Kia 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 the the WAI, the WUU is “a kid’s run” apparently. AMCD’s pain is indeed our gain. This week, the gang debriefs Andrew’s most epic weekend, we’ve got a sweet little interview that Andrew did with Gareth himself, and we run down our upcoming travels (to Kosci, Kepler, and Nelson), all the trail tea, and how awesome Tamaki is for heavy music. All this and more on this week’s episode of the AidStation Podcast.

Excellent stuff.

Dirt Church Radio – Best Enjoyed Running.

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Episode Links

Sign up for the DCR AidStation newsletter

The Squadrun 4-Week Training Trial for DCR Listeners!

Dirt Church Radio on Instagram

Dirt Church Radio on Facebook

Further Faster New Zealand

Enjoy!

Music by Andrew McDowall, Digicake

Kia 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 was 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 abortive attempt post UTMB (Thanks, French Internet, you dork), Ali P gets together for a long overdue catch-up with Ruth about the year she’s had, and what it was like to finally knock the bastard off. The bastard in question is of course, UTMB. This episode also finds our heroes discussing if they’d volunteer themselves as tribute for a fox hunt (them being the fox), the Queenstown and Aotearoa Afghanistan Marathon, and a Greatest Run Ever for the ages.. Excellent Stuff.

Dirt Church Radio – Best Enjoyed Running.

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Episode Links

Ruth Croft Instagram

Adidas Terrex

Sign up for the DCR AidStation newsletter

The Squadrun 4-Week Training Trial for DCR Listeners!

Dirt Church Radio on Instagram

Dirt Church Radio on Facebook

Further Faster New Zealand

Enjoy!

Music by Andrew McDowall, Digicake

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 UTMB kilometre effort industrial complex.

The gang is back together for the literal and figurative heat of the Grapian’s Peak Trail and Arrowtown Ultra. Join Matt Rayment, Ali Pottinger, and Andrew McDowall for all the hot takes you need and so much more on this episode of the AidStation Podcast.

Excellent stuff.

Dirt Church Radio – Best Enjoyed Running.

--- --- ---

Episode Links

Sign up for the DCR AidStation newsletter

The Squadrun 4-Week Training Trial for DCR Listeners!

Dirt Church Radio on Instagram

Dirt Church Radio on Facebook

Further Faster New Zealand

Enjoy!

Music by Andrew McDowall, Digicake

Kia 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-themed pursuit. Michael Sutton, however, is the real deal. A 6 x NZ representing, 4:28 Mile running, Steeple chasing, sub three minute per km Mountain Machine. Matt goes to school with Michael and gets all the lore and in-and-outs about what sets the mountain apart from the trail in this most epic facet of our sport. Dirt Church Radio. Excellent Stuff.

Dirt Church Radio – Best Enjoyed Running.

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Episode Links

Michael Sutton Instagram

Michael Sutton Substack

Merrell NZ

Apair Store

The Physio Collective

The Recovery Hub

Sign up for the DCR AidStation newsletter

The Squadrun 4-Week Training Trial for DCR Listeners!

Dirt Church Radio on Instagram

Dirt Church Radio on Facebook

Further Faster New Zealand

Enjoy!

Music by Andrew McDowall, Digicake

Kia 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 episode of DCR, with the one and only Helene Barron, elite trail athlete, high-performance physiotherapist, coach, mother, wife, sister, friend, and legend. The trail exploits are but a small part of Helene’s story, as she has recently gone through a two-year battle with tongue cancer. Andrew talks with Helene about overcoming this most serious challenge, and a whole to more on this episode of Dirt Church Radio. Excellent Stuff.

Dirt Church Radio – Best Enjoyed Running.

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Episode Links

Helene Barron Instagram

Sign up for the DCR AidStation newsletter

The Squadrun 4-Week Training Trial for DCR Listeners!

Dirt Church Radio on Instagram

Dirt Church Radio on Facebook

Further Faster New Zealand

Enjoy!

Music by Andrew McDowall, Digicake

Kia 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). From last week’s epic Taupō Ultramarathon and some interviews Ali conducted whilst running, crewing, and slapping fives, to a lively debate about what is worse for you, port-a-loo stained grabbers sliding into nasty communal chippies for 100km vs drinking some beer out of a shoe. I guess everyone has a hill they will die on, and we are no different. We discuss being broken up with at a Swedish Wedding, Matt discusses his upcoming pacing duties at the Muriwai Half Marathon, and Andrew and Shaggy Redfern ran 100km through the Waitākere Ranges last Friday because, of course they did. We discuss crewing, why you should always say hi, and whether to yap it up or lock it in at your next big event.

Excellent stuff.

Dirt Church Radio – Best Enjoyed Running.

--- --- ---

Episode Links

Sign up for the DCR AidStation newsletter

The Squadrun 4-Week Training Trial for DCR Listeners!

Dirt Church Radio on Instagram

Dirt Church Radio on Facebook

Further Faster New Zealand

Enjoy!

Music by Andrew McDowall, Digicake

Kia ora e te whānau.

Did we compare Tanya Carroll to The Lorax in the title? Maybe. Is Tanya Carroll worthy of such an accolade? Yep. Tanya is for the trails. Having run over 100 trail events and over 45 ultra marathons, including 10 Ultra Trail Australia 100s and a couple of UTMBs (not to mention a stack of other amazing results). Tanya is currently the Oceania Operations Manager for Ironman Trail events, bringing her years of passion and expertise as a participant to the biggest stages. Tanya is legit. She’ll go the extra mile for race participants no matter what (listen to her Birthday story) and in her free time volunteers as the operations manager for the Six Foot Track Marathon, one of the most storied grassroots events in Australasia. Ali Pottinger and Matt Rayment speak to this absolute legend of a human being about her start in the sport, her journey to ultras, and beyond. Excellent Stuff.

Dirt Church Radio – Best Enjoyed Running.

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Episode Links

Tanya Carroll on Instagram

Six Foot Track Marathon

Ultra-Trail Australia

Tarawera Ultra-Trail

Ultra Trail Kosciuzsko

Sign up for the DCR AidStation newsletter

The Squadrun 4-Week Training Trial for DCR Listeners!

Dirt Church Radio on Instagram

Dirt Church Radio on Facebook

Further Faster New Zealand

Enjoy!

Music by Andrew McDowall, Digicake

Kia 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.

If you are after an under-the-hood look at what makes the two “new” co-hosts of Dirt Church Radio tick, then dive in. Plus, Andrew from the future grabs interviews with 24 Hours of Blue Lake RD, Sarah Sunshine, and Sue Hunter.

Excellent stuff.

Dirt Church Radio – Best Enjoyed Running.

--- --- ---

Episode Links

Sign up for the DCR AidStation newsletter

The Squadrun 4-Week Training Trial for DCR Listeners!

Dirt Church Radio on Instagram

Dirt Church Radio on Facebook

Further Faster New Zealand

Enjoy!

Music by Andrew McDowall, Digicake