May 16, 2025 • 26 mins
Mark Hawwa's compassionate vision became the Distinguished Gentleman's Ride, a global motorcycle event that raises awareness and vital funds for men's health, focusing on suicide prevention and prostate cancer research. Growing up with immigrant parents who instilled values of service and compassion, Mark explains how these principles became the foundation for the DGR. What began as a way to challenge negative stereotypes about motorcyclists has evolved into something far more profound – a safe space where men can openly discuss health challenges that were once considered taboo. As Mark poignantly shares, "We're making it easier for guys to be comfortable in their own skin, more comfortable to talk about mental health, and more comfortable to reach out for support."
The conversation takes us through the evolution of the movement, including the launch of the Distinguished Gentleman's Drive for classic car enthusiasts and the logistical challenges of coordinating events across diverse international jurisdictions. Mark's initial concerns about sustainability have proven unfounded as participation continues to grow stronger each year, demonstrating the power of bringing people together around shared passions while serving a greater good. His candid reflections reveal both the tremendous work behind the scenes and the unexpected ways the movement has touched lives worldwide. Whether you're a longtime participant or new to the DGR community, this episode provides profound insights into how motorcycles, style, and compassion are creating lasting change in men's health awareness globally.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ron (00:03):
I can say with complete certainty that the Peace, love,
moto podcast would not exist ifit weren't for a single event
and a single person whosecompassion for others sparked it
all.
The event is the DistinguishedGentleman's Ride and the person
behind it is Mark Hawa.
Ride and the person behind itis Mark Hawa.
(00:31):
This Sunday, my wife and I havethe privilege of once again
hosting the DistinguishedGentleman's Ride in Fort Collins
, colorado, just north of ourhome here in Loveland.
Our ride is one of 1,000happening around the globe,
starting in Australia, rollingacross the time zones until it
reaches the United States andthen here in Colorado this
Sunday morning.
This podcast called Peace, love, moto three simple words with,
(00:55):
I think, very deep meanings.
Peace represents the peace ofmind that so many of us find
from the seat of a motorcyclejust going out for a ride.
Love it's about learning tolove ourselves, take care of
ourselves and, most importantly,I would say, to learn to love
other people too, because that'sa direct reflection on loving
(01:16):
ourselves.
And moto, well, to use ananalogy, that's the thread that
ties us all together.
To use an analogy, that's thethread that ties us all together
A shared love for motorcycling.
These three elements peace,love and motorcycles are also
(01:36):
what the DistinguishedGentleman's Ride is all about.
It's an event that raises bothawareness and vital funds for
men's health, with a focus onsuicide prevention and prostate
cancer research.
Early in the life of thispodcast, I had the honor of
interviewing Mark Hawa inAustralia.
It was originally a two-partseries, but today I've combined
(02:00):
them into one episode that divesinto the heart of the DGR
specifically, and the how andthe why behind this incredible
global movement that many of you, as listeners, are part of, and
I'm so proud of that.
So, whether you're alreadygetting on your bike and getting
on your bow tie and ready foryour Sunday ride, or you're
(02:23):
hearing about the DGR for thevery first time, I invite you to
listen to the story of someoneI consider my hero.
Mark's vision, his compassionand his relentless dedication
have created what I think is aglobal hug, an act of peace, an
(02:45):
act of love for the whole worldto see.
I'm so proud to be a part of it.
So sit back, relax and prepareto be inspired.
Thank you so much for joiningme today.
Recorded in beautiful Loveland,colorado.
(03:07):
Welcome to Peace, love Moto thepodcast for motorcyclists
seeking that peaceful, easyfeeling as we cruise through
this life together.
Are you ready?
Let's go.
You know a lot of people inthis world have a very good
(03:35):
heart.
Maybe they would tell you thatthey were brought up that way to
show love and respect forothers, because, well, that's
what you do.
Other people in the world comeup with great ideas, ideas that
turn into great businessventures, such as Apple, triumph
, ibm, just to name a few.
One man was gifted with both areally good heart and a really
(04:02):
great idea that turned into aglobal social movement Beginning
in 2012,.
Held only one day a year, theDistinguished Gentleman's Ride
boasts participation from over100,000 motorcycle riders in
more than 100 countries aroundthe world, collectively raising
(04:25):
over $37 million for men'shealth issues, including suicide
prevention and prostate cancerresearch.
I can honestly tell you thatthis podcast Peace, love, moto
and its purpose came from theideas set forth by this one man
who started it all.
Kind of to go back in time, ifyou don't mind, I have
(04:59):
researched you a little bit andwatched a number of your
interviews and listened topodcasts where you've been
interviewed.
You made a mention on one ofthem about the way you grew up,
about your parents' influence onyou, about being a servant.
Do you mind expanding on that alittle bit?
Mark (05:16):
Yeah, I think for us I mean my parents were.
They came from overseas, so dadwas born in Palestine, moved to
Egypt within 30 days, mum'sPolish-Greek, with a born in
Egypt background.
They came to Australia quiteearly and you know they're very
much Australian, as you canimagine.
(05:36):
They're in their mid-70s.
But growing up here, I mean,I've got two older brothers and
a twin brother as well, and forus it was always based around
how we could help others,whether or not it was helping to
carry a pram up the stairs,obviously getting up and giving
the seat to someone that's alittle bit more elderly.
One of my older brothers hasspecial needs and so they
(05:59):
enrolled us into sort ofvolunteer programs when we were
younger to help people with Downsyndrome and special needs and
all the rest of it.
So we're really well familiarwith people that have grown up,
you know, based around thoseissues.
And so I think for us it wasalways how do we help others,
and I think that's somethingthat still continues.
