Episode 1

Episode details · 110 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:00[music]

00:00:07Scott Trickett: Welcome to the parkrun Adventurers podcast, a podcast about parkrun hosted by two people who love parkrun adventuring. My name is Scott. I'm joined by Mel.

00:00:19Melissa Erbacher: Howdy parkrunners.

00:00:21Scott Trickett: Mel, what is a parkrun adventure?

00:00:24Melissa Erbacher: A parkrun adventure is pretty much any experience that you have at a parkrun that's a little bit outside of the norm. It's just a great way of having extra fun at parkrun.

00:00:35Scott Trickett: How did you get involved in parkrun?

00:00:37Melissa Erbacher: I started out with parkrun at my home parkrun, Kawana. I unfortunately missed the very first event that they held in October 2012, but I was there for number two and I haven't looked back. I'm now the event director there. I was also an event director for another local event, Brightwater parkrun, for a year, which was magic. And I'm also a territory director now here on the Sunshine Coast. So I get to help a lot of other events, mentoring them and helping them launch and find new locations and love it. How about you, Scott?

00:01:13Scott Trickett: Yep, so you've got the sunny coast covered. I'm based down here in Melbourne. I discovered parkrun about three years ago. I actually knew about it when it launched here in Albert Park, but because I lived quite a fair way away, I actually never went. So it took me about a year to figure, instead of driving an hour, why don't I just start my own parkrun? So I started the Westerfolds parkrun in the Melbourne suburb of Templestowe. Since then, I've gone on to help Coburg get started. I'm now the event director at Jells Park and about to be the event director at Studley parkrun, which is going to launch in a suburb of Melbourne called Kew. And you can refer to me as the Studley ED.

00:01:54Melissa Erbacher: Oh, and I'm pretty sure that's what everyone already refers to you as now.

00:01:59Scott Trickett: No, we've got to wait till February 13 for that to happen. And it might only happen for one week, but I'm going to milk it for all I can.

00:02:11Melissa Erbacher: Good job.

00:02:12Scott Trickett: Yep. So the best time of year in parkrun, I think, is the Christmas and New Year break.

00:02:20Melissa Erbacher: And would you say that's because you can do more parkruns, Scott?

00:02:24Scott Trickett: It is. So it's not a break from parkrun world. It's actually the busiest time of year because we offer some events offer the Christmas Day parkrun. Of course, Saturday parkrun always goes ahead. Then we get the beauty of doing two parkruns on New Year's Day. How was the experience for you this year? What did you get up to?

00:02:44Melissa Erbacher: Well, I had the privilege of being a guest run director at Nambour parkrun, which is another local parkrun to me. It's 100% trails and rumoured to be the most difficult parkrun in Australia. So what better way than to volunteer at the event and not actually have to run it on a hot morning? I got dressed up as a Christmas tree because I was out amongst the trees and everybody had an awesome time. Excellent vibe. Nothing like starting your Christmas Day with a whole bunch of parkrunners. Everyone is just so happy. How about you, Scott?

00:03:18Scott Trickett: Yep, Christmas Day was a very different experience for me this year. Previous years, we have done a Christmas Day run at Westerfolds. It's been great. And we've got the added challenge of that I've got a daughter who, when we started, was five. And I had to explain to her that, you know, her name's Kasia. sorry Kasia, we're not going to open the presents first thing in the morning. We're going to get dressed, go down to the park and go for a run. And my tip for prospective parents in that situation is start them at five years old because they don't know any better because now she just considers it part of what she does. So this year we got up to the Airlie Beach parkrun and And it was very hot, but it was a very pretty parkrun. I think a lot of people will put that on their list of parkruns that they want to get to. And so we ticked it off on Christmas Day, which was a real treat.

00:04:09Melissa Erbacher: Absolutely. Airlie Beach, it looks gorgeous up there.

00:04:12Scott Trickett: Yeah. They've got a funny course. It's a funny course. I mean, it's a beautiful course. It's an out-and-back course. But because of the rules around parkrun where you can't cross driveways or roads, there's actually not quite a two and a half K section of boardwalk and path in Airlie Beach. So we get to the turnaround point and there's like a little garden bed and we run around that a couple of times, which works fine. It's just a very different parkrun experience. What about Boxing Day?

