Join Cam and Brian as they chat to the legend, the VOICE of Ironman, Mike Reilly
Greetings everyone this is Mike Riley the voice of Iron Man and this is the old school try show with my kiwi mates Cameron Harper and Brian Ashby the show that talks about all things Triathlon old and new we’re powered by ansco Foods bringing you nutrition and good health
From New Zealand’s beef and lamb thanks for listening everyone enjoy the show Welcome along to another episode of the old school Tri show brought to you by our magnificent friends at ansco foods and Brian you know today’s an interesting one in that uh I was always told growing up never meet your Heroes
You may be disappointed but disappointment is the last word I would use this guy is just an absolute Legend and is taught us so much about what we do and uh yeah great to have him on so far and he’s already been on because we heard him in the introduction to this
One he’s a friend of ours he’s the only person that we’ve spoken to that hasn’t actually won Iron Man New Zealand but but he’s so much bigger than that it’s this guy our friend Mike Riley anco Foods is proud to be the new naming partner of Iron Man New Zealand
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Ironman to find out more well so good to catch up with our our brother our commentary brother the the voice of of Iron Man Mike Riley and and Mike I I guess that first and foremost as as we look at 40 years of Iron Man New Zealand if we wind the
Clock back you were well established as the voice of Iron Man globally but just wondering how did the hookup with New Zealand come about and and evolve in in in those early years it came about with Brent perie Brent who was uh on the Town Council in Topo and Jane Patterson and
They came to Kona uh Jane had been there a couple times so they kind of heard what I did my style and all that good stuff and they took me out to dinner and we had this big dinner and Brent was telling me every tourist thing to do in
Topa and all great and I said yeah guys but you know we have to put something together and they said we’re going to make this happen and it wasn’t that year that it happened it was the next year so uh they just came and said we like what
You do and we want you to do it in New Zealand the community will enjoy it the athletes will love it and I was excited to be able to come to another place in the world which I came to find out very quickly in my mind one of the most
Beautiful places in the world so so what what what year was your first year commentating in too for Iron Man New Zealand Mike uh it was let me think 99 was I think it was 2002 no no no no I’m gonna I’m gonna hold you back in I’m gonna reel you in
There Mike because um the first time I went was 2000 and you were there then and that was that was Bentley versus balance that was hell Regal versus brown that was 2000 yeah so it might have been 90 because the first year I did the first year of Iron Man Lake plet and
Iron Man Florida was 99 yeah so it was 2000 it was 2000 geez yeah and and were you um were you a little bit ricent about traveling this far for for a race how did you from that initial approach was it like no I had
Been going I had yeah I had been going to Foster ton Curry T man Australia for a few years and uh so so no I it didn’t bother B me to travel that far or anything like that and I had people tell me there’s a bit of a difference between
Australia and New Zealand I had no idea what they meant but I do now and uh what I loved about coming to New Zealand is I got to come down for the second you know down under for the second time in one year uh and see all the you know people
I knew from Australia meet the new kiwis and and uh so I wasn’t apprehensive or anything like that because I’ve done it before you know early on in my career I found out that all I can do is be me I I can’t I’m not good at faking it I’m not
Good at putting on airs I don’t know how to do that I just give them me uh not my ego you know I just give them as humble as I can be so that we’ take care of one thing and one thing only the athletes and so that’s that was my attitude ude
Whether I was in topa whether I was in foster tunur Kona or lake plet and it seemed to work because that’s always been you know and Brian and I have been lucky enough to know you for for a very long time but that’s always been your
Focus to get the athletes to they are the star of the show they really are they they they are and I think when people get on microphones they feel it gives them I it gives them false power if they accept it and just because we have a
Microphone in our hand doesn’t mean we are better than anybody else out there and uh I always avoided using I or me when I spoke at an Iron Man race because if I used I like I saw him do this or they talk to me it takes
It away from them it takes it away from our our constituents our athletes our sponsors our community so I always stayed away from I and me because it wasn’t about I or me it’s about them and it uh I learned that early on and and people appreciated that and plus it made
Me better it made me realize that oh my gosh that next finisher could be maybe the greatest finisher I ever see you don’t know or the greatest story I had ever heard and over the years of 33 34 years I just kept getting stories every year that
