State of the Nation

Appears in 3 episodes, first in episode 67.

Every appearance

• Episode 157 - State of the Nation

  The episode's headline segment, explicitly revived: "Back by popular demand is our State of the Nation address by all our ambassadors all around the country." Scott carries it solo (he tells Mel to "take the next few minutes off") and crosses to six regional ambassadors in turn: Chris Timms on Tasmania (Whitemark Wharf parkrun launch on Flinders Island, Tasmania's 14th event; a Healthy Tasmania grant fully funding four more events at Kingston, Sorell and Bridport; on track for 20 events); Sonja Pohlman on New South Wales and the ACT (86 of 353 Australian events, ACT on six, a new event at Casino, and a challenge to freedom-run the 1,200km from the Queensland border to Batemans Bay stopping every two hours); Melissa Erbacher stepping out of the co-host chair to report as Malaysia ambassador ("the North Island of Australia") on Taman Pudu Ulu and Precinct 18, plus prospects at Bangi, Lake Gardens KL, Malacca, Penang, Gunung Lang and Tanjung Lipat; Steve Rayner on Queensland (104 events heading to 106, 21 prospects, and a challenge to drive Brisbane-Toowoomba-Dalby-Chinchilla-Miles-Roma-Charleville-Birdsville-Mount Isa); Tony O'Connell on Victoria (14 events at the Inverloch launch four or five years ago, now 75 plus a junior event, 19 prospects, 7,217 finishes and 1,320 PBs that week); and Greta Wilkinson on South Australia (the Mobilong prison parkrun launch at Murray Bridge, the country's second prison event, and an update on Meningie).

• Episode 95

  Mel brings back the segment explicitly: "Earlier in the year, we did a little bit of a segment called State of the Nation, which went down a treat with all our listeners ... we're bringing it back." Event ambassadors for each state and territory give 2017 numbers and 2018 plans, Ashni Millis (VIC, 16 launches, 58 events), Christine Timms (TAS, doubled to six events, Queens Domain to become the new southern compass point), Mark Connolly (NT, Nightcliff to become the new northern compass point), Denise Clark (ACT, Goulburn and Coombs launching), Fiona Edmonds (QLD, Zillmere to be Australia's first Z), John Lang (SA, doubled to 10 new events), and the intern reading WA in Matty Trent's absence.

• Episode 67

  A round-Australia check-in with all eight parkrun Australia Territory Directors, each given a strict three-minute slot timed by Scott. Set up "Mel, it's time to check the pulse of the nation, the state of the nation. I thought it would be a great idea to go around this big country of ours and get an update of what's happening in every state or territory" and "because there's a lot of states, we're putting all our TDs on a time limit. They've got three minutes." Runs alphabetically: ACT (Denise and Gary, Queanbeyan launch, Molonglo/Woden/Mount Majura prospects), NSW (Sonja Pohlman, 58 events, Ballina Coast and Coffs Harbour launching), NT (Mark Connolly, Palmerston added as Darwin's second event), QLD (Steve Rayner, Mansfield and Redland Bay coming, Kedron course relocated, VI runners at Southbank), SA (John Laurie, state grant to start 10 new parkruns), TAS (Chris Timms, George Town launch, state attendance record of 759), VIC (Tony O'Connell, 47 events heading for 50), WA (Cassie Hughes, Applecross launch with 268). Each TD is also asked for a wish-list item: one thing they would change about parkrun. Closed "So how good was this whole state of the nation thing?"