It had been a long day when Doug Bird got an unexpected call. The setting was the 2008 edition of the ABSA Cape Epic and a youthful Bird, along with his fellow Epic staffers, had finished up their task of sponsors branding for the day. Bearing in mind that this was back when the event moved town daily, making its way from Knysna all the way down to Cape Town - a travelling roadshow par excellence and a challenging one for the organisation at that.
“Katie Csak called and asked if I could take the evening presentation. Dan Nicholl was ill and they were desperate so I found myself on stage soon after. Needless to say I was rather nervous – the evening presentation is a serious event in itself - but just went with the flow. I’m not sure if the Europeans really “got” my sense of humour though.”
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Doug Bird’s voice is synonymous with endurance events in South Africa. As race MC for events such as Joberg2C, Sani2C, Dusi2C, Dusi Canoe Marathon, Berg&Bush, Red Bull Lionheart, Wings for Life World Run and the Nedbank Green Mile and the Comrades Marathon, the man from Pietermaritzburg is well known for is witty and informative commentary. Race and event MCing is not a role for the fainthearted and the lanky Bird fulfils this function in an extremely professional and adaptable manner.
“My Dad actually provided me with my personal number one rule of MCing,” explains Bird on a chilly Friday morning in Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront. “It was back in 2001 when Ross O’Donoghue asked if I could help out with race announcing at an extreme sport festival, Thrombi X Fest. I had actually just finished the competing in the white water kayaking event and ended up MCing the Down Hill mountain bike race. Fellow Pietermaritzburg mate Greg Minnaar and his One Life crew were competing and it was like talking to friends really – everything just flowed. My parents were impressed and suggested pursuing public speaking as a career before adding that, if this was what I really wanted to do, I should remember not to make a joke at the expense of another person.”
Doug Bird has worn many hats in a career path that could be described as varied and circuitous. An innate paddling talent from an early age, Bird pursued the white water, marathon and sprinting disciplines of kayaking with a view to representing South Africa at Athens 2004. Already a national representative at World Championship level, making it to the Olympics was logical step albeit one that eventually fizzled out.
“Our coach at the time left us with six months until Athens and that was pretty much the end of the road as far as my elite sporting career was concerned. After a decade of racing it was getting to the point where I had some decisions to make regarding a life and career path. My parents were my corporate sponsor and once the Olympics were no longer a reality I decided to head down to Cape Town to study and work out what I really wanted to do.”
Working as a personal trainer while studying towards a marketing degree, Bird was presented with an opportunity that ended up being career defining.
“A friend of mine Richard McMartin, who at the time was the head of logistics at the Epic, asked if a few of us could help out at the Cape Epic as quad bike riders taking the TV crew out on route. They were a few riders short and would cover our expenses and it was a case of either spending seven days in lectures or a week riding motorbikes. A no-brainer really as, in the years to come, this morphed into the more permanent and official role before that late call from Katie to handle an evening presentation.”
It was during this period that Bird really made headway into the public eye by placing third in the Men’s Health Look competition as well as hosting an episode of the SABC’s Top Billing TV show; heady and enjoyable days indeed although for Bird ones that were critical in the sense of self-direction and identifying where his true passions lay.
“I realised that it was a different world even though Top Billing certainly helped build my profile. Having been a professional athlete made me discover that the more mainstream entertainment industry was not an ideal fit to my personality. Sport was my true vocation.”
With an ideal career path now clearly defined in his mind, Bird set about building a business portfolio compatible with his personal ideals. Voiceovers for TV sports shows and creation of the annual Berg and Bush MTB stage race with Gary Green as well as the still growing Durban-based events company Impi Concept Events have forged a flowing path to where he finds himself today.
As Country Sports Marketing Manager for Red Bull South Africa, Bird combines this full-time position with a select MCing portfolio and is a mainstay at Glen Haw’s Joberg2C, Sani2C and Dusi2C events. As a former elite athlete and with all this water under the proverbial bridge, he understands exactly what is required in the realm of professional sport as a business as well as the key attributes of an effective MC, two seemingly separate industries that share more than a few similarities perhaps.
“I guess it is a 50/50 balance really,” says Bird on the subject of actual athlete value. “Take a guy like Siphiwe Tshabalala for example: the guy is absolutely ruthless and one hundred percent committed when on the field. But as soon as he comes off the pitch he is a darling of the public, always signing autographs and posing for selfies with a massive smile; an on-off switch combining sporting performance and public persona: true value as far as marketability is concerned.
“An MC is the most influential person at an event or gathering,” he continues. “This sort of arena is often unpredictable and many underestimate the skill needed to keep things running smoothly. A good MC is one that is informative and humorous as well as being adaptable to the situation at hand. And I just love that aspect of the industry. It is all about flexibility, flow and being able to deliver when the chips are down. At the end of the day, it all rests on the MC to keep the atmosphere engaging.”
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The month of May sees the annual Sani2C take place in KwaZulu-Natal. On the Friday of race week, race owner Glen Haw has much to do: the Trail is finishing in Scottburgh; day two of the Adventure event is in Jolivet Farm and the racing snakes are flying into McKenzie Club. Organised chaos it may seem but an atmosphere that calls for a special type of person. And unsurprisingly, Bird and Haw have developed a catchphrase that has served them both well over the respective journeys.
“Farmer Glen normally arrives at the Race event’s presentation by helicopter - this is the only way he get around to all the race village functions on time - with a dozen things to sort out. How he holds it all together is amazing but no matter what he always has the sense of humour to say that we should just ‘wing it’. We have been working together long enough to know what we need to do.”
“Those words are prophetic and always a welcome tonic for both us. A great leveller and mantra to abide by indeed.”