL go to Canada.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

He was an absolute star over there. He was all all uh he was uh all Australia like he was the the combined team, the captain, won the goal king, won the best in fair. So he he was close to being AFL, but he just didn't quite make it.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Yeah. If he was anywhere near as good as Nick. Oh even even 80% as good, he's going to be a legend in Canada.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

You know, Nick wasn't wasn't uh that good when he was young. It was just just when he he had got drafted and then he he he got all the specialised specialized training and developed and yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

How long ago was all of this, Gary?

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Um QS. What's Travis now? That'd be twenty-four twenty-five years ago.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Yeah, right. Yeah. Your fitness for umpiring as well must be one of the major things that you have to keep up with. Is that am I right?

SPEAKER_00 9:21

Or yeah, I've I haven't um concentrated on fitness for umpiring. I just with the triathlon, you do swimming, riding, running, yeah, um, and that just uh you know combines with your with your with your umpiring. Okay. Um w we used to have some really, really hard sessions at umpire training twice a week.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

So yeah. And that's just running up and down the beach running backwards diagonally.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

Yeah, we we see a lot of four hundreds and all that type of thing. And yeah, so two nights a week it would train would be training for umpiring, so it kept you fit.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

Nothing, nothing quite as enjoyable as 400s. All that laxic acid. Yes, yep, five, eight, ten at a time, beautiful. Minutes recovery in between. They're the good old days. They are the good old days. Yeah, the good old days when you could do it without throwing up. You must have another question regarding here. Uh yeah, so I'm gonna bring this from an umpiring point of view. Um, my understanding is with what John's told me, you didn't just umpire here. Is that right? You umpired overseas? I have, yeah. So tell me a little bit about the overseas stuff with with AFL. Where did that bring where did that take you?

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Um well it was probably when I went we went to visit Travis, I I had umpire in in like in Toronto, they had uh they had eight teams there, so they had a fairly decent competition.

SPEAKER_02 10:40

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

Um and from there I umpired the US Nationals that were they were in um uh Texas.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

Umpired in uh the Solomon Islands, because I was well, I was working for the Australian government in Solomon Islands, so we got an association going over there.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

I was I was gonna say when John mentioned that, I thought surely it didn't exist much before you got there.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

No, you okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

So you helped help produce that.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

Yeah, we started that, yeah. It was funny. We used to we started off with the kids um and you'd have uh matches on Saturday, and and the kids would turn up, there'd be about 30 kids in the back of this big old truck, and they'd all turn up. It was so funny. And uh we used to have uh they weren't real leather footage, we used to have the the um the rubber footies, and we give the the kids a rubber footy to take home, and they'd bring it back the next week, all and all it was was a bladder. They just kicked and kicked and kicked. Sorry, sorry, Mr. Gary. No, that's okay, it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

I I seem to remember there's a a a phrase in AFL commentary when you um kick it a long way, and they refer to it as kicking the cover off it. Yeah, yeah. Literally, they've stolen that from the bloody Solomon Islands, it's not theirs at all. How l how how long were you there for, Gary?

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Uh we were there for five years. Yeah. Yeah. We we we really mixed with the community. We like I said, we started the AFL and we started a triathlon association.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

We actually had three three boys compete in the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. Wow from the Solomon Islands.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Oh, 2006. Yeah, yeah. Wow, that's brilliant.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

They finished third last, second last, and last. Yeah. But the crowd loved them. The crowd absolutely loved them.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

So that's a bit uh bit like Eddie the Eagle. Yes. Um and Eddie the Eagle. By chance, were any of them named Eddie?

SPEAKER_00 12:33

No, Marcus, Marcus, Willie, and Stanley.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Yes, brilliant, brilliant. I've got a a topical question, and I'm sure this will bring both of you into this conversation right now. I was at the Suns versus Collingwood match at the weekend, and what a game it was. Being a Collingwood fan, it was even better. Third time lucky, third year in a row, two years in a row we lost. I've got to win. Now then, there was an incident with a player by the name of Maynard. Gary, as an umpire, what do you think of the whole of that particular situation?

