DCR AidStation

Kia ora e te whānau. It’s that time of year again!!! The circus has rolled into town, the tents are being set up, the sawdust is being sprinkled, the elephants have those funny headdress things on, and all we are waiting for is a bunch of clowns.

Kia ora e te whānau. You know the feeling when you are running down a trail and it gets so good that you feel that you are flowing and then you push it just that little bit and you suddenly figure out that you are holding onto the dirt and sanity by your fingertips? Yeah. This episode is like that but in podcast form. In this episode, our heroes discuss what it truly means to commit to a big race, and how they can haunt your dreams. The crew rips through their bucket list races (if money was no object) and then some more realistic options. Finally, in a truly historic DCR moment, the batton of impulsivity is solemnly passed from Matt to Andrew McDowell, who has slaughtered the most fattened trail calf and declared war on his bbq reggae-loving brethren in Wellington with his all-out assault on the Tararua Ranges. I mean, Karel made it look easy, nē? Dirt Church Radio - Best Enjoyed Running

Kia ora e te whānau. We’ve discussed on Dirt Church Radio in the past that the pros walk amongst us, however witnessing their drive, discipline, and ability to seemingly dance away on the most challenging of terrain is a sight to behold. And, look, not to put too fine a point on it, but Amanda Basham rules. A professional trail runner and endurance coach, who has raced at the highest heights of the sport, including winning the USATF trail championships as her first race as a professional. Amanda was kind enough to speak to Ali and Andrew about her extraordinary career in the sport, her love of Aotearoa, and an incredible, in-depth, and honest discussion about what goes into being a professional runner and a parent. From post-partum to the joys and travails of traveling to races with young children, and the parenting juggle, to the business aspect of sponsorship, longevity, and perspective, Basham took us to school. This is an incredible conversation with an amazing human being. Thanks, Amanda!! Dirt Church Radio - Best Enjoyed Running

Kia ora e te Whānau. During the taper phase common side effects include (and are not limited to): Madness, phantom pain, irritability, insatiable hunger and thirst, endless worry and comparison. You will be a dick to your family at some point. You will be self-indulgent and mope in a Zoom call going “No one even knows what I’m going through”. You will stress about your training, and your gear choice, and you will have regrets. You will feel like you are losing fitness. You will question your life choices. Don’t worry. Matt, Ali, and Andrew have the ointment for all your ills. Dirt Church Radio - Best Enjoyed Running.

Erin Colebatch- Run Further and Faster with An Ultra Appetite– Dirt Church Radio 309.

Kia ora e te whanāu. For the first DCR pod of 2025, we bring you a conversation Ali recorded with nutritionist and ultramarathon runner Erin Colebatch. With race season fast approaching it’s time to get your nutritional strategies dialed in (and who couldn’t be a little more dialed in, right?). Ali and Erin talk about how nutrition can be simple, which is difficult from easy, a practical approach to carbohydrates, and perhaps most salient for those undertaking long runs, how one can avoid being like the pope or a bear in the woods. We’ve also got an excellent Greatest Run Ever from last year’s GPT and more on this week’s episode. Dirt Church Radio - Best Enjoyed Running

Kia ora e te whanāu. Holy moly it's been a long year, and we are STOKED to share the 5th episode of the Dirt Church Radio Christmas Special!! Matt, Ali, and Andrew run through the highs, the lows, (well, we cut those out), and the legends of the 2024 trail running world. This is coming out on Christmas day, so we'll keep the preamble short, but we wish …

photo credits- Michael Dunstan

Kia ora e te whanāu.This week on Dirt Church Radio Ali speaks with the mighty Abby Hall. On the start line at the Kosciuszko 100km, Abby Hall was a picture of composure and radiated competence. Hall crushed the course, taking the W and fourth overall in a super impressive 10:43:24. Ali and Abby talk about Abby’s injury and recovery, her growth through this adversity, and her hopes for 2025. Hall, who runs for Adidas Terrex, spent two weeks in Australia, traveling, exploring, and generally falling in love with the place with her good friend Lucy Bartholomew. Ali talks to her about this, and more on this stoke-filled episode of Dirt Church Radio. We’ve also got an amazing Greatest Run Ever for you. As a bonus, Andrew catches up with the inaugural Spectacle winner Emma Timmis for a rundown of this brutal 100 miler. Dirt Church Radio - Best Enjoyed Running

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 issuing a challenge, a book that tells a surprising story, and a tonne of stokety stokeness 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!

Merch alert!

Rep your 3rd favourite trail and ultra marathon podcast whilst keeping cool and breezy in this technical trucker hat. Pleasing woodland vista, and one size fits most. Out now!

$NZ59.99 plus postage and packaging with a discount for DCR AidStation paid subscribers (who can scroll down for the code).

Available from the DCR website

Our mates at Squadrun have come up with a special four week training trial for listeners of DCR. Now as you’ll know from listening to DCR over the years, Squadrun is the baby of Kerry Suter and Ali Pottinger, and they have coached thousands of runners to success at a bunch of events we love and cherish and if you’ve been to any trail races on either side of the Tasman you’ll have seen the squadrun colours being represented strongly. So, if you want to give it a crack, here’s the link.

