Episode 48
2016-12-07
HostsMelissa Erbacher Scott Trickett
GuestsPamela Rackow Rob — Secret Rocky Runners Club founder (surname not given) Simon Mackley
Show notes
The parkrun adventurers get into the festive spirit and challenge you to a slightly unusual adventure. We head to the Northern Hemisphere to speak to Pamela Rackow from the University of Aberdeen about running with friends. Mosman parkrun Co-Event Director Simon Mackley pulls up a couch for a chat, and Rob of Secret Rocky Runners Club fame joins us for Club Corner.
Enhanced transcript
Checked transcript — speakers named, sound described, segments marked.
Read the transcriptGuests
Pamela Rackow
Her research finding that people exercise more when they take up exercise with a new sports companion — study design (control vs intervention group, eight weeks, ~72 and ~83-86 participants recruited via doctors' practices, Swiss health insurers, physiotherapists and gyms), the distinction between emotional and instrumental social support, and why participants were paired with people they already knew rather than strangers. Scott closes by suggesting parkrun is exactly where strangers become exercise friends.
Simon Mackley
Meet the ED interview: Mosman parkrun's three-lap waterside course and its hill, the aborted launch at Balmoral and the five-month council fight before relocating to Spit West, the anniversary that keeps getting pushed back a week, festive-season plans to tour Rhodes and Parramatta, the volunteer and points-table community, and the big names who have visited (Bruce Fordyce, Pat Farmer, Marty Dent, Hannah Oldroyd, Tim Oberg, Dave Robbo).
Rob
Club Corner interview: how he founded the Secret Rocky Runners after moving from the UK and finding no affordable local club, the club's growth from a Facebook group to weekly interval sessions and formal incorporation, the decision not to align with WA Athletics on cost, the orange club colours, the birthday mile, 11 relay teams at the Perth Marathon, and member success stories.
In this episode
parkrun news bulletin
Scott announces "It's time for the news" and the two hosts alternate a global bulletin: Christmas/New Year's Day festive-run compendium counts across Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK, USA and Russia; parkrun de Fontainebleau welcoming refugees from Calais and Paris; the parkrun Australia AGM of 3 December (Gareth Candy stands down as President, Scott Watkins named Chair, Craig Curtis and Renee Gimbert continuing as Treasurer and Secretary, Stephen Jackson remaining a Representative, with Silpa Palmer, Dale Murray and Matt Fullerton joining); and Bunyaville parkrun's record 270 attendance and 2,200+ photos on their third anniversary.
parkrun adventure challenge (listener challenge)
A festive challenge grown out of the hosts' Christmas-lights chat: listeners are asked to send in a photo of their Christmas lights done parkrun style. Scott: "So your adventure this week, send us your photo. Christmas lights, parkrun style." Mel proposes it as a "parkrun tree LED light competition" after Scott admits to wrapping cheap Kmart lights round a pole to make a parkrun tree.
Meet the ED
Interview with Mosman parkrun Co-Event Director Simon Mackley, introduced as "officially my favorite guest, E.D., on the show ever" because he actually listens to the podcast. Covers the small three-lap course by Middle Harbour with its dreaded hill, the rocky start at Balmoral (102 runners at event one, then shut down by council over approvals and branded "a menace to the community", relocating five months later to Spit West), the tight-knit volunteer community, big-name visitors including Bruce Fordyce, Pat Farmer, Marty Dent, Tim Oberg, Dave Robbo and Hannah Oldroyd, and the club's Dirty Cheetahs contingent.
Launches and anniversaries ("Where is the cake?")
Opens with the hosts mocking their own consistent mispronunciation of parkrun locations (Kahuna and Forster from previous weeks). One launch this week: Rooty Hill (which sets off the ten-year-old boy in Scott). Anniversaries: Central Lakes turning one, and Menai (NSW), Stanthorpe and Stockton (NSW) all turning two — "Three two-year-olds and a one-year-old. All these toddlers in the parkrun family."
Club Corner
Featured club is the Secret Rocky Runners, Rockingham WA, with founder Rob. Covers why he started it after moving from the UK and finding no affordable local club, growth from a 20-person Facebook group to Wednesday interval sessions of 15-30, incorporation with a committee but a deliberate decision not to align with WA Athletics on cost grounds, the orange club colours chosen by vote, the birthday mile on the WA Athletics track, 11 relay teams at the Perth Marathon with the mixed team third overall, and success stories including a member's first 5k run and members physically holding up a failed finish gantry at the Bunbury Three Waters so late finishers had a finish line to cross.