Big title for a big episode! You read that right, this episode we are joined by none other than Northern Ireland's 16th person to break 4 minutes for the mile, Lughaidh Mallon! Lughaidh chat's to Michael about his rise in the sport and running in Belfast as well as his move to competing for DCU. Lughaidh has many great races ahead of him and we wish him well in the future. In part 1 of the episode we get chatting about the European U23 championships in Bergen, Norway, where there were 5 medals by Irish athletes in total! Adding to this we cover some of the big stories from the Morton Games and Cork City Sports track meets. We finish off the first half with a chat about Ruth Chepnegetich's doping ban and how we see the sport currently. Thanks for listening, we will see you soon!

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Lots has been happening on the track since you last heard from us here at the Back Straight! We go into all the results from France, Tullamore, Eugene Diamond League, Irish Milers Crusaders, Ards Half-marathon and the group selected to represent Ireland in Bergen, Norway! Part 2 of the episode (42 mins) we get chatting to the new Aussies in town, Zoe Toland and Thomas Elfenbein from Adelaide! These two have been tearing it up since arriving in Belfast and we are super stoked to have them on the podcast. Until next time, hooroo!

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Andrew Thompson? Who is he? How is he running 1.46 in his second year competing in the event? What is his link to Northern Ireland and what led him to signing with North Belfast Harriers? The man from Carrickfergus shares it all in this bonus episode. We hope you enjoy it!

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*PRE-ORDER YOUR BACK STRAIGHT MERCH NOW - Link in bio on Instagram!* Big interview this week Back Straight gang! We have the brilliant Rebekah Osborne in the house to chat about how Faith Kipyegon is going to take down the legendary 4-minute mile barrier! Plenty of great insights for every runner out there on how to get the most from your races and training. Big thanks to Rebekah for giving up her time and we look forward to seeing how Faith gets on in Paris. We also get stuck into some race results from the BMC Belfast (hint, Griggs is back!), some other BMC and Diamond League results, Lisburn 10k and half marathon, Comber 10k, Downpatrick 5k and the BCM Women's 10k! We hope you enjoyed this episode, let us know if there is anything you want us to include in future episodes. Until then, hooroo!

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It's a slightly shorter episode this week (we will explain later hopefully!) but we have a great guest and some good chat about some local performances! First off we recap recent results like the CS Lewis 5 Mile and some international performances before we are joined by Mark Kirk for a thorough BMC Belfast preview ahead of the meet this coming weekend. We hope you enjoyed this episode, let us know if there is anything you want us to include in future episodes. Until then, hooroo!

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Another jam-packed episode this week for number 44! We have got a tonne of great results from the Newells 5k and 10k, Newry Half Marathon and 10k as well as some brilliant performances on the track both near and far. In part 2 of the episode we are joined by Nick Griggs. Nick is a superstar runner and we are very lucky to have him on the pod as he shares his story of the comeback from a pretty nasty injury at the end of last year. It is great to hear that Nick is back in good form and the worst is hopefully behind him, we can't wait to see how he goes in upcoming races. Until next time, hooroo!

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Episode 43 of the Back Straight stays very local to Belfast with all the results from the Belfast City Marathon 2025 and the Belfast Irish Milers Meet (in association with Tripadvisor of course)! There were some brilliant performances in the home marathon and Eamonn Christie's Milers Meet never fails to bring the great weather and fast times. In part 2 of the episode we are joined by GB international and superstar pacer, Jack Gray. Jack, alongside his friend Josh Carr, started Flycarb to bring high quality bicarbonate supplements to market which are being used extensively in the UK and abroad. If you have questions about bicarb and how to use it, this episode is for you! Until next time, hooroo.

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Welp, it's the final episode of the Road to Belfast series! In the last episode of the series we get to hear from Gladys and Stephen on how they went in the race and all of the drama that unfolded on the day! Spoiler alert, they both went great and we reflect on this as well as the lead up to the race and what is to come next. Until the next road to series, thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this series please share it around and give us a Spotify rating or even a follow on Instagram to keep up to date with all the action on the Back Straight.

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Instagram: @thebackstraightpodcast

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Twitter: @thebackstraight