The Back Straight Podcast

By The Back Straight PodcastSports Running

The Back Straight Podcast episodes

March 06 Road to Belfast 2026 - Episode 1 - Meet the Marathoners!
The Road to Belfast is back for another year and we are stoked! This year we will be joined by none other than Annadale Strider's finest, Dearbhla Cox, and the young gun, Patrick McColl, from RoadRunners AC. Dearbhla and Paddy will be sharing their weekly training updates and giving their perspective on different marathon topics as they get closer to race day. Belfast Marathon is about 8 weeks away so there will be plenty of ground covered, we hope you enjoy it!
Contact us here:
Instagram: @thebackstraightpodcast
Email: [email protected]
Intro and outro music: Antidote by Tim Winterflood

56 min
March 04 Ep. 64 - Irish Indoors - Lughaidh Mallon - Trafford and Castellon 10k - Tokyo Marathon - USATF HM Champs - Race Previews
Big old episode this week with a tonne of stuff happening on the indoor track on the roads! We go deep on the results from the Irish National Indoor Championships and even get chatting to the 2026 1500m champion, Lughaidh Mallon! After this it is a tonne of other results from Tokyo, the United States, Spain and more! We round out the episode with some things we are looking forward to and one of those things is the 2026 Road to Belfast Series! Stay tuned for the first episode dropping on Friday! We hope you enjoyed this episode, feel free to give us a rating if you did! Hooroo.
Contact us here:
Instagram: @thebackstraightpodcast
Email: [email protected]
1 hr 19 min
February 18 Ep. 63 - Armagh International Road Races ft. Interviews + Local and International results
It's the Armagh recap and what a nightmare it was to edit! Big thanks to Nick, Callum, Cormac and Fiona for the interviews (unfortunately the Emily Haggard Kearney and Lughaidh Mallon audio was unusable). We had a fantastic time at the Armagh International Road Races and we go deep on our recap in this episode! Following that it is a bunch of local and international results from the Stormont XC as well as Seville and the Irish Masters XC. Back next week for an interview so send in any suggestions of people to get on or things to ask! Until then, hooroo!
Contact us here:
Instagram: @thebackstraightpodcast
Email: [email protected]
1 hr 3 min
February 11 Ep. 62 - NI & Ulster Senior XC ft. Léa Adamson - Armagh 3k/5k preview
Welcome to episode 62 of the Back Straight Podcast where we are previewing the Armagh International Road Races happening Thursday the 12th of February. As well as this, we get chatting about all of the local XC results from the Malcolm Cup to the NI and Ulster Senior XC. There were some brilliant results from the Trim 10 mile that also deserved a mention and then finally we recap some of the stunning results from the indoor track by local and international athletes. Hang around for part 2 of the episode where we have a very special interview with Léa Adamson who is the 2026 Senior XC Champion! Big shoutout to Léa for joining us on the episode, we hope you all enjoy it! Until next time, hooroo!
Contact us here:
Instagram: @thebackstraightpodcast
Email: [email protected]
1 hr 16 min
January 28 Ep. 61 - Jack O'Leary
Thanks for joining us for another episode! In part 1 of the ep. we we go through some local results in the cross country and from the indoor track meets in Boston where NI and World Records fell! In part 2 we were absolutely stoked to chat to Mullingar Harrier and 27:41 10k runner, Jack O'Leary! Jack talks to us all about his brilliant results from 2025, what has led to the fine run of recent form in the EuroCross and Valencia 10k. Jack then takes us through what is next on the calendar and what he hopes to achieve. Once again, big thanks to Jack and we wish him the best for future races. Hooroo for now!
Contact us here:
Instagram: @thebackstraightpodcast
Email: [email protected]
1 hr 20 min
January 14 Ep. 60 - 2026 Season Opener ft. Conor Curran and Connor McCann
It's a banging episode to kick-off 2026 and we decided to bring in the big guns! We are joined by athletics nerds Conor Curran and Connor McCann to help us recap all of the recent local results, Valencia 10k, World Cross + loads more! Once we get through the results section we then look back at our highlights for 2025 from an Irish and international perspective and share our thoughts on what we are looking forward to in 2026. We hope you enjoy the first episode for 2026 and a HUGE thank you to the lads from NBH for joining us. Hooroo!
Contact us here:
Instagram: @thebackstraightpodcast
Email: [email protected]
1 hr 9 min
December 19, 2025 Ep. 59 - European Cross Country ft. Nick Griggs, Callum Morgan and Mark Kirk
This one is all about the Euro Cross! In part 1 we recap the results from each race and highlight some of the standout Irish performances. In part 2 we welcome European Champions Nick Griggs and Callum Morgan as well as the master coach that is Mark Kirk! We recap the race and what it means to the lads and then get chatting about what is to come. Big thanks to the trio for joining us on the pod and a massive thanks to all our listeners for a great year. We are excited for 2026 and all that is to come!
Hooroo!
Contact us here:
Instagram: @thebackstraightpodcast
Email: [email protected]
1 hr 22 min
December 10, 2025 Ep. 58 - Seeley Cup ft. Conall McClean - European XC preview ft. Finn Diver - Local XC action
Busy couple of weeks calls for a jam-packed episode! In part 1 of the episode we dive into all of the results from the Irish Novice Cross Country in Abbottstown and Irwin Spiers XC before we recap the 2025 Seeley Cup! To help us with the recap we bring the men's winner - Conall McClean onto the pod to hear about what was happening at the pointy end and how this changes the game for him and his training partners. In part 2 we dive into a preview of the upcoming European Cross Country in Portugal and highlight some of the local talent and international talent that will be lacing up down there. Thanks for listening to the episode, we will be back soon! Hooroo.
Contact us here:
Instagram: @thebackstraightpodcast
Email: [email protected]
1 hr 23 min
December 03, 2025 Abdel Laadjel on The Back Straight - 9th at NCAA National Cross
Abdel Laadjel is an Irish International and current Oregon Duck. Abdel recently became an All-American XC runner placing 9th at the NCAA Div 1 Cross Country Championships. Abdel has had a brilliant year thus far on the grass and track and looks set to smash some PBs such as his 13:29 5,000m. It was great catching up with Abdel and hearing what it is like running for Oregon alongside his teammates as well as elite athletes such as Charles Hicks. Abdel shares his plans for the future and some of his favourite bits of gear and training sessions. Thanks again to Abdel for joining us and we hope the listeners enjoyed this very special episode. Hooroo!
Contact us here:
Instagram: @thebackstraightpodcast
Email: [email protected]
59 min
November 26, 2025 Ep. 57 - 2025 National XC Championships ft. Brian Fay and Fiona Everard
The National Cross Country Championships 2025 was hosted in Derry this year and The Back Straight is delighted to welcome the National Champions onto the podcast! Super grateful to have the amazing Fiona Everard from Bandon AC and the charming Brian Fay from Raheny Shamrocks who are your champs for this year. This episode is very centred on the races in the muck over the weekend but we do venture proverbially to the US for some great results in the NCAA XC Champs. Rounding out the episode we throw out some contenders for the Seeley Cup this coming weekend, who have you got on the podium? Let us know in the comments. Look out for the Abdel Laadjel episode dropping next week and until next time, hooroo!
Contact us here:
Instagram: @thebackstraightpodcast
Email: [email protected]
1 hr 28 min

About The Back Straight Podcast

From the publisher's feed

A fortnightly podcast based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Join Daniel Squires and Michael McKnight along the 'Back Straight' as they discuss the running scene in the Isle of Ireland and shine a light…