DCR AidStation

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.com Kia ora e te whānau. We’re back again for the third annual DCR Tarawera Ultra Trail by UTMB special. Joining Ali and Matt at the helm is a special guest, two-time Tarawera champion, and running coach extraordinaire, Mr Kerry Suter. What a treat you have in store for yourselves this episode, as we dive deep into the history of the event and its impact o…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.comMaybe we were all a bit too hopeful that 2025’s madness would not continue into 2026. Maybe these first two weeks are a post-credit scene, or maybe, just maybe, this is 2026 saying “hold my beer” in response to last year’s antics. Anyway you cut it, it’s probably best to get yourself out for a run. It’ll probably help.The WTF?! quality of early ‘26 hasn…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.comKia ora e te whānau. Welcome to the second of our DCR Summer Series episodes, where we’ll be bringing you our most popular conversations from 2025. This week, we’ve got a double header, throwing it back to July when Sam Harvey made his DCR three-peat and spoke to Andrew McDowall about (literally) running himself to a standstill as the assist in the worl…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.comPhoto Credit: David Hill Kia ora e te whānau. Welcome to the first of our DCR Summer Series episodes, where we’ll be bringing you our most popular conversations from 2025. Kickin’ it off this week, we are taking it back to March, and episode 318, when Ali and Matt spoke to the one and only Jasmin Paris. Jasmin Paris entered the wider public consciousnes…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.comKia ora e te whānau. The path to success is seldom simple. It’s often multiple overlays of experience, each building upon the other until the goal is reached, be that setting course records at 200-mile events like the Wild Horse or becoming an expert pastry chef and deli owner. Damian Watson is someone with overlays of experience. Andrew McDowall travel…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.com Ali P doing what Ali P does, bigging people up. Photo - Uncle Alan Ure Kia ora e te whānau. If, as a winsome youth, you’d had your heart broken at a Swedish wedding in Nelson, what would it take to shift the unconscious response when the town was mentioned from “yeah, nah” to “Hell Yes”? Turns out, a weekend packe…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.comUltra Trail Kosciuszko with Lucy Bartholomew| Dirt Church Radio 352 Kia ora e te whānau. Join us for the first of three live specials as Ali heads off to the Snowy Mountains for the fourth edition of Ultra Trail Kosciuszko by UTMB. Featuring interviews with Running Mums Australia founder Nic Bunyon, The Honey Buzzard himself, Martin Gaffuri, DCR Fan and…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.comKia ora e te whānau.It turns out, the Wai2k is hard mahi. I mean, we always thought that, but to have our suspicions confirmed by AMCD as he valiantly sent it in the weekend’s 100km was oddly satisfying. Gareth Thomas builds hard races, as those who have had the pleasure of attempting the WUU2K will attest. To hear that, compared to the WAI, the WUU is…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.comKia ora e te whānau. We want to invite all who can be upstanding to welcome one R. Croft of Greymouth back for her Tenth appearance on Dirt Church Radio. We are Ruth fans. If there were a RAT for it (Ruth Antigen Test), we’d be positive. Or is that CAT? (Croft Antigen Test?). ANYWAYS. It’s been a minute since we’ve talked to old mate, and after an abort…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.com Kia ora e te whānau.Things we learned on this week’s episode. We suck collectively at Maths, there is such a thing called a Wet Globe Bulb Temperature (WHAT?!?!?), We are all pro-Kipchoge winning Western States. Despite their relative masses, Andrew and Matt cope conversely in the heat (at least psychologically) and are aligned in our distaste of the U…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.comBarefoot and onward to a GRE. Yung Sutton Throwing Down XC StyleKia ora e te whānau. We’re baaaaack and beyond excited to bring to you Matt’s conversation with the most excellent Michael Sutton. The words “mountain,” “trail,” and “ultramarathon” are somewhat interchangeable in the lexicon of the outdoors.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.comKia ora e te whānau.Best laid plans and all that…We had a bumper episode lined up for you this week, with a lot of stuff to talk about, and an amazing GRE, that was even before we got to Andrew’s conversation with the mighty Helene Barron. Annoying story short, our entire episode got zoinked by the AWS outage. Perfect. So please enjoy this distilled epi…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.comKia ora e te whānau.Even by our standards, this episode of the DCR AidStation is a lot. Future Andrew makes a record number of appearances to preface, foreshadow, recommend, and otherwise act as a lexographical zamboni for Ali and Matt (we all know it is mainly Matt).

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.comKia ora e te whānau.We had a particularly nice time on this week’s AidStation podcast, celebrating one year of Ali and Andrew jumping on board. Matt had the opportunity to ask them a mix of longer-form and quick-fire style questions about the last 12 months, and what they were looking forward to in the next 12 months and beyond.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.comKia ora e te whānau. Mistakes were made. The first of many in this week’s episode of the AidStation was Andrew McDowall describing Matt as having a “water off a duck’s back” mentality. This is not true. Especially when the water is the wider response to the Joyline Chepgnego doping saga.That water really sank in. The duck was soaked. Ali, Andrew, and Matt discuss this thorny issue and where responsibility for supporting athletes accused of doping sits, and is the response from sponsors and the wider bodies in the sport is up to scratch. Furthermore, do the systems that drive these athletes to chase greater riches and fame provide adequate support and guidance to avoid potential pitfalls? This (of course) leads to a conversation about why Andrew would race David Bain in a half-marathon and not Lance Armstrong. Do age group wins count? How long could a post-race funk reasonably extend? What even is Sunnyvale Baked Bean Syndrome? We touch on how running can be as much of an addiction as the next thing, and how being lubed for bear in civilian clothes when your plans change quickly feels transgressive. As a parting thought, there is some comfort in that we were probably never going to get sponsored by Salomon anyway. Also, check out our show notes for a great article in iRunFar on the subject written by Eszter Horanyi.Excellent stuff.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.comKia ora e te whānau. We make no bones about it. Dirt Church Radio is, was, and always will be Ruth Croft Positive. Over the (at least) 7 times Croft has appeared on DCR, there has always been one constant- a focus on moving forward. Ruth is on par with the best to take the gig, a wonderful human being, and an asset to our sport. The only criminal elemen…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.comKia ora e te whānau. It’s that time of year when we start to see the end of winter and the earliest glimpses of spring. Thoughts turn to the new year, big events, and the lead-up to those events. Does one size fit all when it comes to peak months and loading during the macrocycle? This doesn’t even begin to touch on the double-edged sword of Strava and …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.comKia ora e te whānau.This week, Ali Pottinger and Andrew McDowall sit down with the one and only Phil Gore. You’ll know Phil from his two epic showdowns with our very own Sam Harvey at Dead Cow Gully — both times pushing themselves to the ragged edges of what we thought humanly possible.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.com A complete psychological breakdown is rarely captured on a heatmap. Yet here we are.Kia ora e te whānau. I mean, the co-hosts of your third favourite trail and ultrarunning podcast haven’t gotten together for a chinwag for a while, and, if the universe has had a say in 2/3rds of our days, things are bound to get chaotic. …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.comKia ora e te whānau. This week, Ali and Matt sit down with the legendary Sage Canaday. Since turning pro in 2012, Sage has been a defining presence in the trail and ultrarunning world. With a strong background in road racing and tidy marathon times, he helped usher in a new era of professional athletes in trail running.