00:04:39Melissa Erbacher: Well, Boxing Day and I have to say actually the following week as well, I was back at Kiwana on timekeeper duties because we've been training some new amazing run directors at Kiwana and I like to always give them the benefit of my expertise by coaching volunteering on the first day that they run direct, so I was on the timekeeping, you would think that somebody who trains people in how to use the stopwatch every week would never mess it up. But that is not true. I probably 90% of the time have a habit of pressing the stop button when the first runner crosses the finish line. Fortunately, this didn't happen on Boxing Day or the 2nd of January because I've made the mistake several times. However, I do know how to fix that mistake very well and I can talk anyone through it over the phone without a computer in front of me. So chalk that one up to experience.

00:05:37Scott Trickett: I got to experience Hamilton Island. So I got to do the Whitsunday Double. So on Christmas Day. Yeah, so I was pretty lucky. So on Christmas Day, we caught the ferry across to Hamilton Island because if you're planning to do it, don't catch the ferry across in the morning because you won't get there in time to get it. You actually have to go over the day before. So I was prepared to make the sacrifice.

00:06:01Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, that must have been tough, a night on Hamilton Island. Yeah, I can imagine.

00:06:05Scott Trickett: can see how you'd sacrifice for that it was it was worth it another beautiful course along the water a bit of a hill i've got to admit you do a two-lap course at hamilton island and if you've ever been hamilton island is a hilly island and you go up one monster hill twice and at Awesome. Yeah. At 7 o'clock in the morning with humidity that I'm not used to, it was a challenge.

00:06:31Melissa Erbacher: How did you cope with all that sunshine? Being from Victoria, I'm sure you don't get too many sunny parkruns down there, surely?

00:06:37Scott Trickett: No, we don't. We either get freezing cold or 40 degree heat down in Melbourne. So the constant 32 degrees in humidity was, I didn't adjust in time for Hamilton Island, but I could definitely get used to it. But it is a different challenge. Yeah.

00:06:54Melissa Erbacher: And you got to run that one with your family as well?

00:06:56Scott Trickett: I did, yep. So my wife and daughter got to go around. It was an awesome day.

00:07:01Melissa Erbacher: And what did Kasia think of it?

00:07:03Scott Trickett: Well, she's got this badge of honor because Westerfolds is known as a hilly course. And whenever anybody talks to me or, in fact, talks to my daughter about Westerfolds, they immediately want to talk about the hill and either why did you put the hill in the course or, oh, yeah, that's a hilly run. So we treat it as a badge of honor. And so Kasia decided to power up the hill. I challenged her if she could run the whole way, and she did. She's a machine.

00:07:30Melissa Erbacher: Fantastic. Mini parkrun adventurer right there.

00:07:33Scott Trickett: Yeah, very proud, Dad. Fun didn't stop there, though, because New Year's Day, we get to do it all again. Twice. If you're lucky enough. Were you lucky enough to do a double on New Year's Day?

00:07:45Melissa Erbacher: I was lucky enough. I actually was a little bit spoilt for choice. I could have stayed at home on the Sunshine Coast and run Nambour parkrun and Town of Seaside, who were doing The Sunshine Coast's first New Year's Day double in its history. But I've actually got a bunch of family who live in Brisbane and I hadn't got to see much of them over Christmas. So I decided to make the trek down to Brisbane and run with my brother and sister-in-law and family from Townsville, which was pretty exciting. And we did Minipi parkrun followed by Kapalabar. And it was great because those two events, they were very well attended. And I think actually the volunteers and the event directors on the day were a bit blown away by the numbers, to be honest. But the volunteers were amazing. It all ran like clockwork. And once again, the vibe was just so happy, so vibrant. Everyone was just ecstatic to be starting the new year together. And yeah, we had a great time. How about you, Scott? Did you do a double on New Year's Day?

