For over 20 years Australia has woken up to the warm grin of Sunrise sports presenter, Mark Beretta. The long-time Mosman local opens up to North Shore Living about his career triumphs, raising kids on breakfast TV, and what he’s looking forward to in the world of sport.

As a kid growing up in Geelong, what led you on the path to sports presenting?

I grew up with two parents who were really sport crazy. Mum and Dad loved water-skiing, so Dad taught me to water-ski when I was four and a half and I couldn’t actually swim. He put a life jacket on the back of me and a life jacket on the front, so I didn’t drown. [Laughs] From that point, I sort of fell in love with sport in general.

I did a degree in engineering, which I loved, but I just wanted to be in sport. I would watch people like Sandy Roberts and Bruce McAvanay, and Drew Morphett and Peter Landy, and I thought, ‘That’s got to be the best job on earth’. I still pinch myself today that I now have that job.

Mark has only recently returned from presenting Channel 7’s coverage of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

As a presenter, you’ve covered almost every international sporting event. What have been some of the standout broadcast moments or events?

I’ve been to 13 Olympic Games, summer and winter now. It’s a privilege and not a day goes by when I don’t think, ‘I am so lucky’.

Cathy Freeman’s 400-metres gold medal at Sydney 2000 has got to be the greatest moment. Because I was actually hosting the telecast that night, which is one of the most watched moments in Australian television ever. So, my career actually peaked 22 years ago. [Laughs]

The thing probably I’ve really enjoyed about it is telling people’s stories. I always find once you know the person, you really connect with the sport.

You’ve just come back from the Birmingham Commonwealth Games. What was that like, as one of the first major sporting events post-pandemic?

I did the summer Olympics in Tokyo, winter Olympics in Beijing, and then Birmingham all in 12 months. Tokyo was strange because we were in full on lockdown mode and there were no crowds. Beijing was the same thing. But Birmingham was the first event where the world was open again, and it was really special to see the way that people wanted to come back together. That desire to share a sporting moment was unbelievable.

Mark has been on Channel 7’s Sunrise for over 20 years.

You’ve been with Channel 7 for 25 years now, much of that on breakfast TV. With the incredibly early mornings and the long time commitment, what keeps you passionate?

The team. Our whole organisation is amazing because you can’t do this job without great passion and commitment.

It’s bloody hard, and it does take a toll physically – it’s not a normal sleep pattern. But what keeps you going? I think the success and the privilege of a job. It’s close to four and a half hours of live TV every day. There’s no other show that lets you do that.

We just have an amazing connection with our audience. Everywhere you go, people greet you like a friend, and that’s really special. You can go to far north Queensland, or to Darwin, or to Albany, or to Adelaide. The people that you meet, and you have a chat to all over the country, I think that’s a big part of what keeps you going.

Mark says he is grateful to his family for ‘letting him pursue his dream, including wife, Rachel, and children, Ava and Daniel.

You’ve raised two children during this time (Ava, 18 and Daniel, 15). What has it been like juggling the commitments of breakfast TV and family life?

To be honest, I think it’s tough on families. Because the reality is my alarm goes off at 3.35am, which means I need to be in bed at eight o’clock at night. I’ve got teenage kids and they’re just not into that. [Laughs] It was good when they were young, but now it means dad goes to bed early and we lose that time.

The upside is that I can be home in the middle of the day, and we get to catch up. I’ve always tried to be there for school pick up, which is great because that’s when kids have got verbal diarrhoea!

But it’s a massive commitment. The kids and my wife, Rachel, have been such a grounding influence and they’ve been great letting me pursue my dream. I don’t underestimate how generous they’ve been. I hope what they take away from that is that you can chase your dream and you can make it happen.

Mark with his mother, Joan.

We have some incredible milestones in Australian sport coming up – the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, the Victorian Commonwealth Games, and the Women’s Soccer World Cup. What are you most looking forward to in the world of sport?

Everything! It’s mind blowing. For the size of our country, we are richly spoilt for sporting content. It’s part of the achievements of our sportspeople, but it’s also our passion for it.

To think that an Olympic Games in Australia is just 10 years away is phenomenal. It’s not only what it does for our athletes, but what it does for the community. Because, at the moment, there are kids in their early teens now who will compete at Brisbane and who now have that in their head. ‘My chance to compete at an Olympic Games is touchable’.

It is a powerful thing, and there’s no other event that can do that outside of sport. Sport achieves things that politics can’t, that business can’t. It’s just magnificent.

You’re a passionate supporter of cancer research, having taken part in the Tour de Cure event for many years. What inspires you to keep jumping back in the bike saddle?

I see too much, and I’ve seen too much. My mum had ovarian cancer, it went away, and it’s come back. So, she’s fighting her way through that. And I’ve been to wards where I’ve seen kids five and younger having chemotherapy and you just think, ‘This is not right’.

So, it’s never been hard to find motivation. I will ride that bike and raise money until I cannot ride that bike anymore. We’ve raised over $90 million now for cancer research. We’ve funded around 650 Australian research projects, and that’s given us 80 international breakthroughs in cancer research. They’re real results.

So, what’s the next on the agenda for Mark?

I’m excited about watching the kids and what they do. I’m excited about what Rach does next. Because at the end of the day, family is it.

I’m excited about what lies ahead for us at Sunrise and [Channel] 7 too. Next year, fingers crossed, we will notch up 20 years as number one morning show in a row.

We’ve also got a massive sporting period coming up. Bathurst car racing; the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race; Tour Down Under cycling; Australian Open Tennis; and a massive summer of cricket. I have to slow down, because I just get too excited about it all!

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