Run Spesh Podcast by Frontrunner Colombo

A different kind of episode this week. Oska sits down with his good mate Macca from Tempo — recorded in two halves, the first at the ASICS house in Sydney on Saturday night before the race, the second a few days later once both were home — to properly debrief the Sydney Marathon.
Neither of them raced it. Oska's still working back from injury and ran a relaxed, deeply enjoyable 2:50-something with a genuine negative split; Oska stepped out of his usual elite-adjacent world to run as one of "the masses" for the first time in his career, and came away with a completely different appreciation for what a major marathon actually is. Between them they cover the Harbour Bridge, a 100-plus person choir that stopped Macca in his tracks around the 11K mark, the noise of Oxford Street's Pride corner, and a chance elevator conversation with a man running his 101st career marathon — his 25th Boston. There's a genuinely good discussion in here about what separates a "major" from every other marathon: not the course, but the fact that for one weekend, an entire city's worth of strangers are speaking the same language.
We also get an update on what's next for Oska — chasing a 5000m PB on the track, working the hamstring and Achilles back to full health, and eyeing a crack at his own Christchurch Marathon course record next April — plus a first tease of Race the Pro 5 After Dark, easily the biggest event Frontrunner's put together.
This episode covers:
Sydney Marathon race day, run relaxed rather than raced
Course highlights: the Harbour Bridge, the choir, Oxford Street
Meeting a 101-marathon veteran in a hotel elevator
Local names who had big days: Tommy Richards and Jared both breaking 2:30
What actually makes a "major" marathon different
What's next for Oska: a 5000m PB attempt, then a Christchurch Marathon course record tilt in April
First look at Race the Pro 5 After Dark

A genuinely huge eight days packed into one episode. Oska's fighting off being sick and Anna's just days from six-plus weeks in Europe with Henry, but between them they cover a lot: a Melbourne trip getting an early look at upcoming Hoka and Saucony product, three national-level events happening the same weekend (NZ Road & Race Walk Champs in New Plymouth, Governors Bay to Lyttelton, and Sydney Marathon), and a half marathon world record from Yomif Kejelcha that puts their own Tuesday club session into brutal perspective.
The big one this episode: the full reveal of Race the Pro 5, The Chasedown — Frontrunner's biggest event yet, teaming up with Adidas to launch the Adizero Adios Pro 5 with a mixed-relay race against an elite pro team, taking over the entire Sydenham Underpass on 8 October. We also get a great World Masters Championships update (Sally Gibbs' double gold including a sub-20 5000m at 60 years old deserves way more attention than it's getting), a listener question on burning forefoot pain, a full technical deep dive on the New Balance SuperComp Elite v6, and a Sydney Marathon preview with both reigning World Champions on the same start line for the first time in the race's history. We close with a recap of three community events in eight days (500 people total!) and a look at the genuinely hectic few weeks ahead.
This episode covers:
Melbourne trip recap: Hoka and Saucony
NZ Road & Race Walk Championships preview
World Masters Championships results
Yomif Kejelcha's half marathon world record
Race the Pro 5, The Chasedown — full event reveal
Listener Q: burning forefoot
Deep dive: New Balance SuperComp Elite v6
Sydney Marathon preview
Christchurch Marathon course update
Recap: 500 people, 3 events, 8 days
Got a question for the show? Drop it in our Instagram DMs.

Introducing Off Track — The Run Down's new trail-running spinoff, hosted by Andy and Logan Griffin. Making sure no trail goes unrun.
Episode zero starts with both hosts telling their own stories: Andy's path from a decade in the Army (with a Palmerston North trail network as an unlikely training ground) into coaching and multiple NZ Mountain Running titles, and Logan's from a decade of competitive road cycling into becoming the current NZ Short Trail Champion, via a 2020 bet with a mate that was supposed to be a marathon and turned into a running habit that stuck. Both are chasing the same goal: a spot on New Zealand's team for the 2027 Trail World Championships in South Africa, and this show will follow that journey alongside the athletes and races around them.
We get into local trail racing — a recap of the Muka Muka Munter in Wellington (Hannah Fletcher's dominant win, a genuine blanket finish in the men's race), previews of the Great Naseby Water Race and the Lake Dunstan Marathon, and news that the NZ Short Trail Championships have shifted dates and venue, now running alongside the Xterra Trail Festival in Wellington on 27 February. From there it's a full UTMB World Finals preview — the men's race, the women's race, CCC, and OCC — with a close eye on the Kiwis racing at the sport's biggest weekend. We close with a coaching Q&A on blending road running into trail training and training through illness, a quick take on what Garmin's purchase of TrainingPeaks might mean for AI coaching, and a genuinely ongoing gear debate about the best way to carry compulsory kit on trail.
This episode covers:
Meet the hosts: Andy and Logan
The shared goal — 2027 Trail World Champs, South Africa
Training check-in: "Have you been off track this week?"
NZ Short Trail Champs relocates to Xterra Trail Festival, Wellington
Race recap: Muka Muka Munter
Upcoming: Great Naseby Water Race, Lake Dunstan Marathon
UTMB World Finals preview: men's, women's, CCC, OCC
Coaching Q&A: road running for trail prep, training while sick
Garmin's TrainingPeaks purchase and AI coaching
Gear chat: the running belt hunt
Got a question for the show? Flick it through — coaching questions especially welcome.

