Episode 5 - Dave Robbo
2016-02-02
— open the full-size artworkShow artwork, 31 January 2016HostsMelissa Erbacher Scott Trickett
Roving reporterDave 'Robbo' Robertson
GuestsSara Pixley Tim Oberg
Show notes
The parkrun adventurers muse about motivation in the wake of another colossal weekend of parkrunning in Australia, and roving Naked Runner Dave Robbo reports from the scene of the nation’s largest parkrun launch. We go in search of bunyips with Murray Bridge (opens in a new tab) parkrun Event Director Sara Pixley, and Tim Oberg answers YOUR questions!
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Enhanced transcript
Speakers named, sound described and segments marked by the editing pass — not yet checked by a person.
Read the transcriptGuests
Sara Pixley
Murray Bridge parkrun, the two-lap course under the bridge past the town's caged bunyip, a third of the field being juniors, winning Community Event of the Year at the local Australia Day awards off seven community nominations and the flood of new runners that followed, and her own path into parkrun after being "handballed" the event in 2014.
Tim Oberg
Listener-question Q&A: prospects for junior parkrun in Australia (and the open question of the 4-14 age band), what makes an event "successful" and how Event Directors share the load and plan succession, where he most wants a new event (Centennial Park, Sydney, blocked by the trust's park hire fees), plus lighter questions about his calves and his favourite Dr. Seuss book.
Roving reports
In this episode
Welcome starts at 0:07
Scott Trickett with Buster the dog asleep in his studio and Melissa Erbacher on the Sunshine Coast with Clover and Inu; another record week of 24,000-plus, with 16 of Australia's 150 events breaking course attendance records and The Terrace launching with over 600. Mel credits Queensland's 'stumidity' and sweaty Facebook photos rather than New Year's resolutions; Scott admits he never takes a good running photo and says his sister run-directed Jells for him. Mel tells of two Kawana parkrunners in two weeks who found their lost car keys in their undies despite the event's key bag.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 9:49
Scott crosses to roving reporter Robbo at the launch of The Terrace parkrun (Raymond Terrace, NSW), the nation's largest parkrun launch, 693 finishers. Robbo interviews Event Director Brenton Pobjie, who had hoped for 600 and says "we super exceeded that", and then Matt Rushke, who describes the two-lap out-and-back course along the Hunter River as the region's first river run. Mel closes the crossover.
Meet the ED starts at 12:12
Event Director interview: Sara Pixley of Murray Bridge parkrun, South Australia. Covers the course (two-lap out-and-back under the Murray Bridge, past the town's caged animatronic bunyip, "we're the only parkrun in the world with a bunyip"), turnout of 40-60 with a third of runners juniors, the event's Australia Day awards (Community Event of the Year, plus highly commended for Community Initiative and Volunteer of the Year) off seven separate nominations, the resulting newspaper coverage bringing in at least ten new parkrunners, and her own path from Mount Barker parkrun tourist to being "handballed a parkrun to get started" in October 2014.
Social Adventurers starts at 30:32
Social media round-up: the parkrun adventurers' new logo rolled out across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, with Brendan Scholarly saying the runners on it look like they are running across Shellharbour parkrun; plus a tweet from Morris the music teacher in Scotland praising the show but asking them to improve the audio quality, which leads into the hosts discussing recording over Skype and hoping to share a studio soon.
Launches and anniversaries starts at 32:16"Where is the cake?"
Woodbridge Riverside parkrun (WA) launches this week, a call-back to Jeremy Savage's episode 2 interview. Then "Where's the cake this week?": a Super parkrun in Victoria for Toolern Creek's first anniversary, with a superheroes theme, which Mel mispronounces and Scott corrects on air ("happy birthday, Melton South parkrun").
Sign-off starts at 33:17
Scott declared them done for the week and trailed next week's guest, Mark Connolly in Darwin, calling on him to come on the show and noting Darwin is the only parkrun in the Northern Territory, so it would be an interesting perspective; Mel agreed it would be a great one. They also mentioned a movie launching the following week that Mel was coordinating a group outing to through her running club, and said they would talk about it in the next episode before signing off.