DCR AidStation

AidStation 008 - The Inaugural 2024 Further Faster Live Show Special and the Skedaddle Weekend. 

Kia ora e te whānau! This week on our paid-subscriber-only episode of the AidStation we’ve got something different for you.

Eugene and Matt take a trip to Ōtautahi/Christchurch for our first ever live show at Further Faster. We were joined by the epic Jess Campbell and Michael Mitchell as we ran through some stories from the past six years.

We rounded the evening off by challenging the audience to a rousing round of Rock, Paper, Scissors for a Crater Rim entry and finally found the answer to the oft-asked question, “What is worse, being bitten by a shark or doing The Revenant?”.

Then, our heroes travelled to Island Hills in North Canterbury for the Skedaddle Trail Race, which is bound to become a litmus test in terms of toughness over the marathon distance, and Matt certainly found that out in spades.

Her International NGO (courtesy of Jess Campbell)

Further Faster New Zealand

Enjoy!

Music by Andrew McDowall, Digicake

Jeff and Jenny Vierling: Tailwind Tales — Taste-Testing and Airport Antics

Kia ora e te whānau! This episode, we catch up with Jenny and Jeff Vierling, the founders of Tailwind. They were in Aotearoa for the Faultline Ultra on the weekend, and right about now they’ll be riding the Old Ghost Road. They live in the mountain town of Durango, Colorado, where they have made a deliberate decision to grow and keep their business, and we talk about life in a small town and why it’s important to them to be part of the community. We talk about the origins of Tailwind, which is a bit of a famous story about Jeff having a bad time at the Leadville Trail 100 MTB race. We also talk about the science of race nutrition, the best and worst flavours, and that time Jeff almost had the whole of Chicago Airport shut down because of the bunch of white powder he was carrying. They were delightful and sweet – not too sweet, just right, like a chocolate-flavoured Tailwind Recovery.

Greig Hamilton - Worsley Warrior and Barkley Marathons Finisher. Dirt Church Radio 274. 

Kia ora e te whānau! This week, Eugene and Matt have the distinct pleasure to speak with Greig Hamilton and let us tell you this has been a long time coming! In case you don’t know, Greig Hamilton became the first Kiwi finisher of the Barkley Marathons.

It was his third crack, having knocked off fun runs in 2019 and 2022. This year there were five finishers, including the first female finisher, Jasmine Paris. Barkley is a five-loop course in the Frozen Head National Park in Tennessee.

Greig is from Christchurch, he’s a two-time world champion in the Rogaine, and, by all accounts, one of the most self-effacing human beings around. However with the help of our sources we managed to crack the nut for a wonderful conversation – five years after we first asked him.

We talk about Greig’s beginnings in sport, how he was “abysmal” at running (then got better), adventure racing, the burden of an endeavour like Barkley on loved ones, the difference between suffering and enjoyment, and some details about the race itself.

This one was worth the wait. - Best Enjoyed Running.

Music by Andrew McDowall, Digicake

AidStation 007 - Obsession, Addiction, or Healthy Habit? 

This week on our paid subscriber-only episode of DCR AidStation we speak to Gavin Clifton about Fire and Rescue New South Wales’ Motor Neuron Disease Furber Steps Climb in the Blue Mountains (which we are going to in late August!). Matt gets over excited and then regrets it. And then we discuss what purpose the high of running serves in our life, and if this is helpful or something that gets in the way of us being present and engaged?

Dirt Church Radio Episode 272: Roger Robinson Returns

Kia ora e te whānau! This week on the podcast Eugene speaks to returning champion and one of the most impressive human beings we’ve had the pleasure of speaking with, the one and only Roger Robinson. 

Roger is an age group world champion runner, an emeritus professor at Victoria University where he was in the English Department, he is a world-leading writer on running, a delightful, engaging teller of stories and commentator, and shares his time between Wellington and New York, with his wife, the celebrated women’s running pioneer, Kathrine Switzer. 

He has a new book out titled “Running Throughout Time: The Greatest Running Stories Ever Told”. The book is full of fascinating research and discoveries, from chapters about Atlanta, the heroic woman runner of ancient Greece, to Allison Roe, the New Zealander who won the New York Marathon. 

In his research, Roger arguably discovered the true roots of trail running in a ditch, and most definitely busts some myths about some of our sport’s most famous stories. Roger was a guest on DCR episode 37 which you should have a listen to if you missed it, with Kathrine on DCR episode 45. 

Also on the show, we celebrate Riverhead Rampage’s 10th year, catch up with Dr Inia Raumati about his quest to run 8 ultras on 8 continents, and bring you a Kiwi for Greatest Run Ever – as in, an actual Kiwi.

Best Enjoyed Running.

Music by Andrew McDowall, Digicake

Listen on your favourite app, or via the player above.