Big one this week. We open with Run Club's return (12-week Queenstown Marathon programme starts 25 August), then get into a genuinely packed episode: our biggest-ever Run Club turnout — 260+ people — at the ASICS Novablast 6 / GT-2000 15 wear test at Hagley Park, a proper breakdown of why ASICS built the GT-2000 15 as a "stable Novablast" (same foam, completely different geometry), and the full inside story on Run Unknown now that it's actually happened — checkpoints, demo shoes, and a finish line with 220 beers on tap.
We've also got three new shoes in store causing genuine office debate: the RAD UFO (a striking new London brand that's split opinion right down the middle), the NORDA 005 (arguably the nicest trail shoe we've had in the shop all year), and the Mizuno Wave Rider 30. From there it's two listener questions — the best daily trainer for a marathon build, and why Superblasts scuff more than Megablasts even with the same rubber compound — before Oska gets properly honest about his own long history of cramping in marathons, tested against some genuinely interesting new research. We wrap with the World U20 Championships results (which deserved way more mainstream coverage than they got) and a full technical deep dive on the Brooks Hyperion Elite 6.
This episode covers:
Run Club's return
New shoes in: RAD UFO, NORDA 005, Mizuno Wave Rider 30
ASICS Hagley Park wear test recap
Novablast 6 vs. GT-2000 15 — the full technical breakdown
Run Unknown — the complete story
Listener Q&A: daily trainer recommendations, Superblast vs. Megablast wear
Does dehydration actually cause cramping?
World U20 Championships results
Deep dive: Brooks Hyperion Elite 6
New Balance Community Run details
Got a question for the show? Drop it in our Instagram DMs — we read every one.

This week Anna and Oska sit down with Henry McMecking — one of New Zealand's fastest-rising short course triathletes and the reigning NZ Under-23 Triathlete of the Year. Ranked inside the world's top 75 and New Zealand's third-highest ranked male behind only Hayden Wilde and Saxon Morgan, Henry's had a genuine breakout stretch: an all-Kiwi podium sweep at Oceania Sprint Champs in Napier, the U23 continental title, and his World Triathlon Championship Series debut in Hamburg this year.
We talk through his Christchurch roots — cross country at primary school, watching his mum race at two age-group world championships — and how he balances 21 to 22 hours of training a week with a full geology job and a relationship (with our own Anna, as it happens). Henry's honest about the tough stretch too: pulling out of his planned World Series debut in Quiberon with a bout of tonsillitis, then backing up to actually debut in Hamburg a few weeks later, finishing 41st after coming in ranked 48th. He also tells us about lining up at the NZ Cross Country Championships just for fun — and running his way to 5th in a stacked senior men's field.
We get into how he and coach Tess plan a season, what "making it" in triathlon actually looks like day to day, and the story behind Triathlon Trouble, the YouTube channel he runs with mate Gus Marfell. We close out with a round of quick-fire questions before he heads back to Europe for the U23 World Championships in Pontevedra.
This episode covers:
Growing up in Christchurch and his mum's triathlon career
Balancing elite training with a geology job and a relationship
The all-Kiwi podium at Oceania Sprint Champs
Withdrawing from Quiberon with tonsillitis, then debuting in Hamburg
Racing NZ Cross Country Champs for fun and finishing 5th
How races get chosen, and what "making it" looks like
Triathlon Trouble, his YouTube channel with Gus Marfell
What's next: Pontevedra and Rome
Got a question for the show? Drop it in our Instagram DMs.