So, obviously, starting theDistinguished Gentleman's Ride
(06:21):
in those first initial years andputting a couple of years into
it where you know it wasn'tabout having a job, it wasn't
about making a paycheck, it wasjust about how do we help others
, and then ultimately, you know,it turned into something a
little bit larger than I thinkany of us could have ever
realized.
Ron (06:41):
Oh yeah, exactly.
You talk about somethingexploding.
Take a great idea, just make itcompletely amazing.
You know, as I think about it,it seems to be the perfect
combination.
Again, it's folks with a commoninterest, and it's a fairly
narrow interest too, would yousay.
I mean, it's not only justmotorcyclists which there's a
lot of motorcyclists in theworld but it's those that ride
(07:04):
with style, you might say youknow that this ride is targeted
toward.
you know the classics, theclassic bikes, modern classics,
and you know you have certaincriteria for those bikes.
So to me it seems that you'vegot the perfect combination.
You've got folks with a commoninterest fairly narrow interest
somewhat, but you've got folkswith a common interest fairly
(07:25):
narrow interest somewhat, butyou've got folks, probably more
importantly, with a common senseof values.
I can't help, but I wasexpressing, using this
expression to a friend the otherday.
It's like this global hug.
It's like when I went to theDGR for the first time last year
.
I felt like I could walk up toa total stranger and give them a
hug and they would hug me backand then we would say by the way
(07:48):
, what's your name?
I don't know.
Is that the feeling you getfrom this?
Mark (07:53):
That's typically the feeling I get on every ride.
So I've been fortunate enough,obviously, to be able to attend
a few different rides indifferent cities and different
countries, and it is a globalhub and I've never heard anyone
put it that way and you know,the hairs on my arms are
currently standing up becausethat is a perfect way of putting
it.
Irrespective of where you aretaking part in the world, the
(08:16):
ride is the same, the values arethe same and the people are
just the same.
It's irrespective.
And the thing about this event,you know it is a niche within a
niche.
There's no doubt about it.
I mean, motorcycles are niche,and then you want to go a little
bit deeper.
You know that classics toll ofmotorcycles is even more niche
now, but there is somethingspecial about it where this is a
(08:41):
safe space where people cantalk, and they can talk without
judgment and they can talk in away that they might not even
feel comfortable talking totheir partner about or even
their friends about.
And I always use an examplewhere, you know, I started
riding motorcycles 13 years ago.
I started up a sydney based crewcalled sydney cafe races and
(09:01):
back then you wouldn't hear guystalk openly about their health.
You wouldn't hear guys talkingabout, you know, having their
testicles removed because oftesticular cancer, whereas now
that's a conversation I've heardin person where two guys are
talking about it.
And these guys haven't metbefore, they probably don't even
know each other's names before,but they've somehow got onto
this topic and started talkingabout it openly.
(09:23):
And I was just overhearing thisas I was walking past him and
to me I think that's the realpinch me moment, where you sit
there and go, wow, like we'renot the guys that are trying to
be harder than we may appear,we're not the guys that are
trying to be something otherthan what we actually are.
We're a bunch of guys that aretotally comfortable in our skin,
(09:45):
and I think we're also an eventthat's making it easier for
guys to be more comfortable intheir own skin, being more
comfortable to talk about theirmental health, more comfortable
to talk about their strugglesand, most importantly, more
comfortable to reach out and getthat support they need.
Ron (10:11):
Regarding the Distinguished Gentleman's Right.
Regarding the distinguishedgentleman's right, what just
struck me was how everyonedressed and, uh, I, I knew how
to dress.
My wife went along, went alongas well, and we, we, uh we
dressed the way we were supposedto, but others, oh my goodness,
they just, they just blew itout of the water as far as style
and dapper.
I just thought it was fantastic.
Do you mind describing how, inmy own notes I wrote a note here
(10:34):
to myself unlike a masqueradeparty, people are showing their
true selves in this whole coolfactor thing Is that your
impression of how this goes whenyou attend these events.
Mark (10:49):
Oh, it's a difficult one, right?
They're showing their trueselves, because my true self is
most likely board shorts and at-shirt, living in Sydney,
australia.
And it's quite funny becausewhen I met a lot of people, they
sit down and go oh we expectedyou to be in a suit.
And I'm like, well, no, I am ina suit, but it's the right time
, the right place and the rightoccasion, and obviously the
(11:10):
Distinguished Gentleman's Rideand Drive are two of those
occasions a year that I will puta suit on.
I think for me it's a differentexpression.
It's an expression of wherepeople on these motorcycles and
I think what tends to happen andwhat we see a lot here in
Sydney is a lot of people intheir cars, you know they see a
(11:33):
person that's got a full facehelmet and they lose that
connection of the fact thatthat's another human being.
They can't see a face, theycan't see a smile, they can't
see warmth, they see something,for whatever reason, that they
feel is more sinister.
And I think for me, the perfectpart about the Distinguished
Gentleman's Ride when I startedit was let's try, and, you know,
(11:55):
for those that are comfortable,wear open-faced helmets so that
they can see that there's asmile underneath, that it's not
a frown, it's not someone that'sangry, it's not someone that's
dangerous.
But let's couple that with thefact that let's put some suits
on, because if we're going tosort of get attention through
the streets of Sydney andthrough the streets of the 64
cities in the first year, let'sshow them that we can be your
(12:20):
mum, your dad, your brother,your sister, your auntie, your
uncle, your friend, your boss,your fellow worker.
It's not some random sinisterperson riding this motorcycle
that could be your neighbor, andthat was a key part in that
first year of just.
How do we break that narrative,how do we break the stereotype?
(12:41):
Um, and show them that thesepeople, just because they ride
motorcycles, are no different toyou and I yeah, yeah, yeah, I,
I love it, I, I to.
