Conor Curran: Right. welcome to the final split. First of all, thanks for listening and thanks for subscribing to the podcast I've had quite a few messages over the last couple of weeks I thought with episode one dropping on Monday, the fifth of October. I thought I'd try and answer some of those questions, try try and tell you what I'm doing with the podcast and to really test the platform to make sure that everything works. For anyone who doesn't know me, I'm Connor Curran. I've been involved in running for more than forty years. I've always loved it. watching it, reading about it, talking about it, looking at the numbers behind performances, But probably more than anything, I love chatting to people on the scene. finding out about people who are really good at running and what makes them tick, what their journeys have been like. And really that's the idea for where the final split came from. I came up with the idea a few months ago and it wasn't because I wanted to, replicate what other podcasts in Ireland are doing. There are some brilliant ones out there like the Backstreet. Masters of Running, Easy Double Runners, Dairy, any g any given run day. but the idea behind the final split is is pretty simple. I just wanted to make a good running podcast that I'd actually want to listen to myself. I really want to find out a lot about the athletes who represent Ireland, young and old at major championships. But I don't want the podcast to only be about them. there are so many incredibly talented youngsters coming through all over Ireland who most people outside of the sport don't know anything about producing performances that deserve a bit of recognition. And then there's the coaches, the volunteers, the parents, the club people doing incredible work every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday. in towns and villages across Ireland. so I want the final split to tell some of those stories. So it's definitely not runner beans. it's something new, new format, new content, hopefully new voices. but there will be two voices that you recognise. and while I'll host the show whenever their family life and international time zones allow, Jardini, my fellow stag from North Belfast Harriers and Mark Malone From neural AAC will co-host when they can. And if they can't make it, I'll try and bring other people in. Some weeks it might just be me and a guest. I'm deliberately keeping the format flexible. But most weeks, and I'm emphasizing most, I'll try and put something out. I might try different things to see what works. And I'm really keen to find out what you enjoy listening to. So The content will be a bit of a pick and mix of everything I enjoy about running podcasts. There'll be a bit of crack between myself and Mark and Jared. We'll talk about our own training. We'll have a section called Spotted on Socials where we'll pick something that's caught our eye on Strava, Instagram X, TikTok, or YouTube. We'll have parkrun podiums, and yes, we know it's not a race, but we look across the Irish Park Run results. There'll also be prizes and giveaways for listeners and if we get some listeners, we'll try and take some questions and get your voices out out on the podcast. but the biggest part of the podcast will hopefully be the interviews. I like doing a bit of research into people before I speak to them. I want to get into athletes and their backgrounds, their motivations, their training, their race strategies, their performances, setbacks, breakthroughs, the stuff you don't necessarily hear in a standard real or post race interview. And that's probably the bit I'm looking forward to the most. I'm also very aware that I don't know everything that's happened in in Irish athletics, far from it. So I want to tap into people who are involved in the sport night after night, week after week, twelve months of the year. So I'm delighted that people like Finton, Finton Riley, who's vice president of Athletics Ireland and one of the best known voices and faces on the scene will join me from time to time. And likewise, I'll be in regular contact with Louise Shanahan and Elizabeth Egan at trackathletes.ie, bringing some of their knowledge and insight into the show either in person or by showcasing the brilliant information they publish on their website. And I want to hear from clubs, coaches, athletes, and listeners. As I said, if there's an athlete that you think I should know about, tell me. If your club is doing brilliant something brilliant, tell me. And so that brings me to episode one. starting with two athletes who've had brilliant seasons, Callum Morgan of Cander and Emir Maher of DSD. They're currently out in font, training at altitude with a big Irish group under the watchful eye of the Athletics Ireland Endurance Group. I caught up with them to talk about their seasons, their training, their ambitions, and what's coming next. it's a cracking conversation and I'm really grateful to Callum and Emer for giving me their time. So that's episode one coming on Monday, the 5th of October. before I go, thanks to everyone who's followed the Instagram account Thanks for anyone who's already subscribed or sent me a message. I've genuinely no idea w what this podcast is going to be like and that's probably half the crack. So whether you're listening on a Sunday run, driving to work, traveling the race, or sitting at home hopefully there's something in it for you. If you want to find out a bit more about me, Mark or Jared, including our PBs and all that important stuff, head over to thefinalsplit.com and click on about us. if you want to contact us, send me a DM on Instagram at the Final Split Podcast or email thefinalsplit at gmail.com. That's enough of me pretending I've got all this figured out. I don't I'll leave you with a little flavour of what's coming. these are just some cutting room edits from the last few weeks as Mark Jordan and I have tried to agree on a new format and content and acceptable levels of banter. as you'll probably be able to tell, we're absolutely winging it. Enjoy. Maybe when you get a world medal or European medal, Mark, you'll hang it up. But for now you can just What? What's that look for? You only race who's in front of you, boys. Well you
Mark: What's that time?