Missed out on episodes of the Dirt Church Radio podcast? Listen on your favourite app. There are more than 300 episodes.

And check us out on YouTube!

DCR In The Wild

After a fully sick couple of months, we are hunkering down over the summer.

See you at Tarawera Ultra Trail in February!!!

Ten Things That Runnin’ Taught Me in 2024

In no particular order-

Just when things feel like they can’t get worse, they can get worse

I mean, full of hope and sunshine out the gate, right? But it’s true. I was taught that time and time again over this year. Feel bad? you can always feel worse, and sometimes you might. I Smashed my head on a rock in Wellington at a low point in a race. That sucked and led to four months of nausea and intermittent confusion, whilst dealing with learning a new job and Eugene leaving DCR. As bad as things feel during a race or training, buckle up, they can feel worse.

Just when things feel like they are at their worst, they can get better

yes, the darkest before the dawn etc etc etc. But bugger me if cognitive function returns, training comes right with some focus, you learn to do stuff that you thought you couldn’t and people come into your life at times when you need them the most. Feeling a sense of hope for the future is pretty neat.

Do your strength work, you stupid old b*****d

As I type this my arms are shaking from kettlebell business. I deluded myself for years that “I’m strong” because I’ve been pretty strong at times in my life. But, as they said in Fight Club, “even the Mona Lisa is falling apart”, and yeah. Me too. Do your strength work. It really helps every aspect of your running. And who doesn’t like kettlebells?

Do your strength work and float like this guy. He is probably annoying and doesn’t do any. The rest of you, get to it.

Kia ora e te whānau. On this episode of the DCR AidStation Podcast, Matt and Ali Pottinger reflect on a manic couple of weeks of trans-Tasman travel between Coast to Kosci and Ultra Trail Kosciuszko The topic of climate change is discussed (as it’s a nice, easy, non-controversial one) and how races and racers will manage in the future with increasingly extreme weather. We rip through our Ultra Trail Kosciuszko content including the most hilarious and unspeakable trail story we’ve ever heard, Courtesy of the legendary Ben Berriman. Dirt Church Radio—Best Enjoyed Running.

Merch alert!

Rep your 3rd favourite trail and ultra marathon podcast whilst keeping cool and breezy in this technical trucker hat. Pleasing woodland vista, and one size fits most. Out now!

$NZ59.99 plus postage and packaging with a discount for DCR AidStation paid subscribers (who can scroll down for the code).

Available from the DCR website

Our mates at Squadrun have come up with a special four week training trial for listeners of DCR. Now as you’ll know from listening to DCR over the years, Squadrun is the baby of Kerry Suter and Ali Pottinger, and they have coached thousands of runners to success at a bunch of events we love and cherish and if you’ve been to any trail races on either side of the Tasman you’ll have seen the squadrun colours being represented strongly. So, if you want to give it a crack, here’s the link.

Missed out on episodes of the Dirt Church Radio podcast? Listen on your favourite app. There are more than 290 episodes.

And check us out on YouTube!

DCR In The Wild

After a fully sick couple of months, we are hunkering down over the summer getting in the trails and enjoying Christmas with our whānau.

See you at Tarawera Ultra Trail in February!!!

Essay

2024

I stood on the finish line of Ultra Trail Kosciuszko the other weekend, giddy from a combination of being up all night having fun, knowing that we were in the last 45 minutes of the event before the 100mile/100km cut-off and that in the words of a person very dear to me “wwwwweeeeee’d made it”.

Then I saw a person that I had not seen for a few years, someone who I’d been very close to (and I guess in my heart still am). It was great to see them, and then I asked how they were and their eyes welled up. Things are tough for this human, like..really tough. I listened, offered them that I had no wise advice, kissed them on the head and told them that I was sorry. We then laughed a bit at the absurdity of it all and thought about what Winston Churchill said about when you are going through hell to just keep going. And whilst yep, Winnie was right on that point I reflect that 2024 has been super tough for a lot of reasons for many of us.

Part of our whole schtick as runners is how resilient we are. I’ll be the first person to relentlessly poke fun at the far end of the resilience industrial complex (STAY HARD) but yeah, we are, as a group, pretty tough and cool. We put up with a lot.

That interaction seemed to sum up 2024 for me. Seeing someone super cool and then seeing that they’ve had a metaphorical poke in the eye.

For me, 2024 has had its challenges. If not for the reason that my recollections of it from July to October were pretty fuzzy. It has sucked having a head injury and recovering from that took more patience than I thought I had. Couple that with working in a health system that feels like it is being burnt to the ground from the inside, and having to navigate a massive change at Dirt Church Radio I’ve come to the end feeling a little jaded. 2024 was the year I felt the saddest, most anxious, and for a lot, most confused I’ve been.