We’ve put this DCR episode into the AidStation podcast feed for free because the original DCR podcast you know and love will always be free. Paid subscribers get the AidStation podcast too.

Paid subscribers can read the rest of the newsletter, including Matt passing on tips for race directors, a lung-busting Greatest Trail Ever, and some super-useful suggestions in The Stoke. If you haven’t already signed up for a monthly or annual subscription, we’d love to see you in the AidStation crew!

The Revolution Probably Won’t Be Televised 

Lessons from 10 years of DIY Race Directing Hallertau Riverhead Rampage 

— Matt

Being a race director is like being a parent. You will never be more tired, feel more broke, and run less. The pay-off of seeing people push themselves past what they think is possible is one of indescribable satisfaction and fulfilment. Putting on your own race is a cool thing to do, and is relatively simple (not easy). Here are a few lessons I’ve learnt over the last 10 years. 

AidStation 006 - Do You Need A Shovel Or A Ladder?

Everyone who has been running long enough will experience, at some point in their running life, a psychological and/or physiological collapse so shattering that it has its own lore and terminology.

We’re talking about the other side of the pain cave, a place so deep and dark it can only be described as The Hole. 

How does one get to this state, what happens when you are there? And most importantly, can you (or should you) dig yourself out? 

This week on our paid-subscriber-only AidStation podcast, Eugene and Matt discuss times when they’ve both been in the proverbial hole and whether the outcome was triumphant or ruinous, and what, if anything they took from those experiences — and how they shape their world-view today.

Northburn100 BONUS POD with Gareth Morris!!! - Dirt Church Radio 271. 

Kia ora e te whānau! Enjoy this cheeky little bijou podcastette from this year’s Northburn 100. Llaingholm’s favourite son, Episode 33 alumni, and Commonwealth Games Medallist Gareth Morris went to Northburn to document the action.

ReLaps and Northburn and Barkley Marathons – A Weekend For The Ages: Dirt Church Radio 270. 

Kia ora e te whānau! WOOOOO some weekends in the calendar just stack up don’t they?

This weekend certainly didn’t disappoint with the fourth running of Aotearoa’s original Backyard Ultramarathon, the Riverhead Backyard ReLaps Ultra, the Northburn 100 mile, one of the  most challenging 100 mile events in the country, and the Barkley Marathons, the Monster of Frozen Head State Park in Tennessee.

This week, Eugene and Matt do their best to pinball between all three places, with Matt enjoying the delights of the ReLaps and fifth Beatle Andrew McDowall taking on the Northburn 100, we’ve looped in a gaggle of guests for your listening pleasure, with Shaun Collins, Madeleine Collins, Chris Macdonald from Runners With Beards, Lola Rayment, Andrew McDowall, and some field recording of one half of a podcasting duo being put through a wringer.

The post-race weekend blues are going to be epic. Best Enjoyed Running.

Sit Back and Enjoy!

Music by Andrew McDowall, Digicake

AidStation 005 - What We Think About When We Think About Not Running* 

Most often what we talk about with our running friends when we are not running is running. When we are running with others we most often talk about non-running related matters (and running), and when we are running, or more importantly, CAN run, we think about … running. 

What happens when you can’t run for a prolonged period of time? What do you think about, apart from the desire to hit the trails? And what, when it comes to it, does running REALLY mean to you? And does this meaning change when you can’t do it? 

On this episode of our paid-subscriber-only AidStation podcast, we discuss these thorny topics and marvel at Camille Herron’s earth shattering week at the lululemon Further event, joined by guest Suzanne McFadden, founding editor of LockerRoom, who caught up with Sandy Barwick, the Kiwi legend who previously had the record..

*Apologies to H. Murakami of Kanagawa, Japan.

Ali Pottinger - The future of Trail Running for Women in Australasia, Dirt Church Radio 268. 

Kia ora e te whānau! Our friend, fellow MC, and DCR away game co-host Ali Pottinger sent us a message wanting to talk about what the trail running community could do better (and is doing better) to support women in trail running.

When Ali talks, we listen.

So please enjoy this thought-provoking and engaging discussion with Ali Pottinger around the good, the bad, and the way forward for our trail running sisters, from one of our trail running sisters.

Also, Eve (of the dolphin-rescue Greatest Run Ever fame) comes through with ANOTHER animal encounter GRE, would you believe it! Best Enjoyed Running.

Listen on your favourite app, or via the player above.

We’ve put this DCR episode into the AidStation podcast feed for free because the original DCR podcast you know and love will always be free. Paid subscribers get the AidStation podcast too.

Paid subscribers can read the rest of the newsletter, including Matt writing about the difference between panic and PANIC, an Easter Egg in the DCR Bookclub, and some good sauce in The Stoke. If you haven’t already signed up for a monthly or annual subscription, we’d love to see you in the AidStation crew!