Episode 15 - Melissa Flentjar
2016-04-13
— open the full-size artworkShow artwork, 31 January 2016HostsMelissa Erbacher Scott Trickett
GuestMelissa Flentjar
Show notes
The parkrun adventurers catch up on an adventuresome weekend with stories from Western Australia and Victoria, and Event Director Melissa Flentjar shares her excitement ahead of Lalor (opens in a new tab) parkrun’s launch.
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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 transcriptGuest
Melissa Flentjar
Preview of Lalor parkrun's launch in Melbourne's outer north, and Flentjar's own story. Covers the partnership with the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service and the launch-day Welcome to Country, Aunty Pam, the Indigenous Hip Hop Projects warm-up and demonstration, and a weekly Acknowledgement of Country thereafter, which Scott believes may be a parkrun first as an every-week commitment. Also the course (old golf course, bike path, the big bridge over the Hume Freeway with its high-five zone at ~1km, past the Melbourne markets and back around the lake), and her personal journey: 2014 Couch to 5K, Running Mums Australia, Michelle Esdell welcoming her to Diamond Creek, ~40kg lost in about 18 months, and now founding the first parkrun in the Whittlesea Council area.
In this episode
Welcome starts at 0:08
Scott Trickett and Melissa Erbacher, with Scott's Jells run and a chat with Mel Flentjar ahead of this weekend's Lalor launch promised later. Mel went to Western Australia for the first time, walked Bunbury parkrun around the Big Swamp among black swans and birdwatchers, then ran the whole Bunbury Three Waters half marathon on Sunday, got her bling and successfully broke every rule from last week: local wine the night before, new food (which Tim judged terrible on sugar grounds), and a Derek Zoolander derelict costume whose face paint stung her eyes when rain hit at 16 km; she also met the WA parkrun family at dinners and a Q&A. Scott and Ivana did the Great Pursuit amazing-race event around Melbourne on Sunday, running about 8 km after a better-planned third attempt.
Launches and anniversaries starts at 22:51"Where is the cake?"
Scott hands into the weekly launch/anniversary rundown "We've already just, we've talked about Laylaw's [Lalor's] launch", then a second launch at Mackay in Queensland. The cake cue lands Melissa Erbacher: "Where's the cake this week, Scotty?", Augustine Heights third anniversary; two first anniversaries at Cottesloe (WA) and Sale (Gippsland, Victoria). Sidetracks into Cottesloe's sand section and a discussion of The Beaches parkrun in NSW, which Scott names as the parkrun he most wants to get to.
Sign-off starts at 29:40
Scott set listeners homework instead of an adventure, to think during their runs or at parkrun about which piece of merchandise or accessory adventurers are missing, and to let the hosts know so they could make it happen, then called the episode for the week, noting they had promised a short one and asking what listeners with a 40 or 50 minute run planned would do for the remaining 20 minutes; Mel suggested they start listening to a previous episode again.