Maybe 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’t stopped at the door of the ultrasphere, so for our first AidStation of the year, Ali and Matt run down (see what we did there) all the hot takes, from green screens and the Satisfyification of running advertsing, to carbon taxes and how a local showdown in Tempe Arizona over Burritos turned into a 700 mile odyssey and spawned a fledgling global movement. We got it all, plus our 2026 checklists, a dive into how positive thinking can increase performance, and a look ahead to the hottest racing on the New Zealand Calendar. Excellent Stuff.

Dirt Church Radio – Best Enjoyed Running.

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Kia 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 world-record-breaking 118-hour/790 km knock at Dead Cow Gully. Then, we bring you Andrew’s conversation with Stephen Redfern. Stephen is notable for several reasons, including his ongoing feud with Andrew (Which is odd, as they are great mates) and his standing as an incredible endurance athlete. Andrew caught up with Stephen about his journey into the mind of one Lazarus Lake, following his podium finish at The Last Annual Heart of the South road race, a 400-mile self-propelled adventure through six Southern states of the USA. We’ll see you next week on Jan 14th for our first AidStation of the year. Dirt Church Radio- Best Enjoyed Running. Dirt Church Radio - Best Enjoyed Running

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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 consciousness when she became the first woman to finish the Barkley Marathons, with just 99 seconds to spare. Ironically, for a race that eschewed publicity for so long, the photos of her sprinting the final 100 metres to the yellow gate are now arguably more famous than the Barkley itself. Whilst this may be Jasmin’s best-known achievement, it’s far from her only one. Spine winner, Bob Graham Round holder, fell running champion, senior lecturer in veterinary science, Mother and partner. Jasmin’s life is full. Ali and Matt spoke to Jasmin about all this, and Green Runners, the organisation she co-founded with Damian Hall to advocate for and address climate issues related to the sport of running and the wider world. Dirt Church Radio - Best Enjoyed Running

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Kia 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 travelled out to Muriwai Beach on Auckland’s rugged West Coast to meet up with Watson at the Deli he co-owns with the Steel brothers for a run and yarn about what it takes to compete at the highest level in 100-mile plus racing, how his past as a New Zealand Ice Hockey representative influenced his running, his love of travel, and just what his mother talked to the ODT about when he set the course record at the Wild Horse. P.S. for those old enough, yes, that is a Sara Lee reference. Excellent Stuff.

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Kia ora e te whānau. It’s the last Aid Station of 2025, and we're in a reflective mood. Matt wishes he could run faster, Ali wishes she could move house automatically, and Andrew wishes he had feelings like a real boy. Apart from these aspirational goals, our heroes run down the year that was, listing what they’ve loved, learnt, and what they wish to take forward into 2026. Never free from the hottest of takes, we explore the qualitative vs. quantitative divide in this most terminally online trend: listing your Strava time, not your mat time, during races. We round it out with our favourite running media of the year and look forward to taking a couple of weeks off just after our annual DCR awards. Oh, hey, also, GO TO THE MURIWAI DELI. Excellent Stuff.

Dirt Church Radio – Best Enjoyed Running.

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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.

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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.

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261 Fearless

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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.

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Music by Andrew McDowall, Digicake