Kia ora e te whānau. It’s always a party in the Blue Mountains. From the out-of-this-world scenery, to the amazing people, to the exceptional country that carries you, the Blue Mountains have it all. Add to this mix the atmosphere and celebration of Ultra Trail Australia being a UTMB world major, and you have a recipe for an incredible time. This year’s UTA live special is in three parts. In part one, Ali and Matt speak to UTA miler athletes, Vlad Shatrov, Kellie Angel, and UTA22 guns Ben Duffus and Sara Levett at the first of the DCR live shows. Part two sees Matt head out onto the trails, with the 50km athletes, speaking to Sweep Manager and running legend Jane Trumper, adaptive athlete Mick Marshall, Father and Daughter duo Harry and Jess, and some Fairmont aid station action. We then head to Part 3, where we speak to some of the 50 and 100km runners. We try to crack Dan Jones’ media training, we find out that a gorilla has no chance against 100 Caitlin Fielders, we sizzle in Beth McKenzie’s laser focus, and dig into  2023 UTA100 winner George Murray’s road to redemption in 2025. Dirt Church Radio - Best Enjoyed Running

Ultra Trail Australia Home 

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Kia ora e te whānau. This week, Ali Pottinger speaks with Hanny Allston for a special addition to the Aidstation Podcast. Hanny is a returning champion to DCR  who was with us for episode 121, all the way back in December 2020. Back then we said Hanny is based in Tasmania and is a high performance coach, owner of Find Your Feet Outdoors, former junior and senior world champion orienteer - elite trail runner and now the author of Finding My Feet, Hanny’s memoir which delves into a lot of topics including body image, mental health, and bullying, which we don’t often talk about in the trail running space, but we definitely should. This conversation focuses on the multitude of identities we have in our lives, and how we can be pigeon-holed into specific ones, and they, in turn, can define what people perceive of us, but not the whole us.  Heads up. This conversation deals with topics around perinatal mental health. Ali and Hanny are powerful women, and this is a worthwhile listen for anyone with a running Mum in their lives, or indeed, any Mum in their lives. That means most of us. Mum’s rule.  Dirt Church Radio- Best Enjoyed Running

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Finding My Feet: My Story 

Trail Running Guidebook 

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Kia ora e te whānau. Bryon Powell is a legend. The founder of iRunFar, an Ultramarathon runner and returning Dirt Church Radio Champion. In this week’s episode of DCR, Bryon speaks with Ali and Andrew about the lessons he learnt and the stories he shared in his lifetime, packed into three days, winning the incredible Ultra Gobi 400km. Dirt Church Radio - Best Enjoyed Running

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iRunFar

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Kia ora e te whānau. Anyone with a passing relationship with Dirt Church Radio will know that Ultra Trail Australia has wormed it’s way firmly into our hearts as one of the must-do events on the planet. That love was deepened when Ali P jumped on board as a co-host in 2024. This week, Matt has the pleasure to speak to Ali and Kerry, the brawn-and-brawn behind Squadrun, about this year's event being one of the three global majors and what to expect both in terms of the courses themselves, with the inclusion of what will be a very challenging 100-mile event. In addition to these course previews, Ali and Kerry bring the executive functioning of a well-stocked spreadsheet to the party in terms of who to watch out for in each distance, whilst  Matt impulsively wants what the heart wants. We can’t wait to see you all at the start and finish lines in a couple of weeks, and until then, we hope that this will help fill the UTA-shaped gap. Dirt Church Radio - Best Enjoyed Running

Kia ora e te whānau. Jean Beaumont is a legend in Aotearoa ultramarathon circles that you’ve probably heard of, or maybe thought you did, because Jean keeps to herself. It’s taken years to get her to come on DCR and we’re so glad she did. Eight  Northburn 100 finishes, and six wins from those eight, on top of masses of other feats of endurance that would make a mortal quail, including The Revenant, The Spectacle, and way back in the day, a double Hillary.   Ali and Andrew run through Jean’s backstory and what makes this utter legend tick on this excellent episode of Aotearoa’s original trail and ultramarathon podcast. Dirt Church Radio - Best Enjoyed Running