Would I’d go are you kidding me look what that person overcame and now they’re in front of me and I have the honor of yelling out their most prized possession their name and letting the world know that they’re an Iron Man that they finished the race and you know when
We came online with the internet and everything uh you started realizing oh my gosh they’re hearing me say that to their loved one no matter where they are what corner of the world they’re in they’re hearing it so while it was a big responsibility it was still an honor to
Be able to do that 2500 times a race if you if you sorry Brian just one quick thing because if you think about the literally tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people youve caught across Finish Lines over all the years you’re exactly right because
There’s so many people that they may do one Iron Man they’ they’ve sacrificed so much with their family with their work with just life right to get ready for an Iron Man and and to be complacent to go oh you know what I’ve done thousands of these when in fact for them it’s
Probably just their one time right yeah you know I looked at it as if like like we three right now we’re having a one-on-one conversation that’s how I looked at it at the Finish Line when I saw that person coming down the shoot no matter
What kind of look they had on their face whether it was pain Joy tears I I wanted to have a one-on-one conversation with that person as fast as I could uh as powerful as I could uh if there was somebody else coming from you know behind him and let them know what
They wanted to hear so it never got it never got mundane it I never got complacent because oh my gosh the next one here they come they have family they have their own story they’ve gone through hurdles in their life they’ve had tough times they’ve had good times
Just like me just like you and so I would never I would never discount that because I said it so many times it’s like I only heard it that time I sold it to that person then I say it to the next one and the next one and you guys do the
Same thing it’s it’s when it’s about them and it’s not about you it never becomes mundane or repetitive just becomes yeah well one the thing one of the things that helped me really fall in love with the event was you know it was 35 degrees and I’m watching hell Regal a
World champion I’m watching Lisa Bentley and I was like Wow and then it’s 11 o’clock at night and there’s an hour to go and there are these people that just look like you and me and they still out there fighting and you’re giving them what you gave hell Regal and Bentley and
I think that’s that’s the beauty I think that that’s the that’s the beauty of the sport everyone is Hell Regal everyone is Bentley it doesn’t matter what time they’re finishing you guys I was standing at the Finish Line the last year that Yan frino one Kona uh when he set the course
Record he comes back at like 10 o’clock he’s partying with everybody putting lays on all the finishers and it was about 11:40 or 11:50 20 more minutes to go or or so and this woman came struggling in leaning to the side the handlers had to grab her so she wouldn’t
Fall Yan put the lay on her and and there was a gap there wasn’t anybody else coming in he walks back to me he goes H how do they do it Mike I go what do you mean h how I could not be out
There for 17 hours I could not do that I have no idea how they can how do they do that I go Yan I they just they want to get to the Finish just like everybody and and he was he was in awe he was so inquisitive about how do they do that
Because he in his mind a guy could go sub eight rolling out of bed uh said to him I couldn’t do that I couldn’t be on my feet that long so yes while I’ll give a world champion they just doe and they come in uh they are all world champions to me
They went 140.6 miles 226k and they they they did something in life that a lot of people can’t figure out to do finish what they start and you gift them an audio tattoo you are an i itched in the brain forever I had one person at the Finish
You know it’s funny when we start talking I start I start seeing different finishes through the years oh I remember they just pop into my head and one person finished it wasn’t cona I was someplace else the final hours I I was down and he came through I called him and everything and
He looked at me he goes I got my diploma and I thought he meant he just graduated from University and got a I go oh congratulations way to get it done yeah you just gave me my diploma my verbal diploma that’s all I ever wanted for the
Last 10 years and he’s looking at me pointing at me I go oh okay okay and walked away and and somebody from his side says God we should have had a graduation cap for that guy so I guess it is it’s an audio diploma he was happy to receive that in
The in the early years Mike when you first came down here in the early 2000s what was your expectation of topor and Iron Man New Zealand and how were you received by the locals racing and the local community uh when I when I would go into a place
With expectations I’d always be either disappointed or Overjoyed so I tried not doing that when I landed in TPO you know Jane picked me up we came back to town I met I think I met Arthur right away you know you me some people that and uh
