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Mahé Drysdale’s wife thought he was joking when he first told her of his plans to run for Tauranga Mayor.
The two-time Olympic gold medallist had only left the world of competitive rowing three years prior, having lost out on selection for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, andhad been working as a financial advisor for Forsyth Barr in the years since.
But despite landing a good job with regular hours that allowed him more time with family, Drysdale earlier this year decided to throw caution to the wind and launch a career in politics.
“Life was pretty good and then, out of the blue, I decided to throw our lives into chaos and run for mayor… [my wife Juliette] thought I was joking for a long time,” Drysdale told Newstalk ZB’s Real Life with John Cowan on Sunday night.
“And then she realised that maybe I was serious, and she saw my passion and I think more than anything was like ‘oh no’, because she knows the writing is on the wall once I set my mind to something.”
In the end, Drysdale won July’s mayoralty race easily – more than 6000 votes ahead of second-placed Greg Brownless. In taking on the role, he followed in the footsteps of grandfather Bob Owens, who held the role of Tauranga Mayor in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
As a natural competitor, Drysdale found the election campaign “a buzz”, but told Real Life the congratulations for landing the city’s top job felt a little strange.
“With rowing, winning the race is the end – it’s the culmination of all your hard work coming together. In council, you win the race and that’s just the opportunity to work really hard and see what you can deliver,” he said.
Mahé Drysdale’s wife thought he was joking when he first told her of his plans to run for Tauranga Mayor. Photo / Alex Cairns
“So it was kind of a weird feeling for me. Everyone’s like, ‘Well done, you’ve won!’ I’m like, ‘What have I won? I’ve inherited a job and the work’s not done.’ For me, there’s no success until the job is done at the end.
“That’s been the hard thing: everyone’s congratulating you before you’ve done anything. So I’m looking forward now to getting down and doing that work.”
Drysdale told Real Life he’s always wanted to be a politician, but until the Tauranga mayoralty race had never found a role he could get his teeth stuck into.
He hopes to correct years of underinvestment in infrastructure, deliver more houses, solve congestion issues, and bring vibrancy back to Tauranga’s CBD.
While Drysdale understands some of these issues may take five to 10 years to solve, rather than being able to be done within his four-year tenure, he says the council is putting in place a clear plan of attack to address them.
“We’ve got eight tower cranes at the moment working in our CBD with over $1.5 billion being invested there. It’s pretty exciting.”
Drysdale says a “huge amount” of his sporting life has proven to be transferable to his new role as Tauranga Mayor – not least how to build on a vision of success and the understanding that “you’re stronger together”.
“Without a team, you can’t do anything. People find that strange being a single sculler, but I certainly didn’t achieve by myself. I was out there racing by myself, but to get me there, there was a huge amount of people that got me to the start line.
“And then you’ve got to have that goal, you’ve got to plan and make sure you’ve got the steps that you need to get to that goal, and then you’ve just got to work really hard.
“The combination of those three things can give you that opportunity to succeed. So that’s very much what I’ve brought here and what we’re trying to do as a council is go through a similar process.”
In a wide-ranging interview, Drysdale also reflected on the strain his body was under as he trained toward the Tokyo Olympics, the fleeting grief he felt at giving up rowing, and the legacy of the Tauranga mayoralty passed down by his grandfather.
Real Life is a weekly interview show where John Cowan speaks with prominent guests about their life, upbringing, and the way they see the world. Tune in Sundays from 7:30pm on Newstalk ZB or listen to the latest full interview here.