SPEAKER_00 13:09

Um, I agree that Ben Long should have been suspended for two weeks for what he did. Okay. But I I strongly uh uh believe that both Talk Miller and Maynard should have at least got one week's for contacting an umpire. Uh-huh. And the umpire was not in the wrong position. The umpire was in the correct position, but these players came from behind him and that that surrounded him. He was in the right position. He was just there, far enough away from the play to to hopefully control things.

SPEAKER_02 13:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

Um, you're not allowed to get too involved. All you do is stand here, and if there's anything underward, a strike or whatever, that's when you you you do your report. But these these two were reckless.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Uh-huh. Okay. Martin, you've got something to say. This is going to come out a bit later as well, because I'm not going to be able to do it all here. Um I thought uh if I'm not wrong on that incident, the whistle had blown for the end of the quarter. Yes. So we're not in live play.

unknown 14:07

No.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

And Miller and Maynard had run from at least 30 meters away to join the fight and ran through the umpire to do it. Yes. There can be no question it's a suspension. Okay. Well, Gary, you think that he should have been suspended. Maynard should have been suspended as well, and all the rest of it. So anyway, look, did you watch the game live? No. No, okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

No, it was uh four o'clock's a bad time because I was still umpiring.

SPEAKER_02 14:32

Ah, right.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

Where were you at the time? I umpired um Bond, Bond Uni. Bond uni played Tweed Coast. Yeah, who won him? Oh, Bond Thrashton. Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah. That that uh there's four teams that that are way, way, way ahead of the other four teams, and it's it's embarrassing when one of the top four play one of the bottom four.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Do you umpire more than one match a week?

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Um, yeah, sometimes on a Friday night, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

Saturday, and I help out with the juniors on Sunday. So three times a week. That's pretty damn good, isn't it? Well impressive. All right, so let's move on to some of the other stuff that you've done. Um, your story on how did you get into Iron Man triathlons and things like that?

SPEAKER_00 15:17

Um I was watching a uh uh a chap by the name of Andy Pascalides. Right. Um he was on the ABC and he used to commentate on all sporting events. And there was a at that time the uh Australian Iron Man was at Foster Tuncurry in New South Wales. That's right. And I watched that. I watched the Andy, I watched that and I said to my wife, I I think I can do that.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

So yeah, I didn't. Is it not there anymore?

SPEAKER_01 15:41

No, it's got too big, went to Coffs.

SPEAKER_00 15:43

Port Macquarie. Port Macquarie, sorry. Yeah. So I did five Fosters, qualified for Hawaii. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

Um that was that was So the listeners, can you explain what Hawaii is?

SPEAKER_00 15:52

Hawaii is the uh World Iron Man Championship.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

That's just crazy.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

And how young were you at that point? I was forty-two. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Yeah. I I feel like now's uh also a wonderful time to have Gary just mention the distances that make up such an Iron Man for the listeners.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

It's a 3.8 kilometer swim.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

No way ever.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

76 laps of a pool.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

Um 180k bike ride.

unknown 16:22

God.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Just a job.

SPEAKER_01 16:24

42k run off the bike. Off the bike. So ha look, I mean, that is madness as far as I'm concerned. Yeah. I agree. I agree. So what are your legs feeling like off the bike to go into a 42k run?

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Um mainly they're just jelly. Yeah. Um, but it all depends on how you ride your bike.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

If you go out there and ride as hard as you can for as long as you can, you'll suffer big time in the run. Okay. But if you control your bike, even splits, uh, even pace, don't try and if someone overtakes you, let them go, you'll have more left for the run.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:06

It it it's actually a runner's race.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How do you train for such an advantage?

SPEAKER_00 17:14

Yeah, I was just gonna it's so important that you you practice running off the bike. So if you if you go for a hundred and fifty K bike ride, hop off hop off the bike and do your 10, 15, 20k, you've got you've got to do that leading up to the race. Uh-huh. Yeah. And and then you then you do you you do your once a week 30 35k? Yeah. Just go ahead and do it. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

Were you a swimmer before that anyway?

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Yeah, swimming was always my strong leg.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

Wow. And what sort of swimming did you do before any interest in Iron Man at all?

