The Back Straight Podcast

This week's interview features one of Ireland's leading mountain runners, Zak Hanna. Zak hails from the edge of Slieve Croob, is a Newcastle AC athlete, and sponsored runner for New Balance and Precision Fuel and Hydration. Zak talks us through how he got into running, the journey it has taken him on so far and the specific training requirements for his discipline. This was a great intervi...

Another great interview on the Back Straight! This week we have James Gormley from Carmen Runners to chat about his career in running which has led to his selection for the mile at the Commonwealth Games. James breaks down his journey through the sport, how he trains, his coaching set up and what he hopes to achieve in the future! In addition to the brilliant interview we recap a bunch of local ro...

We are stoked to be joined by Emmett Dunleavy for an interview on the Back Straight this week. For those that aren't familiar with Emmett, he is one of Ireland's leading coaches and has a roster of athletes competing the very pinnacle of the sport. Emmett chats to us all about coaching; how he got into it, his philosophies and where he hopes it leads Athletics Ireland as we rocket towards...

Episode 72 is absolutely bursting at the seams with race results from three diamond leagues (including a special guest that attended two of them), local road races, the NI and Ulster Senior Track and Field Championships as well as the European Off-road Championships and a long long trail race in France that Danny had the pleasure of attending as support crew. If that doesn't get you up and abo...

Hey Back Straight Family! This week we are treating you all to a great interview we recorded with North Belfast Harrier's Emily Haggard-Kearney! Emily is a 4 time Irish Senior Team representative as well as the current 10km National Champion and winner of the 2026 Armagh International Road Races 3k! We really enjoyed this interview with Emily and hope you do too. Don't forget, if you'r...

It is a long auld episode this week but with the amount of results and news flying about this past couple weeks we had to cover it all! Add onto that a brilliant interview with Luke Kelly and you've got yourself a tidy episode 71! In this one we get chatting about the recent BMCs, Rabat Diamond League, local athletes abroad, a race recap from Dan and plenty of chat about standards for Comm Gam...

It might not be what you expected, but it's episode 70 of the Back Straight featuring Mark Kirk! We decided to put this episode together in advance of the Belfast BMC this coming weekend, and since there has been so much happening on the roads and track locally as well as abroad! Mark was a great guest as always and talks us through what to expect at this year's iteration of the Belfast BM...

In episode 69 of the Back Straight Podcast we keep it pretty simple with a recap of two recent events; The Belfast City Marathon and the Belfast Classic, whilst also featuring an interview with the recent national marathon champion, Judith Storm. The action in the marathon and at the Belfast Classic was unforgettable and it was great fun delving into it together. We also really enjoyed the chat wi...

Well, what can we say! Both Paddy and Dearbhla ran fantastic races and came away with podium places locally! It has been an absolute joy catching up with these legends for the past 10 weeks and I know all the listeners feel the same! In this final episode we get a blow-by-blow recap of how the race played out for both of them, get some questions answered both from the fans and from Danny and hear...

It's race week everyone, get pumped! This episode we get stuck into the taper and how it has gone so far! Paddy and Dearbhla tell us about how they rate their block and what they are looking for on race day. After that we are joined by Precision Fuel and Hydration's Dr. Lindsey Hunt to talk us through the carb load, electrolytes, race day nutrition as well as some listener questions. Thank...

Phew, what an episode! Huge agenda this week with lots of marathon chat including a Belfast preview and London recap. After that we are joined by Aaron Beggs from North Down AC who has recently shot to fame with his heroic antics at the Boston Marathon. In part 2 we are joined by none other than the mastermind behind the Belfast Classic - Eamonn Christie! Eamonn chats to us all about the big runne...

It's episode 8, mate! This is the penultimate episode before the big day and both Paddy and Dearbhla are putting the finishing touches on what has been a brilliant prep! To that end, we chat about race day, the dos and don'ts and how they are going to approach the race. The exact strategies are somewhat vague but glean what you can from the superstar duo and watch it unfold on race day! Th...

Tick-tock, tick-tock!! The clock is slowly winding down for the big day but there are still plenty of great episodes left with the amazing duo that is Dearbhla Cox and Patrick McColl! In episode 7 we chat about the training weeks as usual and then get the podcasting stalwart and brilliant coach coach that is Michael McKnight on to chat running psychology! We hope you enjoy this episode and we will...

