The 2025 Kepler Special | Dirt Church Radio 354

Kia ora e te whānau. In this week's second episode, join Andrew McDowall for the 2025 Dirt Church Radio Kepler live show. Andrew took up the baton from Matt and Eugene, journeyed down to Te Anau to host a vibrant live show, and then tackled the 60km Kepler Challenge the following day—which, in typical AMCD style, he knocked out of the park. Settle into your long run this weekend, and enjoy Andrew’s conversation with Men’s and Women’s 60km champions Dan Jones and Frances Redmond, Kepler Challenge chair Steve Norris, Nikki Everton, and DCR returning champion Daniele Danesin. Excellent Stuff. Dirt Church Radio – Best Enjoyed Running.​--- --- --- Episode Links Kepler ChallengeDan Jones InstagramFrances Redmond InstagramNikki Everton InstagramDaniele Danesin DCR 231Sign up for the DCR AidStation newsletter.The Squadrun 4-Week Training Trial for DCR Listeners!Dirt Church Radio on InstagramDirt Church Radio on FacebookFurther Faster New ZealandEnjoy!Music by Andrew McDowall, Digicake

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 packed with as much awesomeness as you could shake a stick at. Happily, we can report that this circumstance eventuated for Matt at the 2025 edition of The Spectacle. In this episode of DCR, join Ali P and Matt as they bring you their conversations with returning 100-mile champ, Reefton's favourite daughter  (and Guinness World Record Holder) Emma Timmis, two-time Olympian and send-lord Sam Tanner, That Other Sam, you know, Harvey, and Taonga of the running world, Kathrine Switzer and Roger Robinson. If that’s not enough, Nelson’s prodigal son, and our co-host in the commentary team, Guy Williams, joins us to put the running word on notice about metrics, why we are all perhaps a little divergent, and his life growing up with Olympian and Spectacle co-founder Julian Matthews. Inspiring doesn’t begin to cover this weekend. Excellent Stuff.Dirt Church Radio – Best Enjoyed Running.​--- --- --- Episode Links The Spectacle261 FearlessSam Tanner InstagramSign up for the DCR AidStation newsletterThe Squadrun 4-Week Training Trial for DCR Listeners!Dirt Church Radio on InstagramDirt Church Radio on FacebookFurther Faster New ZealandEnjoy!Music by Andrew McDowall, Digicake

 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 Kosci frother, Bel, and the incredible Lucy Bartholomew. Excellent Stuff.Dirt Church Radio – Best Enjoyed Running.--- --- --- Episode Links Ultra Trail Kosciuszko by UTMBLucy Bartholomew InstagramMartin Gaffuri Instagram Running Mums Australia Sign up for the DCR AidStation newsletterThe Squadrun 4-Week Training Trial for DCR Listeners!Dirt Church Radio on InstagramDirt Church Radio on FacebookFurther Faster New ZealandEnjoy!Music by Andrew McDowall, Digicake

 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.--- --- --- Episode Links Sign up for the DCR AidStation newsletterThe Squadrun 4-Week Training Trial for DCR Listeners!Dirt Church Radio on InstagramDirt Church Radio on FacebookFurther Faster New ZealandEnjoy!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.--- --- --- Episode Links Ruth Croft Instagram Adidas Terrex Sign up for the DCR AidStation newsletterThe Squadrun 4-Week Training Trial for DCR Listeners!Dirt Church Radio on InstagramDirt Church Radio on FacebookFurther Faster New ZealandEnjoy!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 newsletterThe Squadrun 4-Week Training Trial for DCR Listeners!Dirt Church Radio on InstagramDirt Church Radio on FacebookFurther Faster New ZealandEnjoy!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.--- --- --- Episode Links Michael Sutton Instagram Michael Sutton Substack Merrell NZApair Store The Physio Collective The Recovery Hub Sign up for the DCR AidStation newsletterThe Squadrun 4-Week Training Trial for DCR Listeners!Dirt Church Radio on InstagramDirt Church Radio on FacebookFurther Faster New ZealandEnjoy!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.--- --- --- Episode Links Helene Barron Instagram Sign up for the DCR AidStation newsletterThe Squadrun 4-Week Training Trial for DCR Listeners!Dirt Church Radio on InstagramDirt Church Radio on FacebookFurther Faster New ZealandEnjoy!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 LinksSign up for the DCR AidStation newsletterThe Squadrun 4-Week Training Trial for DCR Listeners!Dirt Church Radio on InstagramDirt Church Radio on FacebookFurther Faster New ZealandEnjoy!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.--- --- --- Episode Links Tanya Carroll on Instagram Six Foot Track MarathonUltra-Trail Australia Tarawera Ultra-Trail Ultra Trail Kosciuzsko Sign up for the DCR AidStation newsletterThe Squadrun 4-Week Training Trial for DCR Listeners!Dirt Church Radio on InstagramDirt Church Radio on FacebookFurther Faster New ZealandEnjoy!Music by Andrew McDowall, Digicake