Everybody was so darn nice I equaled the people to the people of Ireland I I go to Ireland quite a bit my home country and they treat you like you know your brother or sister and that’s what happened in topall I felt only after a day or two guys I felt so darn
Comfortable and I I looked so forward to race day to be able to uh you know rev up the crowd and do what I do I didn’t know what it was like before all I could bring was me my energy my passion and do what I did at other Iron Man races and
Hope to goodness that that was enough so uh it’s seemed to be I mean people came up afterwards oh my God the Finish Line’s never been like this really what do you mean you know I I just thought whether I was there or not all Finish
Lines should be like that so uh it was uh not I wasn’t apprehensive but when I left I knew I had found God in my heart I knew I found another home that’s why it’s very difficult for me not to be at the 40th anniversary of all the races I missed
Last year not having to m microphone in my hand this one is really digging deep like I I’d love to be there my wife knows it my kids know it God you really want to be there don’t you yeah uh I got my sister and brother-in-law are coming
To town that weekend from back east and I made sure I had come on out you know join me just so I had a bunch to do but I’ll be I’ll be watching the race online all day and all night long right fantastic fantastic and that very first
Race um what what are your what are your recollections of of that first year Mike with with you know because the one thing that stood out to me was just the extreme heat and it sort of kind of created a false perception to me about what it was actually like because it’s
Never been that hot since well you guys I’m a I’m a heat guy the heat has never bothered me I’ve run in Death Valley I’ve ridden in the desert I I like the heat the heat is easier on The Voice you don’t lose the voice so when it was
Really hot I had been in hotter situations the first year but everybody was just like oh my gosh and then I realized yeah that’s right they don’t get the heat here it’s like being in Ireland you don’t get the heat you don’t get the heat in topal New Zealand like
It was and uh that’s when I learned Celsius Fahrenheit too by the way better than you ask it’s 40 I go 40 it feels like a 100 what the hell are you talking about so uh but I knew the athletes were going to have a tough day and they did
And I remember you see we halfway through the day or we could have been at a Hot Corner people were coming by I go you know what you have to readjust today you have to readjust if you don’t come through in the time you wanted to come through on
That’s okay finishing is the order of the day and I said that a few times during the day uh and people came up to me God thank you because I I was pushing it and I knew I was going to and some people did they they got the you know
20K of the run and they were done because it was so warm but uh so that’s when I first realized the heat in a place where they’re not used to the heat that’s a tough day yeah was it well you know talking about those conditions was there ever a
Year that actually frightened you in some way i’ I’ve never been I’m thinking know conditions that were thrown out in some way the year the year we canel I mean the year we canceled the race what on Saturday and did the half on Sunday yeah
It was2 I think 2012 is it yeah Ben Ben fdick the CEO of that time of Iron Man he and I woke up at our hotel like at 4 o’clock 4:30 I I called him I said you up yeah I go let’s go out there so we put our rain
Gear on it was a gale it was just so we went to the lake and we walked from our hotel where the lake is you know it’s we weren’t on the water’s edge we were up above near the G we were near the the the golf thing out to the water and
We’re standing on the edge the wind is blowing so hard I actually started leaning forward I go Ben we can’t even fall in I was leaning into the wind like this is crazy and then there was a glimmer of moon or whatever or what I
Saw some light on the on the lake I go oh my gosh that looks like the Pacific Ocean during fraking storm I go there’s no way and and he goes oh yeah maybe we can swim in that I go we’re not swiming there’s no way and uh and then we we had
To call the whole whole day because it was so bad so that was a that was a tough day to have to tell the athletes we couldn’t do it and and had to go the half the next day and you’d remember the day 2006 and you know cam Brown was in
The middle of his streak and uh and and that was 2006 when they ended up having to do it later in the day and it was only a 90k bike and a 21k run one by IO Hansen and and Joe La that was a that was a big day too weatherwise that was
An odd day that’s the first time I had been involved I’ve been involved since then quite a bit because that kind of set the precedent of the Rolling start of of the 90k on the bike you know roll everybody out well the problem with that and I could tell walking around
Transition even I I went into one tent and cam was in there with a couple other pros and trying to rub their legs and and you didn’t get the swim and all of a sudden you’re gonna go on the bike and and start going Full Tilt well people did that
