Episode 87

Episode 87 — open the full-size artworkShow artwork, February 2017

HostsMelissa Erbacher Scott Trickett

Roving reportersGrette Wilkinson Lyndell Murray

GuestMyf Schenk

Show notes

The parkrun adventurers take a talk down memory lane as we prepare for a parkrun party weekend. We head out to Dalby (opens in a new tab) parkrun for a chat with Event Director Myf Schenk, and our roving reporters roll up to Murray Bridge (opens in a new tab) and East Coast Park (opens in a new tab) parkruns. Plus we announce an adventurous prize for pondering the pa perlustration

From the podcast feed. No Facebook post text is recorded for this episode.

Guest

Roving reports

1Murray Bridge2East Coast Park

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:18

  Scott Trickett and Melissa Erbacher mark parkrun anniversary week for both their events, Westerfolds (Scott's fourth year) and Kawana (Mel's fifth), and reminisce: Mel registered after a council email about the Kawana launch and was there from event two, Australia's 15th event; Scott registered early for Albert Park, visited Highlands, then founded Westerfolds with wife Yvonne, his mother, sister and mate John, recalling first regular Naomi stepping up as a Run Director and the Christmas Day Santa run that cracked 50. Both first anniversaries had topographical course cakes Tim Oberg called the best he'd seen; this year Westerfolds goes green and Kawana, by popular vote, 80s sports athletes, before a Muppets tangent.

• Meet the ED starts at 18:43

  Scott Trickett and Melissa Erbacher interview Myf Schenk, Event Director of Dalby parkrun in inland Queensland. She covers the town (~12,000 people, no cyclones despite Scott's misremembering), the three-lap flat creek course with its two-metre "Heartbreak Hill" and 90% tree cover, how she discovered parkrun through her mother at New Farm, her five boys (three of parkrun age), her preference for run directing over running, her husband Chris's early course setups, and her alphabet touring, including a volunteer alphabet, which Mel says she has never heard anyone attempt before. Top three events: Wishart, Highfields and Jells.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 28:53

  Grette Wilkinson reports from Murray Bridge parkrun (South Australia) on its third anniversary, bringing along her young assistant Jess as a co-reporter. She interviews Run Director Rose (course beside the Murray, the coin-operated papier-mache bunyip on the course), local parkrunner and trail runner Monique (and daughter Helena), and Michelle at the post-run coffee at the Davery; Jess interviews junior parkrunner Sakshi, an unnamed tourist en route to Kangaroo Island, and Ross of Mount Barker on his 204th parkrun.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 42:29

  Lyndell Murray goes international, "loaded into the Channel 5 News crew chopper" to East Coast Park parkrun in Singapore, one of the country's two events, alongside West Coast Park. She interviews local running blogger Priscilla, South African tourist Mark (home run Mdoni), first-timer Brent from New Zealand, 13-year Singapore resident Anna, and Run Director Daryl, and signs off with "Singapore, tick."

• Launches and anniversaries starts at 57:22"Where is the cake?"

  Three launches this weekend, Cloncurry (Queensland), Kangaroo Island (South Australia) and Railton (Tasmania), the last of which is the 250th parkrun event in Australia; Scott offers the fact that Railton is Australia's topiary capital, and the pair resolve to make a video celebrating 250. Anniversaries the same weekend: Bunbury (WA), Darwin (NT), Highfields (Qld), Kawana (Qld), Mudgeeraba (Qld), Port Macquarie (NSW), North Lakes (Qld), Shelley (WA) and Westerfolds (Vic), every state and territory except the ACT. Kawana turns five with an "80s sports athletes" theme, Westerfolds four with a green theme.

• The Perlustration starts at 1:01:10annual listener survey

  Final week for listeners to fill out the annual perlustration survey; results to be broken down two episodes later. To incentivise late responses without breaking the survey's anonymity, they announce a giveaway of a TomTom Adventurer watch (parkrun orange), email any one of your survey answers to parkrunadventurers@gmail.com within the week to enter.

• Social Adventurers starts at 1:05:27

  Listener Gary suggests an annual listener meet-up, an idea he took from the Airplane Geeks podcast; the hosts put it to the Facebook page and read back the suggested locations (Orange, Main Beach, Dubbo). Scott wishes Gary a happy birthday, and Mel belatedly wishes Scott a happy birthday for the previous week, declaring it a new annual tradition since she forgot last year too.

• November Madness starts at 1:09:32

  Announcement that the Madness quiz returns in November. Nominations are now self-nominated rather than picked by the hosts, and one rule applies: no Victorians, because the state-versus-state carryover champ Melissa Ellis is Victorian and still holds the title. Victorians may join a waiting list. No prize beyond the glory.

• Sign-off starts at 1:11:11

  Mel said that was about it for the week and Scotty agreed they had had enough, trailing next week's episode as chock full of guests already lined up, with an old favourite returning and roving reports confirmed. He thanked Mel for joining him; she wished him a fabulous time at the Westerfolds anniversary, and he wished her the same for her own event's fifth anniversary, saying he eagerly awaited the Instagram photo to find out what 80s sports star he came up with.