112 | Asics Meta Fuji Trail 2 | Commonwealth Games News | Winter Grind Party and some heavy shoe content

Just Oska and Anna in the studio this week — Tom's mid-way through a 44-hour trip to Andorra, and Maia's home sick days before her final episode with the crew. Still plenty to get through: we open with training updates and what's currently on our feet, run through the week's big shoe releases (Novablast 6, On Cloudboom Strike 2), then get into it — the frankly rubbish online backlash aimed at Hamish Kerr for withdrawing from the Commonwealth Games, and why we think people need to do better.

From there it's a big Commonwealth Games wrap led by Zoe Hobbs' stunning 100m gold (NZ's first-ever Commonwealth sprint gold), plus Geordie Beamish, Lauren Bruce, and a strong showing in the pool. We preview this Saturday's NZ Cross Country Championships at Hagley Park, work through a stack of listener questions — including a proper debate on supershoes vs. uptempo trainers for workouts, our picks for NZ's marathon "Mount Rushmore," and a Reddit question on whether some runners are doomed to stability shoes forever. We close with a full deep dive on the ASICS MetaFuji Trail 2, plus all the key dates coming up: Run Club's return, Run Unknown, and the New Balance New Brighton event.

This episode covers:

• Training weeks and what we're running in
• Shoe releases: ASICS Novablast 6, On Cloudboom Strike 2
• Hamish Kerr's Commonwealth Games withdrawal and the online reaction
• Commonwealth Games wrap: Zoe Hobbs' gold, Beamish, Lauren Bruce, swimming medals
• NZ Cross Country Championships preview
• Listener Q&A: supershoes vs. uptempo trainers, NZ's marathon greats, local "Majors" equivalents
• Reddit Q: stability shoes
• Deep dive: ASICS MetaFuji Trail 2
• Key dates: Run Club, Run Unknown, New Balance New Brighton event
• A farewell to Maia

Got a question for the show? Email marketing@frontrunnercolombo.co.nz or drop it in our Instagram DMs.