S5E8 -- Ohana Guest : Will Rogers - Ultraman and Ultra-Humanitarian

Will Rogers has travelled the world competing in 515 events which include Ultraman Canada, Ultra 520K Canada, Ultraman Hawaii, Ultra MX 515, Ultraman Florida, Ultraman Australia and Ultraman Israel.  When not competing himself he is often sharing his experience by crewing for other athletes.

In this episode, Will shares stories from many of those events from both the perspective of athlete and crew member.

Will works as a paramedic in the Vancouver area and has volunteered to use those skills helping people in Ukraine during the war.  He tells us how and why he got involved and what a day in a war zone is like as a volunteer medic.   

If you would like to help or get more information about the organizations that he supports in Ukraine follow these links:

• Frontline Medics 
• De Facto Humanity
• Pislya Sluzhby

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Ultra TriFest Canada
• Ultra 515 World Wide Championships
• Ironman Canada 
• Ironman World Championships 
• UM Canada 
• Ultraman Wales (UMUK)
• Ultra 520 K Canada
• UM Florida 
• Ultraman World Championships
• Ultra MX 515
• Ultraman Australia
• Ultraman Israel 
• Uberman
• Badwater 135
• Frontline Medics 
• De Facto Humanity

Shout outs and mentions in this episode:

• Steve Brown (S2E13)
• Dave Scott
• Mark Allen
• Kevin Sweetman 
• Al Mac
• Mike Lee
• Darwin Holt
• Lucy Centino
• Van Sanchez (S1E6) (S2E13)
• Melissa Urie
• Juan Craveri (S1E5)
• Dan Bercu 
• Zaide Avi
• Tamara Molden

___________________________________________________________

Show Contributors:
Host : Larry Ryan
Contributing Raconteur : Steve King
Announcer : Mary Jo Dionne
Production : 5Five Enterprises
Music  :  Run by 331

___________________________________________________________

For show notes and past guests, please visit the Podcast Website: https://515theultrapodcast.buzzsprout.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/515TheUltraPodcast
Insta : 515theultrapodcast
Email : 515Ultraman@gmail.com

Transcript

Larry 0:48

Hello, listener. I want to remind you to check out my new Ultra TriFest coming to Whistler, British Columbia in August 2024. It has five racing formats to choose from. And the feature event will be the new Ultra 515 Worldwide Championship. In which racers from every 515 race in the world may attend. Get all the details at ultratrifest Canada.com. And feel free to contact me personally with any questions.

Conversation with Will Rogers Part 1

Larry 1:21

Today's Ohana guest has raced at Ironman Canada 25 times and competed in eight 515 races as an athlete. When not racing himself, he is often giving back and crewing for others. In his day job, he works as a paramedic, and he has taken those skills to volunteer in Ukraine during the war. A huge Vancouver Canucks fan. This gentleman is just down the road from me in Surrey, British Columbia. Most of you are going to know him. It's Will Rogers. Hi, Will.

SPEAKER_06 1:51

Hey Larry. I'm glad to be here.

Larry 1:54

Oh, thank you for uh coming and doing this interview after a long shift uh of paramedicing.

SPEAKER_06 2:01

Yeah, it was a it was an interesting day as always, uh, you know, in the lower mainland. Um, you know, some it's just one of those days where things roll into one thing rolls into another. Um typical the opiate uh uh situation is still around and it's going uh like gangbusters, unfortunately. So that's a big part of our our stuff is street level stuff, uh as well as the regular medical calls and regular um you know falls in the street and people that have uh issues at home that uh they need help. Yeah, yeah.

Larry 2:31

Well, um I'm sure we can get into your your job a little bit more, but uh the the first thing I want to talk to you about because you're a big Canucks fan, and uh maybe this is a little bit too local for most of the audience, but for the first time in a long time, as of the recording of this, the Canucks are in first place in the NHL, and that hasn't happened since 2011 and 2012. So I'm just wondering as a Canucks fan, what do you what do you think? How's the season going?

SPEAKER_06 2:59

Well, I'm pretty uh pretty impressed. Um I had the opportunity to work uh uh as a standby paramedic uh last year at a couple of games and of course watched them uh fairly closely whenever I had the chance. Um I was quite uh I wasn't exactly shocked that they're doing well this year. Uh you could see uh the beginnings of that last year. They did made they did put a couple of strings together of some good games. They were playing well. A lot of games that they were losing, they were still entertaining and they were very close.

Larry 3:30

And and how about you as a as a boy growing up? I know you played most sports. Did you play any hockey?

SPEAKER_06 3:35

Oh, yeah. Yeah, I played hockey uh uh for my uh my my teams here in Cloverdale, plus for my high school as well. And uh the original uh my original injury, of course, in rugby that uh where I dislocated my knee and had to have surgery um was took me out of uh all contact sports. I was a rugby player. Um uh also all sports that were like jumping and twisting, like you know, volleyball and basketball, that's all out because of the the the nature of jumping and twisting and coming back, coming, landing on different angles was just too much for my knee. So I, you know, fine-tuned things and stuck with what I was able to do with uh um after gaining quite a bit of weight after after leaving high school is getting backing into running and then falling into swimming, literally, and then uh you know, borrowing a friend's bike to get in, you know, to do a triathlon. And then the rest is the rest is history.

Larry 4:26

Well, I guess the triathlon works well for you because it's all just that straight linear emotion.

SPEAKER_06 4:32

Yeah, it is. Uh there's there's you know, there's no cutting, uh cutting and turning. Um, you know, I've done some race, I've done some races where we've ended up on trails, and you know, I'm cautiously making my way through these trails because I know that uh you know, one slip or rock or route or trip uh in the wrong direction can put me right back in the hospital with a blown knee again. Um and I don't, you know, I so those kind of things I kind of shied away from, but you know, inevitably there are races that end up on on trails. And you know, and sometimes the weather weather's not your friend, it can be very wet and slippery, and that that's all those things are playing on my mind when I'm doing that.

Larry 5:09

Yeah, yeah. So you got into triathlon then to try and get yourself back in the shape you were saying um after letting it go for a couple of years, but uh it's never left you. Uh you you've had quite the run at Iron Man Canada, um, I think dating back as early as uh 1990. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_06 5:30

Uh 1987 was my first one. 87, okay. So 87 and 88, and I got into um Iron Ultraman, or sorry, Iron Man Hawaii, the World Championships, uh, through the last year of the actual open lottery. And uh and that was, of course, an an incredible experience. Uh, that was the year of the Iron War with Dave Scott and Mark, uh Mark Allen.

Larry 5:51

And which I'm sure you saw personally because you were already at the finish line waiting for them to finish, right?

SPEAKER_06 5:58

Well, no, if you not really, not exactly. But if you if you look at that very famous picture of them, if you look very closely, you can see my pinky finger right behind them, chasing them down. Um actually, I was only a hundred meters or so from that picture as I was heading out and they were coming in. Oh, yeah. And and so I remember saying to the photographer, you know, they're they're they're coming, they're coming right behind, you know, they're coming, they're right there. And he turns to me and he quickly looked up and says, Yes, yes, I know that. I'm a photographer.

Larry 6:28

That's my job.

