Meet the ED

Appears in 55 episodes, first in episode 1.

Recipients

Every appearance

• Episode 445 - Rainbows, Recordings and the Riesling Trail

  Live on-stage interview with the two hosts of the day's event: Sheridan Laws, Event Director of Clare Valley parkrun (218 runs at 27 locations, 215 volunteer credits), and Sue Mayfield, one of its Run Directors (182 runs at 16 locations, 304 volunteer credits). Covers Sheridan's first parkrun at Torrens in June 2014, taking over as ED ~18 months after the event started, and her Bushy bucket-list wish; Sue's start at the second Clare Valley event in 2016 via her husband Alan (chairman of the Riesling Trail committee), her push toward 500 volunteers, a memorable cow-filled paddock parkrun in England, and a wish to run in Munich where her sister lives. Interviewed by Tony O'Connell and Lyndell Murray.

• Episode 330 - palm23

  Live interview with the two Co-Event Directors of the host event, University of Western Australia parkrun - Cameron Storey and Rodney Glossop. Covers how each found parkrun, the history and challenges of getting UWA parkrun launched (a WA state attendance record of 566 at launch, college takeovers, weekly course obstacles, a concert stage left on the course), and the standard top-three-parkruns question.

• Episode 275 - palm22

  Studio-style interview with Brooke Van Nooten, founding Event Director and that day's Run Director at Bellerive parkrun, Tasmania, how she started the event (she moved from Victoria to Tasmania in 2015, joined the Hobart/Risdon Brook Dam crew, and launched Bellerive on 28 April 2018 as it approached capacity), her own parkrun journey (discovered parkrun in the UK in 2014, helped launch Traralgon parkrun in Gippsland in 2015), what she loves about volunteering, the event's stats that morning (event 173, 294 participants, the event's first ever on-course proposal), and the Bruny Island Ultra. She is two weeks from having her first baby.

• Episode 229 - King & Queen of the mountain

  Ollie interviews Jen Arnold and Stephen Jackson, the Event Directors of Bathurst parkrun, about how the event came about, life before and after parkrun, their triathlon and marathon backgrounds, their international parkrun tourism, and the Mount Panorama Punish race they founded.

• Episode 201 - Janet Reid

  Interview with Janet Reid, Event Director of Lochiel parkrun in Adelaide, South Australia. She covers starting parkrun at Root 44 in Stellenbosch, South Africa before emigrating; discovering Lochiel parkrun at its launch 15 minutes from her new home; volunteering, then run directing, then taking over as Event Director from Alicia Hopper; the golf-club coffee shop with a liquor licence; the resident koalas she knows by name through Adelaide Koala Rescue; her 700+ day running streak that began with Streaky September; her South Australian parkrun tourism; and the virtual 7:50am Saturday briefings Lochiel is running during the COVID pause.

• Episode 196 - #PALM20 LIVE!

  Mount Barker parkrun Event Director Paul Butler is called up on stage and interviewed live by Melissa Erbacher and Scott Trickett. Covers his year in the ED role (he took over from Greta when she moved on), the nine-person event team, Mount Barker's community, and his and his son Charlie's parkrun photography, which is heavily over-represented on parkrun's national channels. He notes Mount Barker's sixth anniversary falls on the 28th.

• Episode 196 - #PALM20 LIVE!

  The annual PALM listener meet-up quiz, third running. Questions written in advance by Simon Mackley, who could not travel, and delivered live by Melissa Ellis as guest quizmaster ("Welcome to Madness for 2020 at Mount Barker"). Four contestants on buzzers: two-time defending champion Brendan Peel, Schultzy, Janet and Scott Trickett; TOC keeps score. Fifteen parkrun trivia questions. Scott Trickett wins on five points and takes the pineapple; Schultzy four, Brendan and Janet three and a half each. Consolation DVDs and books for everyone, including a copy of Turia Pitt's Unmasked signed "to parkrun adventurers, anything is possible".

• Episode 182 - Ian Shaw

  Studio interview with Ian Shaw, Event Director of the new Wagi Bridge parkrun in Gungahlin, ACT, run by Mark Scarborough and Melissa Erbacher. Covers the 18-month process of setting the event up to relieve congestion at Gungahlin parkrun, the crowdfunding campaign ($2,000 in a fortnight), the launch turnout of just under 350, the lap-based course design borrowed from Castlemaine parkrun so newcomers can build up to 5k, the bridge that gives the event its name (built to connect the Moncrieff and Amaroo communities) and its resident 'troll', the Gun Runners social running group, Matt's 15:29 pram record at Gungahlin, and Ian's own path from repeated injury in his twenties to five marathons and an ultra.