SPEAKER_00 17:46

Um well, actually, uh many, many, many years ago when we lived in Victoria. Oh sorry, in Victoria, when we lived in Geelong, I I was working in the prison in Geelong. Uh, they used to have a uh 5K swim in the arrow in Melbourne. Right. So I did that four or five years in a row.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

That sounds awful. It'd be a bit chilly, a bit chilly.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

No, that wasn't chilly. It was dirty.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

It was just mud. It's bog snorkelling, right? Literally, Australia's version of bog snorkeling.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

The last time I did it, last year I did it, we were you had to walk from the finish up to the start, and then you'd swim down. Right. We got halfway up to the the start, and my wife says, Have a look at that. There's a dead cow floating down.

unknown 18:29

Lovely.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

But it was funny, all the girls used to get out and they'd have all black, they'd look like they had a beard. It was all that black stuff.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

Well they'd be today anyway. So anyway, that's not particularly.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

But yeah, like I mean, it's important you did you do some longer, longer swim training.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, 3.8 K is a fair.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

Yeah, a lot of ocean swimming. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

And just make sure you don't do all your swimming in the pool because you it's it's the pool's flat and so swim out in the ocean, swim in the rivers. I remember I when we're living in um living in the Golden Valley up at Shepperton. Uh I I worked as a water bailiff, and I used to go down to the canals and where the water was coming through into the the the channels I used to swim against the against the flow. Perfect. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

Was that just because you wanted to see if you could or just for and make you stronger? Yes. Yeah. That's what I mean. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

I probably swam for 20 minutes, but I didn't move. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Yeah, so your lung compensity would be resistance training in the pool. Yeah. They now create pools specifically for swimmers to do this, or you can just go to a canal on on work hours and uh jump in for 20 minutes. Yeah, yeah. And see a dead cow floating down the road. I know that's that's melt that's that's different. That's the error. Yeah. Melbourne is special, mate. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mate, that is incredible. So you're going to coffe, you're doing foster concurry, so that's all good fun. How'd you go over in Hawaii?

SPEAKER_00 19:57

Um, yeah, my my own in Hawaii was just to finish. Of course.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

Yeah, super hot.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

I think I did um I did nine hours thirty-two in Foster, and I think I did nine fifty-two in Hawaii. So I was that extra twenty minutes, but that was the heat and uh Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

Okay. So my memory's going back to these days, not that I ever did these events, but knowing people who did, nine hours thirty is a ridiculously great time for that for that level of of event. And the my my brain, because I'm a runner, starts to want to know, and I'm not sure I do. Well do you know your marathon splits for those?

SPEAKER_00 20:38

No, no, I I I just can't remember.

SPEAKER_01 20:40

Because I know the elite guys these days are running sub 230 marathons off the bike. Wow. It's just ridiculous. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

But in in the well, you still do, you have you have to qualify in your age group. So Yeah, okay. Yeah, so it if depending on how many racing in the age group is how many spots are available. So I think there was only three spots available at the time. So you had to finish in one, two, or three. Otherwise you didn't qualify.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

And how old sorry, how old were you then? I was 42. Yeah, 42. Yeah. And that's not an easy qualification. I mean, if you did it at 70, you would go, well, there maybe aren't that many people. But at 42, yeah, that's a big group of people trying to do it. 200 in the A trip. Um And what did you just have interest? What would what what were your general marathon times at that point?

SPEAKER_00 21:28

Uh I was up around six hours off the bike.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

Yeah, no, if you were to do a marathon separate.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

Oh, no, um I think I did a 420. Yeah. 420. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:39

So it's all endurance.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

Yeah. Run running is out of the three legs might running was all. It was my weakest.

SPEAKER_01 21:45

Yeah, but instead of you're doing three point whatever swim plus 180 on a bike. 180. I um John, I'm gonna put it out, I'm gonna time it. Yeah. We're at twenty. Four and a half minutes of this interview, uh-huh, and for the first time, I don't feel completely emasculated coming off the marathon time. I'm okay with that. Otherwise, I'm just here sitting in awe at this point of everything we're talking about. Wow. How long did you how much how long did you train for the Hawaiian event for? Is it like a year or um when was Foster?