Kia ora e te whanāu.This week on Dirt Church Radio we have a historic event. This is the first-ever DCR episode recorded without Matt or Eugene. Andrew McDowall and Ali Pottinger travelled to Australia to race and crew in the iconic Coast to Kosci. The 240-kilometre road and gravel road monster has been referred to as the Bad Water of the South as it goes from sea level to the highest point in Australia. With a long-standing rivalry between Andrew and DCR guest 151 Steven Redfern about to come to a head that would result in a battle against each other, the race and the extreme heat. We hear from our new hosts and the racers, crew, and race directors that make this iconic event possible. Dirt Church Radio - Best Enjoyed Running

Kia ora e te whānau! Sometimes it happens. You speak with someone cool and interesting and then come away with a nagging stem of a question you should have asked. When I talked to Eszter Horanyi this was some variation of the following. “What does Coddiwompling even mean??” Well if you must know, to Coddiwomple means to travel purposefully to an unknown destination. And goodness me if that isn’t a raison d’etre for Colorado-based Horanyi. Growing up in the mountains as a free-range kid, and then racing bikes for a decade, including a 19-day Tour Divide FKT, transitioning to two feet to focus on the shiny things in the periphery, not “big goals”. Splitting her time between Colorado and Te Waiponamu  Eszter embodies the spirit of adventure and freedom that our sport can (sometimes) only touch on. Please Enjoy this bonus podcast while we are away in the Snowy Mountains. Dirt Church Radio - Best Enjoyed Running.

Merch alert!

Rep your 3rd favourite trail and ultra marathon podcast whilst keeping cool and breezy in this technical trucker hat. Pleasing woodland vista, and one size fits most. Out now!

$NZ59.99 plus postage and packaging with a discount for DCR AidStation paid subscribers (who can scroll down for the code).

Available from the DCR website

Our mates at Squadrun have come up with a special four-week training trial for listeners of DCR. Now as you’ll know from listening to DCR over the years, Squadrun is the baby of Kerry Suter and Ali Pottinger, and they have coached thousands of runners to success at a bunch of events we love and cherish and if you’ve been to any trail races on either side of the Tasman you’ll have seen the squadrun colours being represented strongly. So, if you want to give it a crack, here’s the link.

Missed out on episodes of the Dirt Church Radio podcast? Listen on your favourite app. There are more than 290 episodes.

And check us out on YouTube!

Dirt Church In The Wild :

Thursday 27th to Sunday 30th November- Ali and Matt will be commentating at Ultra Trail Kosciuszko by UTMB. Hi-fives and chats are most welcome.

Essay

Why Grassroots Events Rule and Why I’m (Just a little bit) Chimp Crazy

It’s 0312 as I type this. I’m aware that this is not optimal. I’ve gotta get up at 0330 tomorrow to get to the airport, but sometimes the brain fires up when it does. Just before I woke I was dreaming about the long corridor on the lower ground floor at North Shore Hospital but I was looking after baby Chimps and Oran Utans along it. As 0300 dreams go, It was pretty cool. As I’m up when I shouldn’t be, The dog is also up when he shouldn’t be, we are both a bit confused. 

I presume I dreamt about Uran Utans and Chimps because in the afterglow of Rage Against Riverhead at the weekend I’d lay on the grass, with Rebecca, Lily, Madeliene, Annie-Rose, and Meg and listened to them talk about what I consider the biggest cultural car-crash spectacles in a year of pile-ups. Chimp Crazy. 

I don’t advocate that you watch this program, however, if we follow the maxim that “there’s nowt so queer as folk” then at the same time I guess I do. 

What does Chimp Crazy have to do with trail and ultramarathon running you may ask? Well. Not that much. What do 0300 Chimp dreams have to do with a deep and abiding love of grassroots events like Rage Against Riverhead? Heaps. 

When we think about trail running, our minds often wander to epic races—those grand, jaunty spectacles filled with elite athletes dashing through breathtaking scenery at unbelievable speed. And sure, while those events capture the limelight, it’s the grassroots races—the small (comparatively), intimate gatherings of everyday runners—that are the true heartbeat of our community. These local events serve not just as competitions; they embody the spirit of our community, bringing together people of all skill levels and backgrounds. 

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love a big race, and I’m privileged enough to hang out at a bunch of them, but all the events I’ve done in 2024 (including the two I’ve been involved in putting on) have been grassroots. As it’s HOURS until my alarm goes off here are a couple of reasons to give a grassroots race in your community some support:

Community

Grassroots events are fundamental in fostering a sense of community. They create a welcoming environment where friendships are forged, stories are shared, and encouragement flows freely. Unlike larger races, where the focus often shifts to speed and competition, grassroots gatherings emphasize participation and inclusivity. Every runner, whether a seasoned ultra-marathoner or a newcomer tackling their first 5K, is celebrated. This camaraderie nurtures a supportive atmosphere, ensuring that everyone feels valued and connected.

Encouraging Local Engagement

These events often highlight local rippers of all ages and showcase unique trails that might not be on the radar of larger races, even if these trails are in a less-than-storied location. Grassroots organizations often partner with local businesses, fostering relationships that promote community engagement. This focus on local not only promotes the trail community in the area but will also transfer to the wider community (see: Riverhead Rampage). This engagement strengthens the trail-running ecosystem, making it sustainable and vibrant.