SPEAKER_06 6:30

Yeah, so so yeah, that picture, that that very famous picture, I was very close to that when that happened. I that race was uh I was the 1000th finisher across the finish line in that race, and it was an unbelievable experience and something that I cherish with me, with me to this day and think about that race all the time.

Larry 6:46

So that must be the thing that that got you hooked into doing it then.

SPEAKER_06 6:51

Um it was uh it was just one thing led, you know, one event led to another. And uh um when I first started doing trathlon in 19 uh 1986, the year of Expo, um, I was on very I started off very much on my own with getting some advice from people I saw at some 10Ks that I was doing, and uh just picking up bits of advice here and there. And then I was uh just leaving my hotel at the Delta Lakeside, my hotel room, because nobody, none of my friends lived there at the time or family. And out of the other room across from me came a friend of mine from that I'd worked with in uh at the Cloverdale racetrack. And he looks at me and and and I looked at him and and we were both racing in the race, and we were we were racing and training friends for the next 30 years, basically. Uh, you know, Kevin Sweetman. And um, and so he did a whole bunch of Ironmans with me, and it was just something that we did. We, you know, we trained together and you know, along the way picked up, you know, other friends that were training, made lifelong friends that way. Uh, and uh it's been it's been one of those experiences that it's another avenue to go out into uh uh an effort with other people and suffer along with them, uh you know, these things. And um, and we just went every year, it was something that we planned for. Every year, like the next day we'd sign up for the next year, we'd all be there.

Larry 8:09

Right. You know, and and then obviously spending all those years in Pentikton, at one point you start to hear about this this other race called uh Ultraman Canada, and you decided to go crew at that race. Tell me, tell me a little bit about your first experience at Ultraman.

SPEAKER_06 8:25

Well, it was actually um I I knew about it uh fairly early on. Um, and and I would see the markings on the road when I was driving up there, some of the mileage and stop, you know, and aid uh you know, mileage markers and you know, turn here, turn there for Ultraman. And I I I vividly remember seeing those markings and going like I I'll never, I'll never ever be able to do that. That's one that's out of reach for me. And uh, and I actually on the way back from um uh one of my trips up to the uh the um up to the Kootenies, I stopped and the racers were going by and with their crew teams, you know, with their chase cars and stuff like that. And I'm still and still I was going like this is amazing. Uh how do these people do this? And um and I got into uh you know I I got into to uh crewing um because I I just wanted an intro an introduction into the race. And uh I asked Steve Brown about crewing and I and you know I could volunteer and can I help somebody out? And he said sure. So he hooked me up with Al Mack and uh Mike, his friend from uh from England or from Scotland. They were both in the armed forces together, and Mike now lives in uh in Kelowna with his wife, and um, and so we jumped in and neither of us had crewed at a race before. Uh, I don't think I I think Al had tried the had had competed in the the um uh the one in Wales, uh Ultraman Wales. And um and it it was it was great, you know, it was a lot of fun. It was a challenge, it was a bit of a trial by fire because a lot of things went wrong, a lot of things went right because ultimately he ultimately he finished the race.

Larry 10:02

Oh, that's great. And when you were doing that race, obviously you start thinking, well, maybe I can do it, but you needed a little bit of a persuasion to do it because you you were still there was one of the events that you were a little bit hesitant of. What was that?

SPEAKER_06 10:17

Well, I knew I you know, looking at the people doing it and and how they were getting through it and the the um some of their planning things, some of them were horrendously way off the mark, and others were like you know, really, really well done, uh, you know, planning and everything else. And um and so at uh at the uh what the awards, uh one of the gentlemen came up to me and and Steve Brown had come up to me before and said, you know, about my thing where I'd done an individual triathlon for charity, and you know, the swim was across the Georgia Strait and the bike was from Victoria.

Larry 10:51

Hold on, wait a second, hold on. You can't just throw out the swims across the Georgia Strait. We got an international uh audience here. Um, and this is just a made-up thing that you were doing, uh, to be clear. So tell us how far is it to swim across the Georgia Strait? And and where did you swim from and to to help the listener a little bit?

SPEAKER_06 11:11

Okay, uh it's from uh basically halfway up the causeway at the Tewassan Ferry Terminal, um in south uh just south of Vancouver, the actual city of Vancouver, uh in Delta, and then you swim across the Georgia Strait now called the Salish Sea over to I swam to an island to called Galeano Island. And um the BC Ferries Corporation has all the distances uh marked out, and so it's 21 kilometers uh in the oh in the open ocean. And uh and I've done that four times now, and then I would I would uh you know I would I would finish my swim and then a day or two later I would uh I you know it wasn't right away, I would set out on my bike from mile zero of Trans Canada and ride uh ride up um highway three through Prince uh Princeton uh to uh right into Penticton. And then I would turn around a couple of days later. So how many how many kilometers are we talking about there when you when you're riding that is um that was I believe if I remember correctly, that's uh five about uh probably about 450 kilometers so uh riding over two days and we we would overnight and then I would turn around uh once in Penticton and then run back to Victoria. So roughly roughly it turns out to be just under a thousand kilometers, but I think the whole way, if you add up the run and the bike and and the swim. And uh there were times a couple of the times I actually went around and followed the uh Iron Man route where I went through a soyas. And a couple other other times because of time management and things like that, of the date, how the dates fell, uh, I was able I I just I cut, I made it short. I only did like 950 kilometers, and uh I would run directly from Penticton down the highway three uh through Carameus and then uh up to um and then uh and then down to Victoria. The the the first year I did that, I ended up pulling my IT band incredibly badly and finished um uh I was on my way up to Penticton and uh because I had only the first year I did this was only a run, and I ended up on crutches, the the forearm crutches, not the ones that go under your arm. I I was on those for 110 kilometers. Oh wow. And uh and it was it was I was I was a little slower, but I was pain-free. So it was it was quite uh it was a quite a relief to be able to do that. And uh yeah, and it was and uh I thought uh I thought it was, you know, it was it was just a unique thing to even to be able to pull off. I had been in so much pain for so long, you know, trying to get to Princeton. And I'd brought these things because I'd been having Achilles heels problems. Okay. And I thought, well, you know, I'll just throw these crutches in just in case uh something else happens and I can't continue and I hurt myself, or I can it's difficult to walk. And I motored around the parking lot at the where I stayed in um in Princeton. And I thought, well, let's go. I guess we're on, and away we go.

Larry 14:04

So an event like that, obviously you have some support in the waters um when you're gonna go 22 kilometers. What about the rest of the route? Were you did you have a crew per se or uh someone with you along the way?

SPEAKER_06 14:18

It was anybody and anybody that was willing to volunteer that day to drive. Uh I had a support ambulance that was donated to me by the ambulance service, uh, which was incredibly helpful. Um, I can't uh thank them enough for that. Um and uh some days it was hard scraping up people that would have the time to you know to commit to a day like that, or maybe a couple of days. Right. Uh other people came out for a few days, like three or four days, but they everybody has commitments and stuff like that. So it was that was a big part of it was uh getting people to be able to drive my support vehicle. And I, you know, would carry extra runners and first aid stuff for my feet, uh, extra clothes, food, and all that stuff, right? Yeah, so it was a it was a bit of a happening. It was only me doing it, um, which was fine. So you know, I I knew I knew pretty much how to take care of myself, but I needed that uh vehicle around with and knowing what was in it, yeah. So so you know that that's just the way it worked out, and it worked out fine. You know, it was I ended up I ended up with for the first time in my life, even after doing Iron Man and stuff like that, I ended up with blisters on my blisters, which I didn't think was possible, but it let me tell you, it's possible, it's a real thing.

