Episode 16 - Pat Farmer
2016-04-19
— open the full-size artworkShow artwork, 31 January 2016HostsMelissa Erbacher Scott Trickett
Roving reporterPeter Pohlman
GuestsPat Farmer Tom Williams
Show notes
The parkrun adventurers head to the United Kingdom to discuss the Little Stoke (opens in a new tab) parkrun story with parkrun Global Chief Operating Officer Tom Williams. Ultra runner and humanitarian Pat Farmer shares his inspirational ‘Spirit of India’ adventure. And Roving Reporter Peter Pohlman interviews Garry Wells of five30runners at Warwick (opens in a new tab) parkrun.
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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
Tom Williams
The Little Stoke parkrun / Stoke Gifford Parish Council decision to charge parkrunners a pound a run, how it arose, why parkrun cannot accept land permission conditional on a fee (with a projection of what per-runner charging would mean for Australia), the cancellation of Little Stoke parkrun, parish-council powers in the UK, the #LoveLittleStoke response and the change.org petition, and the 40% spike in UK registrations that followed.
Pat Farmer
The "Spirit of India" run, 64 days and roughly 80km a day the length of India from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, raising funds for girls' education through the Nanhi Kali Foundation, plus his earlier Vietnam, Middle East peace and pole-to-pole runs, how he chooses causes, what he loves about parkrun (he and his wife Tanya parkrun at St Peters), the prospects for parkrun in India, and encountering polar bears and a black bear.
Roving reports
In this episode
Welcome starts at 0:07
Melissa Erbacher and Scott Trickett. Scotty reports on the Lalor parkrun launch: a Welcome to Country from a local elder, the mayor, Aunty Pam Pedersen welcoming the runners, a hip-hop warm-up from the Indigenous Hip Hop Project, and his own confession that he forgot to high-five on the High Five Bridge; Mackay launched the same weekend. Also raised: Brian Peters as the first Aussie to 250 parkruns on Australian soil (240 at Main Beach), a likely new attendance record over 25,000, a mummy unearthed in Mongolia wearing Adidas-style shoes and the show's recurring Mongolian listener, and Mel wrongly naming Diamond Creek as Melbourne's biggest parkrun.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 52:36
Scott hands over to a roving report from Warwick parkrun: "one of our roving adventurers, Peter Pohlman [Pohlman], caught up with Gary [Garry] Wells at parkrun on the weekend. Let's have a listen." The insert runs 00:53:04-00:54:57 and is an interview with Garry Wells, aka "Guru", a founder of the 530 Runners club, covering what the club is, joining it, and the Pentath Run five-race weekend (Warwick parkrun is hosting a Friday-evening freedom run that weekend because the half marathon uses the parkrun course). Mel closes it "Thanks very much, Peter and Gary."
Social Adventurers starts at 55:14
"Around the social landscape this week", merchandise suggestions from listeners in response to last week's call-out (technical shirts and singlets; Ross Pentland on Twitter suggesting bottle openers; Melissa Ellis suggesting "I'm a parkrun adventurer" singlets earned at a certain number of parkruns), a running gag about Scott's leg-warmers suggestion, then Instagram: Stuart Marshall Training's just-married photo, Healthy Mum Healthy Family's BentLogic barcode tag, and Gems_21's video of a running the full 5k. Regular posters Running Guy Ryan, Misspelt, _PK and Positiveism1 also thanked.
Launches and anniversaries starts at 59:38"Where is the cake?"
Upcoming launch in the Clare Valley, South Australia, then the cake round-up "where is the cake this week": Ginninderra (ACT) fourth anniversary; Lillydale Lake (Victoria) second anniversary with a red theme; Rockingham (WA) third anniversary with a heroes-and-villains theme; Stones Corner (Queensland), Ian Hay's event, two years with a fluoro theme and the entire South Bank parkrun event team volunteering there.
Sign-off starts at 1:01:59
Mel said that was it from them for the week, called it a big episode and hoped listeners enjoyed it; Scott agreed it was another long one, said they would be back next week with their 17th episode and said goodbye, and Mel closed with a chat to you next week.