Ep 50 Special: Zak Hanna, 5th at the European Championships
· Trail Running Ireland Podcast
In this 50th-episode special, Eoin Flynn and René Borg look back on the first European Athletics Off-Road Running Championships on La Palma, and Zak Hanna talks about his fifth place in the uphill race, the best Irish men's result at an international mountain championship in around 30 years.
Eoin thanks listeners and Patreon supporters for reaching 50 episodes, welcomes JK Therapy Sports and Injury Clinic as sponsor for June and July, and congratulates Gavin Byrne on third place at UTMB Snowdonia 100k and Julie McNamee on her top-10 finish there.
Eoin and René, who both worked on the championships coverage, discuss the live stream, the narrow mountaintop finish of the uphill race, and the rivalry between federation championships and professional circuits such as the Golden Trail Series and UTMB. They pick out lessons from the medallists: clear race plans, quick recovery between races, not taking yourself too seriously, and winter cross-training such as ski mountaineering, skiing and cycling. They also note that top road and track athletes did not find the switch easy.