00:08:51Scott Trickett: i did i got back to melbourne for new year's day double i got to visit coburg which coburg is the suburb itself is not known as being that picturesque but The Coburg parkrun course is just beautiful. You run down by the lake, you run under some bridges, you pass a sort of a waterfall. So it has got a hill in it. It's got a couple of hills in it. It's quite undulating, but it's a really pretty parkrun. Yeah, it's an out and back. As I said, you go under some bridges and you finish on a downhill, which is always good. So you can, you know, finish strong. So I started at Coburg and then we headed across to Maribyrnong. which is, again, very pretty course along the river that runs through Melbourne and very flat, quite the contrast to Coburg, and well attended on New Year's Day. I've got to admit, they had some good numbers. And again, the volunteers were awesome. Everybody managed to get between the two events safely. There was plenty of time to do that. And it was good to see so many people at Coburg and then front up again at Maribyrnong for the double.

00:09:59Melissa Erbacher: I just have a quick question for you. Did you run at both your events on New Year's Day or did you find you went a little bit slower for the second one?

00:10:08Scott Trickett: No, I'm in cruise mode at the moment. There's no PBs coming out of the Trickett legs at the moment. So I got to run Maribyrnong with a couple of other great volunteers within the parkrun world, Carol and Troy, who started Albert Park. And Carol went on to start Singapore. She's got another adventure planned, hopefully this year, that we'll be able to talk about later in the year. So that was very exciting. And Troy was running his 50th, I was running my 100th. And I was running with another run director from Coburg, Ashni, who she was also running her 50th. So it was a milestone run for all of us. But we did run the whole way, yes.

00:10:46Melissa Erbacher: Well, good for you. I have to admit that I ran my fastest time of 2016 at Minipi parkrun, which was the first one we did. However, I don't think my laces were tied quite tight enough because I had some blisters at the end of it. So I just took it quite easy at Kapalabar and I walked around with my brother, which was also really lovely.

00:11:09Scott Trickett: First time at both courses?

00:11:11Melissa Erbacher: First time at both courses, yep. They were really, really beautiful courses. Ever since the parkrun AU100 video came out, I've had those two on my list. So I was very happy to be able to tick them off.

00:11:24Scott Trickett: What an awesome video that is. We might put a link to it in our show notes or on our webpage just to remind people of what a fantastic video it was.

00:11:35Melissa Erbacher: Sounds like a plan. And, I mean, it's also a great starting point if somebody's looking for future events that they might want to tour at and get some adventures in, then, you know, we've got chunks of the first 100 parkruns. I think we're going to have to make another video because we've got another 50 events since then so hopefully by the end of this year we might reach that magic 200 mark and we can release a second video look forward to it we are very excited to introduce you to our ED of the week, Liv Coop. Liv is from Queensland, she's the event director at Sirromet parkrun. Hello, Liv Hi. How are you today? I'm very well, thank you, Mel. Excellent. Now, the question that is on everybody's mind, Sirame parkrun, what is the course like?

Meet the ED

00:12:34Liv Coop: Well, I'm going to be biased, but I just think it's a beautiful course. It's out and back, so lots of opportunities for high-fiving. The terrain is mostly grass. There's some dirt and gravel, though, as well, so it's definitely a trail run. It's not a path. There's no concrete or anything like that. um lots of hills nothing too extreme but you're pretty much going either up or down um and there aren't many flat bits you do start and finish on a flat bit but other than that that's about it i love it because you actually start on the hill where you gather like where our gathering area is and you can the way we've designed the course is you can see runners going across the back behind the grapevines of the the winery so it's just it looks really cool when when we had our trial it was just awesome we just loved it so it's It's just a location. It's just beautiful.

00:13:23Melissa Erbacher: It really is. Okay, so you did mention a key word in there, winery. So was that part of the factor behind choosing the location?

00:13:33Liv Coop: Well, yeah, we needed another parkrun in the Redlands area because we're expanding so much in our parkruns. Obviously, it's very popular, as you can understand why. But, yeah, to have one out sort of that way between us and Logan, you know, between sort of Cleveland and and Capalabar and Logan was a prime opportunity. And then when someone mentioned that, yeah, Sirame is ready to go, we were like, why could you not? It's a no-brainer, really. They're two of my favourite things. There's wine and parkrun. So, you know, it's just a no-brainer for us. So, yeah. And the fact that it's a trail run, I think, because all of our... This area are all, you know, concrete or boardwalk paths. There's a whole other running community out there that is trail running and that's all they run is trails. So we're sort of tapping into another community, another running community out there and providing them, you know, to be able to come along and get addicted like the rest of us.