SPEAKER_00 22:27

Foster was I think in March. And then we basically had probably two months of not much at all. And then we we cranked it up again for oh October.

unknown 22:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:41

October, Hawaii, yeah. So you you did have a break um i in between f Foster and um and Hawaii. But you you you you had that cond you had that conditioning in your body anyway, so a break probably did you more good than harm.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

Yeah. And then you then you just kind of built up again to to what you wanted to. I had a I had a coach in Geelong. He was uh uh he actually finished second or third in Hawaii a couple of times and he was what was his name? Greg Stewart.

SPEAKER_01 23:09

Greg Stewart, yep.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

Yeah, he used to he used to coach a group of us in Geelong. Dad of Miles Stewart? No, no, that's uh that's no relation. No relation? Oh, that's unbelievable. Yeah, Cole Stewart. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

Oh yeah, that's right, yeah. Yeah, Cole Stewart.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Yes. Uh yeah, they they've always lived up here, but Greg's always lived in in Geelong.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

Yeah. Because if I if my memory serves, Greg Welsh as Australia's maybe best Iron Man, I think it'd be close. It'd be one of the best from Australia. I seem to remember him having a little heart attack issue during the Hawaii Iron Man one year when he did it.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

Atrial fibrillation.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Yeah, it came out AF, yeah. They uh diagnosed that off that Iron Man for him one year. What did Guy Andrews do? What was he?

SPEAKER_00 23:56

It was the Surf Iron Man. Surf Iron Man.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Yeah, with Trevor Hendy and Guy Leach and Gary, tell us, yes, what's the difference for the listeners?

SPEAKER_00 24:04

Um well the the Surf Iron Man's basically your paddling and your your ski paddle and uh soft sand running. Soft sand running, and yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

Have you done that as well? No. No, okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:15

I actually raced against Guy's dad in in what they call X-Terror.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:22

Yeah, it was uh the the the uh padd was it the paddle and then the the uh the running, riding, mountain biking, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

Yeah. So Gary, what haven't we had held there? You've done the Iron Man, we've done the marathons. Uh did you do try shorter form triathlon at all as a part of the Iron Man competing in that?

SPEAKER_00 24:46

Yeah, that was an important part of your training is to do the shorter races. Actually, I I qualified for the World Olympic Olympic distance in in in Honolulu. Right. Yeah, I was actually working in the Solomons at the time, and it was funny. Um I used to do a lot of my training in the uh hotel pool. It was only 12 metres long.

SPEAKER_02 25:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:06

So up and down, up and down, all the all the people sitting down on the balcony drinking their their whatever, and they're looking at me and thought, what's this idiot doing?

SPEAKER_01 25:14

Yeah, but that's all right. So it's only the Olympic distance.

SPEAKER_00 25:16

Yeah, that's true. Is that one kilometer swim? 1.5. 1.5. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

There's nothing. Dogdle. Yes. It's called a recovery swim. And you you you did all of this in what New Zealand and Canada and you said Hawaii as well. What about the Solomons? Did you do it there as well? Or was that mainly just the AFL in the Solomons?

SPEAKER_00 25:37

Uh we we started a Trithon Association of the Solomons. Yeah, right. Yeah. Like I said, and we got those guys down to the Commonwealth Games, but we used to have triathons every Saturday morning.

unknown 25:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:48

Yeah, with all the local boys. And and uh Apex Apex in Queensland here, they at some stage they sent over uh about 30 bikes. Because there was no bikes. No one had a bike, so we got the Apex to send over some bikes so so all these locals can compete in. Yeah, they loved it. They absolutely loved it.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

That's pretty sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

One of the guys, his name was um uh mm um Maxwell. Maxwell, his name was. He used to ride his bike into the triath on Sunday mornings, and this one Saturday morning he rode in and he had a uh a a small crocodile. No way! Uh tied to his back and he had the jaws taped and had this crocodile rope to his back and he broke it. That's because because the Chinese had buy him off him.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

Oh wow, made a fortune. Snapped it up real quick. Oh ouch. It was so much fun.