Ron (12:53):
The next path I'm going down is not only motorcycles,
but you shift gears a little bitalso, and to include in the
other half of the year theDistinguished Gentleman's Drive.
Would you mind sharing wherethat idea came from and how it
might parallel or be differentfrom VR?
Mark (13:14):
be different from, uh, yeah, yeah, definitely.
I mean, for me, I was alwaysinto cars before I was into
motorcycles, uh, motorcycles.
Was this, this moment where Iwoke up and thought you know
what I really want to get mymotorcycle license and I don't
know where it came from?
Uh, I must have had an amazingdream, it was just.
It was just, I just woke up andwanted a motorcycle, um, and so
I've only been riding since Iwas 25, but I've always been
(13:36):
into cars and you know, my firstcar was when I was 17, 18, and
I've always been a, um, I guess,a japanese car enthusiast,
primarily based around mazdarotaries, um, you know, quirky
engine, um, fantastic machineand just something slightly
different.
And you know, you know, Istarted the Distinguished
Gentleman's Ride, but it didn'ttake long to sit there and think
(13:57):
, okay, well, you know, oncewe've got this running and it's
sort of working really well,there's always going to be the
opportunity to bring peopletogether using classic cars as
well.
So, pretty much organically, itturned down into that path and
for us, we didn't have thatnegative stereotype that exists
in a lot of countries around theworld based around classic cars
(14:19):
no one looks at a guy in aclassic car and sits there and
goes.
Oh, he must be a one percenter,it's just not so.
For me it was okay.
Well, you know the for safetyreasons, we make sure that we go
through the main streets of thecity.
It means it keeps the speeddown.
Visually.
A lot of people get to see it.
(14:40):
We get to break that stereotypecity by city, on a global scale
, whereas the drive itself itwas okay.
Well, let's take thisopportunity to actually get out
of the city.
There's no doubt that you knowwe create congestion with
motorcycles in a calculated way.
But if you were to have thesame amount of classic cars, we
(15:03):
would have much larger issuesthat would have to be faced with
council, police and any othersort of institution locally.
So the idea was well, let's getout of the city and let's just
get together and bond and createthese friendships and go for a
drive together.
And you know there's somethingto be said that even going on a
drive together is sort of, youknow, personality building and
(15:25):
connects you with other driversas well, because you know
there's always something goingwrong with classic cars on the
side of the road, comingtogether to help fix them and
get through to that enddestination.
So the distinguished gentleman'sdrive has been great, um it's.
It's been a difficult onebecause we sort of uh wanted to
launch that and then obviouslyCOVID hit Um, but it's growing
nicely.
It's growing organically and,and you know, I think even last
(15:47):
year we had, uh, I think it wasabout 150 different drives
globally.
So it's nothing on the sheerscale of the Distinguished
Gentleman's Ride and it's notthere to compete.
It's just an alternative forpeople that have classic cars,
that want to dress up and raisefunds for Movember.
Ron (16:04):
Yeah, oh, that's fantastic.
I can't wait to this September,find out where it's happening,
as close as it can to be to myhouse, and go watch that.
That sounds fantastic.
I do have a 1926 Ford model Tin the garage.
I inherited it from my uncle anumber of years ago.
The disadvantage there is itonly goes about 20 miles an hour
(16:25):
and it doesn't go that far andbreaks down a lot.
Mark (16:29):
Funnily enough, some of the some of the drives are quite
long.
You know we're talking.
Some of them might go for, Imean, 100 mile maybe, but some
of the drives are smaller forthose vehicles that are super
classic or even if you've got areally small capacity vehicle.
I mean you know there's a Fiat500 drive in Italy that only
(16:51):
goes 20 mile or something alongthose lines, because they just
don't have the same sort ofpower as the bigger cars.
But yeah, it's much more.
There's a lot more diversity inthat.
I mean it's a little bitstricter in the fact that it's
just pre-1980s vehicles.
But ultimately, I mean our goalwith that one is to not be too
(17:13):
much of a burden on the roadeither and everything that we do
is very calculated in a waythat it's.
You know, we ultimately knowthat if we grow these events to
the scale, city by city, wherethey're too large, that we will
get shut down.
And you know there's no benefitin us, in that social
connectivity and bringing peopletogether and the funds that we
raise for november, if, if we'renot allowed to host events at
(17:34):
all yeah, yeah, I have to askyou about the videos that you
have out on youtube.
Ron (17:43):
Um, they are so well produced, so many of them are so
well produced.
I gotta tell you my absolutefavorite, and I don't have the
author in front of me at themoment, but what I do is a
search for DistinguishedGentleman's Ride, italy, and it
comes up and it starts off witha bartender and the next scene
(18:03):
is a gentleman sipping a coffee,then a lady rides up on her
tramp and the music changes, andI've watched that 50 times.
Do you know?
You haven't know the one I'mtalking about.
Mark (18:14):
I know you're gonna you're gonna have to send me a link on
that one.
It's, um, there's a lot of,there's a lot of videos and it's
it's amazing because I mean, Ithink it shows just how deeply
this connects with people.
I mean, these videos aren'tvideos that we're paying to
create.
Uh, these are videos thatpeople are doing off their own
back and having a lot of funwith it.
Obviously, we get the benefitof being able to use them, which
(18:36):
is great for us, but no, I'lldefinitely need a link for that
one.
Ron (18:40):
I will send it to you.
Not only that, it's the secondsong that it jumps into early in
the video.
I was so impressed with that.
I got out my phone and no, Iwas about to say I went to
Soundhound but no, it wasactually listed who the artist
was in the video and then Ifound them on spotify and then I
put that on my favorites liston spotify.
That the song was just so sowell done.
(19:02):
But there's there's so many.
It seems like, like you said,that people with such a
wonderful spirit and, uh, reallyputting the, the, the spirit
and the motion of the DGR onvideo along with music is just
fantastic, over the topfantastic.