Larry 15:26

And and despite doing this like quite large event over multiple days, you still didn't feel like you were maybe prepared enough to do an Ultraman event until someone else kind of talked you into it.

SPEAKER_06 15:41

Yeah, this yeah, the thing was is I knew I knew I could do the swim. Uh I was I I knew for sure because I'm I I'm I'm uh the bet my best part is the swimming. And I'm very comfortable swimming, even in open ocean uh water in in rough water. Um and so the biking, I knew I knew with the enough training and and uh the right equipment and stuff like that, I should be able to. I knew what I had to average, and I was able to average that on training days. But the run, you know, when you think about it, um, running 84 double marathon is is it's just such a grandiose thing to even try and get your head head around. You can't, or it's or it's very difficult to right.

Larry 16:18

But and not so much the distance, but the the time limit of 12 hours that you have to do it in. Yeah.

unknown 16:23

Yeah.

Larry 16:23

Because clearly you could run the distance.

SPEAKER_06 16:26

Um, well, it depends on how you you know classify running, right? You know, like there's the iron, there's there's the Iron Man shuffle, because you know, we all know what that is, but uh where you just sort of shuffle along and you just keep moving forward. Um, and you have a a cutoff time of 17 hours. And of course, it's all relative to when you get off your bike and how much time you spend in transition. Uh, but um, but the uh the 84.4 uh kilometers uh was just it just seemed like it was so far for me that I'd never even come close to running that far. Like not even like a marathon for me is tough because I'm not a really a runner. I I remember originally Steve Brown had held up my poster of and had the the mileage uh of the swim bike and the run and and you know mapped out on the bottom of the poster. And he literally walked up to me and held it up in front of my face. He says, if you can do this, you can do my race. And I went, Oh man, Steve, I cannot run 84 kilometers. I just cannot do it. I I cannot get my head around it, and I know physically I cannot do it. And and so he sort of you know mumbled and walked off, and you know, and everything else. And then and then Darwin, Darwin Holt, uh, I was talking with him, and he was saying, he says, he says, you know, I know you do these Iron Man's, and I I've seen your poster and stuff like that. He says, Why aren't you doing this? And I said, Well, I can't, I don't believe I can run. He said, No, no, no, no, no, no, no, you know better than that. He said, You know, if you can run for 20 miles in four hours, that leaves 32 miles to do in eight hours, and though that is a 15-minute mile walk for eight hours, and that's bang on 12 hours. And I went, Really? You know, like and I took my phone out and started doing the calculations, and I go, like, he's right. And at that moment, I serious I I I right at that second, I seriously thought about doing it, and then I I got a hold of um Steve Brown, and um when I was crewing in Florida, because I was on now, I was on the crewing bang, the Ultraman crewing bang wagon. Yeah, and uh, and I went up to Steve and I said, Okay, I'll do your stupid race. And he and he and he goes, and uh he goes, Well, registration's closed. I said, You'll open it up for me, won't you, Steve? And he goes, Yeah, okay, I'll open it up for you. One day, one day only. And it's closed as soon as you as soon as you enter it. And I said, Okay, so give me a date. And he sent me the date later, and I registered and got into it. And I was I was it was one of those things that um uh it's like it's like when we're all like any Iron Man athlete, is especially Iron Man, is you see these people at the very beginning, they're so nervous, they're scared to death at what they're about to you know achieve. And I literally, honestly, I I put in the time, the training, and I had this this mental uh map of how I was gonna pull this off, and I could not wait to get going. I I literally could not wait for that gun to go off and start and and get my you know get my ultraman belt under me. And uh and and I and I remember you know standing at the start line of that first race and going, like, this is gonna be this is gonna be one hell of an adventure, and it was, you know, and I just maintained my pace. Uh, you know, I bang on four hours at 20 miles, and then made sure I was a few seconds under 15 minute miles every every mile. And then and that is really has served me well over the course of my ultramance. Yeah, uh uh and and in like my last race in Florida at the 20 mile marker, I was 10 minutes behind because because I I didn't have a very good 20 miles. In fact, one of the other race, one of the other racers said to me when we started, said, How do you feel? I said, I feel like garbage. And he goes, he goes, Yeah, me too. I said, You're great, have a nice day, you know. And um, and but I but I was able to do the you know quickly calculate in my head the the the math of how many seconds, okay. Now I've got to I've got to do 14 45 minutes.

SPEAKER_03 20:20

Right.

SPEAKER_06 20:21

And I made up that 10 minutes that I'd lost over the course of the next uh 32 miles a little bit at a time. And I finished with like 10, I think nine or 10 minutes to spare. And uh that's that's you know typically what I do.

Larry 20:33

Right. The fastest and that's not scary at all for your crew all day long.

SPEAKER_06 20:38

No, no, um no, because the you know I've told them what I'm doing and why I'm doing it, and and they would look at their watches and say, Oh, you're banging on. Okay, you're you're good, you know. Yeah, you're you're you're 15 minutes and 10 seconds, so because of the hills, now the next one you're gonna do 14 and a half minutes.

SPEAKER_03 20:54

Right.

SPEAKER_06 20:55

And of course, in Ultraman Canada, as you know, um the the the last eight uh miles, uh last 13 kilometers, a lot of it is downhill. So if you are behind, if you are behind, uh you

S5E10 Preview

SPEAKER_06 21:06

can make up a lot of time. Like Lucy.

Larry 21:08

I have a triathlon pro and Ultraman Champions coming up in a couple of episodes. I sat down to speak with Kit Belacro recently, and I thought I'd give you a preview of that episode. Here she is speaking of her first Iron Man victory at her home race in Western Australia.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

So I had accumulated enough points, went to Kona in 2010. Again, I mean Kona has just been my nemesis, not a great race, but felt like I had some fitness, so threw myself on the start line uh of Iron Western Australia because it was just down the road. And um yeah, found myself leading the race, which was just unbelievable. And I I don't I don't necessarily have any regrets, but I was just so excited to be leading the last like 10 days or so I was you know waving to the crowd, you know. Get the smile off my face, although I had Rebecca keep running me down. Um, and I was just not drinking, I was not eating, I was not focusing on what where I was and what I should be doing. So the last couple of case uh I was quite delusional and coming down the finishing suit uh was crawling like grabbing railings and literally did my finish line photo of my first Iron Man victory is me crawling over the floor line and laying on the ground and so it's not the whole big yay, hands up, celebrate you won an Iron Man and it's your home raise. Uh there was none of that. I just wasn't laying on the ground thinking, okay, it's done. I'm not moving, I'm not moving ever again, like I can retire now. And it's a fantastic one to have to have it uh ticked off on one.

Larry 22:50

That will be coming up in episode 10 this season. Now back to my conversation with Will as we discuss some of his 515 events. So

Will Rogers 515 Experiences

Larry 23:00

you have done a number of the 515 distance races now. You've done Ultraman Canada, you've done Steve Brown's 520, you've mentioned Florida. I know you've also done the World Championship, um, you've done Australia, you've done Mexico, you've even done Israel. Um maybe, maybe just pick out one or two of those and and and give a story to to share with the with the listener um about you know one of your more memorable experiences at one of these races.