• Episode 174 - Stanthorpe parkrun

  Stanthorpe parkrun Co-Event Directors Jen Morgan and Glen Brunckhorst on the September 2019 Stanthorpe bushfires and drought: the event was cancelled late on Friday night (only its third cancellation in 249 events), Jen evacuated her own home at 4:30pm with sprinklers running, and the parkrun kit was destroyed when the Run Director's shed burned down. Also the town's water crisis, Warwick parkrun sending donated goods, an appeal for parkrun tourists to come and spend money in town, the flat two-loop course along Quart Pot Creek, and both EDs' personal parkrun stories. The event is on 249 and hits 250 the following week.

• Episode 169 - Tabitha Schulz

  Melissa Erbacher and Gary Murphy interview Tabitha Schulz, Event Director of the brand-new Broken Hill Racecourse parkrun (NSW), three events in. She covers the closure of the original Broken Hill parkrun after landowner permission was revoked, the difficulty of finding a new course in a desert town, the flatter but sandy new course on racecourse land and the Willyama Common, steady early numbers, her route into parkrun after a heart attack three months post-partum, her daughters' volunteering milestones, and Kirk the event's gnome mascot.

• Episode 59:59 - #palm19

  Interview recorded on the beach at The Beaches parkrun with Co-Event Director Michael Sharpe, conducted by Scott Trickett with Melissa Erbacher chipping in. Covers how he went from a regular to volunteering ten weeks straight to ED after founding ED Emily handed over, co-ED Bridget's role, the event's swing from 6 finishers to 644 on New Year's Day, and the claim to be the toughest parkrun in Australia depending on tide and swell. Recorded with Michael wearing a beach towel because he was on his way for a swim.

• Episode 145 - Singleton parkrun

  The Event Director interview returns after being dropped for all of 2018, Scott: "In 2018, they disappeared, but we wanted to bring them back for 2019. So for the first time this year, we're going to catch up with one of our lovely Event Directors." Kirrilee Robinson of Singleton parkrun (NSW, Region of Runners) covers the out-and-back Rose Point Park course along the river, ~75-100 participants a week, a 70-something local who was helped to his 100th parkrun by the community, her own path from unfit non-runner in September 2014 to Event Director, the August 2014 launch and upcoming 250th event, her five different events so far and a goal of 20 this year, and what to see in Singleton (Infantry Museum, the largest sundial in the southern hemisphere at the parkrun venue itself, Hunter Valley wineries, Lake St Clair).

• Episode 115 - Matt who?

  Explicitly revived after a long absence, Scott: "It's the return of the Event Director interview. It's been missing, it's been in hibernation." Matt Fullerton, current ED of Bright parkrun (Victorian high country), establishing ED of Lilydale Lake and a parkrun Australia board member, on launching Bright after relocating from Melbourne, minus-two-degree winter mornings, his three kids, junior parkrun, and board strategy. In the outro the hosts ask listeners whether the ED interview should return more regularly.

• Episode 93

  Em (Emma) Nicholson, third Event Director of Kirra parkrun on the Gold Coast, Australia's fifth-oldest event, launched 18 February 2012 by Chris Van Hoof and later run by Pete Sinfield. She describes Kirra's "three Fs" (fast, flat and friendly), its growth from ~80 to ~160 finishers a week, the saga of a runner who printed out Scott Trickett's example barcode and logged runs under his name, discovering parkrun while patrolling Coolangatta as a police officer, and her favourite events (Warwick, Kingscliff, Main Beach). Closes with the show's new question, if money were no object, which parkrun?, answering Bushy Park, and breaking the news of a parkrun starting in Aspen, Colorado.

• Episode 91

  Connie Isherwood, Event Director of North Harbour parkrun at Burpengary East north of Brisbane, ahead of its launch that weekend. Covers leaving her home event Central Lakes to start a new one, the developers approaching parkrun and building a road, permanent course signage and funding the defib, the all-grass cross-country course through an 1800s sugar plantation with trip hazards and cow patties, the two trials, the resident breeding herd of cows, an expected crowd of 200-300, the event being on private land so no midweek freedom runs, and a parkrun tourist planning to kayak down to the Caboolture River to reach the start line.