Mark (19:19):
It actually led to an idea that we had a few years ago
where obviously we were sort ofusing Sydney to produce, and our
friends over here to help usproduce, the launch videos for
all the Gentleman's Ridecampaigns, campaigns.
And then a couple of years agowe sort of looked at all those
videos and gone you know what.
Let's just find people thattake part in dgr, that have fun
(19:41):
with dgr, that raise funds fordgr and let's just put it on on
their city to to come up with aconcept and and create a video.
So the last two dj launchvideos have actually been um
managed by, by our network inthose cities and I think the
goal for us is, you know, let'sdo a different city every year.
(20:02):
Let's show people how, howdiverse this is, let's show
people how multicultural this isand that, irrespective of you
know what city, you're, yourculture and all the rest of it,
everyone is taking part in theDistinguished Gentleman's Ride.
It's, you know, it's trulymagic when you see some of those
sort of smaller countries justhaving the exact same amount of
(20:23):
passion as you know, some of thekey cities like LA or New York,
sydney, london, etc.
And they do it so well and knowwe were.
We were really excited when wewhen we received the, uh, the
launch video from this year, um,from our friends in malta and
they just fantastic job.
We were all having a little bitof a laugh at certain points of
(20:44):
it.
We're all excited to ridemotorbikes by the end of it, um,
and you know the, the goal isnext year.
All right, let's, let's seewhat other city, what other
country can, can sort of come upwith the launch concept and
let's continue to.
You know over how long thisevent may last.
Let's continue to show people adifferent side from different
areas around the world.
Ron (21:04):
Yeah, yeah, oh, that's wonderful.
I think you kind of alluded toit.
I know I would imagine thatthis is at times been a heavy
load to bear, a lot ofresponsibility, a lot of
questions to be answered in alot of interviews, like I'm
doing right now.
But it sounds like, though,that you've got a wonderful,
(21:27):
wonderful staff there with thesame heart, a lot of great ideas
, and you've got a lot of good,positive support behind you.
Mark (21:35):
It sounds like yeah, it's been a journey and I mean we do
have fantastic staff and wepunch well above our weight in
the fact that you know,obviously we're limited in
resources but the event is soglobal.
But I think a lot of that alsocomes down to the systems that
we've got in place, theprocedures that we've got in
(21:56):
place, and they've gotten betterover the years.
I mean, what people don'trealize when they sort of look
at this event is just how muchwork goes into it.
But also, we couldn't copyanyone else.
There was no other event on aglobal scale that basically
brought this many peopletogether for a cause, and so for
us, you know we couldn't sitthere and you know look at even
(22:19):
Movember, for instance, how theygrow mustaches.
We couldn't look at that anduse that as a blueprint to how
to launch this.
So really it all had to comefrom ourselves.
There were a lot of hurdles tojump and you know there's not a
day that goes by that we're notsort of jumping some sort of
hurdle everywhere, becauseyou're running a large scale
event across a lot of differentjurisdictions and the rules are
(22:42):
different everywhere that you goaround the world.
And you know, even when youlook from an insurance
perspective.
You know insurance has changedfrom around the world as well,
so it's a huge undertaking, butthe right staff are on this and
the right people are hostingthese events.
They're guys and girls that arepassionate about what we do.
They're passionate about thebikes, they're passionate about
(23:04):
supporting people that aren'tthemselves.
So when you sort of bring thisbeautiful formula together, it
obviously leads to a successfulevent because, as you said at
the start 37 and a half millionUS dollars in the last 11 years
of sort of charity fundraisingthis is now our 12th year of the
event and you know thefundraising is extremely strong
(23:26):
for this year.
So obviously we must be doingsomething right, along with all
of our support network.
Ron (23:33):
Yeah, yeah, well.
Well, mark, from a guy sittingon the other side of the planet
from you right now, I just wantto tell you thank you just from
the bottom of my heart forhaving the heart that you have.
But not only that, but taking abold step and risking failure
to step out and do somethinglike this, which has turned out
(23:56):
to be just a tremendous successand has literally changed and
saved the lives of so manypeople around the world.
The world's blessed by having aguy like you, so I just want to
personally thank you, just fromone guy to you among many, I'm
sure, to thank you very much forall you've done.
Mark (24:18):
And I appreciate it.
I mean you can never hear thatenough.
All you've done and Iappreciate it, I mean you can
never hear that enough it isthere is a lot of work and
there's still a lot of work todo to support the guys that are
taking part in this event and tosupport the guys that sort of
are aware of the event even morethan we currently do, but we
continue to work on it and we'vegot the right.
We've got the right team, we'vegot Movember on board and we've
(24:38):
got guys like you on board andI think for us, you know when,
when I first started this, Isort of sat there and thought,
okay, well, that was awesome,that kicked ass, that was fun.
Um, and then, you know, westarted to focus more on the
charity aspect.
But there was this part of methat always sat there and
thought, okay, well, how long isan event like this gonna last?
Is this a fad?
Um, do we have a certain timeframe on this until people get
(25:02):
bored?
And the truth of the matter is,I always thought that this was
going to be, you know, probablya 10 year event, and you know,
being in the 12th year andhaving numbers that are stronger
year on year than every yearfor the last 12 years really
shows me sometimes how little Iknow.
Really shows me sometimes howlittle I know.
Ron (25:23):
Well, again, you took a bold step forward and you didn't
have to, so thank you for that.
Well, I'll wrap up ourrecording now, but again, mark,
I thank you very much for yourtime.
I can't wait to tell our groupin Fort Collins, colorado, that
I had a chance to talk with you.
And again, thank you for allyou do.
(25:44):
I so appreciate it.
Mark (25:46):
Thanks for having me as well.