SPEAKER_00 26:42

So much fun over there.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

Yeah, yeah, brilliant. Do you well what okay? What what are your favorite moments in your your history as a sports person, as an umpire, as a as an iron? What what's the standout for you? Maybe maybe pick the top 20.

SPEAKER_00 26:58

I'm guessing there's a list. Every sport that I've I've competed in is a I've got a favorite moment. I mean, um I played football in the Golden Valley with a team called Shepperton United.

SPEAKER_02 27:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:09

And we we on this one day we won the seniors. I played in the seniors, we won the seniors, reserves an under 18 grand final. It was in 1980. It's never been done before, never been done since.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

That's as perfect as country football gets.

SPEAKER_00 27:22

Yes, it is. And like Hawaii Iron Man, that that was the uh the ultimate there.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:28

Um I've umpired some grand finals in in football.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

Um, probably the highlight was uh the the police uh there was a uh emergency service games.

SPEAKER_02 27:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:38

Uh was held in Brisbane. Like all the police and fireies and all that from all over Australia came and I umpired the grand final there a couple of years ago. So yeah, there's every sport there's been a highlight.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

There's a little little question for you then. How do you go with the rule changes in AFL?

SPEAKER_00 27:58

It it is it's it's almost ruining community football. Okay. Because the the players are watching AFL on Friday nights, and then comes Saturday and we're we're paying different decisions because we're paying decisions that that suit the community, the the standard of football they they're playing, and they're they're just they're I'm scratching my head because they're they're complaining that oh that was paid last night. And I said, well, that this is nothing to do with last night.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

Completely different games.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

Yeah, it's it's actually made community uh community umpiring has made it really, really difficult.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

Okay. Yeah. So you don't use the same rules as what we see on the TV?

SPEAKER_00 28:35

Not no, we we kind of taper it down a bit to suit the standard of football. And that's the same again when you're umpiring the women, you just you you taper it down a little bit more to suit the the standard of football you're umpiring.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

Yeah. Yeah, you can't you cannot have the same holding the ball decisions and those sorts of things. Um, the same spoiling and and contesting decisions in packs, yeah. Um full-time professional elite level players and community players training twice a week. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:06

Yeah, see in AFL that but the holding the ball or prior opportunity in in AFL they get say three or four seconds, but in community footy you give them six or eight or ten seconds. Yeah. Yeah, it's just um it it is it's m it's made it really confusing.

SPEAKER_01 29:21

Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. You've got a very, very, very considerate wife, obviously. Yes. You you you're married to uh AFL, AFL umpiring, Iron Man and your wife. How does she deal with all this?

SPEAKER_00 29:39

Um No, she's she's been wonderful. Like I mean, to to to sit and watch your sons or your husband for eight, nine, ten, twelve ten, eleven hours, it it's it takes a lot. It takes a lot. Um I know the last Iron Man I did was in Cairns and it was a uh a full loop four or ten K loop course. So she she was sitting there and she'd know, okay, Gary's gone past, he he should be back at this time, so she'd go off and do something and then come back and yeah, um well she's she's had to she's had to adapt because she's had three of us doing the doing the uh football, yeah, Iron Man's. Um, but she enjoys it.

SPEAKER_01 30:21

Yeah, good. Well the the beautiful part, and she would have gone through all of this development in the technology. So the beautiful part about it when you're doing the longer events is these days normally there's a tracking chip in your bib, in your number, that you can log on to their site with, and then you can watch where the person is on the on the web so you can see it on your phone and go, oh, Gary's coming, he'll be round here in about six or seven minutes. I need to be over here. Exactly. And then after that, you walk off and do what you want.

SPEAKER_00 30:49

Yep. It was funny, like I just uh Travis did the elder son, he he qualified for Hawaii and he did Hawaii as well. And we went we went over and uh I just I rode the uh the bike while he ran. Yeah, not right next to him, but yeah, anyway, where he's running along and he says, Dad, Dad, I've got to go there, I've got to go to Taunton and do number two. And and we were coming up to where we were staying. Yeah, so we said, You go ahead, open the doors. He said, I'll I'll run off the track. Perfect. And that's what happened. And and the good the his girlfriend and and Kathy were waiting for like they're they're looking at their tracker and say, Where's Travis gone? Where's Travis gone? He's going off course, and he'd gone in to do his number two.