• Episode 90

  Interview with Courtney White, Event Director of Warrnambool parkrun (Lake Pertobe, south-west Victoria), ahead of the event's first anniversary - the course, the sibling rivalry with her sister at Inverloch that led her to start the event, community highlights, and windy Warrnambool weather. The segment is not named on air in this episode but it is the standard ED-of-the-week slot.

• Episode 87

  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.

• Episode 85

  Kelly Bright, Co-Event Director of Petrie parkrun (north Brisbane) and a serving police officer of 25 years, on the Cops and Robbers day she has organised across the North Brisbane territory (Petrie, Bunyaville, North Lakes, Warner Lakes, Sandgate, Mitchelton, plus Bundaberg, Mansfield, Cleveland and Broadbeach Waters), its police health-and-wellness message, a visit from the Petrie family including Lavinia Petrie, the Petrie course description, and Zoe the "Disney parkrunner" as parkrunner of the Month.

• Episode 84

  Interview with Nico Boon, Event Director of Riverway parkrun in Townsville. Leads with what Melissa dubs "the parkrun Story of 2017": Kevin the dog was spooked by the field, bolted into the crocodile- and eel-inhabited Ross River, and three parkrunners (Nikki, Liz and Jess) waded in to rescue him then finished their parkrun soaking wet, owner Karen came back the next week with a sign and gifts to find them. Nico then tells her own parkrun story (Couch to 5K in 2013, first event in Big W gear, run directing for four years, taking over as ED from Tracy Cohen), her "Gumby Runner" alias and Zombies, Run! mishaps, the Townsville running scene, and her top three parkruns (Nambour, Kawana, Airlie Beach).

• Episode 83 - Kelly Hodges

  Scott and Mel interview Tamworth parkrun Event Director Jeff Bartlett, Tamworth's country-music identity, the out-and-back course along the Peel River, its flood-cancellation risk, its third anniversary, and how he and his wife Jan got involved six to eight weeks after the event launched on 1 November 2014. The second half is a long travelogue: the couple visited all nine parkrun events then existing in the USA (Fletchers Cove, Roosevelt Island, College Park, Durham, Clermont Waterfront, Livonia, Mansfield, Heritage Harbor Ottawa, Crissy Field), briefly holding the record for having done every US parkrun.

• Episode 81

  Interview with Melissa Taylor, Event Director of Nambour parkrun on the Sunshine Coast, "the toughest parkrun in Australia", 100% trails, hills that add three to five minutes, the Nambour/Sunshine Coast Stack Club and its badges, how the event came about via Darren from the Anytime Fitness gym and Radar Hill, her fear of public speaking as an ED, and her top three parkruns (Millwater in Auckland, Bunyaville, Ginninderra). Approaching 100 events.

• Episode 77

  Studio interview with Renee Russell, Event Director of Varsity Lakes parkrun on the Gold Coast, where the hosts had run and volunteered during the first parkrun Australia conference: course description around the lake, 80-120 runners a week, how she was thrust into the ED role in November 2014 when the previous ED left, having the visiting territory directors take over all volunteer roles so she could run, the family-heavy demographic, and her own parkrun touring (Singapore, Darwin, Palmerston, Stockton, St Peters, Albert Park).

• Episode 76

  Studio interview with Luke Kneebone, Event Director of Castlemaine parkrun (Victoria). Covers the event's two-year history and growth (average up from mid-40s to about 60), the three-lap Botanic Gardens course, and at length the cultural day planned for that Saturday: an early quarter-to-eight start, an acknowledgement of country and smoking ceremony led by Aunty Julie, Indigenous food, storytelling and a cultural walk. Scott strongly endorses parkrun events acknowledging country. Not named as "Meet the ED" on air this week, identified by format.

• Episode 71

  Phone interview with Gavin Mathieson, Event Director of Coomera parkrun (one of the first Australian events), ahead of its fifth birthday on 22 July. Covers how he got involved after having a heart attack finishing his first marathon, Coomera's 110-140 weekly numbers, its double-loop high-five culture, tourists including Pirate Club 'C' collectors, past anniversary themes and his own parkrun-day baby. The segment is not explicitly branded on air this week, it is the ED-of-the-week style interview in substance.

