Episode 97
2018-02-01
— open the full-size artworkShow artwork, January 2018HostsMelissa Erbacher Scott Trickett
Roving reporterLyndell Murray
GuestsBrett Orpwood Ian Hay
Show notes
The parkrun adventurers are setting their sights on longer distances and asking to be held accountable. Mullum Mullum (opens in a new tab) parkrunner Brett Orpwood joins us to share how his life was saved at parkrun. We hear all about another record-breaking start to the year with Ian Hay on Facts in a Haystack. And roving reports are filed from Bargara (opens in a new tab) and Tamborine Mountain (opens in a new tab) parkruns.
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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
Brett Orpwood
Brett tells the story of collapsing about a kilometre into Mullum Mullum parkrun with a sudden cardiac arrest; six first responders performing CPR while a defibrillator granted by Maroondah Council two months earlier was run down from the start line; 12 days in hospital at Box Hill and an implanted defibrillator; the effect on his two sons and the community response; and the GoFundMe he launched to buy defibrillators for the ~45 Australian parkruns without one, which raised over $31,000 in about 10 days.
Ian Hay
Record-breaking January 2018 participation and volunteer numbers, year-on-year growth since 2015, and predictions for the 2018 full-year total.
Roving reports
In this episode
Welcome starts at 0:15
Scott Trickett and Melissa Erbacher, second episode of 2018 and admittedly rusty. Scott is one week into a written marathon training program, aiming at Sydney Marathon after past failures at Canberra and Melbourne, and asks listeners to keep checking whether he is on track; Mel's own goal is a half marathon in every state and territory (Queensland, WA, ACT and South Australia done) and she is thinking about Melbourne in October, with no promises. Scott went back to Mullum Mullum on Saturday and caught up with the next guest.
Facts in a Haystack starts at 29:40
Ian Hay returns with January 2018 records: every week in January beat 2017's best single week of ~33,000 (the smallest was 37,000); ~174,000 runners in January 2018 averaging ~35,000/week against ~26,000/week in January 2017; events up from 205 to 272; volunteers up from 8,600 to 11,400 for the month; year totals 764,000 (2015), 1.15m (2016), 1.49m (2017). Ends with all three locking in end-of-2018 predictions for a prize - Ian 34,000/week, Scott 35,000, Mel 1.875 million (~36,000/week). Runs alongside a gag about banned filler words ("fantastic", "so", "now", "excited").
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 39:30
Roving report from the Bargara parkrun launch (Queensland, 27 January 2018), filed by Greg - Scott calls the reporters "the Murrells". Interviews with Fi Edmonds, Sasha from Bundy parkrun, an unsuccessful attempt to interview a child ("Kenzie"), and the Co-Event Directors Phil and Maria, who report 318 participants against an expected 200, 169 registered on the day, and a launch turned around from late October.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 47:01
Lyndell Murray reports from Tamborine Mountain parkrun's third birthday and 150th event (she says "Mount Tambourine" throughout, then corrects herself at the end). The advertised surprise turns out to be a flash mob to the song "Happy", choreographed by two girls, Sarah and Abby, which Lyndell suggests may be a parkrun world first. She interviews the dancers, tourists Nerida (Nepean River) and Chris, a Main Beach contingent (Faye, Meredith Tucker, Sharon, Gary Rogers), Timekeeper and Scenic Rim councillor Nigel, and Event Director Bruce, who reckons it is among the five toughest parkruns in Australia.
Launches and anniversaries starts at 1:03:23"Where is the cake?"
Three launches on 3 February - Greenway (NSW), Lakes Entrance (VIC) and Port Broughton (SA) - and two anniversaries, Toolern Creek (VIC) and Woodbridge Riverside (WA). Rolls straight into a milestone shout-out for listener Heather Hunter at Tamworth reaching 100 runs, in a black-and-white barcode costume.
Word of the week starts at 1:05:09
Prompted by Heather's past sumo-wrestler costume, Scott names it on the spot - "I think we need a jingle for this segment now. Mel's word of the day" - and sets the question: what do you call the underpants sumo wrestlers wear? Listeners are asked to text Mel the answer.
Social Adventurers starts at 1:05:58
Scott revives the old social-media bit - "Remember when we used to do our social adventuring? We were massive on Instagram" - and challenges Mel to a weekend Instagram duel on the parkrun adventurers account, without tagging the event so listeners have to guess where each host is. Listeners are invited to post with #parkrunAdventurers for a shout-out, with a wrap-up promised next week.
Sign-off starts at 1:09:13
Scotty said 'on that note, let's wrap it up and we'll see you next week', and Mel said she would chat to him then.