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Kia ora e te whānau. This week, we’re all back in the same country (for the time being) and thought that we would switch it up on this week’s Aidstation with a Lightning Round of questions that are, frankly, all over the place. From mental strategies for ultramarathons to Andrew’s neighbour, who may be the incredible hulk, through to the best races for newbies, specificity, the pros and cons of modern fuelling, Ali’s twenties, to how much you’d pay to poop in a bucket, It’s all on this week in the Aidstation. Dirt Church Radio- Best Enjoyed Running

Northland 100 Ultramarathon 

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The Kunanyi Mountain Run Special. Dirt Church Radio 321 

Kia ora e te whānau. Lutruwita/Tasmania is legend. A hard place with warm people nestled off the east coast of Australia. Our legend, Ali Pottinger was lucky enough to travel to Nipaluna/Hobart to participate in this year’s Kunanayi Mountain Run. Whilst she was there Ali did what all good podcasters do, which was get some great content, from the race director Lincoln, to hearty participants taking on this incredible challenge, We’d always wanted to go to Hobart to go to MONA and ride singlespeeds, but this race is now firmly on the top of our list. Dirt Church Radio - Best Enjoyed Running

Kunanyi Mountain Run 

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Kia ora e te whānau. We get the band back together after ages for this week’s AidStation Podcast. Fresh from Kunyani, Northburn 100, and kicking about at Riverhead Relaps, Ali, Andrew, and Matt discuss their love of the Grassroots event and the challenges and opportunities for amazing experiences that lie within. This week, we've got some bonus audio that Matt recorded at the Relaps Backyard. First, you hear from RD Shaun Collins about the event's history, changes, triumphs, challenges, and where the backyard goes. We’ll speak to Helen Waterworth and Chris Newsome from His&Hers events regarding their brand new ultramarathon, the Northland 100, taking place in Whangarei in July. You’ll hear from returning champion Meg Collins about her new backyard PB and the puzzle of running whilst studying medicine. Finally, Matt speaks to Alex MacDonald, an 18-year-old woman making a name for herself commentating in what has largely been a very middle-aged and male profession. Dirt Church Radio - Best Enjoyed Running

Northland 100 Ultramarathon 

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Kia ora e te whānau.  Originally from Western Australia, growing up surfing and playing footie, Michael Dunstan has turned his hands to many things, including music, photography, and trail running. It turns out Michael is pretty (very) good at this whole trail running thing and has won the inaugural GPT100 mile race, Third place at Ultra Trail Snowdonia in Wales a win at the 2023 Hounslow Classic Marathon. Now based in Katoomba NSW, Michael is working hard at some lofty goals for 2025. This is a beautiful conversation, which covers a variety of topics and is guaranteed stoke inducing. It won't help if you don’t like snakes or thunderstorms, but apart from the Ophidiphobics amongst us, this will be a dead-set winner. Dirt Church Radio - Best Enjoyed Running

Michael Dunstan Music

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Kia ora e te whānau. The first clue to Matthew having an inkling that his faculties might be slipping is when he starts announcing every episode of the AidStation as number 25, just like this week. Age is a tyranny that we all face, and this week-old mates Andrew and Matt run down the question of when it is time to accept that you are not 25 anymore and if you should be. or would you want to go back to being 25 again? what keeps you going into middle age and beyond? and what's Matt's obsession with 25 anyway? But look. Despite the perseveration, this is an excellent conversation about strategies to keep your faculties, a tender chat about tender quads and the importance of not starting your races like a dickhead. Which is something that comes with age, I guess. Dirt Church Radio - Best Enjoyed Running

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Music by Andrew McDowall, Digicake