Mahé Drysdale told the Bay of Plenty Times he was considering running in the Tauranga City Council election. Photo / Alex Cairns
Drysdale, 45, said he expected to firm up his decision within the “next few days” and could provide more details then.
Nominations for the election open on April 26.
The Cambridge-based former Tauranga Boys’ College student, who was joined at the event by wife Juliette and their three young children, is a two-time Olympian champion and five-time world champion in the single sculls.
Drysdale has also been the New Zealand national champion seven times and has been awarded New Zealand Sportsman of the Year five times.
Among his sporting accolades, Drysdale also won an Olympic bronze, three world silvers and was crowned New Zealand’s favourite athlete following the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
He retired from competitive rowing in 2021 the following year was awarded the Thomas Keller Medal, considered the highest honour in rowing.
He told the Bay of Plenty Times that running for council was something he was passionate about, particularly regarding the potential for “what Tauranga can be”.
Mahé Drysdale celebrates gold at the 2012 Olympics. Photo / Brett Phibbs
“When you grow up in a family like I have, there’s a lot of giving back from both my grandfather and my grandma. The Bob and Joy [Owens] Scholarship that goes to nine schools around the Bay is a great initiative and [example] of that. That’s why I would consider running,” Drysdale said.
“There’s opportunity there.”
Drysdale’s uncle and Sir Bob’s son, Doug Owens, has already announced his intention to stand for the Tauranga mayoralty.
“It’s obviously hard if you are going to run against your family member but you have to say if you can offer a different perspective. If I were to run, it would be [with a] a completely different sort of perspective,” Drysdale said.
Doug Owens is running for mayor of Tauranga.
Asked about potentially running against his nephew, Doug Owens told the Bay of Plenty Times it did not bother him.
”It is a democracy and people make their choices … we’re all coming from different perspectives.
”It’s all democracy at work here and we’ve got to get it back into place in this city.”
Lessons from his youth
In a speech to village residents gathered for the birthday celebrations, Drysdale spoke about the values his grandfather instilled in him from a young age.
Drysdale, who lived with Sir Bob and Joy in Auckland when he was 16, said he remembered how hard-working his grandfather was, particularly reading through board papers.
“What I got out of that was the determination he had to succeed, no matter what,” Drysdale said.
“That’s certainly been a great lesson to me and my career and what I’ve done.”
After speaking at the 10th anniversary celebration of the Bob Owens Retirement Village, Mahé Drysdale told the Bay of Plenty Times he was considering running in the local election. Photo / Alex Cairns.
Drysdale became emotional during his speech, referring to when he first started rowing when “there was no money” and his grandmother giving him $200 a week to live on.
“Without Joy, I wouldn’t have been as successful as I was.”
Drysdale was acutely aware of his grandparents’ efforts to succeed in life and what they had achieved.
“Granddad didn’t come from money and was living in a state house in Merivale, struggling to pay the bills every week for his growing family.”
Drysdale talked about Sir Bob’s career starting with working at mills on Matakana Island before venturing into an “empire” of businesses, many of which serviced the Port of Tauranga, which he is credited with helping to become New Zealand’s largest port.
Sir Bob was also a councillor and mayor of Mount Maunganui when it had its own borough council then later Tauranga city.
“In Granddad’s last speech, he mentioned what New Zealand was and I’m sure most of you will remember; if the community and school need a pool, the dads of all the kids would get out their spades and start digging a hole,” Drysdale said.
“We tended to make things happen, contributing time without cost, the pooling together as a community was the foundation blocks of our country ... it was what he believed in. I’m not sure what he would think of today with all the red tape and road cones.
“We need to do what we can for each other ... anything is achievable.”
Kiri Gillespie is an assistant news director and a senior journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, specialising in local politics and city issues. She was a finalist for the Voyager Media Awards Regional Journalist of the Year in 2021.
