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!

AidStation 004 - The Venn Diagram of Big Missions vs. Traditional Races and the Terrifying Nub in the Middle 

Leaving the great Tarawera pūkeko assault of ‘21 aside, there is a continuum of challenge throughout every level of our sport, and what one person finds scary another may not. 

This DCR AidStation, Matt and Eugene discuss which side of the ledger they sit on, be it the structure of an organised race or the freedom and logistic challenge of a big mission. 

They discuss their bucket list missions, and Matt lets the world know what event scares him so much that he would rather ford ice-cold high country rivers for ever than do one. And just what on earth drove him to enter one. 

Our AidStation treat is a catch up with our friend and SQUADRUN legend Kerry Suter on his recovery from surgery and his thoughts on Tarawera Ultra-Trail.

Paid subscribers can read the rest of the newsletter, including Eugene sharing some top tips for big missions, a guest DCR book club suggestion, and some cool stuff 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!

Photo: Sportograf/Tarawera Ultra-Trail

Polly Taylor. Unbroken, the road back  to UTMB — Dirt Church Radio 266.

Kia ora e te whānau! She’s 90 lbs soaking wet and with a personality 150 ft tall: Polly Taylor is a force to be reckoned with.

A  guide in the Marlborough Sounds, past Northburn 100 mile winner, and someone who could talk the iron legs off a stove, Polly is someone who exemplifies that maximum growth occurs on the cusp of support  and challenge.

In 2019, with her ultramarathon dreams about the come true, she was hit by a car.

What follows is a tale of heart ache, tragedy, loss, gratitude, triumph and redemption.

Eugene and Matt spoke to Polly as she toe’d the line at the Tarawera Ultra Trail 100 miler in the hopes of making her way back to Chamonix to have the chance to compete at UTMB after being run down on a pedestrian crossing cruelly robbed her of the chance four years ago. 

What unfolds will leave you cheering loudly – for her, and for your own best life.

Also in this episode – a rundown of the race we missed out on, Old Ghost Ultra, including a report on the ground from special correspondent Conrad Langridge. Best Enjoyed Running.

We went to Tarawera Ultra-Trail in 2024 and it was incredible.

Moments so surreal you question reality.

Simple pleasures, mundanity, joy, filth, pride, and noble stupidity (and this was just the car trip down).

Please enjoy this episode of the DCR AidStation, recorded at some aid stations, among other places, and featuring Sam Harvey, Coach Eric Orton, our reflections on the event, and a plethora of special guests and incredible conversations.

Race week is here and we’re so excited!

We’ve been getting along to Tarawera for more than 10 years, with a bunch of race starts in the 102 km and the 100 miler between us.

And the last few years we’ve been lucky enough to welcome home thousands of runners at the finish line, as MCs. We’ll be there again this year — say kia ora if you see us, at the start line, out and about on course, or at the finish line.

We’re also hosting a live event on Friday, a q&a with elites at the Village Green, 1 pm if you’re around.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Tarawera, it’s a series of races that has been going for 15 years, based in Rotorua. Started by Paul Charteris and Tim Day, it is now part of the UTMB world series and is the biggest (by entry numbers) race on the Aotearoa-NZ trail scene. It features 100 mile, 102 km, 50 km and 21 km events, on stunning course around the majestic Rotorua lakes.

We’ve been to plenty of exceptional races around Aotearoa (and in Australia) — this is definitely one of them.

Out in the forest this morning, we figured that between us we had a few tips to pass on about Tarawera. Watch the video for full details, but, briefly, these are things to bear in mind:

* Take a zip lock bag and fill it up at the aid stations so you can keep moving (and enjoy the nummiest treats out on course).

* If you see Paul Charteris out on course, or anywhere actually, it’s compulsory to high-five him.

* Lube. Say no more.

* Engage with and respect ngā mana whenua. Get along to the pōwhiri (welcome), be respectful during the karakia (prayers/incantations) and haka at the startlines — soak it up.

* Don’t be a dickhead to the volunteers.

* Get your headlamp out early.

What are your Tarawera tips? Drop them in the comments!

Ka kite māua i a koe ki korā! We will see you there!

— Eugene and Matt

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AidStation 002 – So, You Can Run 100 Miles, But You Can’t Do Your Calf Raises. Why are runners so bad at managing injury?

So we’ve all been there, perjuring ourselves in the (insert health professional of choice) office: “Of COURSE I’ve been doing my prescribed rehabilitation (look of pained innocence)

“And NO I absolutely have NOT been running outside of my prescribed guideline …” Only to hop up onto the table and have our muscles tell the truth or fold like an origami crane when asked to display said excercise.

Why do we do it to ourselves? This constant self-delusion? What is behind most runners resolute terribleness at prescribed rehab — or even acknowledgment there’s a problem? 

On this episode of the subscriber-only DCR AidStation podcast, Eugene and Matt  run down their history with illness and injury and offer themselves as tribute on where they sit on  the bell-curve from “Good at Rehab” to *spoiler* “Matt Rayment”. 

They discuss injury, illness (both acute and chronic) and what has been shown to work, and not work, if it is better to be seriously injured rather that having a pesky re-occurrence, is it better to be a fast or slow adapter, and why it’s best not to write important correspondence whilst on opioids. 

Our Bonus AidStation Treat: Some sound advice from Tarawera champ and good sort Dan Jones as he prepares for the race after catching Covid.

Whakarongo mai! Listen up!

AidStation 001 – Insert Something Cliché About Processes

We didn’t know this, but the second Friday in January is known as “Quitter’s Day”. 

This is the day that, statistically, most people abandon their New Year’s Resolutions.

Are you a resolution person? Or a goal guy? Or someone who loves a good old intentional process?

And why can’t we have all three?

On the first episode of our brand-new, subscriber-only DCR AidStation podcast (but free for January), Eugene and Matt sit down to discuss if they are on the resolution bus or not, what goals and processes they have in place for the year, and if, just, maybe, talking about something you are about to do on a podcast makes your more or less likely to achieve that thing. 

We also tackle the tricky question of what to do when your coaches (Kerry and Ali) fight publicly over your training in front of you, and share the audio of it actually happening.

*Spoiler: Matt went and waited in the car.