Really appreciate it.
Ron (25:49):
Well, thank you for listening to my interview with
my hero, mark Hawa, the founderof the Distinguished Gentleman's
Right.
I must admit that I was alittle bit nervous, and it may
be evident in the recording.
I just so admire Mark and hisorganization for what they've
done.
My goal is to someday shakeMark's hand and maybe give him a
hug and just tell him thank youfor the great things that he
(26:10):
and his organization have donefor men just like me.
Again, thank you for listeningtoday and for telling your
friends about this podcast.
I so appreciate it.
So until we visit again, I wishyou peace.
I wish you love From my friend,from my friend.
I can say with complete certainty that the Peace, love,
moto podcast would not exist ifit weren't for a single event
and a single person whosecompassion for others sparked it
all.
The event is the DistinguishedGentleman's Ride and the person
behind it is Mark Hawa.
Ride and the person behind itis Mark Hawa.
(00:31):
This Sunday, my wife and I havethe privilege of once again
hosting the DistinguishedGentleman's Ride in Fort Collins
, colorado, just north of ourhome here in Loveland.
Our ride is one of 1,000happening around the globe,
starting in Australia, rollingacross the time zones until it
reaches the United States andthen here in Colorado this
Sunday morning.
This podcast called Peace, love, moto three simple words with,
(00:55):
I think, very deep meanings.
Peace represents the peace ofmind that so many of us find
from the seat of a motorcyclejust going out for a ride.
Love it's about learning tolove ourselves, take care of
ourselves and, most importantly,I would say, to learn to love
other people too, because that'sa direct reflection on loving
(01:16):
ourselves.
And moto, well, to use ananalogy, that's the thread that
ties us all together.
To use an analogy, that's thethread that ties us all together
A shared love for motorcycling.
These three elements peace,love and motorcycles are also
(01:36):
what the DistinguishedGentleman's Ride is all about.
It's an event that raises bothawareness and vital funds for
men's health, with a focus onsuicide prevention and prostate
cancer research.
Early in the life of thispodcast, I had the honor of
interviewing Mark Hawa inAustralia.
It was originally a two-partseries, but today I've combined
(02:00):
them into one episode that divesinto the heart of the DGR
specifically, and the how andthe why behind this incredible
global movement that many of you, as listeners, are part of, and
I'm so proud of that.
So, whether you're alreadygetting on your bike and getting
on your bow tie and ready foryour Sunday ride, or you're
(02:23):
hearing about the DGR for thevery first time, I invite you to
listen to the story of someoneI consider my hero.
Mark's vision, his compassionand his relentless dedication
have created what I think is aglobal hug, an act of peace, an
(02:45):
act of love for the whole worldto see.
I'm so proud to be a part of it.
So sit back, relax and prepareto be inspired.
Thank you so much for joiningme today.
Recorded in beautiful Loveland,colorado.
(03:07):
Welcome to Peace, love Moto thepodcast for motorcyclists
seeking that peaceful, easyfeeling as we cruise through
this life together.
Are you ready?
Let's go.
You know a lot of people inthis world have a very good
(03:35):
heart.
Maybe they would tell you thatthey were brought up that way to
show love and respect forothers, because, well, that's
what you do.
Other people in the world comeup with great ideas, ideas that
turn into great businessventures, such as Apple, triumph
, ibm, just to name a few.
One man was gifted with both areally good heart and a really
(04:02):
great idea that turned into aglobal social movement Beginning
in 2012,.
Held only one day a year, theDistinguished Gentleman's Ride
boasts participation from over100,000 motorcycle riders in
more than 100 countries aroundthe world, collectively raising
(04:25):
over $37 million for men'shealth issues, including suicide
prevention and prostate cancerresearch.
I can honestly tell you thatthis podcast Peace, love, moto
and its purpose came from theideas set forth by this one man
who started it all.
Kind of to go back in time, ifyou don't mind, I have
(04:59):
researched you a little bit andwatched a number of your
interviews and listened topodcasts where you've been
interviewed.
You made a mention on one ofthem about the way you grew up,
about your parents' influence onyou, about being a servant.
Do you mind expanding on that alittle bit?
Mark (05:16):
Yeah, I think for us I mean my parents were.
They came from overseas, so dadwas born in Palestine, moved to
Egypt within 30 days, mum'sPolish-Greek, with a born in
Egypt background.
They came to Australia quiteearly and you know they're very
much Australian, as you canimagine.
(05:36):
They're in their mid-70s.
But growing up here, I mean,I've got two older brothers and
a twin brother as well, and forus it was always based around
how we could help others,whether or not it was helping to
carry a pram up the stairs,obviously getting up and giving
the seat to someone that's alittle bit more elderly.
One of my older brothers hasspecial needs and so they
(05:59):
enrolled us into sort ofvolunteer programs when we were
younger to help people with Downsyndrome and special needs and
all the rest of it.
So we're really well familiarwith people that have grown up,
you know, based around thoseissues.
And so I think for us it wasalways how do we help others,
and I think that's somethingthat still continues.
So, obviously, starting theDistinguished Gentleman's Ride
(06:21):
in those first initial years andputting a couple of years into
it where you know it wasn'tabout having a job, it wasn't
about making a paycheck, it wasjust about how do we help others
, and then ultimately, you know,it turned into something a
little bit larger than I thinkany of us could have ever
realized.
Ron (06:41):
Oh yeah, exactly.
You talk about somethingexploding.
Take a great idea, just make itcompletely amazing.
You know, as I think about it,it seems to be the perfect
combination.
Again, it's folks with a commoninterest, and it's a fairly
narrow interest too, would yousay.