And athletes got done with that day and you I’m sure you remember that tell me they were telling me this was harder than a full Iron Man because for 90k they went full out they got off the bike they couldn’t even run run I mean they were just walking along they couldn’t
Understand some were looking forward to it oh no swim 90k and then what’ we do we did a half marathon on the Run yeah yeah I did the half marathon on the run and even when uh cam came through because you know Johansson he he he just
Got too much of a lead on the bike cam even Cameron Brown couldn’t catch him on the Run man he was wrapped he was just I know one thing he was pissed that lost that race and he should have been it was just it would have been his day
Otherwise yeah and the other part is where’s aner where where’s he from johanes where’s he from H Estonia yeah I said I I said the wrong country when he came in God I just remember where did I say oh I said Slovakia and I’m I’m standing at the finish line and he looks
At me Slovakia Estonia and I go yes Estonia oh my gosh’s a wonderful fellow but he’s the size of the three of us put together he’s a big big boy isn’t he huge hug well fortunately he won in lanzerotti later that year so uh you probably made him you probably made him
Race with anger so he got to go first over the can’t always be correct the mistakes made a lot of mistakes you know the tough thing about being on a live microphone you guys you know this they can forgive you for what you say but they don’t forget it yeah yeah you’re
Live and so we have to watch what we say and and do and uh it’s it’s tougher than people think well one of the one of the trade secrets that people listening to the old school Tri show won’t know about is is something behind the mic and us
Working together and uh something that I always respected about you Mike was the effort you made made to get name and place pronunciations correct uh and look we there are different dialects of of Terell in New Zealand and we aren’t exactly perfect at it but but for you
Coming in from offshore you always showed a great deal of respect to both the people and the places of New Zealand and I I guess that’s something that you’ve had to deal with across the globe as well in other races that you’ve you’ve you’ve worked yeah I just thought
It was disrespectful to mispronounce and obviously I did you mispronounce names and and and places but you I’d study as much as I could I think it was you yeah it was you Cam I I looked at a word at it was wh it was W ter no
yeah yeah and and I’m going how could that be look how it’s spelled you know I I would have write it down phonetically and and we a bit of a system and either myself or Brian who always be standing next to you and and
We both knew if you had a pause then it was obviously a name that you weren’t familiar with would look at it it’s like fuan you like fuan you bet you very good and you understood the vows and the phonetics of the Mali language of today which is which is great
Yeah even if you didn’t quite trust us to start with like it’s whatever the town was you be like what Just Go With It mate we sit you up it’s okay yeah i’ I’ve got the ear to be able to pronounce something almost exactly as it was told to me for at
Least five seconds that would happen with you guys it happened with uh Australia and and mon traan in in kbec which is all French and I worked with a uh uh Elaine Seer who could speak French and English and I’d get stuck he go Taya tray okay I got it Three Rivers
Traya Mike you you over the years um you developed a lot of uh friendships through the race in New Zealand you’ve got them across the globe but um you mentioned Cameron Brown just some some of the personalities that that really stood out to you uh all the years of of
Of of coming to Ala you know what I found out Ash you know what I found out over the years with let out talk the pros the male and female Pros the ones that had had the largest credentials the largest resume the most impressive events were the were the
Humblest the ones that one one2 came back to defend and that’s really their their resume was just starting weren’t always so humble then they’d get their ass kicked at the race and they’d wake up and go wow uh this Iron Man thing or longdistance racing isn’t something you
Can take for granted cam Brown I I believe I I consider him a dear friend like you guys and he is probably one of the highest class individuals I’ve ever come across in the sport over the last 35 years highest class and I say that because while he has this
Inner power of racing hard and wanting to eat up his competition it’s shows on the race course but off the race course he’s he’s a genuine gentleman who respects everybody around him we’ll give you his opinion but just full of class and I found that through the years that
Think about it he won his first race I was there his second race his third race we he won 10 and 10 and I I don’t know what year like beat him but then he he won what 12 to yeah how nobody’s ever equaled that anywhere in
The world in their home country of 12 and he’s the same Cameron Brown as he was when I met the first year so it uh you know it’s just just a wonderful sport that especially when you come across Champions like that you go wow they’re there really are true human
Champions it shows to me it showed the mark of Cam and and his wonderful wife Jenny and the relationship you have with them when you did your last ime New Zealand in 2022 we didn’t have any professionals that year and yet Cam and Jenny were like we need to be there to