• Episode 68

  Ian Wickham, Event Director of Highfields parkrun (Toowoomba region, Qld). Covers the unusual four-lap course around an AFL and a soccer oval, the eventual move to a new sports park and two-lap course, the Southern Cross Circuit / "stargazer" club (Warwick, Stanthorpe, Gatton, Toowoomba, Pittsworth, Highfields, plus Dalby, Goondiwindi and bonus star Roma), his top three (Nambour, Dalby, Shepparton, with an honourable mention for Kawana), and how he became an ED after only about six parkruns.

• Episode 66

  Event Director interview with Charlotte Black of Willoughby parkrun (Sydney north shore), pitched by Scott as a twist on the usual format, "we're going to talk to one of our Event Directors who has never run at parkrun, but she runs an entire event". Covers how Mosman's ED recruited her, launching on 4 November 2016, directing every week but two, being 23, setting up the course with her mum, averaging 180 runners, the out-and-back Flat Rock Gully course, the Achilles group's visit, and Willoughby winning one of two defibrillators donated by First Aid Accident and Emergency.

• Episode 65

  Scott and Mel interview Dawn Courage, founding Event Director of Kingscliff parkrun (northern NSW) and one of parkrun Australia's earliest participants, she ran when there were only three or four events in the country. Covers the early days when "everything just went through Tim" before territory directors existed, her ~130 runs lost to event directing, and a course description: dead flat, straight out-and-back, sheltered from the wind, buggy-friendly, and in her view possibly the fastest course in Australia.

• Episode 64

  Interview with Nat (Natalie) Clothier, founding Event Director of Clare Valley parkrun, South Australia, the course along the Riesling Trail from the Clare showgrounds to Sevenhill, her first parkrun at Torrens on her honeymoon, volunteer support at a small event, the 50th-event doughnuts (50 doughnuts for 50 events) and upcoming first-anniversary cake, her South Australian Road Runners Club membership, and her top SA pick (Victor Harbor).

• Episode 63

  Studio interview with Mak Sawa, Event Director of Lillydale Lake parkrun (Victoria). Covers his ultra-running (198.5km in a 24-hour event), how he came to running after a US holiday in 2010, the two-lap 2.5km course around the man-made lake, current attendances of 170-205, his career change into run coaching, and the upcoming third anniversary with a "C" (third letter of the alphabet) theme, targeting the 258-person record. Scott notes founding ED and board member Matt Fullerton.

• Episode 62

  Scott crosses over "it's time to chat to one of our EDs who didn't get to run on the weekend, but she's got a damn good excuse." Leanne Paul, Event Director of Bowen parkrun in north Queensland, describes the state of her coastal course after Cyclone Debbie, storm surge washout, fallen fig trees, "the coconuts that were missiles", the town's recovery, how Bowen parkrun started (she discovered parkrun at Riverway while living on Magnetic Island), and why she won't reopen until the course is safe.

• Episode 60

  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.

• Episode 58

  Interview with Cassie Hughes, West Australian Territory Director, on the unadvertised launch of Calleya parkrun (121 runners, WA's 22nd event, in a Stockland estate that consulted parkrun on the course design). She explains how she found parkrun in 2013 after her son Connor was diagnosed with chronic depression and a therapist recommended running, she credits parkrun with helping save his life, and he is now about to start run directing. She coins "park-tarting" for doing a different parkrun most weeks, discusses costumes, being WA's only Dirty Cheetah and also a Zoolander, and gives her top three WA events: Geographe Bay, Kalgoorlie-Boulder and Mount Clarence/Albany.

• Episode 54

  Interview with the two Co-Event Directors of Strathalbyn parkrun (SA), Paul Jude and James Clegg: the Angas River out-and-back course, how the event grew out of Mount Barker, their New Year's Day double with Mount Barker (179 runners against a usual 30-50, with course records set by visiting UK runners), winning the 2017 Community Event of the Year award at the Strathalbyn Rotary Australia Day breakfast, and the standard closing "top parkruns" question (Murray Bridge and Huddersfield for James; Mount Barker and Lawson for Paul).

• Episode 53

  Interview with Michael Sharpe, Co-Event Director of The Beaches parkrun (Newcastle, NSW), the only parkrun run entirely on sand. Covers their 100th event record turnout of 160 (previous record 144 at launch), tide forecasting and how high vs low tide changes times by about five minutes, roughly 90% of runners going barefoot, the four-leg out-and-back 1.25km lap format, an ED completing the course pushed in a wheelchair, the slowest first finisher (~32 min male, 48 min female), and his top three other events (Lakeview, The Entrance, Port Macquarie).

