DCR AidStation

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.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.comKia ora e te whānau. This week, we’ve got another special edition of the AidStation for you. Ali and Andrew caught up with Australian endurance legend Maree Connor to talk about her amazing ultramarathon career. From the iconic Spartathlon to the punishment of Badwater 135 to the World 24-Hour Championships, Maree has conquered some of the most incredib…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.comMarianne Hogan – The Will to Endure | Dirt Church Radio 335Ali Pottinger catches up with the mighty Marianne Hogan after her epic third-place finish at this year’s Western States Endurance Run, cementing her as one of trail running’s top talents. We first tried to record before Tarawera Ultra, but life intervened, so we’re thrilled to bring you this conversation now. Marianne shares her journey back from injury, her resilience and grit through setbacks, and what it truly means to endure in this week’s Dirt Church Radio.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.comKia ora e te whānau. This week we’ve something super special for you. Ali and Matt had the chance to catch up with Dan Jones about his third consecutive top-five finish at the Western States Endurance Run. We talk about the day that was,…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.comSam Harvey and Stephen Redfern- To The Well We Go. Dirt Church Radio 333. Kia ora e te whānau. As the sport of trail and ultramarathon running evolves, we find ourselves searching for that extra 1%.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.comKia ora e te whānau.This episode of the Aidstation leaves more questions unanswered than answered. Is finding your attention waning at a race with no end the same as disliking it? Why does Test Cricket suck? What’s wrong with Corriander? Will it…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.comKia ora e te whānau. It would be easy to start this post off with something like “the internet sucks” and again, that would date us. In today’s context, the internet is, and with that comes its joys, its horrors, and the amplification of the worst angels of our psyche. In the physical world, moments come and go; in the digital world, a senseless act is immortal. Camille Herron, who returns to Dirt Church Radio for a third time, remains one of the greatest talents in our sport, having set multiple world records across various distances. In 2024, the wheels fell off over allegations of Wikipedia tampering. Contracts were lost, and the pile-on was massive and brutal. Ali Pottinger and Andrew McDowall speak with Camille about her career, the recent challenges she has faced, and where she sees our sport heading in her first podcast interview for 2025. We encourage you to have a good listen to this one, if for nothing else, for an incredible Greatest Run Ever. Dirt Church Radio- Best Enjoyed Running--- --- ---Episode LinksCamille Herron HomeCamille Herron InstagramSign up to the DCR AidStation newsletterDirt Church Merch!The Squadrun 4-Week Training Trial for DCR Listeners!Dirt Church Radio on InstagramDirt Church Radio on FacebookFurther Faster New ZealandEnjoy!DCR IN THE WILDWe’ll be at Northland 100 in July. Come ask Matt why he’s so slow. .SubscribedOur 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.Did you miss out on episodes of the Dirt Church Radio podcast? Listen on your favourite app. There are more than 300 episodes.Check us out on YouTube!Phoney War It’s hard being in a triad with Andrew McDowall. He’s better at running and literally composes music for a living. I’m mediocre at running at best, and never really composed much. Although let’s be strengths-based here. I mean, sure, AMCD does have OVER A BILLION STREAMS of music he’s written, but is he referenced in the New Zealand-based edition of Trivial Pursuit? No (not to his knowledge, anyway). And while I’ve never run Western States or held an NZ age group record, I was in a band that took our $5000 NZ on Air grant and bet it on a horse, made a music video about it, and spent the profits on fireworks. I had some fun playing in that band*. I remember the first time we got given a NZ on Air grant for a song we wrote called YOU ALL SUCK. We pocketed the money and snuck into the University Acoustic Department at night to record our debut E.P. for free. It was incredible. It was my 27th birthday. We did our thing, and then, giddy and stoned, we went into the Anechoic Chamber, which is perhaps the quietest place in New Zealand. I think after that we had a small cake to celebrate, and the guitar player provided me with the solemn rite of everyone in the postgraduate program of that department. I was instructed to rip a random page from one of the acoustics textbooks that lined the shelves of the space. I duly did that, feeling quite punk rock in the moment, and we went back and finished tracking our parts. Looking back, 21 years later. It was a bit of a ball-bag thing to do. I imagine someone completing a master’s thesis on..god, I dunno….Acoustic Stuff, and then turning to page 432, but finding that there is only page 434, and the information is missing. I mean, it probably never mattered much, but still.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dirtchurchradio.substack.comKia ora e te whānau. Join Ali Pottinger, Lucy Bartholomew, Jessie Speedy, and Nicole Bunyon for the Ultra Trail Australia Women in Trail Panel. As our Ali says at the top, there is always more to say, and this is a good place to start. Join our incredible panel for this awesome discussion on the current state and the hopeful future of women in trail.