Episode 19 - Facts in a Haystack

2016-05-11

In this episode

• NENYD — Nearest Event Not Yet Done

  Opening host chat in which Scott coins/introduces the idea of looking up your "nearest event not yet done" on the parkrun events map. Melissa spells the acronym out at [00:01:16] ("It's N-E-N-Y-D"), the pair work out their own NENYDs (hers Petrie, ~78km; his Wyndham Vale or Pakenham), and they negotiate a pronunciation live on air at [00:03:11]-[00:03:18] ("Let's call it Nenid, like Leonard"), then set it as a listener task: "get on the map this week and find your Nenid and start crossing it off."

• Meet the ED / Event Director interview — Tracey Cullen, Riverway parkrun

  Extended interview with Tracey Cullen, ED of Riverway parkrun (Townsville) — the first parkrun in North Queensland, three years old. Covers her broken toe sustained running for the phone on Mother's Day, her volunteering-heavy stats, how she found parkrun via a friend's Facebook weight-loss posts and a visit to Ginninderra parkrun in Canberra, why Riverway starts at 7am rather than 8am (a decision negotiated with Tim), a detailed walkthrough of the notoriously confusing course, the free public pool at the start, North Queensland's parkrun growth (North Shore, Cairns, Airlie Beach, Hamilton Island, Mackay), and how the finish line was moved off grass to make the course wheelchair-accessible after feedback from their first wheelchair athlete.

• Facts in a Haystack

  Explicitly named by Scott at [00:26:22]: "Once again, it's time for my favourite segment on the podcast" / "Our favourite segment, Facts in a Haystack." The stats segment then collapses — Ian Hay has prepared stats but his laptop won't boot ([00:27:05] "they're on my laptop and they're looking fantastic. Unfortunately, the laptop's not starting up"), so the hosts salvage it by talking to him about Stones Corner parkrun instead: its second birthday, a 100-runner attendance record broken (about 430 runners), the South Bank crew taking over every volunteer role for the day, and South Bank's own 998-runner anniversary. Melissa supplies the only actual statistic of the segment.

• Junior roving adventurer report — Zara Curtis at Altona Beach parkrun

  Self-contained pre-recorded field report from Altona Beach parkrun's first birthday. Zara Curtis interviews Wendy, a visitor from Westerfolds on her 14th different parkrun, then signs off trailing her next report from the Portland parkrun launch on May 21st. Scott follows up at [00:34:35] welcoming "another new junior adventurer" and joking about the collective noun for roving adventurers ("an avalanche").

• Roving adventurer report — Jeremy Savage at Balyang Sanctuary parkrun

  WA correspondent Jeremy Savage reports from Balyang Sanctuary parkrun in Geelong while visiting for the Wings for Life World Run. He interviews Dale, the event director (who completed his 100th parkrun that morning, finishing 100th), and Mary, a visitor from Ballarat on her third run there. Covers the course profile, Jeremy's coinage "fun-dulating", and his complaint that the field needs to work on its high fives.

• parkrun adventure challenge (red shirt challenge)

  Scott reports follow-on from the previous week's Red Shirt Challenge: "On Facebook Gary Nisbet and Melissa Ellis contributed a couple of photos where they continued the Red Shirt Challenge."

• Social Adventurers

  Round-up of listener activity across Facebook and Instagram: the Red Shirt Challenge photos, a contribution from "Tok" (almost certainly TOC — Tony O'Connell) parkrun adventuring in Canberra, and Instagram listener "Mama of Hope" who ran the London Marathon and then Paris parkrun on holiday, finishing first female in a field of about 20.

• Launches and anniversaries ("Where is the cake?")

  One Australian launch this week — The Entrance on the NSW Central Coast, with a 7am rather than 8am start. Scott then cues the anniversary calendar with the set catchphrase "Where's the cake?" at [00:40:45]: Curl Curl's third anniversary (Caped Crusaders theme, prompting a debate about whether a caped crusader is a superhero) and Yarrabilba's second anniversary with a $10 op-shop-formal black tie theme.

• Witty sign-off / the think tank

  Scott notes listeners sent in "lots of good suggestions for clever and witty sign-offs" which "have all gone in the think tank", to which Melissa replies "We put a lot of things in the think tank. It's a pretty big tank." No sign-off is used this week.

• parkrun adventure review — cafe, parking and toilets (Jeremy and Kelly, Balyang Sanctuary)

  Closing pre-recorded piece from WA roving reporters Jeremy Savage and Kelly Underwood reviewing Balyang Sanctuary parkrun as a destination rather than a race: parking and toilets at the start, the Barwon Edge Boathouse cafe 800m along the course (excellent French toast, opens 9am), the alternative cafe, and caravan-park accommodation 1.4km away on Barrabool Road with a running route to the start via the Barwon River towpath and Shannon Avenue bridge.