See our friend and so they came to Topo from ockland it’s you know it’s a solid three and a half hours drive and they came down there to watch the race because I love it so much but to hang out with their mate and I thought that
Was really really cool it was uh one of the dearest things that anybody ever did my last year and you know it’s funny I was I can remember you guys we were announcing we’re gone and I’d turn around and there’s cam with a grin on
His face and we’d cut a joke or two then somebody else would come in I go you know you don’t have to I remember saying once him you don’t have to stay here you can you can go to dinner yeah we’ll go to VIP then you go to dinner then
They’re back there again like two little kids in Disneyland standing behind watching us do our thing and I was so touched by that I came home and told Rose my wife I said you can’t believe where Cam and Jenny did she goes were they there the whole day I go yeah goes
God they they didn’t need to do that they you know no they didn’t and others like yourself uh it was very appropriate that my last Iron Man of was was in New Zealand but you know it it it was touching very touching were there any races or years
In particular that that that stood out for you in terms of professional performance either either men or women oh gosh you’re you’re asking a loaded question there I yeah I am ah I’ve seen so many you know though usually it was to come from behind victories for the ones
Where someone got passed then came back and rep passed them uh that happened once in monra blon watching liono Sanders race yeah and I’d be at a hot corner where and he’s coming by with like you know another half marathon to go to the finish and he looks like he’s
Dying but he keep he’s just pounding I go what’s he got inside of him to be able to do that Daniela reef and Kona and and she would RAC that race like there was no heat or no wind I go God she’s that’s something else Chrissy Wellington who never lost and then one
Year she went down to Iron Man Australia that I was at I interview her and on stage and that was really the first time the Australians got to see her up close and personal and people would come up to me afterwards oh my God she’s the real
Deal so I saw a lot of incredible performances that have stuck with me uh but the ones that always pop into my head are you know gosh I remember that 68-y old woman who battled breast cancer for five years the grandmother of four her doctor said she could never do
Anything like this again and here I am calling her an Iron Man yeah those are the ones I remember those are the ones that even the professionals should take a look at and go wow if she can do that I can do anything I want to do and stay
Humble about it it’s interesting too Mike if you think of a couple of kiwi kiwi blos one of them unfortunately got his wings and no longer with us and uh I’m talking about Tony Jackson and Mike Ramsey know they’re from day one um you know and you became you became close to
Those guys amongst so many others that we’ll talk about as well but you know Tony Jackson ended up uh doing 28 before he passed Mike Ramsey I remember him and cona and you were wrapping it up and this guy comes out of the background across the Finish Line some of their
Incredible guys themselves he he fell on almost fell on me I go what the heck’s going on here there I look it’s ramsy I go dude you okay ah you know he was just delirious and you know that was a good thing about being able to go all over
The world because if they came to Kona I knew who they were people were going how do you know him what well I’ve called him eight times in New Zealand I kind of know who he is and uh Tony Jackson and his beautiful wife Verna yeah she was
She was so sweet at New Zealand on the last year December of 22 I had a booth next to hers I was selling my book and she’d come over and we’d just talk and talk and talk she goes how come we never talk talk this much when you know Tony
Was racing and stuff I go I don’t know I mean I got to know her better then than than even before so but Tony Jackson was a special man I always loved bringing him up on stage remember we’d bring him up for an interview and his final years
After he had his surgery he still almost had a hole in his head didn’t he yeah he had like a hole in his head I’m bringing him on the stage and I’m interviewing him looking at him going saying to myself ho holy crap this is this is
Crazy and he’s just garious yes I’ve be I’m doing well Mike and such a positive attitude and and you would think oh my gosh his words and his actions are inspiring thousands out there in the crowd right now how how beautiful is that and now they they still have the
Tony Jackson scholarship don’t they yes y yeah good yeah yeah Mike another thing that that really stands out to me about toport is is um the whole town comes alive for the event it’s just the perfect size town and the volunteer base that fronts up year in year out is is it
Like that all you know all the events around the world you go to is is Topo a little bit different or or is it is it similar you know on other places that you visit it’s a lot of bit different it it is kind of stands on its
