Episode 132 - Digger Hargreaves
2018-10-04
— open the full-size artworkShow artwork, January 2018HostsMelissa Erbacher Scott Trickett
Roving reporterTony O'Connell
GuestBruce 'Digger' Hargreaves
Show notes
From the Facebook post
Bruce "Digger' Hargreaves is lining up to run his 41st Melbourne Marathon, he has never missed one!
Tune in to find out about the early days and if he is ready to smash 42.195km next Sunday.
We also chat about Tamborine Mountain (opens in a new tab) parkrun and TOC visits Timboon (opens in a new tab) parkrun
Dig in here...
From the podcast feed
The parkrun adventurers visit new events and see old ones with fresh eyes. We speak to Tamborine Mountain (opens in a new tab) parkrun Event Director and Melbourne Marathon Spartan legend Bruce ‘Digger’ Hargreaves. And TOC is back with a roving report from Timboon (opens in a new tab) parkrun.
Listen
Open on Podbean (opens in a new tab) Press any timestamp below to play from that moment.
Enhanced transcript
Speakers named, sound described and segments marked by the editing pass — not yet checked by a person.
Read the transcriptGuest
Bruce 'Digger' Hargreaves
Running all 41 Melbourne Marathons since the $2, Frankston-start inaugural event in 1978; his serious illness in June 2018 and fight back to the start line; the six surviving Spartans and the loss of Manny to cancer; discovering parkrun through Bruce and Gill Fordyce, becoming ED at Tamborine Mountain and building a 20-25 strong local running club; why parkrun feeds rather than kills fun running; his Comrades Marathon obsession and green-number chase; and a plea for small country marathons.
Roving reports
In this episode
Welcome starts at 0:15
Mel Erbacher and Scotty Trickett. Mel's third New South Wales trip of September took her to Yamba, staying on a working cane farm at Tyndale, running an alternate course around a circus tent under a distant lightning storm while sick with a cold, with Adam chasing his Y; she also recommends Maclean's tartan-painted power poles. Scotty revisited Lillydale Lake for the first time in years on a footy-theme day in his Essendon jumper, running two laps and walking one with the girls, and the Digger Hargreaves interview was recorded a couple of days earlier.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 45:24
TOC (Tony O'Connell) files a roving report from Timboon parkrun (event 71), walking the back half of the course with Tail Walker Maureen and a group of local walkers, discussing the two-and-a-half-kilometre downhill-then-uphill course and the Timboon Gourmet Trail (cheese, whiskey, olives, strawberries, fudge, beer, wine and the locally famous ice cream). Mel closes it calling him "one of our most prolific members of the Channel 5 News crew".
Hotline starts at 49:12
Listener question segment. TOC phones in a second insert asking "What's the craziest thing you've fallen over when you've been out for a run?" Scott answers that he only ever falls over his own feet (plus a footnote about breaking ribs after ducking a swooping magpie); Mel says she has never fallen on a run but tripped over her dog aged nine and needed three stitches. Scott notes that hotline questions "have dried up again" now Streaky September's Bingoe card has finished.
Streaky September starts at 53:40
Wrap-up of the 2018 Streaky September challenge. Scott confirms he streaked unbroken and is "two for two", stopping on 2 October; Mel missed days through illness and family upsets and is finishing her day 30 on catch-up days into early October. They praise participants who set personal monthly bests, confirm it will run again next year, and float a "streak the date / run the date" challenge for March.
Launches and anniversaries starts at 1:06:03"Where is the cake?"
Two launches this weekend: Charleston in South Australia (which sets Mel off about the Charleston dance versus the show's 80s-inspired theme music) and Horseshoe Bay Reserve parkrun in New South Wales. Anniversaries: Champion Lakes (WA), Hamilton Island (Qld), Petrie (Qld), Portarlington (Vic), plus a special mention for Bushy Park in London, the anniversary of parkrun itself.
Sign-off starts at 1:07:36
Straight after the launches and anniversaries calendar the pair asked each other where they were going that weekend: Mel said she was going to a new event to widen the gap on the most events list but would not say which because it was "under advisement", and Scott said he too was going to New South Wales, also without naming it, so his idea of comparing the two events' attendances to settle who was more popular was shelved for another week. Scott closed with "Fun times ahead. Thanks for this week, Mel. Speak to you next week."