Episode 26 - Double Anniversary
2016-06-28
— open the full-size artworkShow artwork, 22 June 2016HostsMelissa Erbacher Scott Trickett
GuestAlison Fraser (King)
Show notes
The parkrun adventurers share anniversary stories before we jump across the ditch for a visit to Puarenga (opens in a new tab) parkrun in New Zealand with Event Director Alison King. And adventuresome fave Ian Hay is back with the latest results of hours spent sifting through the Hay Stack of Stats!
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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
Alison Fraser (King)
The launch of Puarenga parkrun in Rotorua, the show's first New Zealand guest. The name translates as "sulphur flowers"; the two-lap course follows the Sulphur Trek beside the Puarenga stream through geothermal steam and vents you must not stray near. 128 runners at the inaugural event, beating Anderson parkrun in Napier's 97, with visitors from Lower Hutt, Western Springs, Hamilton Lake and Porirua. She discovered parkrun via the Marathon Talk podcast, put "run a parkrun" on her 2016 goal list and decided to start one as well, having run only Barry Curtis in Auckland herself. She is a UK expat and will run Norwich parkrun on the morning of her sister's wedding in September.
In this episode
Welcome starts at 0:12
Scott Trickett and Melissa Erbacher, Scott fresh from an anniversary at Jells parkrun where he set up in the dark and rain, wore crazy socks and handed out the new medals he had helped design, while Mel had a spectacular morning as volunteer photographer at Gladstone. Mel confesses a territory director fail from a fortnight earlier, taking the Gladstone medals to Town of Seaside's anniversary and having to ask the prize winners for them back after the photo. She also went up early on Friday to walk three candidate courses with Gladstone co-ED Craig for a new event near Tannum Sands, hopefully a couple of months away, whose GPS trace looks like a headless dancer.
Facts in a Haystack starts at 20:13
Ian Hay's stats segment. He abandons a planned State of Origin Queensland-vs-NSW comparison ("no matter which angle I looked at, I just couldn't find a way for New South Wales to win"), then covers the winter drop-off in Australian attendances (~25,000 in April down to ~18,000 in the last two weeks, and under 10,000 the week of the flooding), and analyses the Peel Club, one parkrun in each of the eight states and territories. Melissa Erbacher has just become the 10th member; 13 people sit on seven states and 64 on six or seven; Northern Territory, WA and Tasmania are the hardest to get. Peel Club members average 49 volunteer stints each, tapering to 29 at seven states and 19 at six. Newy parkrun supplies the most multi-state travellers, with Tuggeranong (39) and Ginninderra (40) leading on four-or-more states.
Social Adventurers starts at 29:54
Instagram and Facebook round-up. Instagram: Expat Runner at Kilkenny; Running Guy Ryan dressed as a clown for Logan River parkrun's third birthday; Bunny_79's golden retriever at Town of Seaside; Miss Spelt's "pick the pommy" photo at Nambour; Mama of Hope volunteering at Lalor; Hey TJ's jellyfish crazy socks at Jells; Tesla Fox at Mornington Peninsula's second anniversary; Running Optimistic; Jenna at Crissy Field with Alcatraz in shot; Will B 1981 the "parkrun evangelist"; Jez Savage at Pioneer. Facebook: congratulations on 25 episodes from Gary Nisbet and Peter Pohlman; Tim Baldwin's Mornington Peninsula costume pics; Rowan Durant at Albert Park; Liv Coop at Blackbutt reaching her 20th different parkrun and the most-events list.
Launches and anniversaries starts at 36:53"Where is the cake?"
Three launches in three states this week, Cobram (Victoria), Atherton (Queensland) and Strathalbyn (South Australia), with the hosts hinting that "Underscore PK" might file a roving report from Strathalbyn. Just one anniversary: Aveley parkrun in WA celebrating its third.
Sign-off starts at 38:09
After the launches and anniversaries, the hosts teased a listener challenge they refused to explain, promising to reveal it the following week and to attempt it themselves during the week, with Scotty giving the only clues that it had to do with running and with parkrun. He then left listeners with that thought and said he would see them all next week, and Mel closed with "Happy adventures, guys".