I mean, it's not only justmotorcyclists which there's a
lot of motorcyclists in theworld but it's those that ride
(07:04):
with style, you might say youknow that this ride is targeted
toward.
you know the classics, theclassic bikes, modern classics,
and you know you have certaincriteria for those bikes.
So to me it seems that you'vegot the perfect combination.
You've got folks with a commoninterest fairly narrow interest
somewhat, but you've got folkswith a common interest fairly
(07:25):
narrow interest somewhat, butyou've got folks, probably more
importantly, with a common senseof values.
I can't help, but I wasexpressing, using this
expression to a friend the otherday.
It's like this global hug.
It's like when I went to theDGR for the first time last year
.
I felt like I could walk up toa total stranger and give them a
hug and they would hug me backand then we would say by the way
(07:48):
, what's your name?
I don't know.
Is that the feeling you getfrom this?
Mark (07:53):
That's typically the feeling I get on every ride.
So I've been fortunate enough,obviously, to be able to attend
a few different rides indifferent cities and different
countries, and it is a globalhub and I've never heard anyone
put it that way and you know,the hairs on my arms are
currently standing up becausethat is a perfect way of putting
it.
Irrespective of where you aretaking part in the world, the
(08:16):
ride is the same, the values arethe same and the people are
just the same.
It's irrespective.
And the thing about this event,you know it is a niche within a
niche.
There's no doubt about it.
I mean, motorcycles are niche,and then you want to go a little
bit deeper.
You know that classics toll ofmotorcycles is even more niche
now, but there is somethingspecial about it where this is a
(08:41):
safe space where people cantalk, and they can talk without
judgment and they can talk in away that they might not even
feel comfortable talking totheir partner about or even
their friends about.
And I always use an examplewhere, you know, I started
riding motorcycles 13 years ago.
I started up a sydney based crewcalled sydney cafe races and
(09:01):
back then you wouldn't hear guystalk openly about their health.
You wouldn't hear guys talkingabout, you know, having their
testicles removed because oftesticular cancer, whereas now
that's a conversation I've heardin person where two guys are
talking about it.
And these guys haven't metbefore, they probably don't even
know each other's names before,but they've somehow got onto
this topic and started talkingabout it openly.
(09:23):
And I was just overhearing thisas I was walking past him and
to me I think that's the realpinch me moment, where you sit
there and go, wow, like we'renot the guys that are trying to
be harder than we may appear,we're not the guys that are
trying to be something otherthan what we actually are.
We're a bunch of guys that aretotally comfortable in our skin,
(09:45):
and I think we're also an eventthat's making it easier for
guys to be more comfortable intheir own skin, being more
comfortable to talk about theirmental health, more comfortable
to talk about their strugglesand, most importantly, more
comfortable to reach out and getthat support they need.
Ron (10:11):
Regarding the Distinguished Gentleman's Right.
Regarding the distinguishedgentleman's right, what just
struck me was how everyonedressed and, uh, I, I knew how
to dress.
My wife went along, went alongas well, and we, we, uh we
dressed the way we were supposedto, but others, oh my goodness,
they just, they just blew itout of the water as far as style
and dapper.
I just thought it was fantastic.
Do you mind describing how, inmy own notes I wrote a note here
(10:34):
to myself unlike a masqueradeparty, people are showing their
true selves in this whole coolfactor thing Is that your
impression of how this goes whenyou attend these events.
Mark (10:49):
Oh, it's a difficult one, right?
They're showing their trueselves, because my true self is
most likely board shorts and at-shirt, living in Sydney,
australia.
And it's quite funny becausewhen I met a lot of people, they
sit down and go oh we expectedyou to be in a suit.
And I'm like, well, no, I am ina suit, but it's the right time
, the right place and the rightoccasion, and obviously the
(11:10):
Distinguished Gentleman's Rideand Drive are two of those
occasions a year that I will puta suit on.
I think for me it's a differentexpression.
It's an expression of wherepeople on these motorcycles and
I think what tends to happen andwhat we see a lot here in
Sydney is a lot of people intheir cars, you know they see a
(11:33):
person that's got a full facehelmet and they lose that
connection of the fact thatthat's another human being.
They can't see a face, theycan't see a smile, they can't
see warmth, they see something,for whatever reason, that they
feel is more sinister.
And I think for me, the perfectpart about the Distinguished
Gentleman's Ride when I startedit was let's try, and, you know,
(11:55):
for those that are comfortable,wear open-faced helmets so that
they can see that there's asmile underneath, that it's not
a frown, it's not someone that'sangry, it's not someone that's
dangerous.
But let's couple that with thefact that let's put some suits
on, because if we're going tosort of get attention through
the streets of Sydney andthrough the streets of the 64
cities in the first year, let'sshow them that we can be your
(12:20):
mum, your dad, your brother,your sister, your auntie, your
uncle, your friend, your boss,your fellow worker.
It's not some random sinisterperson riding this motorcycle
that could be your neighbor, andthat was a key part in that
first year of just.
How do we break that narrative,how do we break the stereotype?
(12:41):
Um, and show them that thesepeople, just because they ride
motorcycles, are no different toyou and I yeah, yeah, yeah, I,
I love it, I, I to.
Ron (12:53):
The next path I'm going down is not only motorcycles,
but you shift gears a little bitalso, and to include in the
other half of the year theDistinguished Gentleman's Drive.
Would you mind sharing wherethat idea came from and how it
might parallel or be differentfrom VR?
Mark (13:14):
be different from, uh, yeah, yeah, definitely.
I mean, for me, I was alwaysinto cars before I was into
motorcycles, uh, motorcycles.
Was this, this moment where Iwoke up and thought you know
what I really want to get mymotorcycle license and I don't
know where it came from?
Uh, I must have had an amazingdream, it was just.