SPEAKER_01 31:27

Rather that than a Rob De Castello. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. However, I'm gonna just put that out here for everybody. If you're winning the world championships, you do not duck off the track. I wouldn't have either. I'm pretty sure Gary wouldn't. Yeah, right. And obviously, like I mentioned earlier, I've seen you in the gym a lot, averaging three times a week. That's when I see you, so you're probably there every day.

SPEAKER_00 31:54

No, no.

SPEAKER_01 31:54

Is it about three times a week? Okay.

SPEAKER_00 31:56

I'll go ride my bike and and go for a swim.

SPEAKER_01 31:59

Right, okay.

SPEAKER_00 32:00

Fair enough.

SPEAKER_01 32:01

The gym is only one part. Are you are you still doing like mini triathlons now?

SPEAKER_00 32:05

No.

SPEAKER_01 32:06

No, okay. No. Just the umpire at the moment. Yeah, okay. When are you making your comeback?

SPEAKER_00 32:11

Triathons, I don't think so.

unknown 32:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 32:14

Yeah, I don't think so. Didn't they have over 75s? Oh, yeah. Um no, I meant AFL. Didn't they have over 75s AFL?

SPEAKER_00 32:21

Uh as a player? Yes. No, they get the masters are masters start at 35. They go 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

And you do that as well?

SPEAKER_00 32:32

No. Not um not play.

SPEAKER_01 32:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 32:34

No, no. Umpire. Umpire. Yeah, yeah. I did I umpired the Masters Carnival up at Marichi door two years ago, and some of the old guys said they'll make you laugh.

SPEAKER_01 32:43

They just love it and then they're there for fun. Yeah, yeah. For the beers afterwards, mate. Can I can I ask um about nutrition with you being a personal trainer? It's obviously something that's uh I'm very interested in. I mean, you look amazing, and I'm not patch from me, ridiculously fit guy. So do you eat just normal? No, no, I I watch what I eat. Okay, yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 33:05

Not much sugar, um, not that much alcohol. I make sure I have veggies. Yeah, um, we we eat mainly chicken, fish. Yeah. I'll make a lasagna.

SPEAKER_01 33:15

So we eat high protein, yeah, high fibre.

SPEAKER_00 33:19

Yeah, we and sometimes we have lots of salads and uh sometimes we'll we'll spice you out, but uh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:25

Yeah. Yeah. And so this all begs one sort of final question from me, which will be an interesting one to leave it on. So I think you should ask a question after this, John. Fair enough too. Um throughout the course, other than impact injuries from a football point of view, which are very easy to get, any long-term injuries, anything that you've had to overcome in all of these, there must be some something somewhere that you've had to navigate.

SPEAKER_00 33:52

I had uh as an umpire, I had uh what I thought was an Achilles injury about four or five years ago, and no one could work out what it was. So I I'd I'd start running and then uh you know, the my foot used to ache and ache, and I couldn't run. So I went to my osteopath and he he did a scan and he said, There's something there you need to get a uh like an MRI or so I went and got that and I had a a bone growth underneath my Achilles. Oh wow. So they had they had a bone spur. Yeah, like it was like a spur, but it wasn't a spur, it was just a growth under the Achilles, and it was just annoying it. So I had the uh went to the hospital I went to the specialist and uh she she said, Yep, this was it on Friday. She said, Yeah, we need to operate. Uh had us Monday suit, and I said, That's fine with me. Yeah. So they had to sever the Achilles, scrape this bone and then read reattach the Achilles.

SPEAKER_01 34:43

Oh my gosh, that it actually cut the Achilles. So I was a moon boom for six months?

SPEAKER_00 34:48

I was uh yeah, six months, but I've had no problem since. Wow. So that's probably the the most serious injury of a book.