SPEAKER_06 23:31

Mexico was was interesting because you know it like I uh uh it it's I think it's 6,000 feet. It's up in the central part of uh Zacatecas, the central part of the country. So in the morning before the sun comes up, it's quite cold. Like it was I was freezing to death on the bike the first 25 miles. And then the sun comes up and it gets quite warm. It'll get up to like mid-70s into the 80s Fahrenheit. And uh and it's quite it's it's beautiful cycling weather that time. Um and I'd been I'd been I'd been warned about uh that there was a five kilometer stretch that was gravel, uh, you know, and so it was muddy and graveling, and I'm going very, very slowly, picking my way through on this gravel road, and I'm going like, oh man, I can't like I you know, like four thousand dollar wheels, uh rims on my on this on these these road. And uh and then you get through it, and then um, and then you know, you settle down and and things get things are good again, and you're making a reasonable time, and then uh and then there's a second part which is about 400 meters long. And the trouble with that gravel part is that it's at the very bottom of a very long, very steep hill. So you're trucking along about 40 miles an hour, you know, about 60k an hour, and you have to hammer on your brakes and slow down and pick your pick your way through this gravel road and then climb the other side and then go up to uh a lookout and then turn around and come flying down the other side at about 40 miles an hour again, and then hammer on your brakes. It's just something the cyclists hate doing.

SPEAKER_03 25:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 25:00

Um, the swim, the swim in the swim in Mexico was uh was uh I loved it, but only because I'm Canadian and I'm used to cold swimming in cold water. It was it was about 15 degrees.

SPEAKER_03 25:12

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 25:12

And uh and and you know, people were you know bootied up and gloved up and uh had you know neoprime heads, head uh head hats on, swimming hats on.

Larry 25:21

Well, it is mostly Mexican people that do the Mexico race, so maybe they're not used to that cold water.

SPEAKER_06 25:27

Well, I mean most people were most people were from Central America, yes. And uh it was a crystal clear clear um uh cooling pond for a mine, but the the water was crystal clear, it was quite nice. It was uh, you know, once I got moving in the water, of course, you you the water inside your wetsuit warms up, uh, and you did 13 laps around this island and swam under a uh a brick bridge. And it was kind of like swimming on an ASCAR race where I was catching and lapping people. And uh yeah, well, I mean, because I because I enjoy the swimming and I enjoy that kind of challenge. And uh I was uh you know, out of like 30 racers, I was second out of the water that day and uh ended up being fifth overall the the first day, which is you know, I thought it was I was quite happy with that.

Larry 26:10

Um uh you know uh and then at the at the finish line, the final finish line on day three, they they go right into the awards there. Is that right?

SPEAKER_06 26:18

Yeah, they do. I was the second to last finisher on the double marathon that day.

Larry 26:23

And uh basically because you came in at 1150 something, as you do.

SPEAKER_06 26:28

Yeah, and and I remember I had a I had a policeman on his motorcycle chase, you know, right beside me, coming through the last part of the city, telling me, you know, you gotta, you know, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up. He was worried I wasn't gonna make it. And you know, with him with his machine gun across strapped across his back. And um, and so it was quite the experience, yeah. And and of course, you know, once the race was over, you know, it's in the evening, and of course the sun goes down and it gets really cold again. And so we're at this awards dinner, and everybody's like layered up with boots and long pants and like you know, two jackets and a sweater and a and a long sleeve shirt, you know, and which I wasn't prepared for, so I was quite cold. I you know, I I had I had some clothes, but um and not not quite as much as I should have. So uh it was it was an issue, it was it, it was uh an interesting, very interesting endeavor. Uh in Mexico, I was interviewed by Mexican TV, and when when when Van and my translator had told the um told the radio, the person the TV person that was uh interviewing me about the distances involved, and my age at the time was 58. And he says, he says, Where are you from another planet? And I said, No, I'm just Canadian. So, but it was it was it was it was a great experience, and and uh you know, Zacatecas isn't is not a place that people will normally think of going. And a lot of Mexicans asked me, you know, like why did you go to Zacatecas? Like there's nothing there, but there is. I mean, there's sit there's obviously cities and and uh infrastructure and stuff like that, but it's not a tourist town, not by any means. Yeah the uh the pool the pool I was training in beforehand, before the race down there, you know, it would it it probably would have been condemned 10 years ago here in Canada. Uh but that's what they have, and so that's what they use, yeah, you know, and uh you know uh so it and that's one of the things that the you know that triathlon and and uh Iron Man and Ultraman have have brought to my life is this is this is these experiences, right, you know, uh of trying meeting these incredibly wonderful people, generous people, generous to a fault, you know. They just can't do enough for literally cannot do enough for you when you're there. I was treated like loyalty when I was there.

Larry 28:40

Yeah, well, I know Van Sanchez is quite the host.

SPEAKER_06 28:44

Yeah, yeah, it was it was great. It was great seeing, you know, staying at his place, meeting his mother. I enjoyed every minute of my trip down to Mexico.

Larry 28:52

So yeah, and and these people that you meet, as you say, um, and and you, I think, are probably known around the the Ultra community as one who definitely gives back. Uh, so you've gone out and crewed quite a few times for people at various events as well. Uh, you may have crewed more than you've raced. Um tell tell me about some of the the crewing experiences that you've had and some of the people that you've worked with, please.

SPEAKER_06 29:17

Um crewing experiences, crewing in itself is an experience. You don't you know you you don't have to pick one or the other over uh one race over the other. Every race has its uh its ups and downs, it's i idiosyncrasies, and of course it depends on your athlete, right? Um uh some of my athletes have been terrible, you know, you know, just barely got through the swim and and you know, done well on the bike and the run, or vice versa. Um uh I've had I've had them throw temper tantrums, I've I've had you know people crying their eyes out, uh, or and uh other, you know, others that are like, oh, you know, like Ho Hum, this is just another day, you know, do an eight, do an eight-hour double marathon, you know, like no problem. You know, and at the end, you know, there's been a couple of times when we finished the race and my crew partner we're going, we're looking at each other going like what, we're done? Because we're so used to these 12-hour days, and someone just and someone just bangs off a double marathon and then what you know wants, you know, and has a shower and look like they haven't done anything. Yeah, you know, uh, but uh, you know, uh the crewing, uh, especially for someone like uh, you know, obviously Melissa Uri, uh crewing for her in Ultraman Canada. I and uh I actually met her on the bike of uh day day, I guess it was yeah, it was day one. Okay, and ended up crewing for her in Australia and Hawaii and uh Uberman down in California.

Larry 30:42

Uberman, that's that's another one that's like a great big event. Um we've had other guests on that were were talking about um possibly doing it. Uh then COVID came. Uh yeah that was that was Juan Cravy. He was gonna he was lining up to do it. Um tell tell us tell the listeners a little bit about what that event is all about.

SPEAKER_06 31:05

Oh boy, that is well, it depends, I guess, on on how you phrase it because um it's not a huge event, of course, like um uh media-wise or anything like that, or like t-shirt wise or exposure-wise. Yeah, it's not bad water. Yeah, it's not bad. No, it ain't bad water, that's for sure.