It was just, I just woke up andwanted a motorcycle, um, and so
I've only been riding since Iwas 25, but I've always been
(13:36):
into cars and you know, my firstcar was when I was 17, 18, and
I've always been a, um, I guess,a japanese car enthusiast,
primarily based around mazdarotaries, um, you know, quirky
engine, um, fantastic machineand just something slightly
different.
And you know, you know, Istarted the Distinguished
Gentleman's Ride, but it didn'ttake long to sit there and think
(13:57):
, okay, well, you know, oncewe've got this running and it's
sort of working really well,there's always going to be the
opportunity to bring peopletogether using classic cars as
well.
So, pretty much organically, itturned down into that path and
for us, we didn't have thatnegative stereotype that exists
in a lot of countries around theworld based around classic cars
(14:19):
no one looks at a guy in aclassic car and sits there and
goes.
Oh, he must be a one percenter,it's just not so.
For me it was okay.
Well, you know the for safetyreasons, we make sure that we go
through the main streets of thecity.
It means it keeps the speeddown.
Visually.
A lot of people get to see it.
(14:40):
We get to break that stereotypecity by city, on a global scale
, whereas the drive itself itwas okay.
Well, let's take thisopportunity to actually get out
of the city.
There's no doubt that you knowwe create congestion with
motorcycles in a calculated way.
But if you were to have thesame amount of classic cars, we
(15:03):
would have much larger issuesthat would have to be faced with
council, police and any othersort of institution locally.
So the idea was well, let's getout of the city and let's just
get together and bond and createthese friendships and go for a
drive together.
And you know there's somethingto be said that even going on a
drive together is sort of, youknow, personality building and
(15:25):
connects you with other driversas well, because you know
there's always something goingwrong with classic cars on the
side of the road, comingtogether to help fix them and
get through to that enddestination.
So the distinguished gentleman'sdrive has been great, um it's.
It's been a difficult onebecause we sort of uh wanted to
launch that and then obviouslyCOVID hit Um, but it's growing
nicely.
It's growing organically and,and you know, I think even last
(15:47):
year we had, uh, I think it wasabout 150 different drives
globally.
So it's nothing on the sheerscale of the Distinguished
Gentleman's Ride and it's notthere to compete.
It's just an alternative forpeople that have classic cars,
that want to dress up and raisefunds for Movember.
Ron (16:04):
Yeah, oh, that's fantastic.
I can't wait to this September,find out where it's happening,
as close as it can to be to myhouse, and go watch that.
That sounds fantastic.
I do have a 1926 Ford model Tin the garage.
I inherited it from my uncle anumber of years ago.
The disadvantage there is itonly goes about 20 miles an hour
(16:25):
and it doesn't go that far andbreaks down a lot.
Mark (16:29):
Funnily enough, some of the some of the drives are quite
long.
You know we're talking.
Some of them might go for, Imean, 100 mile maybe, but some
of the drives are smaller forthose vehicles that are super
classic or even if you've got areally small capacity vehicle.
I mean you know there's a Fiat500 drive in Italy that only
(16:51):
goes 20 mile or something alongthose lines, because they just
don't have the same sort ofpower as the bigger cars.
But yeah, it's much more.
There's a lot more diversity inthat.
I mean it's a little bitstricter in the fact that it's
just pre-1980s vehicles.
But ultimately, I mean our goalwith that one is to not be too
(17:13):
much of a burden on the roadeither and everything that we do
is very calculated in a waythat it's.
You know, we ultimately knowthat if we grow these events to
the scale, city by city, wherethey're too large, that we will
get shut down.
And you know there's no benefitin us, in that social
connectivity and bringing peopletogether and the funds that we
raise for november, if, if we'renot allowed to host events at
(17:34):
all yeah, yeah, I have to askyou about the videos that you
have out on youtube.
Ron (17:43):
Um, they are so well produced, so many of them are so
well produced.
I gotta tell you my absolutefavorite, and I don't have the
author in front of me at themoment, but what I do is a
search for DistinguishedGentleman's Ride, italy, and it
comes up and it starts off witha bartender and the next scene
(18:03):
is a gentleman sipping a coffee,then a lady rides up on her
tramp and the music changes, andI've watched that 50 times.
Do you know?
You haven't know the one I'mtalking about.
Mark (18:14):
I know you're gonna you're gonna have to send me a link on
that one.
It's, um, there's a lot of,there's a lot of videos and it's
it's amazing because I mean, Ithink it shows just how deeply
this connects with people.
I mean, these videos aren'tvideos that we're paying to
create.
Uh, these are videos thatpeople are doing off their own
back and having a lot of funwith it.
Obviously, we get the benefitof being able to use them, which
(18:36):
is great for us, but no, I'lldefinitely need a link for that
one.
Ron (18:40):
I will send it to you.
Not only that, it's the secondsong that it jumps into early in
the video.
I was so impressed with that.
I got out my phone and no, Iwas about to say I went to
Soundhound but no, it wasactually listed who the artist
was in the video and then Ifound them on spotify and then I
put that on my favorites liston spotify.
That the song was just so sowell done.
(19:02):
But there's there's so many.
It seems like, like you said,that people with such a
wonderful spirit and, uh, reallyputting the, the, the spirit
and the motion of the DGR onvideo along with music is just
fantastic, over the topfantastic.
Mark (19:19):
It actually led to an idea that we had a few years ago
where obviously we were sort ofusing Sydney to produce, and our
friends over here to help usproduce, the launch videos for
all the Gentleman's Ridecampaigns, campaigns.
And then a couple of years agowe sort of looked at all those
videos and gone you know what.
Let's just find people thattake part in dgr, that have fun
(19:41):
with dgr, that raise funds fordgr and let's just put it on on
their city to to come up with aconcept and and create a video.
So the last two dj launchvideos have actually been um
managed by, by our network inthose cities and I think the
goal for us is, you know, let'sdo a different city every year.