Conor Curran: for you used two wouldn't know that. You race once a year.
Mark: You're saying that as if, like, the whole world's invited to that race?
G: w the the wor the world bitter?
Conor Curran: diggin' digg digging at the oil boy. You're happy enough sticking
Mark: Rich.
Conor Curran: you're happy enough sticking on your North of Ireland vest when the suit you melan.
Mark: Aye, and I had to be slacked for that.
G: Ha ha.
Conor Curran: you were selected, were you? Aye. I wasn't all I wasn't also s I wasn't
G: Ha ha ha.
Mark: You weren't selected to go more runnin' Europeans. You just...
G: Mm.
Conor Curran: also selected out of the crowd to stand on the podium, but there you go, you know.
Mark: No.
G: It wasn't the upper class alone that gets to have their own way and everything to it, isn't it?
Mark: I said,
Conor Curran: okay, okay, right. Rich Pensioner, right. There's
Mark: know, rich pensioners, rich pensioners championships.
G: No sorry.
Conor Curran: more fucking content for Instagram. That's great. Keep it coming, lads.
Mark: You
Conor Curran: Callum talk us through your sessions, Emer. Like what like what kind of specific training do you do at altitude? How does it affect ya? how long are you there for? Just sort of digging into the detail of the training. and then asking each of them separately, I suppose, about how their training's going and what they're focusing on. Yeah. And I think she might be going for the Eurocross relays and he's probably going for the Eurocross senior team. So could just sort of dig into that a bit. and then maybe just ask them about their track season 'cause both of them had really good track seasons. She ran four six, I think, and obviously he had a cr a couple of cracking races. So you see the way it says there, episode one with Conor, Mark and Gerard. see that minimise that. We probably can't see it. Episode one with Conor, Mark and Gerard, no guest, explaining new podcast, not runner beans, etc. we can also drop an interviewingly thing. So, gee, if you want to do that, I can tee that up.
Mark: Do you do that the same day or maybe just the next air or the wetness there or something? Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Conor Curran: whatever, drop it on the Tuesday or the Wednesday or the weather. You know what I mean? And then, you know, we can we can just change these depending on who's around interview only, you know, who's coming, who's coming in and Mark, we'll just we'll just use this spreadsheet and just use WhatsApp
Mark: Yeah.
Conor Curran: to say, listen, I'm not around you far on, but I'll definitely be on for the episode next week. The show, the catch up.
Mark: Yeah. I I actually think the less cursion the better. Listen to podcasts. You know, I I
Conor Curran: Yeah, I think so. Yeah.
Mark: definitely think
G: I know it's hard it's that's that's hard for me.
Mark: I don't know, but he'll have to try.
Conor Curran: You'll have to try very difficult. mean, it's very difficult to be from Lurgan to try and fucking not curse. But, you've been in Sydney now.
G: It's not it's not my vocab.
Mark: Yeah.
Conor Curran: You're a father. have parental responsibilities.
G: That's a story that's the story times I get with him right now. That's the kind of full cab I'm using.
Conor Curran: You'll be counseled. You'll be counseled in your primary school.
G: Do you see do you see the con do you see
Conor Curran: I-I run.
G: the controversy of the metal that they put the Allianz Stadium
Mark: Metal.
G: in Germany rather than the one in Sydney?
Mark: But that was a bit basic or that look.
Conor Curran: On the Sydney Marathon medal is the picture of a stadium in Germany.
Mark: Yeah, so there must there's an Alliance Stadium.
G: It's Bar Munich it's Bayern Munich's
Mark: Yeah, so they used the German one rather than the one in Sydney.
Conor Curran: Right, right, right. Right. Well, listen, good to see that this works. It'll record so then I
G: You go back and listen to the recording, it's shit.
Conor Curran: Well, I can I can go in and just make it sound good by adding all the heeny bits and if you listen to Inside Running, Week In, Week Out, it's the same structure. Training talk, product review, mucinolus. You know, and people know what they're getting every week. And so that sort of knowing that there's like six parts to a program where there's Parker on podiums people actually like that bit or they prefer that bit or the guest interviews in it. And I think that structure is really important. So I think I think if we're doing it and hopefully we all are, I think if we're all agreed to do it, we should try as best as we can to keep that, keep it banter and keep it organic and like loosey goosey. Just jump in with questions you want, but also keep a structure to it. Right, our friends at Pop Up Races have given us five free race entries to give away to five of you. And all you have to do is to leave us a nice review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, or Amazon Podcasts. So it's dead easy. Five stars would be greatly appreciated and might even increase your chances of being randomly picked. Just DM us on Instagram at the final split podcast so that we know you've done it. We'll throw everyone into a virtual hat and we'll pick five winners at random So nice review, quick DM, free race entry, it couldn't be easier. And a big thanks to Pop Up Races
Mark: What's that time?