• Episode 51

  Extended studio interview with Liv Coop, Event Director of both Cleveland and Sirromet parkrun, billed as "our first return ED guest", she opened episode one of the podcast. Covers running two events at once, the trail-vs-road contrast at Sirromet, the winery/cellar-door setting, the Australian attendance record attempt, her parkrun tree tattoo for her 100th run, and handing Sirromet over to Ellie. The segment is not given a name on air in this episode.

• Episode 48

  Simon Mackley, Co-Event Director of Mosman parkrun in Sydney, billed by Mel as "officially my favourite guest, E.D., on the show ever" because he answered yes to having listened to the podcast. Covers the three-lap course beside the water above Middle Harbour with its dreaded hill run three times; the rocky start at Balmoral, where after a 102-runner first event the council said they lacked approvals and were "effectively a menace to the community", and the five-month, two-council-meeting move to Spit West; the anniversary that keeps being pushed back a week; festive plans to visit Rhodes and Parramatta instead of the usual Curl Curl and St Peters; the volunteer Robin who marshals the top of the hill about 45 weeks a year; the injured runner who volunteered every week for eight months; and celebrity visits from Bruce Fordyce, Pat Farmer, Marty Dent and Hannah Oldroyd.

• Episode 47

  Studio interview with Bunyaville parkrun (Brisbane) Event Directors Steve Marston and Brenda Gibb ahead of their third anniversary, trail running, the course's elevation as "amounts of opportunity", their 231 attendance record versus a 100-120 average, falls and the "Bunyaville tattoo"/Stack Club, first aid kits on trail courses, Steve's top three away events (Nambour, Kawana, Sale) and how each of them found parkrun.

• Episode 39 - Simon Kilma

  Scott and Mel check in on South Australia after the state-wide storm and speak to Victor Harbor parkrun's two Event Directors, Shane and Simon. Course survived with only mud at the turnaround; talk of the Victor Harbor Triathlon Club that grew out of the parkrun, ultra-running, the windiest-parkrun-in-SA claim, Shane's trail beard, and regular parkrunner Andrew Bizach's plan to run Adelaide to Brisbane to raise $1 million for DEBRA Australia.

• Episode 38 - Tom Do Canto

  Melissa Erbacher crosses to the ACT to interview Sally Coyle, Event Director of Burley Griffin parkrun, the territory's newest event. Covers how she found parkrun via a Heart Foundation fundraiser (Gary Wilmot running Perth to Brisbane) at Gungahlin, becoming a regular at Tuggeranong, the land-ownership problem of putting a course on the federally owned side of Lake Burley Griffin, scouting a quieter out-and-back with her friend Jen, pitching to Gary and Gareth, the funding struggle with no local councils, and a launch of 435 on a freezing drizzly Canberra morning that broke the Canberra record while Tuggeranong dropped to 80. Numbers now averaging about 140. Her top three: Noosa, Balyang and Tuggeranong, and she confesses she still hasn't done Ginninderra.

• Episode 34 - Bill Irving

  Mount Clarence parkrun (Albany, Western Australia) Event Director Bill Irving calls in. Covers their low-key anniversary ("who doesn't want to run for cake?"), the course, top-five hilliest in Australia, ~110-120m of elevation, first kilometre all uphill, out-and-back, finishing on the beach past the Atatürk statue and Ataturk Channel where the Anzacs left Albany, running a very small remote event (~40 runners in a town of 30,000, nearest parkrun two hours away at Manjimup), the tight-knit WA parkrun community, and a candid conversation about living with bipolar type 2 and how parkrun and running help. Also his Derek Zoolander running club membership.

• Episode 32 - Lorraine Lawson

  Scott crosses to Cairns to interview Cairns parkrun Event Director Lorraine Lawson: the Esplanade course (two loops with an out-and-back), Cairns heat and humidity, the resident crocodile the new-runner briefing calls "Gary", her move from South Africa via Perth 16 years ago, her ultrarunning and the Kuranda-to-Port Douglas 64km she both race-directs and runs, and how she brought parkrun to Cairns after hearing Tim Oberg speak in 2012 and being challenged by Bruce Fordyce. Cairns' third anniversary is a fortnight away and she thinks the city could support a second event out at the Beaches.