Own the community of Lake Placid cuz it’s a small village town and Upstate New York is like that uh but a lot of the Iron Man’s are in bigger cities and they kind of get engulf by the size of the of the city Frankfurt comes out in
Full force you can walk into any shop in Frankfurt and they oh Iron Man you I remember they you’re the voice guy how this the first time here how do you know that and it all kind of stems from from Kona but like I said earlier when I left
Topal for the first time I knew I found a home and coming back every year my brother Don came with me as you know the last year and uh he had never been to New Zealand been all over the world and he was just enamored uh and then he’s in
The I remember he’s in the VIP tent during the race I went over I go you doing okay and somebody said yeah we just want to be with your brother we don’t want to be with you go back to work I’m jeez your brother your brother
Is definitely a charmer that man he he knew had to charm people and and and yeah he had I remember looking at him in VIP had all these young women around him and I said you’re right d he said I’ve never been bit well it it was a couple months ago
It was January no it might have been oh no Christmas time he was over and we still we spent a lot of time together and he said are you are you going to New Zealand in March are you gonna go because he would have bought a a $10,000
Ticket he don’t care I go no I don’t think so really and then he asked me about a month later so are they gonna bring you over all he want he didn’t care if I want he just wanted to come with me it’s a wonder it’s a wonder he
Didn’t sh by himself go yeah tell him we’ll pick him up at the airport it’s no trouble yeah and I’m guessing I’m guessing the guy that led him astray in the hospitality tent was somebody who should have been actually on the microphone working with us Mark bone Co
Commentator yeah boner I I don’t know where he went during that day he just he was having more fun than anybody but I got that I got to introduce Don to a dear friend JJ as you all know used to have a bar restaurant there and and uh
JJ was in there so that was cool to have those two meet and some of the other personalities you know you mentioned you know the likes of go through everybody but you know the relationship you’ve had with the Iron Man team over the years and you know with Jame Patterson um and Janette
Was in there for a long time and you got Wayne Ren and Arthur corett and just I mean I can’t go through every body there’s just so many but they welcome you like a long lost brother every time and you do the them like you said it is
Like family really isn’t it it it is you know Janette came from her town the day two days before the race and we had breakfast and she didn’t have to do that and it was beautiful seeing her because you know you’re in the you’re in the trenches together putting on an Iron Man
Race is a dating task and anything go wrong can go wrong at any time you’re very well prepared you got cones and barricades you get everything where it should be but you never know so the Roes the carys as I call them putting on the
Race you you just become one of them and and their family and you don’t want to see your family not succeed so when i’ come to topa and got to see Arthur and see Wayne and see the reen family and see everybody I I I was home I was like
You know when Rose went with with me a couple times she became close to everybody and I it just it is it it it you know sometimes it sounds funny or hokey to say oh they’re like family well they truly are and I I maybe that’s why
I’m really missing New Zealand sure I want to see and be there for the 40th anniversary but I miss you guys I miss everybody I wish I could transport myself and just start walking around T1 in the morning and people go Riley what the hell hey I’m just here having a good
Time you know yeah I think also you know and you I think your impact on the race itself shouldn’t be underestimated and and that um you know and some of the people there as well we talked about Cameron brown but I also think about people like uh Joe Laur
I mean you had a great relationship with Joe seven times winner Meredith Kesler Meredith’s lining up for the 40th as well you know it’s it’s incredible these athletes you get to know and and and enjoy their company and watch them just race like anything yeah I had Meredith
On my part podcast uh the end of last year and we talked about topa she actually just sent me a message I wish I could transport you here you know to to New Zealand and Joe law like I say they they watching her when Joe was a I
Remember her as an angry Runner she looked like she wanted to just punch somebody out when she was racing and then she’d get done she’d be all smile and sweet I go oh my gosh oh it was uh and I’m glad Mary is coming back I’m
Sure Joe’s going to show up with her although her daughter’s getting older now her daughter’s like yeah she is yeah yeah Teena you know I every time they come up to me or they go hey Mr Riley my mom introduced me you know when I was
Like four years old now I’m like 18 I go what happened at the time yeah and Meredith I I I Meredith I hope she does well you know she’s coming from a very cold climate in Ohio like lots of snow lots of ice on the streets and she’s got
