Dr Inia Raumati, Kia Mau Kia Ora, and Eugene's Last Show

Dirt Church Radio 300. Dr Inia Raumati, Kia Mau Kia Ora, And Eugene’s Last Show

Kia ora e te whānau! Dirt Church Radio presents their 300th show! This is special because we spoke to the legend that is Dr Inia Raumati about his foundation Kia Mau Kia ora and the logistics behind his goal to be the first person in the world to to 8 stage races on 8 continents in one year. This show is special because it is the last time Eugene Bingham will take the mic at Dirt Church Radio. We say every conversation is interesting and special because it is, but this one is super special, truly the end of an era at DCR. This one is full of stories, questions, more references to ablutions than you can shake a stick at, and everything in between. Inia Raumati Rules, and So Does Eugene. Thank you for everything Eugene and here’s to 300 more. Enjoy! Dirt Church Radio - Best Enjoyed Running.

Merch alert!

Rep your 3rd favourite trail and ultra marathon podcast whilst keeping cool and breezy in this technical trucker hat. Pleasing woodland vista, and one size fits most. Out now!

$NZ59.99 plus postage and packaging with a discount for DCR AidStation paid subscribers (who can scroll down for the code).

Available from the DCR website

Our 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.

Missed out on episodes of the Dirt Church Radio podcast? Listen on your favourite app. There are more than 290 episodes.

And check us out on YouTube!

Where we’re headed:

29 October: DCR Live Show and Q&A ft Inia Raumati talking all about his quest to run 8 Races on 8 Continents this year, Small Goods Taproom, Mt Eden, or live-streamed on YouTube (thanks to Runners with Beards). Kick off 7 pm. All proceeds go to Kia Mau, Kia Ora. Tickets here.

December: Matt’s heading back to the mighty Kepler Challenge in Te Anau. Entries open July 6. Don’t miss out!

We made it

- Eugene 

You’ve probably all heard the story of how Matt and I were running in our beloved Riverhead one day back in 2018 when the idea for a trail running podcast first emerged. I still remember the trail we were on.

Basically, we both liked podcasts, we both liked trail running and so we thought … why not?

A few weeks later we were sitting at my dining room table with a “volunteer” and hardly any idea what we were doing, recording what would become our pilot episode.

Not long after that, we were sitting at Matt’s dining room table, having figured out how to do remote recording, with Paul Charteris on the line from Rotorua, the very first guest of our very first (official) episode.

And then we were away!

The truth is, we had a dream start, with a stellar array of guests in our first few months, drawing on Matt’s experience and contacts as a former editor of Kiwi Trail Runner magazine. Honestly, it was mind-blowing.

Six years later, and 299 episodes later, I still can’t believe it. 

It’s been a privilege. I know that sounds like a cliche, but it is the goddamn truth! 

I’ve got to sit alongside a bloody legend and mate talking to phenomenal people with courageous, beautiful, death-defying stories week after week, and pinch myself at some of the places we ended up at. 

If that ain’t a privilege for someone who loves to listen to people’s stories and loves trail running, I don’t know what is.

Six years on, it’s time for me to step aside – I set out the reasons a few weeks back so I won’t repeat myself, and, honestly, it’s so boring it really isn’t worth it. 

Basically, it’s time. Yes, it was a tough call. Yes, when I made the decision I was – and am – incredibly sad. But it’s time.

I’ve been thinking about what I was going to write for this essay for a few weeks now.

Initially, I was dead-set on doing the Greatest Shows Ever essay, with all my favourites. And then I realised there were so many favourites I’d break Substack and your email server would groan when the newsletter landed.

Besides, choosing my favourite show has always felt like choosing my favourite pair of running shoes – “Why can I only have one??? Because the answer really depends on what surface you’re talking about. Or how long the run is. And, besides, have you seen the stack of shoes outside???”

So I abandoned that idea.

Instead, I just want to shout out to some people. 

DCR has given me the opportunity to meet some people I would otherwise never have, and to form some wonderful friendships.

There really are some fantastic and kind people in this trail community, right? 

For instance, a couple of weeks ago when I announced that I was leaving DCR, I made a bet about who the first person I’d hear from would be. 

Actually, I couldn’t make a bet because the odds were infinity to one. It was a dead-set certainty. 

And so it was that within 10 minutes, ping, there was a message from this person, saying how sad they were to hear the news, but also just making sure I was okay. 