• Episode 30 - Hamilton Island

  Scott opens "It's time to catch up with another Event Director from one of our events around Australia. We're visiting out to Rhodes." Hamish Campbell on the Rhodes course through Bicentennial Park and Sydney Olympic Park, the repeated re-routes caused by bridge closures ("bridges were going to be Rhodes' kryptonite"), 67 events in, hosting the Run Beyond Project girls, and Jess Trengove's visit.

• Episode 28 - The Run Beyond Project

  Studio interview with Shelley Cootes, founding Event Director of Penrith Lakes parkrun (NSW), prompted by Brendan Davies naming it his favourite parkrun a couple of weeks earlier. Covers the event's three alternate courses at the Sydney International Regatta Centre (lap of the lake, the two-lap cross-country course, and the popular Southern Bank course), its group of regular hearing-impaired parkrunners and the Auslan interpreter who volunteers for them, the March 2016 loss of the access gate and car park that nearly closed the event down, the community and media campaign that followed, and the resulting push for a second Penrith parkrun. She has volunteered 77 times and planned her 50th parkrun for 30 July 2016 to coincide with Penrith Lakes' 100th event.

• Episode 27 - Dani McLaren

  Interview with Lynette "Lynne" Hewsen, Event Director of the newly launched Cobram parkrun in northern Victoria on the Murray, ~50km north of Shepparton. 132 participants and 11 volunteers at the launch; bush-trail course with sand, gravel, grass and mud, running onto Parks Victoria's Quinn Island where several runners saw a koala cross the path. She came to parkrun via the Shepparton launch (through friends of Alan Connolly), has ~50 parkruns and ~25 volunteer credits, and names Launceston and Jells Park as favourites.

• Episode 23 - Brendan Davies

  Studio interview with Tracey Bryan, Event Director of Aveley parkrun in the Swan Valley, WA (~25km from Perth CBD). Covers the event's third anniversary in July with a doctors-and-nurses theme, how she raised $2,200 for an AED/defibrillator via a local Ellenbrook accountancy firm and a Stockland Aveley community grant, taking over as ED from founder Dave Allmark, her 59 runs and 41 volunteer stints, her sister at Heaton parkrun in Manchester, course record holder Matt Smith placing fourth (first in age group) at the World Duathlon Championships in Spain, and running her first marathon before turning 50.

• Episode 21 - Longest Run

  Studio interview with Mel Alderton, Event Director of Parramatta parkrun (NSW) since early 2016, who took over from founding ED Jonathan Arthur. Covers the George Kendall Reserve / Ermington course, being Australia's 21st event to launch, her nine-event adventuring record (Shellharbour, Bega, Bowral), Batemans Bay next on the bucket list, and her back-of-the-pack philosophy "my race, my pace, my way".

• Episode 20 - Scott Westcott

  Scott interviews Pete Johns, Event Director of Coburg parkrun (Melbourne), ahead of the event's first anniversary. Covers the out-and-back course along Merri Creek and around the lake with its three bridges each way and two underpasses, the uphill start and downhill finish that runs toward the water, Pete's route into parkrun via couch-to-5k and Westerfolds, his top three courses (Westerfolds, Hobart, Dubbo), and Scott's recollection of recruiting him to found Coburg on a six-month promise. The anniversary has a "C" costume theme (Pete's outfit "begins with a C and has something to do with running"), and a cake is confirmed.

• Episode 13 - Junior Adventurers

  Scott hands over "It's time to catch up with another Event Director, who is also a new Territory Director, probably the youngest we've got in parkrun Australia. Welcome to the podcast, Miriam Tan from Dubbo." Miriam covers Dubbo parkrun's isolation (nearest event three and a half hours away), founding it in July 2015 after helping start Tamworth, ~300 runners a week from 2,000 registrations, the out-and-back Macquarie River course, the event's chalk drawings, Olympic steeplechaser Youcef Abdi smashing the course record, and her own parkrun tourism (about 15 different events including Singapore).

• Episode 12 - Trevor Allen

  Melissa's field block from the Rockhampton parkrun launch. Scott hands over with "You caught up with the ED?" and she rolls tape on Event Director Craig plus volunteers Rod (timing) and Phil (marshalling), 191 finishers at the inaugural event, and Craig's line "It's sort of like an enjoyment concentrate. You just add people and away you go." The block runs on into vox pops with launch participants David and Gary, and with Craig, the Event Director of Gladstone parkrun, who ran the course as a visitor. Scott closes it "Nice reporting there, Mel."

