Episode 34 - Bill Irving

Episode 34 — open the full-size artworkShow artwork, July 2016

HostsMelissa Erbacher Scott Trickett

GuestsBill Irving Ian Hay

Show notes

The parkrun adventurers compare parkrunday parties and consider the finer points of pre-run warm-ups. Mt Clarence (opens in a new tab) parkrun Event Director Bill Irving calls in for a candid conversation, and Ian Hay answers some challenging parkrunner queries on Facts in a Haystack.

From the podcast feed. No Facebook post text is recorded for this episode.

Guests

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:11

  Melissa Erbacher hosts episode 34, her long-claimed age, with Scotty. Scott partied at Maribyrnong's second anniversary, an attendance record in the 250s with a last-man-standing finish, and vows to start a 2K warm-up; Mel was up at 3.30 for Hervey Bay's fancy-dress day, with stormtroopers, bat people, a teabag and ED Kirsty as the Cat in the Hat, around 173 finishers and a picnic afterwards. Scott teases Ian Hay later in the pod and a global attendance record for the weekend, helped by Sweden's first event with 91 runners.

• Meet the ED starts at 8:04

  Mount Clarence parkrun (Albany, Western Australia) Event Director Bill Irving calls in. Covers their low-key anniversary ("who doesn't want to run for cake?"), the course, top-five hilliest in Australia, ~110-120m of elevation, first kilometre all uphill, out-and-back, finishing on the beach past the Atatürk statue and Ataturk Channel where the Anzacs left Albany, running a very small remote event (~40 runners in a town of 30,000, nearest parkrun two hours away at Manjimup), the tight-knit WA parkrun community, and a candid conversation about living with bipolar type 2 and how parkrun and running help. Also his Derek Zoolander running club membership.

• Facts in a Haystack starts at 26:24

  Ian Hay returns after months away with parkrun stats. Event Director travel (Alan and Roseanne top the unique-events list on 74; Fiona Edmonds from Logan third); fastest EDs (Dave Robertson 16:50, Neil Bath 17:24, Adrian Royce fifth, 18:33 to make the top ten); then listener questions from Peter and Simon, youngest and oldest current course-record holders in Australia (Samuel Soper, 11-14, 19:12 at Narrabri; Neil Bath, 50-54, 17:58 at Pittsworth), longest run of events without breaking an attendance record (Blackbutt 160 weeks after a 538-strong launch, South Bank 144, Bunya 138), and events with the highest and lowest proportion of 50/100 club members (Surfers Paradise 27%; Rockhampton none).

• Social Adventurers starts at 37:57

  Facebook, Instagram and Twitter round-up: Liv Coop volunteering at Capalaba; Melissa Ellis volunteering at Warragul's 50th; Peter Pohlman completing the Southern Cross Circuit at Pittsworth; Linda Coombes on Warwick being flooded; Mark Caldicott's 832km drive to Portland for statesman status; Brendan Scholar supplying a video of how to pronounce Ulladulla; Dave 'Robbo' Robertson back from Rio at Dubbo; the Evans Run Club's first 5K at The Ponds; MacGirl19 at Balyang Sanctuary; Phil Ackland previewing the not-yet-launched Warrnambool; Jen P at Bendigo; Mike Bristow's JK Rowling "volunteerism" article; George Sullivan's first-listen praise; Paul Kitching on post-parkrun coffee.

• Strava Art Competition starts at 45:44

  Second week of the competition. Entrants must recreate the parkrun tree logo as Strava art. Prizes under "option A" now include a one-of-a-kind costume accessory hand-crafted by Mel and a one-of-a-kind certificate designed by Scott (creator of parkrunner of the Month, the Certificate of Awesomeness and the Points Prize Medals), against "option P", a mystery prize of undisclosed value that could be 50 cents. Two more option-A prizes still to be announced; one entry already received; non-Facebook listeners can email for the image.

• Launches and anniversaries starts at 49:53"Where is the cake?"

  No launches this week, but anniversaries at Blue Gum Hills (2nd), Broadbeach Waters (2nd), Lochiel (1st), Warner Lakes, and Warwick (3rd), with a running gag about the newsletter's "Warner's Lakes" typo.

• Sign-off starts at 50:48

  Mel thanked Scotty for joining her on the podcast this week and said it was good fun; he thanked her back, and she told him to "just say done and then we're done", which he did.