Larry 31:24

Although it's in part of the same area, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 31:26

Yeah, and uh the thing is that it's a very, it's a kind of it's a very low-key event, and you can do it on your own. And um, you know, uh it's it's a swim from Catalina Island to Long Beach, which I believe is uh 27 kilometers. I suppose not sure, I can't remember the exact distance. I didn't have to swim it, so I didn't have to concentrate on the the this the distance. Yeah, uh, and then you get up, you get off at Long Beach, uh California, and then you bike um up and up through the state over the the the over the mountain ranges and then um the Sierra Madres, I believe, and then you end up in uh cycling all the way to the start of Badwater.

SPEAKER_03 32:04

Right.

SPEAKER_06 32:04

Over the two mount over the two mountain ranges that you you have to run in Badwater. You have to cycle over them. You go to Badwater, and then you do whatever you do, you turn around and you start running back and doing do badwater back. So it's it's uh it's basically a I believe it's um it's a 27 kilometers swim, then a 300 mile bike, and then it's the 135 miles uh for Badwater. And and I was very curious, like the guy that organizes it, Dan is never never returns emails, he's terrible for that. And uh um and many people can relate to race directors doing that. But um not this race director. Not not yeah, not you, that's for sure. But no, but one of the things is that when I was down there talking to Dan, um I asked him, I said, you know, like what is the deal with this race? Like, like if you wanted to take six months to do it, you know, can you do can you do it? Will you be recognized for it? And he goes, Oh yeah, this is no time limit. And so I go, like, well, that's kind of strange, but you know, like whatever, it's your race, you know. So you and and it's he's not even really putting it on. He's sort of just made this thing up and said, if somebody wants to go do it, maybe let me know and I'll I'll I'll be there, you know. Right. It's it's that it's that informal. Yeah, and uh, and I I still remember, you know, I uh sitting at that table at the awards banquet at uh uh Ultraman Canada Ultraman Hawaii with uh Melissa and she looked at me and she goes, I'm thinking about doing something. And I I thought I looked back at her and I thought, oh man, she's gonna do Uber Ran. And uh and then she says, I want to do Uber Ran. And I said, Absolutely, I am there. I don't care if you want me there, I'm driving down. And I says, even if you don't tell me when it is, I'm gonna show up. And and so, and so yeah, I drove down and uh crewed for her along with a whole bunch of other people. We had two vehicles, we had a day team and night team. We had uh one, two of my paramedic friends came, one filmed it, is still gonna put together hopefully a little a little uh documentary on it. And uh it was great fun. And it was it was just a I I love the area. Uh many people that go down to that area just fall in love with that whole Badwater area, Lone Pine and going through the mountains there. It's just spectacular. Uh driving, uh motorcycling, just being there is incredible. You know, um I had a I had a wonderful time.

Larry 34:27

Especially at night.

SPEAKER_06 34:28

Especially, especially at night, yeah. It was and I got to I got when I when because I was down getting ready to do uh Ultraman, Arizona, and then of course COVID happened, and I drove I purposely drove through Winslow, Arizona, and then and then up through that area again just to go back there again, yeah, and uh and and go through it and to see it all again. And I drove through at night and it was spectacular, of course. Um, but some of the things I mean over time, Uberman, like I said, we've we've had breakdowns, even in even my last one. We crew for a while, we crewed for another athlete because their their minivan had a flat.

SPEAKER_03 35:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 35:02

Um, you know, uh, so we we we picked up stuff from their minivan and took it up to him ahead of time. Uh I've uh I've seen people pull off the road and their vehicle sinks into the mud and their racer's gone and they're waiting for a tow truck, you know. Uh on and on and on. Um and uh it's it's great fun.

Larry 35:22

If if I could, and another one that I would like to hear about from you, because this is another person that people in the community know. Um, and that is you got to crew for Lucy Santino, who people probably know because she's done so many of these races and was unsuccessful so many times, but she loves to come back and keep going. Tell me about your time careering with Lucy.

SPEAKER_06 35:50

Um I met and got to got to um know Lucy a little better at uh Ultraman, Florida, and I'd heard her name before. And uh, you know, I like you mentioned, she just kept showing up and showing up and showing up and DNFing and not finishing for whatever reason, mostly on the run, wasn't making the run cutoff. Um, but uh, you know, I uh my my son uh got to meet her as well, and my son is fluent in Spanish, and uh, and so you know we even became closer friends, and um and she saw how I crewed people and and many of my athletes were were finishing and finishing well, and um she uh phoned me or messaged me up um ahead of uh Ultraman Canada uh ear, early last spring. And she she says, would you would you crew for me? And I said, Absolutely, I'm there, no problem. And um, and of course, you know, she was missing the cutoff so many times, but uh she had Van crewing, you know, Van was my crew partner and we were gonna crew for her. So she figured she couldn't get anybody better than Van and myself to crew for her. And if she's ever gonna make it, you know, she's gonna make that race. And at the same time, I'm thinking you're picking one of the toughest races in the world to do. And and uh you want to get through it. I said, Well, I'll be there and I'll do everything I can to help you get through it. And which is and basically um it the the weather cooperated uh for her. And uh we, you know, I was right on top of time management the whole time, the whole time, you know, watching her on the bike, telling her, you know, okay, you know, if she's gonna take a break, you can you should be able to take this much of a break and it would be fine. And the run was well, the run was the same thing. You know, there were times when she would slow down to take in some nutrition, and then she would stop and I'd say, no, no, you're not stopping. You you don't you don't have this time to stop, you know, and just keep moving. And then when she in and uh it was like that the whole race. And Van was very worried that we were not gonna make it. And I just kept watching the clock, and I thought, you know something? You know, as long as we can make up a little bit of time on the downhill, which I knew we could, we'd be she would make it, and she did make it. Yeah, and uh it's uh it's uh you know, she was so happy uh to finish, and I and it was quite emotional, you know, like to see her come across that finish line and to come across with her and to be part of her success in in that, you know, it was great to be there and to agree to be a part of it. And I'm glad she, I'm just really I'm just really happy that uh she and uh that she invited me.

Larry 38:21

Yeah, and and I was up there that weekend as well, and I talked to her in Van uh prior to the race. And I was like, Oh, you got Will, no problem, you know. You get Van, you're gonna go through and and I I was like, you know, like what was been the problem in the past? And she's like, Well, I had my family crew for me.

SPEAKER_06 38:39

Yeah, that's right. I didn't I didn't want to bring that up. Yeah, and um, you know, I'm so so proud of her for finishing. Yeah, and now she wants uh she wants me to crew uh again for her in two years. Oh, uh back at back in Hawaii. She figures that, and I figure too, that she's done so much this year that I think it's taken its toll uh for Hawaii.

SPEAKER_03 39:03

Right.

SPEAKER_06 39:04

Um she knows she can get this to the swim now, and she um she did miss, she missed the first day cutoff by about uh 20 minutes. But uh I think I think a big part of that was she'd done Ultraman Canada and she'd done a whole bunch of other races as well. And I think if she just you know sat back and concentrated on uh Ultraman Hawaii and maybe a couple of other races in you know during the summer that uh she would probably do a lot better.

Larry 39:30

Yeah, yeah. Well that we that swim does get a lot of people in Hawaii. It might not get them right away, but by the end of the day, that swim has taken its toll on a lot of people.