A lot of time on the trainer down in the basement so I hope she does well Mike you mentioned your podcast um it’s wonderful having you on the old school Tri show Iron Man never leaves you just tell us a wee bit about your podcast and and and we’d love people to
Be able to hook in into that well thank you for that it’s called find your Finish Line my adage is we don’t only need to find our finish line at a race in an event but in life so I like having guests on sure I have a few Pros but I
Have age groupers that have gone through some very tough times gotten to the other side jumped over a lot of hurdles and it’s my hope that their stories will inspire others to get off the couch get themselves moving don’t make excuses and that that’s what I really want to do I
Want to tell other people’s stories because they inspire me and I I feel it would be selfish not to pass that on the same reason I wrote my book it I I wanted to put stories in there sure some people have heard some of them but not
All of them and there it is thank you and uh so the podcast is each podcast is like a chapter of a book for me uh and and they could be some of these podcasts if I if I jump down the the tunnel of doing book number two I haven’t decided
To do that yet that I’d put stories in there maybe of people on my podcast uh but it yeah I had a guy call me the other day and I just interviewed him his name’s Andrew cartright he’s got a half million subscribers on YouTube one of
The biggest business guys in the in the country was a multi-millionaire it’s 17 years old had seven businesses but he’s a two-time Iron Man finisher and when he talks about Iron Man he’s like a little boy in a candy store and just enamored with what he went through and what he
Did successful so successful in his business life but finishing the Iron Man equaled that so those are the types of people I like to have on the podcast the other thing Mike he talk about you know the podcast in the book we can’t forget rying our um our teen t-shirts you know
We got the we got the Mike Riley t-shirts yeah that was uh signature on them as well so that’s my favorite for the kid with with the Sharpie with the Sharpie signature does that mean you can’t wash it I’m never going to wash it the door to my office is closed so
You know it’s no one else has to deal with it yeah yeah that was that yeah BCC the sound and production video crew did those for me the last that was very nice oh it’s fantastic and tell me also you know 2022 what how did it pan out that I me
New Zealand was going to be you know I never say last but let’s call it last maybe in this chapter who knows but it was your last official Iron Man call how did that work out to be the case I like that I like that cam there could be
Another chapter nothing wrong with that it ended up being because March the race was cancelled March of 22 we didn’t do it well I was disappointed I’m thinking I know this is gonna and I hadn’t announced it yet that 22 was going to be my last chapter of that year and uh uh
So I had to kind of keep it inside I go are you kidding me I’m never going to be able to go back to New Zealand again and then came I think it was halfway through the year I talked to Andrew messic the CEO and he said what’s your last race I said
It’s going to be Iron Man Arizona which is always November and he goes oh he goes That’s So that that’s what you want to be your last I go well there’s there’s none after that in the US and you the only other one is New Zealand and that’s in December but you know
There’s no budget to bring me down now and he and Andrew goes yes there is if you want that to be your last race we’ll get you down there and he did uh so much respect for Andrew messic it it you know doing that he didn’t have to
Do that yeah and and so he gave me the opportunity to come and do Iron Man New Zealand you know that December of 2020 22 and you know it was kind of even though guys there wasn’t any pros there which I go oh God there’s no Pros but
Then it was appropriate for me to finish with an ageg group race all about the age groupers from the first one to the last one yeah the heart and soul of our sport the ones that you know make things happen when they’ve got to juggle so
Much other stuff in their lives so it was It was kind of cool to have it be an age group race only it was deeply moving Mike for us um come midnight that evening because for so many years um post midnight there would be one or two people that might
Have been a minute or two um outside the deadline um sometimes even longer and you would hang around you would stick around and we would bring them all home um and and and show them the love even though they were unofficial finishes so midnight that night that was very very
Special a special way to to sign off uh at that time with with with the the I guess the tribute that was paid at that moment yeah the tribute with the Hawkeye and uh being given I have this hanging right in my office for me every day yeah
Which keeps me safe and any water I go into Mari what’s his name Tony was it Tony Snow Snow yeah yes yeah and uh what he said to me he put his head next to mine and whispered in my ear and it’s something I’ll never forget so I cherish
That and you know what I I just felt I felt safe I felt loved I felt that no matter what I do in the rest of my life stuff like this is going to carry me through it from a land that I cherish uh with the highest respect and
