COFFEE CLUB: a running podcast about nothing · Morgan McDonald

What happened at the World Cross Country Trials?

December 4, 2025·1 hr 8 min·3 clips

The longer you're away from Australia, the more you appreciate it—and it's impossible to explain why Sydney just feels different.

They open on the race and everyone seems fairly comfortable at first. That does not last long. One runner explains he had raced only once all year, back in January, and was already feeling tired. His body does the usual pre-race shutdown, then flips the switch once the gun goes off. He sprints to the first corner and gets to the front. Up there, the line choice is better and there is not much wind, so it feels almost pleasant for a moment. That is usually the trap. He had planned to sit in the pack and wait for the later laps, but the start-line panic changed the script. So the race turns into a new plan made in real time. He stays at or near the front for the first two and a half kilometres. The first lap is the slowest one, even though nobody is really jogging. On the second lap, Dave McNeil makes a move and drops the field by about 15 metres. The pack closes it back up on the second half of that lap. Dave gets called a legend, because of course he does. By the third lap, the pace starts ramping properly. The whole thing becomes a steady progression instead of a messy scramble. Cam eventually comes flying by with more gears than the leader can answer. The conversation drifts into old race memories, ex-roommate nostalgia, ads, lamb, New Zealand, and Nick Willis before the episode wraps. It ends on episode 209 with the same loose, half-chaotic camaraderie that carries the whole show.

As heard by us

A cross-country race conversation that stays in the pack and follows the pace as it builds.

The episode sticks close to the race and treats it as the messy, tactical thing it was. He says he was tired going in after racing only once that year, then sprinted to the first corner, took the lead, and stayed at the front for the first 2.5K.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want the race from the first corner.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from COFFEE CLUB: a running podcast about nothing