Episode 34 - Bill Irving

2016-08-30

In this episode

• ED guest interview — Bill Irving, Mount Clarence parkrun (the "Meet the ED" format, unnamed on air here)

  Mount Clarence parkrun (Albany, WA) Event Director Bill Irving joins the hosts after his event's anniversary weekend. Covers the low-key cake-only anniversary, a visit from WA territory director Maddy Trent from Geographe Bay, the course (top-five hilliest in Australia, ~110-120m elevation, out-and-back from sea level, finishing on the beach), the Ataturk/Anzac historical connection, running a remote small-town event averaging ~40 runners in a town of 30,000 two hours from the nearest parkrun (Manjimup), and a candid conversation about living with bipolar type 2 and how parkrun and run-directing help. Ends with his membership of the Derek Zoolander running club.

• Facts in a Haystack

  Ian Hay's stats segment, named on air as "our favourite segment, Facts in Haystack". Stats on Event Directors as parkrun tourists (Alan and Roseanne top with 74 unique Australian events; 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 two listener questions from Peter and Simon: youngest/oldest course-record holders in Australia (Samuel Soper, 11-14, 19:12 at Narrabri; Neil Bath oldest, 17:58 at Pittsworth) and longest streaks without breaking an attendance record (Blackbutt 160 weeks off a 538 launch, South Bank 144, Bunya 138), plus 50/100-club proportions by event (Surfers Paradise top at 27%, Rockhampton at zero).

• Social Adventurers

  Weekly social media round-up across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and (this week, jokingly) Strava. Includes Liv Coop volunTOURing, Melissa Ellis volunteering at Warragul parkrun's 50th milestone, Peter Pohlman completing the Southern Cross Circuit at Pittsworth, Warwick parkrun flooded, Mark Caldicott's 832km drive to Portland for statesman status, Brendan Scholar's Ulladulla pronunciation video, Dave Robbo at Dubbo, the Evans Run Club at The Ponds parkrun, MacGirl19 at Balyang Sanctuary, Phil Ackland at the not-yet-launched Warrnambool, and a Twitter item on J.K. Rowling condemning voluntourism.

• Word of the week

  Melissa pulls Scott up for saying "volunteering" instead of the podcast's coined term volunTOURing — [00:38:15] "You got it wrong, Scotty" / "The V word" / "Yes, that's better. You said volunteering." The term returns at [00:43:53] when the hosts note someone else has "pilfered the term that we have coined on this podcast" in a J.K. Rowling article about overseas orphanage voluntourism.

• Strava Art Competition

  Ongoing listener challenge to recreate the parkrun tree logo as Strava art. Prizes revealed piecemeal: option P is a "mystery prize of undisclosed value" (possibly 50 cents), option A now includes a handmade costume accessory from Melissa plus a one-of-a-kind certificate designed by Scott. Two more option A prizes still to be announced, entries open a couple more weeks, one entry already received.

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

  Weekly rundown of upcoming cake-worthy events: no launches this week, but second anniversaries at Blue Gum Hills and Broadbeach Waters, first anniversary at Lochiel Park, plus Warner Lakes and Warwick's third birthday. Includes an on-air spat about whether it is "Warner's Lakes" or "Warner Lakes" (Melissa blaming a typo in the newsletter she copied from).