Conor Curran: for you used two wouldn't know that. You race once a year.
Mark: You're saying that as if, like, the whole world's invited to that race?
G: w the the wor the world bitter?
Conor Curran: diggin' digg digging at the oil boy. You're happy enough sticking
Mark: Rich.
Conor Curran: you're happy enough sticking on your North of Ireland vest when the suit you melan.
Mark: Aye, and I had to be slacked for that.
G: Ha ha.
Conor Curran: you were selected, were you? Aye. I wasn't all I wasn't also s I wasn't
G: Ha ha ha.
Mark: You weren't selected to go more runnin' Europeans. You just...
G: Mm.
Conor Curran: also selected out of the crowd to stand on the podium, but there you go, you know.
Mark: No.
G: It wasn't the upper class alone that gets to have their own way and everything to it, isn't it?
Mark: I said,
Conor Curran: okay, okay, right. Rich Pensioner, right. There's
Mark: know, rich pensioners, rich pensioners championships.
G: No sorry.
Conor Curran: more fucking content for Instagram. That's great. Keep it coming, lads.
Mark: You
Conor Curran: Callum talk us through your sessions, Emer. Like what like what kind of specific training do you do at altitude? How does it affect ya? how long are you there for? Just sort of digging into the detail of the training. and then asking each of them separately, I suppose, about how their training's going and what they're focusing on. Yeah. And I think she might be going for the Eurocross relays and he's probably going for the Eurocross senior team. So could just sort of dig into that a bit. and then maybe just ask them about their track season 'cause both of them had really good track seasons. She ran four six, I think, and obviously he had a cr a couple of cracking races. So you see the way it says there, episode one with Conor, Mark and Gerard. see that minimise that. We probably can't see it. Episode one with Conor, Mark and Gerard, no guest, explaining new podcast, not runner beans, etc. we can also drop an interviewingly thing. So, gee, if you want to do that, I can tee that up.
Mark: Do you do that the same day or maybe just the next air or the wetness there or something? Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Conor Curran: whatever, drop it on the Tuesday or the Wednesday or the weather. You know what I mean? And then, you know, we can we can just change these depending on who's around interview only, you know, who's coming, who's coming in and Mark, we'll just we'll just use this spreadsheet and just use WhatsApp
Mark: Yeah.
Conor Curran: to say, listen, I'm not around you far on, but I'll definitely be on for the episode next week. The show, the catch up.
Mark: Yeah. I I actually think the less cursion the better. Listen to podcasts. You know, I I
Conor Curran: Yeah, I think so. Yeah.
Mark: definitely think
G: I know it's hard it's that's that's hard for me.
Mark: I don't know, but he'll have to try.
Conor Curran: You'll have to try very difficult. mean, it's very difficult to be from Lurgan to try and fucking not curse. But, you've been in Sydney now.
G: It's not it's not my vocab.
Mark: Yeah.
Conor Curran: You're a father. have parental responsibilities.
G: That's a story that's the story times I get with him right now. That's the kind of full cab I'm using.
Conor Curran: You'll be counseled. You'll be counseled in your primary school.
G: Do you see do you see the con do you see
Conor Curran: I-I run.
G: the controversy of the metal that they put the Allianz Stadium
Mark: Metal.
G: in Germany rather than the one in Sydney?
Mark: But that was a bit basic or that look.
Conor Curran: On the Sydney Marathon medal is the picture of a stadium in Germany.
Mark: Yeah, so there must there's an Alliance Stadium.
G: It's Bar Munich it's Bayern Munich's
Mark: Yeah, so they used the German one rather than the one in Sydney.
Conor Curran: Right, right, right. Right. Well, listen, good to see that this works. It'll record so then I
G: You go back and listen to the recording, it's shit.
Conor Curran: Well, I can I can go in and just make it sound good by adding all the heeny bits and if you listen to Inside Running, Week In, Week Out, it's the same structure. Training talk, product review, mucinolus. You know, and people know what they're getting every week. And so that sort of knowing that there's like six parts to a program where there's Parker on podiums people actually like that bit or they prefer that bit or the guest interviews in it. And I think that structure is really important. So I think I think if we're doing it and hopefully we all are, I think if we're all agreed to do it, we should try as best as we can to keep that, keep it banter and keep it organic and like loosey goosey. Just jump in with questions you want, but also keep a structure to it. Right, our friends at Pop Up Races have given us five free race entries to give away to five of you. And all you have to do is to leave us a nice review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, or Amazon Podcasts. So it's dead easy. Five stars would be greatly appreciated and might even increase your chances of being randomly picked. Just DM us on Instagram at the final split podcast so that we know you've done it. We'll throw everyone into a virtual hat and we'll pick five winners at random So nice review, quick DM, free race entry, it couldn't be easier. And a big thanks to Pop Up Races
