Episode 57
2017-03-01
HostMelissa Erbacher
GuestsBrendan Peel Bronwyn Bell
Show notes
The parkrun adventurers check in with the founder of the Peel Club himself, as Victorian parkrunner Brendan Peel joins us to share adventures. We head back to the West to discover Maylands Peninsula parkrun with Event Director and West Australian Stateswoman Bronwyn Bell. And Scotty scrapes the bottom of the barrel with this week’s Dad Joke.
Enhanced transcript
Checked transcript — speakers named, sound described, segments marked.
Read the transcriptGuests
Brendan Peel
The origin of the Peel Club — Alan Burrell ("the prof") offered naming rights on the old Russ and Robbo parkrun show to the first person to complete a lap of Australia, and Brendan got there first, finishing at Logan River. Covers his unplanned approach to adventuring, his top three courses (Shellharbour and Mount Clarence as a dead heat, plus The Beaches), his refusal to name a bottom three, his heavy volunteering record as a timekeeper and Shepparton run director, and his 225th volunteer milestone coming up at Albert Park.
Bronwyn Bell
Her visit to Moora parkrun, WA's newest event and possibly the smallest town in Australia to host a parkrun; a tour of her own Maylands Peninsula parkrun (Swan River, undulating double-lap out-and-back past Tranby House, black cockatoos, nearest parkrun to Perth airport); her favourite courses (Nambour in Queensland, Mount Clarence in Albany, Kalgoorlie via the Prospector train); 42 events done and a target of 50; and an upcoming Europe trip taking in a Copenhagen parkrun plus a freedom run at the Swedish event.
In this episode
parkrun news bulletin
Explicitly stood down this week. Scott at [00:04:25] "our other bit of news is the news is gone", Mel at [00:04:31] "we just really don't have a very good attention span on this podcast... we get a little bit itchy-feeted, bored, doing the same thing all the time." Scott adds at [00:05:02] "So there's no news. It might come back, but just not this week."
Club Corner
Not performed — named only as an example of a bit the show has quietly dropped. Scott at [00:04:42] "Remember Club Corner?" followed by [00:04:47] "The thing is, we try things. Some work, some don't. Some work and we stop them. Some don't work and we keep doing them."
Launches and anniversaries ("Where is the cake?")
Mel: "it's a relatively quiet one on the launches and anniversary scene this weekend. There will not be cake or donuts... you're going to have to BYO to whichever parkrun you're attending." One launch only — White Rock parkrun in Queensland, which prompts a side discussion about whether Brisbane already has a trail parkrun (Bunyaville). No anniversaries at all this week.
Book club
Weekly book discussion. Scott is two-thirds through Born to Run and withholds his review, hinting at [00:34:09] "It's not going as well as I'd hoped" and promising a fuller verdict next week; Mel has not read anything this week. A listener recommendation is read out: on Twitter, Ross Pentland suggested Shoe Dog, the memoir by Nike founder Phil Knight — "his last major read. Fascinating story on how Nike came to be."
Dad joke
Mel: "Now, Scotty, dare I ask, do you have a dad joke for us this week?" Scott, having researched rather than relied on his repertoire, offers a knock-knock joke — "No bell... No bell, that's why I knocked" — which Mel rejects outright: "That's not a dad joke. That's a crappy kid's joke... Knock-knock jokes aren't dad jokes." She refuses a second attempt. Flagged in the episode's own show notes as "Scotty scrapes the bottom of the barrel with this week's Dad Joke."