Episode 60
2017-03-23
— open the full-size artworkShow artwork, February 2017HostsMelissa Erbacher Scott Trickett
Roving reporterPaul Kitching
GuestsBen Brockman Liam Adams Marnie Ponton Nicholas Stabler
Show notes
The parkrun adventurers celebrate our diamond edition! We pop down to Tasmania for a chat with Devonport (opens in a new tab) parkrun's Event Director Ben Brockman, and catch up with Penrith Lakes (opens in a new tab) parkrunner and Six Foot Track Marathon winner Marnie Ponton. Channel 4 News Crew PK sends in a roving report and Club Corner is back for 2017 as Nicholas Stabler gives us the who, what, where and why of Wooters.
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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
Liam Adams
Breaking the Australian parkrun record by one second at Maribyrnong on a hit-out run, preparing for the World Cross Country Championships in Uganda, forgetting his barcode at previous parkruns, whether he feels watched at parkrun, and how parkrun fits into his training.
Marnie Ponton
Winning the Six Foot Track Marathon, recovering from the 45 km trail race, her steeplechase and mountain-running background, coming back to running after having children, coaching under Brendan (Up Coaching), which parkruns she uses as speed tests (Penrith Lakes/Regatta Centre, Nepean, Lawson, Gungahlin) and her next target, the Gold Coast road marathon.
Ben Brockman
Devonport parkrun, cancelling that weekend, discovering parkrun via Marathon Talk and the 2012 Launceston launch, setting Devonport up in May 2015, the waterfront out-and-back course, 1,800 registered runners in a town of 25,000, prospects for around six more Tasmanian events, being a Tasmanian Statesman, and his top three parkruns (Coburg, Bushy Park, Hobart).
Nicholas Stabler
Club Corner: the origin of the Wooters name, the owl logo adapted from a well-known restaurant brand, the club's "woot woot" call and hand sign, its inclusive fun-first culture, the weekly time-based "Wootervals" interval session, and how to join.
Roving reports
In this episode
Welcome starts at 0:12
The Diamond Edition, episode 60, with Melissa Erbacher and a bejewelled Scott Trickett. Run directing at her home parkrun Kawana on Saturday, Mel held the start about five minutes while a newly hatched loggerhead turtle, the last of its clutch, made its way to the ocean under the eye of turtle-care volunteers, with video and photos on the Facebook page. Scotty moved one closer to Mel on the most-events table with Chelsea Bicentennial, a flat beachside course chosen over a hilly park because his wife is chasing the letter C for a pirate.
Facts in a Haystack starts at 4:43
Follow-up on stats requested from Ian Hay the previous week: the Pirate Club (parkrunners who have completed events starting with C and R). Scott reads Ian's figures, 50 pirates in Australia, 34 male and 16 female, broken down by state: 1 Tasmania, 4 South Australia, 5 Victoria, 9 New South Wales, 11 WA, 20 Queensland. Both hosts discuss how close they are to qualifying. Ian Hay is not present in the episode; he supplied the numbers off-air and Scott reads them out, so the bit is only implicitly his stats segment.
Meet the ED starts at 23:48
Interview with Ben Brockman, Event Director of Devonport parkrun in Tasmania: how he found parkrun via Marathon Talk, travelling to the Launceston launch in November 2012, setting up Devonport (launched May 2015), the waterfront out-and-back course along Bass Strait and the Mersey River, growth to ~1,800 registered runners in a town of 25,000, the prospect of around six more Tasmanian events, being a Tassie Statesman, and his top three parkruns (Coburg, Bushy Park, Hobart). Not named as "Meet the ED" on air this week, but it is the standard ED interview slot.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 35:29
Roving report from Paul Kitching (PK) at Mount Barker parkrun, South Australia, for the event's third birthday, a green/St Patrick's Day theme, a record turnout of 290, and three interviews at the post-run cafe: Charlie Butler ( volunteer photographer/videographer and Tropfest Junior finalist), Tracy (PK's sister-in-law), and Greta Wilkinson (Run Director, Co-Event Director and newly appointed joint South Australian Territory Director, alongside John and Lorraine). Also covers Cormac's 100th parkrun and the event's crowdfunded defibrillator arriving.
Launches and anniversaries starts at 43:34"Where is the cake?"
No launches this week. Anniversaries: Manjimup parkrun in WA turns two, and Riverway parkrun in Queensland turns four. Mel recalls attending Riverway's second anniversary dressed as a Ninja Turtle; Scott has freedom-run the Riverway course and got lost on the old, more convoluted layout.
Social Adventurers starts at 44:44
Social media round-up, this week focused solely on Instagram (Twitter was last week's platform). Posts covered: Tesla Fox with hot air balloons at Darebin parkrun; Dr Scott Watkins and the Seoul Flyers pitching parkrun Korea to local running legend Jim Bates; Macalicious21 unveiling a new defibrillator at Lilydale Lake parkrun funded partly by Yarra Ranges Athletics Club; Big Running Bear's first international parkrun at Western Springs, Auckland; Up and Active AU measuring the proposed Bright parkrun course; Athletic Powerhouse at Nambour parkrun; Iconic Trails at the in-development Cleland parkrun; and the Run Beyond Project's David Criniti volunteering at Rhodes parkrun.
Strava Club update starts at 50:23
Short preview of next week's Strava-focused round-up: Scott reports that cracking the top 100 of the parkrun adventurers Strava Club now takes roughly 35-36 km in a week, and 30 km will not get you on the leaderboard at all. Mel notes she has never made the leaderboard.
Club Corner starts at 51:27
Club Corner returns for 2017 with Nicholas "Nick" Stabler of the Wooters, a Newcastle-based running club. Covers the origin of the name and the owl logo (a tongue-in-cheek reworking of a well-known restaurant chain's logo, H changed to W), the club's signature "woot woot" call and hand sign, its inclusive fun-first culture, the weekly time-based interval session ("Wootervals"), and how to join, request the Facebook group, master the woot, and set your parkrun club to Wooters.
Sign-off starts at 59:28
Straight out of the Club Corner interview with Nick from the Wooters, the hosts declared this the diamond edition of the parkrun adventurers podcast and agreed it had been worthy of one. They joked that 61 is not a milestone and that a first parkrun adventurers shirt should therefore carry a random episode number instead, then signed off until next week.