• Episode 11 - Freedom

  Studio interview with TOC (Tony O'Connell), Event Director at Inverloch parkrun and Territory Director for Gippsland. He describes discovering parkrun on a Christmas holiday at Merimbula, coming home and founding Inverloch with a man he had gone to primary school with 35-40 years earlier; the out-and-back course along Anderson Inlet; the Gippsland events he has helped launch (Phillip Island, Warragul, Traralgon, Sale, Churchill, and Bairnsdale which launched that week with 165 finishers); going from not being able to run half a kilometre two and a half years ago to loving it; his top parkruns (Merimbula, Mount Gambier, and a third he refuses to pick); his wish list (Nambour, WA, somewhere inland like Dubbo or Warwick); and what is next for his territory, another Latrobe Valley event and one on the Mornington Peninsula.

• Episode 8 - parkdogs

  Studio interview with Blair Habberjam, Co-Event Director of Capalaba parkrun (QLD), who shares the role with Amy Strong. Covers their run reports (inspired by Liv Coop at Cleveland), balloons for milestone runners, themed events including a clown-themed birthday and a Waitangi Day theme (he is originally from New Zealand), moving the start line past a narrow bridge now that attendance is consistently over 200, spray-painted course arrows and K markers, regular marshal Vicky at the second junction, and the event team (Eva, Shirley, Tammy, Ted).

• Episode 7 - Ashley Cowley

  Studio interview with Maria and Andrew, the Event Directors of Wyndham Vale parkrun (Presidents Park, about 30km outside Melbourne), ahead of its launch that Saturday. They cover the funding, a $1,000 Wyndham Leader online grant plus $4,000 from Stockland after they pitched to about 50 residents of the Tarneit Skies retirement village eight minutes down the road, their hope that the event becomes "almost a flagship" for park-walking rather than running, their own first parkrun at Point Cook in November 2014 (34 minutes, run-walk), and their Canadian roots (Toronto and Halifax, Nova Scotia).

• Episode 6 - Northern Territory

  Scott introduces Darwin Event Director Mark Connolly as "our Darwin Event Director, the only event in the Northern Territory". Covers running in Darwin's build-up humidity ("running in a swimming pool"), crocodiles genuinely being on the event's risk assessment, the 222-runner attendance record set on Valentine's Day and the traffic-light run they repeat that weekend, milestone technical tees, the morning a tank parked their volunteer's car in, how he found parkrun via the Marathon Talk podcast, Darwin's October 2013 launch, and planned NT events at Palmerston and Katherine.

• Episode 5 - Dave Robbo

  Event Director interview: Sara Pixley of Murray Bridge parkrun, South Australia. Covers the course (two-lap out-and-back under the Murray Bridge, past the town's caged animatronic bunyip, "we're the only parkrun in the world with a bunyip"), turnout of 40-60 with a third of runners juniors, the event's Australia Day awards (Community Event of the Year, plus highly commended for Community Initiative and Volunteer of the Year) off seven separate nominations, the resulting newspaper coverage bringing in at least ten new parkrunners, and her own path from Mount Barker parkrun tourist to being "handballed a parkrun to get started" in October 2014.

• Episode 3 - Ian Hay

  Studio interview with Matt Briggs, Co-Event Director (with Heather Farley) of Churchill parkrun in Victoria's Gippsland, ahead of its launch that weekend. He explains the event grew out of his own tourism to Inverloch parkrun, where Territory Director Tony O'Connell is based, and a suggestion from Bob and Ruth Dolges; describes Churchill as an almost entirely trail course with challenging hills, 16 km from Traralgon; talks about photography as his favourite volunteer role and how uploaded photos keep the community connected all week; recounts losing weight from 140 kg to 110 kg over nearly two years through parkrun; and names his Gippsland top three as Inverloch, Sale and Pakenham. He jokes about having "threw down the gauntlet" over launch attendance and hopes Tony O'Connell brings backup finish tokens.

• Episode 1

  The show's very first Meet the ED, Scott confirms it "Thanks for joining us on our very first Meet the ED segment." Guest is Liv Coop, Event Director of Sirromet parkrun at Mount Cotton in the Redlands, Queensland, launching that Saturday (9 January 2016) as Australia's first winery parkrun. Covers the trail course through the vineyard, the restrictions of running on private property (no freedom runs, no dogs, no outside food), and how the event was funded, a $5,500 council community grant plus $1,300 won for the best cheer station at the Wynnum Twilight Bay run. Also her reputation for milestone cupcakes at Cleveland parkrun.