This is not the first time this person has reached out to make sure I was okay over the years, after we’ve shared some pretty vulnerable stuff on DCR. 

And I know they do the same for so many other people in the community. That’s who they are. 

If it hadn’t been for DCR, though, I wonder if I’d ever have met them. I’m so grateful I did. And so thankful for those check-ins and chats over the years. 

In fact, thank you to everyone who has reached out with similarly kind, thoughtful messages over the past couple of weeks. Sheesh, you’re a bloody good bunch of good sorts.

Another group of people I’ve also enjoyed catching up with are those who only know me through DCR and then happen to come across me in my day job, either hearing me or seeing me in my “professional” capacity (the quote marks are very deliberate). 

I love that moment when they’re caught by surprise, like when you’re a kid and you see your teacher during the holidays at the movies. It’s always a laugh, and then leads to some cool conversations, like we’re in a secret club. 

Just like I decided I wouldn’t do a list of favourite shows, I don’t want to get into an unwelcome long Oscars-like speech of thanking everyone from the academy down. I’d inevitably miss someone out and that would be super-stink.

But there are some thank yous I can’t leave without saying.

I’d really like to thank our mate Andrew McDowall. He got in touch with us after our very first episode and offered to help with the sound (while making it very clear we really, really needed help – a point he has, rightly, made many other times over the years in full caps, exclamation mark-laden messages on a Wednesday morning when we’ve, ahem, let our standards slip … sorry, mate …). 

Andrew is an astonishingly-talented musician, composer, sound engineer and studio whizz and we’ve been extremely fortunate to have him behind us and, most pleasingly, at our sides sometimes up on stage or at our Christmas shows. 

I’m so, so pleased DCR brought us together, and I’m so stoked that the end of this is not the end of us. 

I want to thank our whānau – both mine and Matt’s. They’ve put up with a lot, with us having turned various rooms in our houses into podcast recording studios, or indulging us when we had to go and do interviews or were away at races.

But more than that, Suzanne and Rebecca especially have listened and cajoled and supported so often and in so many ways. 

We would not be here, six years down the line, if it wasn’t for them. Ka nui te aroha ki a kōrua, ki a koutou.

Julz and Rocky from Further Faster, and Grant Guise from all the things – you guys believed in us more than we did and have been there from day dot. Most of that is down to Matt and the power of his personality, none of that is down to how terrible we’ve been as “business people” (apologies to all the people whose emails I’ve missed, who we never got back to when we were supposed to …). Thank you for the constant support, encouragement and, mostly, the laughs, especially at Kepler.

And Matt. We’ve shared so much. We’ve run besides each other for thousands and thousands of kilometres (oh, how I hope to be able to do that again some day). 

And we’ve laughed and cried behind the microphone hundreds of times.

I remember when Covid hit and it was so, so terrifying, and I didn’t know if the world would last, let alone DCR. And I remember being so, so scared for you having to go off to work each day.  And I remember screaming at the abyss, “That’s my mate out there – please let him be okay.”

And yet, week after week (okay, most weeks, because sometimes it seemed the right thing to do to insist that you have the week off and leave the muntering on on a podcast to me) we turned up. 

We talked and we tried to be normal, even though nothing was normal. It was a comfort. And I know from many, many messages, that people appreciated it.

I’ll never know what it’s like to be in the trenches because we are the lucky generation. But I feel like if ever there was a need, I’d want you beside me, bro. 

Also, I’m so stoked DCR will live on due to your tenacity, talent, incredible mind and commitment to the cause of service to the community. I’m looking forward to being in the audience for your 600th show!

To everyone who has ever appeared on DCR, whether as a guest we asked to come on the show or as someone we ambushed at a race or live show – ngā mihi nunui. Your voice was important and people loved hearing it, so it was our pleasure to help connect you with the listeners. 

And, finally, to youse lot. The audience. Gosh, I can’t believe it. 

When we set out, we thought there would be a couple of our mates tuning in and that would be it. And yet we've connected with people all around the world. 

You’ve given us more than you could ever imagine: your commitment, your support, your encouragement, your wit, your Greatest Runs Ever have meant so, so much. Kia ora.

Oh, and finally, thanks, Rigby. I never figured out how you knew when to speak up just at the right time during all those interviews, but thanks a (bark) lot.

Hei kōnei, hei kōnā.