DCR Episode 41 - Katie Wright, Riverhead Backyard Relaps

Kia Ora whanau!! In 2018 Dr Katie Wright quietly moved to New Zealand. She’d quietly run around the coast of Wales and had quietly completed an Ironman as well as several road marathons. Katie quietly ran her first ultra marathon in October last year, the Taupo 100km, and what better way to back that up than to quietly place second this year behind Camille Herron at the Tarawera 100 mile run in February. Heck, might as well quietly back that up with a fourth at Northburn before quietly winning the 2019 Riverhead Backyard Relaps Ultra Marathon, becoming the first woman in the world to win a Last Person Standing event and gaining a golden ticket entry into Lazarus Lake’s Big’s Backyard Ultra in Tennessee. Katie banged out 201 Km and 5190m of vertical gain to take the title and looked like she could have kept on going. This conversation is special for several reasons. Matt was there, in his capacity as the event director and had the privilege of presenting Katie with the ticket as well as being there to witness most of her laps. It’s special because it’s the first time that a woman has won a LPS and it’s special because it happened in our backyard. Katie was gracious enough to speak with us, even though, by own admission, talking about herself is her least favourite thing to do. We also discuss the event itself, with a Dirt Church Radio Relaps special. This is a simply incredible discussion, with Matt making even less sense than usual and Eugene valiantly steering the ship off the rocks a record number of times. Katie, of course, was amazing.  Enjoy!!