Sir Mark Cavendish speaks to Media Isle of Man reporter Tom Curphey after winning the Lifetime Achievement award at the 2024 Awards for Excellence
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00:00I'd just like to say Sir Mark, first of all it's a privilege for me to be even doing this interview,
00:03I'm only a young journalist, I work for Media Isle of Man and to get this opportunity at 23
00:08to talk to someone like you is pretty remarkable, so first of all thank you and second of all you've
00:12won 35, I can't even comprehend the amount you've won and what you've done in your career but,
00:19and so I'm not going to bore you with all the how much this means to you, but a lifetime
00:22achievement in the Isle of Man, how good is it to be back on the Isle of Man and how good is it to
00:24see everyone and to pick up an award like this? Oh it's always nice you know, I wasn't supposed
00:29to be here, I just managed to get on a bumpy flight back, managed to rush here to get this
00:35award, I'm super super proud, I think I got an Isle of Man award for excellence back in the day,
00:41but a lifetime achievement award is always special you know, I'm super proud to be Manx,
00:47I always carry everyone here on all my travels and all my races and yeah this is very very nice,
00:56so I've got my little, I've got my little date with me today, yeah absolutely, she's come over,
01:00she's tired, it's a bit late for her, but I think Andy summed it up perfectly on the stage when he
01:04said that we weren't expecting you, honestly this is a completely, honestly I was expecting to
01:10interview your parents maybe and say how well you've done, I'm sure they would have spoke to
01:13you just as highly as you will speak about yourself, I think your wife said as well that
01:16you'll be helping out in the house a lot more, oh yeah look at me, this is you doing the hard work,
01:22yeah it's great, well obviously like I'm retired now, I retired a week ago, but my contract still
01:27runs till the end of December, so I still have stuff to do, so I'm still travelling, so if I can
01:32get a minute with these it's good, the others are still in school, so I've got the princess with me,
01:39and she's been very good, yeah but it's not, I mean I think my mum and dad will be more
01:44disappointed when I go on the stage than anyone here, they're probably the only people that are
01:48disappointed with tonight I guess, that video to me, I was emotional and I'm not even that
01:53attached to it, you must have, you must have been like, I saw Wattie up there and I work Wattie,
01:57I'm seeing it yeah, I heard it, you'll have to watch it back honestly, on the stage, yeah you'll
02:02have to watch it back honestly, Dr Tilbury's, oh my gosh, how much of an influence have these people
02:06had on your career do you think, I know it's hard to sum up and it's hard to put into words, but how
02:10much, just how much of an impact have these guys on the Isle of Man had? Some people have had a lot
02:17of influence you know, the people that helped me get off the island especially you know, it's easy,
02:24it's easy to become the best on the island and be happy with that you know, and of course it was,
02:28but then I had to be best in Britain and the best in Europe, and just to get, I think everybody
02:32knows how hard it is to get away, and I think I was lucky I had the determination and that to get
02:38away, but I think those first people that really, yeah pushed them when I was young,
02:48and that means the most, everyone can jump on when you're good can't they you know, but
02:52when people help you when you need help, that's more important, and there was a lot of people
03:00who did that. What I found interesting was in the interviews, they mentioned that you weren't
03:05particularly the best at the very start on the island, so there was people better than you,
03:11how much, just how much has gone into this for you, how much have you thrown into this
03:16career of yours? You just don't give up, I've got five kids and the only thing I say to them is you
03:22don't give up, that's the, there can always be someone better than you, there can always be
03:30things that are out of your control, the one thing you can control is how hard you work,
03:36and if, or when you give up, and if you can control that then you can control it, so you
03:42work hard and you don't listen to other people, you know what you can do, and I truly believe you
03:49do that, you can do whatever you want to do. The big question on everyone's lips now is,
03:53you feel free to not give too much away, but what does the future hold?
04:01What does the future hold? Yeah, tell us Astrid.
04:06Do you know yet? We're going by tour, she wants to go to the wildlife park.
04:10Okay, okay, so that's what the future holds, tell the public that.
04:13That's what the future holds, and a home we're ready for old horses,
04:16as long as there's animal involved. Fantastic, very fantastic places I must say,
04:21but do you know what your plan is, pundit? No, I'm definitely not a pundit, you see I don't
04:26speak that eloquently. I was going to say, you've spoken very well today.
04:29Pete Koenig speaks a lot better than me, so he's good at that, but
04:36my dream is always to have a team, and we'll see where that goes.