Episode 38 - Tom Do Canto

2016-09-27

Show notes

The parkrun adventurers share the love and more trail misadventures. We find out how to run fast with NSW parkrunner Tom Do Canto, and Burley Griffin parkrun Event Director Sally Coyle stops by to give us a tour of the nation’s capital.

Enhanced transcript

Checked transcript — speakers named, sound described, segments marked.

Read the transcript

Guests

Tom Do Canto

NSW parkrunner — one of Sydney's fastest, Six Foot Track marathon winner 2016, new dad

Training and racing as an elite parkrunner: balancing a newborn with training, 15-16 minute parkruns and chasing a sub-14:30 PB and the Australian record at Parramatta or Rhodes, meeting his wife Lana volunteering at St Peter's parkrun, parkrun tourism in London (Wimbledon Common, Richmond, Bushy) and San Francisco, his top three (St Peter's, Parramatta, Rhodes), and his debut road marathon at Melbourne, including how pacing, packs and drafting work.

Interviewed by Melissa Erbacher, Scott Trickett

Sally Coyle

Event Director, Burley Griffin parkrun (Canberra, ACT)

Setting up Burley Griffin parkrun — discovering parkrun at Gungahlin while supporting Heart Foundation fundraiser Gary Wilmot, scouting a course on the quiet end of Lake Burley Griffin around federal/local land issues, pitching the ACT government and finding a sponsor, the 435-runner launch that broke the Canberra record, current numbers around 140, her running background in the US, and her parkrun top three.

Interviewed by Melissa Erbacher, Scott Trickett

In this episode

parkrun Adventurers News
Scripted news bulletin read alternately by Scott and Mel to open the show: global participation stats (143,260 athletes at 793 parkruns in 14 countries), Gareth Saunders' five-year "directiversary" at Southbank's 200th, Eloise Wellings' Australian Road Running Championships gold, event stopwatch/upload technical issues, parkrunners at various races, two parkrun Australia Territory Directors at the Berlin Marathon, and a marriage proposal at Toowoomba parkrun. Ends with a music sting.
Meet the ED
Interview with Sally Coyle, Event Director of Burley Griffin parkrun (Canberra) — how she found parkrun via Gungahlin while supporting Heart Foundation fundraiser Gary Wilmot, the campaign to establish an event on Lake Burley Griffin (federal vs local land, funding, a local sponsor), the record 435-person launch, settled numbers around 140, and her parkrun top three.
Social Adventurers
Social media round-up: a big week on Twitter in the UK following the Danny Norman interview ("the Danny effect"), Instagram shout-outs (Runjo Run, Hey TJ, Mama of Hope, Heather's Happy Snaps, Akoos), a Facebook comment from Nicole praising the new news segment, Tok running beside Geographe Bay in WA, Devonport and Shepparton parkruns sharing the podcast's post, Catherine Jones' school-holiday freedom-run challenge, Melissa Ellis' parkrun number 99, and Vincent Liu's Berlin skate-and-run double.
Launches and anniversaries ("Where is the cake?")
No launches in parkrun Australia this week; anniversaries cued by Scott's "So where are we going for some cake, Mel?" — first anniversaries for Champion Lakes (WA), Hamilton Island (Qld) and Petrie (Qld), all falling on International parkrun Day.
Channel 5 News Crew
TRAILED ONLY, NOT AIRED THIS EPISODE. Scott announces at [00:44:51] "we're a bit excited because we're going to have our Channel 4 news team at Bushy next week... For the anniversary celebrations. Sending coverage." Mel: "Yes. Very exciting." Logged so the recurring segment's forward reference is not lost; no Channel 4 report actually runs in episode 38.
Strava Art Competition
Ongoing listener competition. The hosts admit they cannot agree on a winner despite having guaranteed an announcement this week, so the decision is deferred: they will submit their top three to "the powers that be" (an "objective other") and may have them on the podcast to announce it. They praise the volume and quality of entries and flag they will run another one with looser rules and "a little bit more creative license".
Word of the week
Scott's closing vocabulary bit. This week's word is "equanimity" — "mentally or emotionally stable, especially under tension or strain, calmness" — which he applies to himself as an alternative to "lazy and laid back", prompting a debate with Mel about the Queensland virtue of being laid back and whether the adjective is "equanimous".