SPEAKER_06 39:42

Yeah. Yeah, it's um I the the the the two times I did it, I was uh it was it was okay, it went fine. Um the first day I the first time I did it, I had to had to manage the headwinds, the fame, very famous headwinds on day one there. And I ended up finished with 12 finishing with 12 12 minutes to spare. So I was very close. And uh the next time I was there, the headwinds never materialized. And um, and I finished with like an hour and 10 minutes to spare. So it makes that it makes a difference of an hour. Yeah, they're they're that they're that dramatic. If you've ever been out there, they're they're you know, sometimes it's hard to stand up. The wind is so is so uh tremendous. But uh this year, this year they stayed, they uh stayed, they died down.

Larry 40:24

So right.

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Larry 40:25

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Will Rogers in Ukraine

Larry 41:28

I was just thinking in in the races that you've done, one that that pops out um is the Ultraman in Israel, um, because not many people have done that one. And I was talking to their race director and about a year ago, and they're like, oh no, we're shutting it down. And that was before the war started. Um because the conflict was rising.

SPEAKER_03 41:48

Yeah.

Larry 41:49

So that was one that you did. When you went for that one, did you feel safe at the time doing that race?

SPEAKER_06 41:55

Yeah, I did actually. I never there was no um, I felt no reason to be afraid.

SPEAKER_03 42:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 42:01

Um, maybe that's just my personality. I don't know. It did maybe after my trips to Ukraine, you know, um, that's more in focus now. Uh, I've got a more more better handle on that. But um when I when I was in Israel, there was a rocket attack. I I got a phone call in the morning um uh from Zayed saying that um that uh uh there'd be they they at uh uh a terrorist leader had Hamas leader had been taken out, so that they expected like 24 hours of rocket attacks.

SPEAKER_03 42:30

Right.

SPEAKER_06 42:30

And he said, you know, he just gave me the lowdown and what's gonna happen. And I said, okay, that's fine. And uh and then of course the rocket attacks did happen. And then the it made the news here, of course. People wanted to uh wanted me to come home because they thought, of course, I was under I was under threat and and all that stuff, right? And I said, no, I'm going for breakfast or all the other Israelis across the street at the cafe, you know. I mean, that's just what you did. That's just what you did there. Yeah, and and there was there there was uh, you know, the iron dome is was in effect, of course, at that time. And there was a rocket that did get through and hit a small part, like an intersection at the outskirts of the city. Um, and they they would they wouldn't, I don't even think they would they would classify that as a populated area, you know, it would be like an uh sort of a sort of a medium-sized intersection at the outskirts of like Surrey or something like that, you know, is semi-rural area. So I I I I was cycling up on the Golan Heights. I'm I made set several cycling trips up there. I drove up there to check out the course. Um, you know, I wandered around uh the city of Tiberias. I was site, I went swimming in the Sea of Galilee several times, which was uh which was fun just to even say that I did that, is it's it's incredible. But um, you know, I got caught in a thunderstorm when I was out uh swimming there once, and I thought, geez, you know, that'd be the that'd be the way to go at my funeral. You know, Will Rogers, you know, got struck by lightning while swimming in the Sea of Galilee in Israel. That's such a Will Rogers thing to do, right? And uh, you know, um uh And then you know on the bike, the bike part, uh, I didn't participate in all of the race. Um uh I just didn't there wasn't just wasn't up to it for that. So I I did I did the first day, second day I took off and I uh and I was volunteering and helping out with some of the photography teams. And then uh I ran a marathon uh the third day. Um and then we all we went down to uh uh the city uh right on the right on the board on the Red Sea. And you can stand on the beach and look over into Egypt and then look over your other shoulder and look into Jordan. Uh it's that close, it's about a 10 kilometer strip, if if that, of uh of Egypt right there. And so I uh thoroughly I can't enjoy my trip to Israel, cannot wait to go back. I want to go back and maybe take a motorcycle tour with my son through Israel. He's been there before. My son works for the cruise ship industry, so he they do a lot of stops there in like Haifa and Tel Aviv and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 44:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 44:53

And um, and so it's uh it's one of the it's one of those places I definitely want to get back to, along with many other places I've been to in the world because of racing and and mostly racing. Yeah and and of course Ukraine as well.

Larry 45:04

Yeah, and I wanted to ask you about the Ukraine because people who know you know that you have traveled over there a few times now to volunteer, to help out, use your paramedic skills to help people that are injured or or needing whatever aid in in the Ukraine. Uh, so I do have a few questions about that. Starting with how does one go to Ukraine during a war? I assume you're connected through some NGO or something like that. You don't just fly into Poland and start going into Ukraine and show up. Like what how how did it all happen for you?

SPEAKER_06 45:40

It was it was actually fairly uh fairly easy, actually. Uh yeah, you yeah, you're right. You just don't do it. But um what happened was is I I I had heard that uh some paramedics uh out of Victoria were getting ready to purchase um through donations uh a bunch of ambulance used ambulances out of England and then drive them across Europe to um uh to drop them off in in Poland. And so we, you know, I I'd heard about this. I contacted them, and and because of my charity work in the past, they they seemed to they seemed to be uh you know quite excited the fact that I was coming with them. And I said, you know, if I can help out in any way, anyway, I will. So I actually sent them some money, uh quite a large amount, some uh sum of money to help purchase with the amp with the ambulances and uh joined them on their trip over there and drove from England, you know, through the channel in in some ambulances, and then drove across northern Europe. And we made a little bit of a detour and went to Vimy Ridge and uh then ended up in uh in Warsaw where we dropped them off. And then uh the friend of uh one of the guys I was with who'd been to Europe many, many times, he has relatives over there, he says, you know, you should go to Krakow, and uh which is only uh two and a half hour train ride from uh Poland or from Warsaw. And I said, Well, you know, this, that, and the other thing, and I should get back to work and blah blah blah. And and uh he says, No, if you're here and I know you love to travel, if you don't go to Krakow, you will you will regret it for the rest of your life. And I went, Oh yeah, okay, okay, I guess I'm going. And so and so I went to Krakow and uh and went to Bir uh Auschwitz and Birkanau and did a salt mine tour and then came home. And I went, you know something? That was actually quite easy to get around here and get here, even though there's a there's a major war or conflict, like right next door in the country next door. And then when I got back, there's some Ukrainian uh Ukrainian nurse was uh collecting clothes and and stuff and supplies and donations for Ukraine. And I I uh talked to her and I said, you know, who's your contact here in Canada? And she goes, Oh, this woman, uh Tamera in Coquitlam. And so I got a hold of her and I said, Who is your contact in Ukraine? He says, Well, I there's a paramedic service over in Ukraine, and I said, Great, give me his number. And so she she did, and I got a hold of him, I messaged him on Facebook, and I talked to him on the phone and I said, You know, I'm a paramedic, and I told him about my credentials and my training and skill level, and he says, Yeah, come on over. So I made arrangements and I flew directly to Krakow from Vancouver, stayed in the same hotel again, and then made my way to the train station. And what you do is you go, you take the the Polish train to this border city, get off the Polish train, get on a Ukrainian train, and take it to um take it to Lviv, and then from there I'd stay overnight in a hotel, and then from there I would branch out from where wherever I'm going, either Odessa or Dnipro or um or Kyiv, and you would take a train uh train ride directly there. And the first the first time I was I just took the train ride directly across the country. It was a 14-hour overnight train ride, no food on the train, and uh and a very, very old communist train, and uh they picked me up at the uh at the train station because nothing's flying, of course. There's no commercial air at all. And uh and they picked me up, and from there I went all over the southern part of uh the country through the active war zones, and you know, and we transported a bunch of patients uh here and there, and we dropped off some equipment at hospitals, and then we went and set up mobile clinics in Hersan. We were I was in Hersan four days after the Russians left. And when I was in um in Herson, if I had jumped, if I'd climbed a 10-story building with binoculars, I could have seen the Russians on the far the far side of the uh of the the Dniepera River. So we were that close, we could hear the Heimar rockets in the distance uh going off and stuff like that. So it was it was it was I wouldn't say unnerving. I it was I wasn't nervous uh at any time on that trip. We we had to we you know we slid off the road once into a minefield, but we were able to manage it. The military was there to help us out. Uh we did some pretty good work. We made the news, made CBC. You know, I was interviewed by Gloria Makarenko as we were driving back from uh from uh Hersan.

