Episode 35 - Tom Williams
2016-09-07
HostsMelissa Erbacher Scott Trickett Tom Williams
Show notes
The parkrun adventurers talk inspiration on out-and-backs and go loopy for laps. And we travel back in time and across the Northern Hemisphere to hear how the fun all started for parkrun Global Chief Operating Officer Tom Williams.
Enhanced transcript
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Guest interview — Tom Williams (parkrun Global Chief Operating Officer)
Long-form interview (00:07:57-00:43:40) with parkrun Global COO Tom Williams, framed by Scott as "Tom the parkrunner, not Tom the big boss". Covers registering as barcode A6013 on 4 Aug 2007, his first parkrun at Bushy, founding Hyde Park Time Trial in Leeds (later Woodhouse Moor) as the fourth event and the first outside London, his family's parkrun routine, tourism (72 different events of 196), the Yorkshire ten-in-a-day run that Melissa identifies as the ancestor of Australia's Longest Run, and the origins of Marathon Talk with Martin Yelling. Ends with the hosts saying it will have to be a two-part series.
Strava Art Competition
Scott: "We are now three weeks into our Strava Art Competition." Weekly drip-feed of the prize list — Option P (mystery prize of undisclosed value) versus Option A, whose third prize is revealed by Melissa as two signed DVDs from the hosts' top-10 favourite movies. Entrants must be members of the parkrun Adventurers Strava club; the hosts tease the undisclosed judging criteria and comment on entries drawn on ovals.
Social Adventurers
Melissa: "Let's head over to the rest of the social media scene, shall we? We'll start with Instagram because that's Scotty's favourite." Reads out listener posts platform by platform: Instagram (_PK on Medibank "personal better" day, the Cheetah sisters at Curl Curl, Simon P. King at parkrun's only Asian event, Mama of Hope's 25 volunteer milestone, the ERC certificates at The Ponds); Facebook (Jen Pollard at Balyang, Caro Voss becoming a WA volunteer statesman at Dawesville, Bree's hiccup remedy, Sue Devlin's Sunrise clip from Rhodes, Mark Caldercourt's Victorian statesman run at Portland, Kirsten Ellis topping the Strava leaderboard); Twitter (Tom Williams tweeting about this very recording in real time, Ross Pentland on hillier courses, and a vintage 1984 photo).
Launches and anniversaries ("Where is the cake?")
Melissa cues it with the set question "So where's the cake this week, Scotty? Do we have any launches happening?" No launches this week — three anniversaries instead: Bega (NSW) first anniversary with a sport theme, Inverloch (VIC) second with an under-the-sea theme, and Wynnum (QLD) fourth with an anything-goes theme.