Love so i’ I’ve I’ve had that hanging here here underneath but it’s been hanging here since I got home so now I got to rehang it because I just showed it to you guys so tell let him know that okay yeah we will We Will and the the
Irony was not lost on us either Mike that the man who has words for every occasion was speechless yeah GE no kidding I go what could you say I was like duh like like Brian was saying it was it was exceptionally touching for for those many look it up on Facebook or YouTube
For Mike Riley’s last call it’s all there but you know trying to the just the way in which you were you did your big sign off and I was like then there was just a silence and I remember the Finish Line the uh two40 tour kahaka
Group came down snow was there did the presentation of this lovely Tonga that you have at your home now and and did this haer for you on the Finish Line I mean I’m getting Goosebumps now thinking about it it was an incredible moment wasn’t it it was it it was very special I
I uh had a I had my son Andy had hired a videographer to videographer that race which we have all that footage and I said Andy I don’t care what it cost to have this guy I I don’t want to I I want to remember things like that but I want
To see it years from now or have my grandkids see it and and cherish you know teach them what New Zealand’s all about uh because they know Papa went all over the world and as a matter of fact my nine-year-old we were talking about a
Long plane flight I go yeah we could go to New Zealand we’d be on the plane for 13 hours Papa I want to go there with you so you never know I may be bringing a grandchild down there uh and showing them what uh the beautiful country is
All about I don’t know if I’ll introduce them to you guys I need the kid to grow up to be be something in life you know and so for you now Mike what does what does life hold now I mean obviously Iron Man and you know those commentaries
Took up a lot of your your time and your schedule and I know a big part of you going you know what I think it’s time I’m I’m I think I’m closing this chapter was it all about family for you wasn’t it it was about spending more time with
Your grandchildren and your own family yeah it was and you know I I missed a lot of I missed a lot of guys 33 years I missed a lot of anniversaries I missed a lot of birthdays I missed a lot of parties with friends I missed you know I never missed a birth
Uh I missed a lot of stuff and while maybe one birthday party wasn’t such a bad thing it was when they were starting to pile all on top of one another and I look back and go God I and and Rose would always go to a party or
Go to something oh Mike’s and classet or Mike’s in New Zealand and you know that got tough on her too being the single one so uh my calendar was always full with you know 12 14 events on it and they weren’t you know events where I’d go in Friday
And come home Sunday they were Tuesday to Monday or Tuesday so they were always long events so yeah I just had to cut that down I didn’t want to miss the little league baseball games the football games the basketball games uh the parties the anniversaries I just
Then you you know I said this is enough well I felt I could just keep going which I always felt I could you know you stay in shape you stay with the game but it was it was taking me my voice would recover you know 20 years ago overnight
And then it it was taking three four days I go God you know I’m not 40 anymore and uh it was taking a little toe it just was it just was time and you know if I go back and do a race here or there that could happen I I don’t know
It just depends on a lot of things but if if I only do one race or two races that’s pretty easy compared to the 13 or 14 i’ you know would do Mike to to wrap up um 40th anniversary of Iron Man New Zealand um
You’ve been a huge part of it you’re the first guest we’ve had that isn’t an Iron Man winner but you’re you’re bigger than that you’re the voice W man so it’s a it’s a thrill for us to have you on board have you got one one message I’ll
Give you the final word one message for everyone who is on their start line and looking for their Finish Line at the 40th anniversary of Iron Man New Zealand it is your day it is your life you’ve gone through the Journey and put in the time the training
The sacrifice of family of work and the the day is yours what you always have to remember though you’re the cause of your own experience and if you keep those experiences positive all race week long and on race day you’ll find the Finish Line you don’t quit don’t stop don’t
Ever give up and when you hear your name called your name’s being called because you are a champion you’re going to come through the finish line and be heralded as that and the rest of your life no matter how it’s gone before that finish line is going to be different because
You finished that race so good luck to each and every one of you but I say you don’t need luck what you need is perseverance to find that finish Line
Mike Reilly is one of the most recognisable people in endurance sport and coined the famous phrase, “You are an IRONMAN!”. However, Mike is so much more than the voice, join Cam and Brian as they chat with Mike about his career and what’s next for him.