(20:02):
Let's show people how, howdiverse this is, let's show
people how multicultural this isand that, irrespective of you
know what city, you're, yourculture and all the rest of it,
everyone is taking part in theDistinguished Gentleman's Ride.
It's, you know, it's trulymagic when you see some of those
sort of smaller countries justhaving the exact same amount of
(20:23):
passion as you know, some of thekey cities like LA or New York,
sydney, london, etc.
And they do it so well and knowwe were.
We were really excited when wewhen we received the, uh, the
launch video from this year, um,from our friends in malta and
they just fantastic job.
We were all having a little bitof a laugh at certain points of
(20:44):
it.
We're all excited to ridemotorbikes by the end of it, um,
and you know the, the goal isnext year.
All right, let's, let's seewhat other city, what other
country can, can sort of come upwith the launch concept and
let's continue to.
You know over how long thisevent may last.
Let's continue to show people adifferent side from different
areas around the world.
Ron (21:04):
Yeah, yeah, oh, that's wonderful.
I think you kind of alluded toit.
I know I would imagine thatthis is at times been a heavy
load to bear, a lot ofresponsibility, a lot of
questions to be answered in alot of interviews, like I'm
doing right now.
But it sounds like, though,that you've got a wonderful,
(21:27):
wonderful staff there with thesame heart, a lot of great ideas
, and you've got a lot of good,positive support behind you.
Mark (21:35):
It sounds like yeah, it's been a journey and I mean we do
have fantastic staff and wepunch well above our weight in
the fact that you know,obviously we're limited in
resources but the event is soglobal.
But I think a lot of that alsocomes down to the systems that
we've got in place, theprocedures that we've got in
(21:56):
place, and they've gotten betterover the years.
I mean, what people don'trealize when they sort of look
at this event is just how muchwork goes into it.
But also, we couldn't copyanyone else.
There was no other event on aglobal scale that basically
brought this many peopletogether for a cause, and so for
us, you know we couldn't sitthere and you know look at even
(22:19):
Movember, for instance, how theygrow mustaches.
We couldn't look at that anduse that as a blueprint to how
to launch this.
So really it all had to comefrom ourselves.
There were a lot of hurdles tojump and you know there's not a
day that goes by that we're notsort of jumping some sort of
hurdle everywhere, becauseyou're running a large scale
event across a lot of differentjurisdictions and the rules are
(22:42):
different everywhere that you goaround the world.
And you know, even when youlook from an insurance
perspective.
You know insurance has changedfrom around the world as well,
so it's a huge undertaking, butthe right staff are on this and
the right people are hostingthese events.
They're guys and girls that arepassionate about what we do.
They're passionate about thebikes, they're passionate about
(23:04):
supporting people that aren'tthemselves.
So when you sort of bring thisbeautiful formula together, it
obviously leads to a successfulevent because, as you said at
the start 37 and a half millionUS dollars in the last 11 years
of sort of charity fundraisingthis is now our 12th year of the
event and you know thefundraising is extremely strong
(23:26):
for this year.
So obviously we must be doingsomething right, along with all
of our support network.
Ron (23:33):
Yeah, yeah, well.
Well, mark, from a guy sittingon the other side of the planet
from you right now, I just wantto tell you thank you just from
the bottom of my heart forhaving the heart that you have.
But not only that, but taking abold step and risking failure
to step out and do somethinglike this, which has turned out
(23:56):
to be just a tremendous successand has literally changed and
saved the lives of so manypeople around the world.
The world's blessed by having aguy like you, so I just want to
personally thank you, just fromone guy to you among many, I'm
sure, to thank you very much forall you've done.
Mark (24:18):
And I appreciate it.
I mean you can never hear thatenough.
All you've done and Iappreciate it, I mean you can
never hear that enough it isthere is a lot of work and
there's still a lot of work todo to support the guys that are
taking part in this event and tosupport the guys that sort of
are aware of the event even morethan we currently do, but we
continue to work on it and we'vegot the right.
We've got the right team, we'vegot Movember on board and we've
(24:38):
got guys like you on board andI think for us, you know when,
when I first started this, Isort of sat there and thought,
okay, well, that was awesome,that kicked ass, that was fun.
Um, and then, you know, westarted to focus more on the
charity aspect.
But there was this part of methat always sat there and
thought, okay, well, how long isan event like this gonna last?
Is this a fad?
Um, do we have a certain timeframe on this until people get
(25:02):
bored?
And the truth of the matter is,I always thought that this was
going to be, you know, probablya 10 year event, and you know,
being in the 12th year andhaving numbers that are stronger
year on year than every yearfor the last 12 years really
shows me sometimes how little Iknow.
Really shows me sometimes howlittle I know.
Ron (25:23):
Well, again, you took a bold step forward and you didn't
have to, so thank you for that.
Well, I'll wrap up ourrecording now, but again, mark,
I thank you very much for yourtime.
I can't wait to tell our groupin Fort Collins, colorado, that
I had a chance to talk with you.
And again, thank you for allyou do.
(25:44):
I so appreciate it.
Mark (25:46):
Thanks for having me as well.
Really appreciate it.
Ron (25:49):
Well, thank you for listening to my interview with
my hero, mark Hawa, the founderof the Distinguished Gentleman's
Right.
I must admit that I was alittle bit nervous, and it may
be evident in the recording.
I just so admire Mark and hisorganization for what they've
done.
My goal is to someday shakeMark's hand and maybe give him a
hug and just tell him thank youfor the great things that he
(26:10):
and his organization have donefor men just like me.
Again, thank you for listeningtoday and for telling your
friends about this podcast.
I so appreciate it.
So until we visit again, I wishyou peace.
I wish you love From my friend,from my friend.
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