It was about time we got the Conor/Connor's back on for an episode and they really came through with the goods! In episode 67 we get chatting on a range of topics from Lille road races to Larne 10 miler, European Indoor Masters to Danny meeting Mondo Duplantis in the airport. It is not an episode to be missed and big thanks to both of the fellas for joining us. Stay tuned until the end for a s...

The weeks are flying by as well as the miles! Episode 6 is another absolute banger episode where Dearbhla and Paddy take us through their brilliant training weeks. After we finish with the recaps we then get chatting about all things from Easter chocolate, what they are looking forward to post Belfast Marathon, running influencers, inspiration + loads more! We hope you all enjoyed this episode, se...

Episode 5 fresh out of the oven! It's a funny old episode this one with a good few laughs amongst the training week recaps and chat about running gear essentials! Dearbhla did Omagh half marathon so she talks us through that and Paddy ticks off another huge week where he learned a lot. Thanks for listening everyone, we hope you enjoyed it! Contact us here: Instagram: @thebackstraightpodcast Em...

The seasons are changing, and I don't mean Winter and Spring, it is marathon season! To commemorate this change we have the brilliant Stephen Mc Auley of Letterkenny AC. Stephen has been making waves both locally and farther afield for his unique approach to training that has seen him progress from a 3.19 marathon a couple of years ago to now having run 2.15 in the 2025 Valencia Marathon. We h...

It's just over 5 weeks to go until race day and both Dearbhla and Paddy are smashing it! Huge long run workouts from both the athletes and highest weekly mileage for Dearbhla, EVER! Paddy talks us through his week and some new shoes from the Running Bubble that have been giving him that extra pop! Dearbhla on the other hand has been getting it done whilst dodging sickness from all angles, she...

Feast your ears on episode 3 of the Road to Belfast ft. Patrick McColl and Dearbhla Cox! They are absolutely smashing their training at the moment and the topic for this week was an average day of eating + other tidbits about nutrition whilst marathon training! We hope you enjoy it! Contact us here: Instagram: @thebackstraightpodcast Email: thebackstraightpod@gmail.com

Monster episode this week for episode 65! We recap a load of races and talk about all of the big stories including the Queen's 5k, Craic 10k and the Inter Counties Cross Country Nottingham + heaps more! In part 2 we preview the World Indoors happening in Poland this coming weekend and Danny gives us a recap of his Barcelona Marathon experience where he went under the 2:30 barrier! Thanks for l...

Dearbhla and Paddy are back after brilliant weekends competing against some awesome competition! Dearbhla is fresh off the back of competing in the Inter-counties Cross Country Championships in Nottingham where the NI ladies team took silver! Paddy, well he only went and ran a PB down in Bohermeen running 68:16 - some pup! It was a great chat for episode 2 where we recapped the races and then spok...

The Road to Belfast is back for another year and we are stoked! This year we will be joined by none other than Annadale Strider's finest, Dearbhla Cox, and the young gun, Patrick McColl, from RoadRunners AC. Dearbhla and Paddy will be sharing their weekly training updates and giving their perspective on different marathon topics as they get closer to race day. Belfast Marathon is about 8 weeks...

Big old episode this week with a tonne of stuff happening on the indoor track on the roads! We go deep on the results from the Irish National Indoor Championships and even get chatting to the 2026 1500m champion, Lughaidh Mallon! After this it is a tonne of other results from Tokyo, the United States, Spain and more! We round out the episode with some things we are looking forward to and one of th...

It's the Armagh recap and what a nightmare it was to edit! Big thanks to Nick, Callum, Cormac and Fiona for the interviews (unfortunately the Emily Haggard Kearney and Lughaidh Mallon audio was unusable). We had a fantastic time at the Armagh International Road Races and we go deep on our recap in this episode! Following that it is a bunch of local and international results from the Stormont X...

Welcome to episode 62 of the Back Straight Podcast where we are previewing the Armagh International Road Races happening Thursday the 12th of February. As well as this, we get chatting about all of the local XC results from the Malcolm Cup to the NI and Ulster Senior XC. There were some brilliant results from the Trim 10 mile that also deserved a mention and then finally we recap some of the stunn...