Larry 50:01

Yes, I remember hearing that on the radio. I heard that.

SPEAKER_06 50:04

Yeah, yeah, and it was uh it was it was just a really cool experience. I mean, uh there it's you you are uh you know, like it, like it's just like going to Israel, you know, you're under threat. But then, you know, when you put things into perspective, which I try and do, and sometimes, you know, foolishly, yeah, uh, you try and downplay some of the dangers uh because you know everything has danger in it.

Larry 50:28

So what what what is a day like on the ground there for you? What do you do in a day? And how many hours is a is a shift, if you will?

SPEAKER_06 50:37

Well, yeah, yeah, it's it's it's uh it's first come, first serve. I mean, we could get a phone call early in the morning and say that they needed some uh some wounded uh soldiers transported from one area to another, and sometimes it's from the train station to the uh or from the hospital to the train station or it's from a pickup point uh to um to a hot to a hospital in the city. Uh and so I remember when I arrived there the second time I was there, uh I traveled all night uh from Odessa. And then um, and then you know the guy, the guy, the manager there says, you know, you're probably pretty tired. You know, we but we're we're going on a mission to pick up uh a bunch of soldiers that uh have been wounded and we've got to transport them. You know, we have to drive about a hundred miles to pick them up. And I said, Okay, well, let's go, you know, like the he he was he was um you know thinking I was gonna rest for the re for that day. And I said, Nope, I'm here to work, so let's go. And I ended up uh falling asleep in the in the you know in this the very tight cramped corners of the of a Toyota Land Cruiser that you know it was a wonderful little vehicle, but of course everything's uh no power anything. And um and yeah, there was you know every day something went right, and every day every day something went wrong. And uh you you learn to go with the flow. You really learn to think on and act on your feet and react on your feet there, uh, depending. Um you know, one of the one of the highlights or low lights, or one of the things I was able to pull off there was um, you know, they sent me because I'd been there a couple of days and had knew my way around some of the roads by then, because we were driving a lot every day, was um they they sent me out to pick up uh a couple of soldiers, one on a stretcher and one sitting in a you know, uh sitting in the seat beside me from a pickup point, which I I you know I got there and it was in a Nissan um uh Pathfinder uh you know, standard, which, you know, obviously I, you know, being my age, I grew up on standards. And um, and I picked him up, put him in the back of the Amus, and put the guy beside me and drove five miles and the clutch dropped right out of it. And uh so, you know, so I was synchro shifting, you know, the last 95 miles right into the city at night, which uh, you know, is just one of those things, you know, like you just I can't just stop. Right, you know, I'm not gonna park on the side of the road and there's no automo, there's no triple A there, there's no BCAA there, you know, to come to come rescue my ass. You know, you you do the best, you do the best you can, you know, and you make things work as best you can for as many, you know, for as long as you can. Um, and uh even the outfit I was with, you know, I you know I've sent them resources, sent them money and stuff like that, and and uh, you know, but everything's in short supply over there. Uh so you just do the best you can with what you have. And uh and yeah, it's uh you know, I made my way from there to Kyiv again and had a wonderful time there and met some some great people and and it was good, you know. The the the the places the places I stay at the hotels now in in Warsaw and uh Krakow, well in Krakow and in Lviv and and uh and some of the other places, they all may know my they all know me on a first name basis now because I bring them souvenirs from Canada.

Larry 53:39

Is is there a couple of organizations now that you you work with if people did want to donate something like that we can add to the show notes?

SPEAKER_06 53:48

Um I think that I I right off the top of my head, I mean frontline medics uh is the one I was working with both times, and they're constantly in need of stuff. Uh there is uh there's a woman from Maple Ridge uh uh running an organization almost like uh you know, almost on her own called De facto Humanity. And she's on Facebook. Um and she's doing some great work over there. Uh there's a couple of other ones that uh that uh I've touched base with over there that do uh rehabilitation for uh for uh and trauma counseling and stuff like that, and uh that uh are really good. I don't write I can't remember the name right off the top of my head. It's uh it's a Ukrainian name. I don't think they have an English uh equivalent, uh so I would probably butcher it anyways. But and that's an that's that's another thing. I I ran into uh several people over there that were uh humanitarians and sometimes religious based and sometimes just an NGO-based. Um people there were there for any any either medical supplies or logistical supplies, uh counseling and stuff like that. Um it's a real uh mishmash of international uh people over there trying to you know do the best they can and to help out as much as they can.

Larry 54:57

Yeah. And and do you think you'll be you'll be going back there again? Or do you think maybe you'd want to go into Israel when it's safer? Um like is this the kind of thing that you're gonna continue to do in your life?

SPEAKER_06 55:09

Well, that's a good that's a good question because I was supposed to be going to uh back to Ukraine last fall. Um sorry, um la last fall, and uh and that sort of fell through at the last minute. Um but um uh I'm I'm I'm having hip surgery in uh in on January 16th, and uh and I can't fly for three months, so I may be flying out after that and going back there again and working with the same groups or maybe uh partially with the frontline medics um and uh or another and along with another group. You can look, you can see what frontline frontline medics does. There, they've been on CNN. And if you punch in the frontline medics and CNN, uh some of their stories come up. Uh one of the one of the guys was killed uh uh uh over there in a he was hit, the the ambulance was hit by an anti-tank round and it killed him. Uh so that's the that is the the real danger over there. I mean, it's not it's not made up, it's not you know existential. It's it's literally could could be around the corner uh uh there because you just don't know.

