DCR Episode 26 - Vajin Armstrong!

Kia Ora Whanau. This week Matt and Eugene have the privilege and great joy to have a conversation with Vajin Armstrong. Vajin has been consistently at the top of the Aotearoa/New Zealand trail and ultra running standings for the last nine years, with three Kepler Challenge victories, multiple Tarawera Ultra podium finishes (including victory at the 62 km event in 2018) and a slew of impressive results in Europe over the last several seasons. And you know what? Those results are impressive, but they are by no means the reason we wanted to speak with Vajin. After an engaging and enlightening meeting at last year’s Kepler Challenge, Eugene and Matt were very excited to speak to Vajin about his life and journey from a medal obsessed disillusioned track running teen living in Christchurch (which, to be fair, in the 1990’s was not a hub of esoteric spirituality) to a disciple of Sri Chinmoy, music shop owner, and lover of process, connection, and transcendence. Warm, engaging, and knowledgeable, whilst maintaining an air of utter humility, Vajin was a real treat to speak with and this is a most excellent and entertaining conversation. This also happens to be the longest podcast we’ve done to date, and the Greatest Run Ever at the end left both Eugene and Matt speechless. Enjoy!