Claim OwnershipThe Back Straight Podcast
Subscribed: 13Played: 619
Subscribe
© The Back Straight Podcast
Description
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 on great stories domestically as well as abroad. We'll throw our running hats into the ring and talk gear, training and racing often in the company of studio guests. Contact us at our email address thebackstraightpod@gmail.com, on our Instagram @thebackstraightpodcast or tweet us @thebackstraight
91 Episodes
Reverse
Episode 5 fresh out of the oven! It's a funny old episode this one with a good few laughs amongst the training week recaps and chat about running gear essentials! Dearbhla did Omagh half marathon so she talks us through that and Paddy ticks off another huge week where he learned a lot. Thanks for listening everyone, we hope you enjoyed it!Contact us here:Instagram: @thebackstraightpodcastEmail: thebackstraightpod@gmail.com
The seasons are changing, and I don't mean Winter and Spring, it is marathon season! To commemorate this change we have the brilliant Stephen Mc Auley of Letterkenny AC. Stephen has been making waves both locally and farther afield for his unique approach to training that has seen him progress from a 3.19 marathon a couple of years ago to now having run 2.15 in the 2025 Valencia Marathon. We hope you enjoy this interview alongside the recent race results and track operating discussion! As always, thanks for listening and we will see you in a couple of weeks! Contact us here:Instagram: @thebackstraightpodcastEmail: thebackstraightpod@gmail.com
It's just over 5 weeks to go until race day and both Dearbhla and Paddy are smashing it! Huge long run workouts from both the athletes and highest weekly mileage for Dearbhla, EVER! Paddy talks us through his week and some new shoes from the Running Bubble that have been giving him that extra pop! Dearbhla on the other hand has been getting it done whilst dodging sickness from all angles, she even ran a massive 20 mile workout with fellow Annadale Strider, Lea Adamson. Once we get done with the weekly recaps, it is time to chat about recovery. Let us know about your thoughts on recovery and I am sure Paddy and Dearbhla will take any tips going! Until next week, thanks for listening. Contact us here:Instagram: @thebackstraightpodcastEmail: thebackstraightpod@gmail.com
Feast your ears on episode 3 of the Road to Belfast ft. Patrick McColl and Dearbhla Cox! They are absolutely smashing their training at the moment and the topic for this week was an average day of eating + other tidbits about nutrition whilst marathon training! We hope you enjoy it! Contact us here:Instagram: @thebackstraightpodcastEmail: thebackstraightpod@gmail.com
Monster episode this week for episode 65! We recap a load of races and talk about all of the big stories including the Queen's 5k, Craic 10k and the Inter Counties Cross Country Nottingham + heaps more! In part 2 we preview the World Indoors happening in Poland this coming weekend and Danny gives us a recap of his Barcelona Marathon experience where he went under the 2:30 barrier! Thanks for listening and we look forward to catching up in a fortnight's time! Hooroo. Contact us here:Instagram: @thebackstraightpodcastEmail: thebackstraightpod@gmail.com
Dearbhla and Paddy are back after brilliant weekends competing against some awesome competition! Dearbhla is fresh off the back of competing in the Inter-counties Cross Country Championships in Nottingham where the NI ladies team took silver! Paddy, well he only went and ran a PB down in Bohermeen running 68:16 - some pup! It was a great chat for episode 2 where we recapped the races and then spoke about must-haves session ad structure wise for a marathon block. Rounding out the episode we spoke about the brilliant setup at the Running Bubble Lisburn and their gait analysis technology! Book yourself in for a consultation, it is seriously worthwhile! Thanks for listening, see you next week!Contact us here:Instagram: @thebackstraightpodcastEmail: thebackstraightpod@gmail.com
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: @thebackstraightpodcastEmail: thebackstraightpod@gmail.comIntro and outro music: Antidote by Tim Winterflood
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: @thebackstraightpodcastEmail: thebackstraightpod@gmail.com
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: @thebackstraightpodcastEmail: thebackstraightpod@gmail.com
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: @thebackstraightpodcastEmail: thebackstraightpod@gmail.com
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: @thebackstraightpodcastEmail: thebackstraightpod@gmail.com
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: @thebackstraightpodcastEmail: thebackstraightpod@gmail.com
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: @thebackstraightpodcastEmail: thebackstraightpod@gmail.com
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: @thebackstraightpodcastEmail: thebackstraightpod@gmail.com
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: @thebackstraightpodcastEmail: thebackstraightpod@gmail.com
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: @thebackstraightpodcastEmail: thebackstraightpod@gmail.com
This is the cross country episode of the year with epic results popping off both locally and internationally. We review all of the recent action from the McConnell Shield in Ballyclare, the Novice XC in Stranolar as well as some brilliant results out of the States and San Sebastián. A few other talking points hit the agenda such as Caitriona Jennings' amazing 100 Mile World Record this past week. In Part 2 of the episode we were delighted to welcome Dara Furey and Allan Bogle from City of Derry Spartans to help us preview the Irish National Cross Country in a few weekends time. The Derry men talk to us all about what to expect on course, how the event came about and who the big hitters will be on the day. This is not an episode to be missed and we look forward to seeing any listeners up in Derry in a few weeks. Until then, hooroo!Contact us here:Instagram: @thebackstraightpodcastEmail: thebackstraightpod@gmail.com
It is an absolutely massive episode this week as we are still reeling from the amazing results at the 2025 Dublin Marathon! We are very lucky to be joined by the 2025 Irish National Marathon Champion - David McGlynn - for an interview and race recap. David was a great guest and it was epic to hear how the race played out for him as well as what went into the achievement. Plenty of Northern Irish runners toed the start-line in Dublin as well and we recapped a few standout performances. In part 2 we go through a few more results from the past fortnight and get chatting to Isaac McCollum - the man behind the new Nick Griggs documentary which had it's recent premiere. Stay tuned for a link on that front and thanks again for listening! Hooroo. Contact us here:Instagram: @thebackstraightpodcastEmail: thebackstraightpod@gmail.com
Plenty to chat about in episode 54 as we have some great action on the roads of Armagh and in the fields of Comber! In addition to that we get chatting about Chicago Marathon and the main stories there as well as the upcoming Dublin Marathon that always produces some great results. Rounding out the episode we look towards the Autumn XC International and the Galloper Thompson 5k this coming weekend. Finally, we share our thoughts on training and racing over the muck and what to consider when looking for a running coach. We hope you enjoyed this episode, we certainly did! Hooroo.Contact us here:Instagram: @thebackstraightpodcastEmail: thebackstraightpod@gmail.com
Savage guest on the pod this week, Irish international and recent representative at the Tokyo World Champs, Darragh McElhinney! We are delighted to have Darragh on the pod as he talks us through his origin in the sport and bumpy road in the lead up to the Tokyo World Champs. Agonisingly close to making the final in the 5,000m, Darragh still made Ireland proud with his efforts and we look forward to seeing where his career takes him next. Thanks for listening and cheers Darrragh for giving us the time. Until next time, hooroo. Contact us here:Instagram: @thebackstraightpodcastEmail: thebackstraightpod@gmail.com
Comments
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States