SPEAKER_03 56:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 56:11

Um and I and anybody that tells that asks me about going over there or says I want to go over there, I I you know try I I beat that horse to death, basically, you know, telling him, I said, look, this is this isn't this isn't something that's you know meant to be a vacation adventure or whatever, or on and on and on. You know, you go over there and you work. And uh and they're long days, and there's some pretty uh horrific things you see and people you deal with. And and you have to you have to learn to um you know to trust but verify, and then sometimes you can't trust anybody. You know, like uh the you know, one time one of the guys was coming around the corner in the military was taking down a police blockade because the police were robbing everybody, you know, um and you have to be very, very uh aware of your surroundings as best you can. Um, and sometimes you under you have to understand that things just happen, just like they happen here. Yeah, you know, accidents happen, things, things happen, and there's nothing you can do about it. Um the the restaurant that uh we that we frequented quite a bit the last time I was there is now a pile of ashes, you know, because it was it was hit by a missile round. Right, you know, and uh and uh I I I'm assuming that a bunch of the employees, you know, the the waiters and cooks and stuff like that that I dealt with there, they're probably dead. You know, uh and and so you know you you do that see you do see that kind of damage there. You know, you see roadblocks and guards on all the bridges. Um, you know, you you see tanks and and artillery in the tree lines as you're driving, you know, and trenches, defensive trenches, and uh missiles, missiles stuck in the ground. Sometimes you have to drive around. I mean, I did all that, you know. So you're pain, you're painfully aware of the situation you're in.

Larry 57:54

So yeah, and I I you know seeing it on TV, I'm sure does not do it justice to what it's actually like when you're when you're there.

SPEAKER_06 58:05

Well, the thing is is that uh one of the things is that uh when I'm there or anybody is there, um, you know, uh when I walk around there or I travel on the trains, you know, people see the Canadian flag on my shoulder and they're just literally cannot believe that someone traveled across, you know, halfway around the world to be there. But you know, but at the same time at the same time, it's not just me there. Like I'm representing Canada there and and and um and they know that Canada has sent tanks and and sends money and sends resources and things like that and is doing is doing uh quite a bit in the war effort. You know, like they they they they're glad to have all the help they can. They wish it was more, but uh, you know, they're they're ecstatic, uh, you know, to be provided with uh the tools to defend themselves and to you know win back parts, you know, parts of their country that are under threat.

Larry 58:51

Right. Um when when you go, are you are you sponsored in any way or are you paying your own dime to to get over?

SPEAKER_06 58:58

No, it's my no, it's my it's my own dime. Yeah, it's it's my own dime. Someone I an older older couple of uh friends of my mom, the mother's up in Narramata up in Penticton have given me uh gave gave me a couple of hundred dollars, and they said this is not a donation for your effort, this is for you to help cover, you know, to go to some of your costs because it must be expensive. And it is expensive, but you know, it's just part of uh if you know, this is I hate to say you know, a terrible way to say it, but this is my my not only way of giving back, uh, but uh I find it incredibly gratifying, as as most people I'm sure do doing humanitarian work around the world. And I ran into other Canadian other Canadians there doing that with different NGOs and organizations. And some of them, a couple of them are actually very jealous of the the freedom I had over there working with a with a small group, because of the of course their their organizations are very structured. They have rules of what you can do and what you can't do, where that just is that just didn't apply to us.

SPEAKER_03 59:55

Right.

SPEAKER_06 59:55

You know, we could do we could do or go wherever we want, basically because we were a medical support, a standalone medical support uh organization. And and you know, and we were able to get around one of the what one of my one of my favorite stories is is we were able to get down Hersan very easily because I bribed all the guards with pastries, you know. So I would go into the coffee shop at uh wherever, you know, the town where in Dnipro on the way south, and um, or when we were in stay in Mikolaev, and I would clean out their version of the 7-Eleven of all their pastries and have a big bag of pastries and hand out pastries to the guards, yeah. You know, the guy, even the guys with the sniper rifles. I'd say, you know, give that, give, give that guy a couple of hot uh rolls and stuff like that. And they thought it was just the greatest thing.

Larry 1:00:39

And did you learn did you learn that from doing Ultra MX?

SPEAKER_06 1:00:43

No, yeah. So no, but uh um yeah, it was it was just something I thought of, you know. I thought, you know, some I bet you these guys would really appreciate this. And then it sort of took off. I was started doing it every day. Yeah, and some of the like I said, some of the organizations, especially some of the media organizations that had to travel around in larger groups, right? Um, um, and of course they're all foreign nationals. Um, they they were quite jealous of the fact that we could just move around that part of the country with such ease.

Larry 1:01:12

Um well, I'm sure for them though, it's for their own safety that there are as many rules as there are.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:17

Yes, yeah, they have their protocol, they have their protocols that are fine-tuned over over the years and through different expectations or different uh you know experiences and stuff like that. Because you know, it's a war, it is it is a war to war zone, and it's no good, there's no getting around them.

Larry 1:01:35

Yeah. So so that'll probably be in your future again. What about uh racing plans after you get this surgery uh for your right hip? Uh, do you have any future racing plans?

SPEAKER_06 1:01:47

The only thing I have now is I'm gonna probably try and get back into my swimming, long-distance swimming, uh cycling for sure. Um, I quite in I quite enjoy and quite love being just a cyclist now. But um, you never know. I mean, uh maybe when I get my hip surgery, I'll get a pedometer and put into it. Measure my runs better and stuff like that. But uh you never know. I know I know five people that now that are running on their artificial hips. Um we will see. We we will see never say never. Um uh I've already talked to Lucy Centinero about that and a couple of others that uh you know, um I certainly not this year, but uh by the time summer 2025 rolls around, um, I may be you know putting putting the running shoes on and seeing how just seeing how things go.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:35

And uh we'll see, we'll see. I mean, I mean I may end up doing some sprints, some a half maybe, and then from there we'll maybe plan something else. But it's just it's just one step at a time for now. I just want to get I just honestly, I just want to get through this surgery and get it over with and get back to you know work and and training and stuff like that and getting back and getting back into shape. I'm looking forward to another summer uh of cycling, uh doing the Grand Fondo, um the Forte Fondo up Cyprus. I train I train quite a bit quite a bit in the North Shore with all on the mountains and and then going back going back to Quebec for my for five days of cycling back there, which I do every every September.

Larry 1:03:11

Right.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:11

Right.

Larry 1:03:12

So well, you know, I I can't let you go without asking you this last question. I ask all my guests that are actually from the lower mainland. Um, can you tell me what is your best time on the grouse grind?

SPEAKER_06 1:03:26

Um oh geez, you know, um what was it? Oh, I can't remember. I think it was 43 minutes or something like that.

Larry 1:03:34

Okay, okay. Are you still able to beat your age? Do you think you'd be able to beat your age still?

SPEAKER_06 1:03:40

Oh, yeah, oh, probably. At 65, sure. Um, but uh but that's that uh after I get my my hip uh done, that's one of the things I'm gonna be back doing as well. Because I'm gonna be up in the North Shore quite a bit. I've got two grandkids that live. I've got two grandkids and another uh uh very good friend of mine that lives up there. Yeah, and so I'm gonna be more time up there training and stuff like that. I mean, uh that's what I I use that as my one-day base out of when I was uh when I did the triple crown this last summer of cycling. So and I'll be doing I'll be doing that uh again, probably a repeat of that several of the several times over uh this summer, this next summer coming up, as long as my hip will let me know. I'm very hopeful it will.

Larry 1:04:20

Right. Yeah. Well, Will, uh thank you very much for taking the time out today to come and speak to me and share your stories. I know you did a full shift today as a paramedic, and that's that can't be easy to come home and then start chatting again. You probably want to get some Z. So uh thanks a lot. I really appreciate it. Good luck with the surgery. And uh, if you end up going back to Ukraine, make sure you stay safe.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:44

Thanks. Okay, Larry, thanks a lot. Thanks. Nice to hear from your next talk, yeah. Thanks a lot.