SPEAKER_01 34:55

And that's not even really an injury. No. It's just yeah, it just goes to show, and I've been a long time believer of this. There is no such thing as these supposed injuries that you get, like runners' knees, and all of this stuff that everybody says, oh no, you can't keep running, you can't keep doing these things as you get older, because all of these things might go wrong. No. Just manage the body, the diet, and the programs carefully, and things don't go wrong.

SPEAKER_00 35:28

I am so uh what's the word I won't say, I'm so particular about if I get any type of injury on ice or elevation, just I've got a TENS machine, I've got uh the the uh compression pants, uh-huh. Um, but I've always worn the best shoe that I can afford. There you go. And no knee injuries whatsoever. Yep, yeah, no hips, no no lower back.

SPEAKER_01 35:55

Yeah. As a trainer, again, we talk about this sort of thing a lot, and I do with my only with the client this morning who was talking about the right footwear and everything else. But a lot of it comes down to technique too. And but you doing three or four pursuits means that your body is very well balanced muscular-wise, as well. And I I think that's really important. Your posture is excellent, but it's uh it isn't over muscle, it's good working muscle for the pursuits that you do.

SPEAKER_00 36:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:23

Yeah, and you that's really evident. You can actually see, but the the the proportions right.

SPEAKER_00 36:29

Yeah. Look, it's just um yeah, but you just keep doing what you're doing and and and concentrate on on particular areas. Yeah. I I I do a lot of floor exercises for my lower back and hips and glutes and all that type of thing. It's just stretching.

SPEAKER_02 36:43

Yes, stretching. I was gonna say that before.

SPEAKER_00 36:45

Yes. Or I I've I've stretched and stretched and stretched forever. Yeah. Um and as you get older you have to do it more.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

Yes, you do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And do we? Hey, well, no, I don't. I do all the time. I don't I know I don't stretch all the time, yeah, nonstop. Only after exercise, though, not before. Ah, yes, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 37:04

I I I my dad was a woodcutter when he was younger. He used to go out and cut wood, he worked really hard. Yeah, and when he finished finished cutting wood, he just stopped exercising. Yeah, and his body just basically fell apart. Yeah, yeah. He just he became from this fit guy to a guy that was all stooped over and in a matter of.

SPEAKER_01 37:24

Well, that would happen. And I say to my clients who are uh have a physical job, treat treat your job like going to the gym and then stretch and hydrate properly afterwards, as if it was a gym workout.

SPEAKER_00 37:38

Even with the amount of exercise I do, I I I still walk probably three or four times a week.

SPEAKER_01 37:42

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 37:43

Just go for uh go for a five, six, five or six K walk.

SPEAKER_01 37:46

It is a very good recovery. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 37:49

I got the weight belt.

SPEAKER_01 37:50

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Perfect. Well, Gary, it has been an absolute pleasure. And uh we don't get many of you in very often, you know, so you're an absolute inspiration. And uh just quickly, one more question though. What other goals do you have in your life?

SPEAKER_00 38:08

Um, well, this is probably it's a bit of a weird one. Hier rocks.

SPEAKER_01 38:13

Okay, yes.

SPEAKER_00 38:15

You heard Hyrux, yeah. I want to do Hyrox in Melbourne in six months' time.

SPEAKER_01 38:20

Okay. Yeah. All right. Well then we will be looking out for that.

SPEAKER_00 38:24

There's not many, not many 75-year-olds do it.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

I think you'll just something.

SPEAKER_00 38:32

Um, one of the reasons why I want to do it is because it involves a lot of the squats and and and uh lunges and all that type of thing. So that's that's good for your body.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

Huge amount of functional exercises that go into it.

SPEAKER_00 38:43

And you can you're doing your farmer's carry and you're doing your your your erg and your rowing and all of that. Yeah, and you and and you're running. So it's just unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

Why not? Like I said, you're an inspiration. Absolute pleasure, Gary.

SPEAKER_00 38:58

Thanks, Martin. Thanks, John.

SPEAKER_01 38:59

So now it is goodbye from me. And it's goodbye from him. So the two Ronnie said goodbye. Cheers.

SPEAKER_02 39:07

That's brilliant.