Episode 49
2016-12-14
— open the full-size artworkShow artwork, November 2016HostsMelissa Erbacher Scott Trickett
GuestsRachel Allworth Scott Hawkins
Show notes
The parkrun adventurers discuss some highlights and squeeze as much parkrun into one weekend as possible. We chat to Mullum Mullum (opens in a new tab) parkrun Event Director Scott Hawkins about the impending launch of parkrun Australia's highly anticipated 200th event. Ian Hay is back to dazzle with stats on Facts in a Haystack, and Rachel Allworth drops by for Club Corner to tell us about Rachel's Runners.
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Enhanced transcript
Speakers named, sound described and segments marked by the editing pass — not yet checked by a person.
Read the transcriptGuests
Scott Hawkins
The launch of Mullum Mullum parkrun in Melbourne's outer east as parkrun Australia's 200th event: how the gap between Westerfolds, Lillydale Lake and Jells was spotted on a run with Scott Trickett, the 18-month journey across three council boundaries before discovering the path belonged to the East Link highways department, the choice of Mullum Mullum over Ringwood as a name, his own journey from 120kg and unable to kick a football with his kids to running parkrun weekly with four of his five children, the parkrunner of the Month trophy his son Lucas took to show and tell, and a description of the half-trail half-path course.
Rachel Allworth
Club Corner guest slot on Rachel's Runners: how the club grew out of her own start in running into a 12-week learn-to-run-5K programme with 300+ people through it, her level one and level two run-coaching accreditation and kids' athletics coaching alongside schoolteaching, six days a week of coaching plus a new free Tuesday-night club, the club's mostly-but-not-only-women membership, a stand-out member who went from never having run to a 10K in three months, and the club's spread across Milperra, Panania, Revesby, Menai, Cronulla, Sans Souci and Hoxton.
In this episode
Welcome starts at 0:12
Melissa Erbacher in Victoria and Scott Trickett in Queensland. Scott's highlight of the week was finishing on top of his fantasy football league for a cash prize, with the playoffs to come, ahead of his daughter's Christmas concert; Mel's was playing cello at her own Christmas concert in her second year of learning, getting through every song rather than miming as she had the year before, in a green dress with her GPS watch and parkrun wristband on show.
parkrun news bulletin starts at 3:55
Scott and Mel trade news items: parkrun HQ processed 1,000 events in one weekend for the first time (the 1,000th being "Tommy Patton Jr. parkrun"); 3 million registered runners due to tick over within the week; the 2016 Coast to Kosciuszko, won by Bunyaville parkrunner Kevin Muller in 27:55:05, with former podcast guest Trevor Allen 11th, Victorian George Mihalikoulis 12th and Wangaratta's Sharon Schultz fifth lady on her first C2K; and the Buck family from Goondiwindi parkrun arriving at Richmond Olympic parkrun in Canada by stretch limo in the snow.
Facts in a Haystack starts at 29:56
Ian Hay's 2016 year-in-review stats. Most attendance records for the year: The Ponds with nine, then Maribyrnong, Shellharbour and Stones Corner on seven; longest record streak Wangaratta with four weeks running. Biggest attendance range: The Terrace 28-693, and one further event 11-620; excluding launches, Newy 129-744, Lake Mac 71-591, Rocks Riverside 37-488. Smallest turnout of the year: Atherton with one runner and two volunteers; Broadbeach had a week of five. Smallest averages: Clare Valley 16, Atherton and Pittsworth 17. Volunteers ranged from two (Atherton, Hamilton Island) to 23 (Newy), averaging nine; 81,000 volunteer stints in 2016 against 60,000 in 2015. Australia passed 1 million runs for the year on 26 November (770,000 in all of 2015), about 5 million kilometres. Then a set of "49" stats for episode 49: 288 people sitting on 49 parkruns, 141 events all-time (61 this year) with exactly 49 finishers, Castlemaine five times, 15 people on 49 volunteer stints, and 10 people with an exact 49:00. Ian returns next week for one stat he and Mel forgot.
The Compass Club starts at 38:43new tourist club
Delivered inside Facts in a Haystack. The Peel Club now has 15 members with nine added during 2016, none of them from Queensland or New South Wales, and 17 people sit one event away. The Compass Club has two members, Brendan Peel and Neil Barnett, with 18 people one event short, most of them needing Geographe Bay. The four qualifying events are Darwin, Hobart, Kingscliff and Geographe Bay. Mel reports she has checked and Margaret River is at least six months from launching, so a Compass Club place would be safe for a while.
Launches and anniversaries starts at 44:18"Where is the cake?"
No anniversaries this weekend, "slim pickings" for cake, but two launches: Mullum Mullum in Victoria (Australia's 200th event) and Underwood Park in Queensland. The hosts note that had Mullum Mullum gone with Ringwood there would have been Underwood and Ringwood in the same week, and correct the earlier interview claim that Ringwood would be Australia's only R event, Rocks Riverside, Rooty Hill and Rockhampton already exist.
Club Corner starts at 45:13
Rachel of Rachel's Runners (NSW) returns. The club started in 2013 after friends asked how she had taken up running the year before; it runs a 12-week learn-to-run-5K programme and has had over 300 people through it. Rachel has since taken level one and level two recreational running coach accreditation plus kids' athletics coaching, is a schoolteacher, and now coaches six days a week, with a free Tuesday-night run club added. Mostly but not exclusively women. Her stand-out success story is a beginner from the first 2013 intake who went from never having run to completing a 10K that May. Groups now run in Milperra, Panania, Revesby, Menai, Cronulla, Sans Souci and Hoxton.
Sign-off starts at 51:20
Scotty said all his Christmases had come at once because the iTunes reviews they had asked for arrived, all five stars and full of nice comments. They looked ahead to episode 50 the following week as a big deal, with Scotty asking for everyone in red for the 50th, before the episode dissolved into banter about podcasting in pyjamas and onesies, his claim that nobody listens to this bit at the end, and an unanswered request for Mel's bottom three parkruns and some karaoke.