00:14:27Melissa Erbacher: Fantastic. It sounds really exciting. Can't wait to get out to that one. What do you think, Scott?

00:14:32Scott Trickett: Yeah, I'm curious. So you actually, you're running through the winery, you're running through the vineyards?

00:14:37Liv Coop: Yes, we are. Pretty much. run right alongside of one of the great vines. Like Sirame Winery, they actually grow most of their grapes on the granite belt, but they do have some there. And then it's all produced at this winery, so they produce the wine there. But yeah, they do have some great vines there that we run past.

00:14:56Scott Trickett: So was there a challenge to get permission from the owners of the winery to allow 300 runners each Saturday morning to stop and sample some of their goods?

00:15:07Liv Coop: Yeah, well... I mean, we've got restrictions in what we can do because it's not public property. Like you can't go and do a freedom run there. So don't just show up and say, I want to do a freedom run of Sirame parkrun. You can't do that. It's private property. So, you know, they do have stipulations. We can't have dogs. So you can't bring a dog on a leash as you do with most other parkruns. We can't do that. And you aren't allowed to bring any food onto the property because obviously they sell food. um yeah other than drink bottles like you know your water bottle you can bring on obviously but yeah other than that so there was a few stipulations that you don't normally get with a parkrun when you start one up but otherwise yeah they've been really helpful like alex the operations manager there he literally drove us around like when we first looked into it and he chucked us in the ute and drove us around the whole property and said you know helping us trying to map out a course so they've been awesome really really happy with them

00:16:01Scott Trickett: I've got to admit, it sounds interesting. I'm going to add it to my must-do list.

00:16:05Liv Coop: I think a lot of people will actually. I think this one will be a tourist one. It'll be interesting to see because a lot of parkruns, you know, they have their home core runners that stick to their home parkrun and, you know, you build that community within that. So it'll be interesting to see. I think we'll get a lot of tourists in this one, particularly because, you know, most of Brisbane, it's easy, you know, to get around Brisbane parkruns. So I think we'll get a lot of tourists visiting.

00:16:28Scott Trickett: You've also got an interesting story around how you funded this one. Was there an extra effort involved to get the funding to get this parkrun up and going? Because maybe a lot of the parkrunners don't know. I'm sure most do. parkrun is free, but we still need to raise funds to help support the website and stuff like that. So how did you go about it for Sirromet?

00:16:48Liv Coop: We were lucky, actually, because the round of funding was due, like applications for the council. Our council is quite supportive of community funding. and, you know, supporting community programs. So because there's nothing out at Mount Cotton where Sirame is, it was a good opportunity for them to obviously get involved as far as tourism goes for Mount Cotton and just boosting the local, you know, I guess the local knowledge that, you know, that, yeah, this is here, you know, we're here, this is Mount Cotton and sort of putting them on the map. So, yeah, we were lucky that we got an actual support program support grant i applied for that one which is just a matter of you know the council supplies all of the paperwork and you just fill it in and um i think people are a little bit bamboozled by that the thought of having to fill out grant application forms and all of that but honestly you know if you have any problems the the support network within parkrun is amazing so you know you just ask an ed or they send you you know your territory director send you you know, other grant applications so you can, you know, work on the wording and tailor it to yours. But, yeah, it's just a matter of filling out the forms and then obviously providing all the information that they require and, yeah, making it sound awesome, that we're going to be awesome, which we are. And, yeah, and then they give you money, so it's awesome. But we were lucky actually because they end up giving us $5,500 to get started. And then we also had a little drive through – the Wynnum Twilight Bay run, we thought to do a bit of a fundraiser to help as well with the extra equipment and whatnot that we might need. We did a drink station and we did a neon theme. So we ended up being right at the finish line. So we were all, you know, the runners as they finished literally came to us and we were like, yeah, all out there, bright neon and cheering and we had signs and it was a really good day, really fun day. And that was just all parkrunners, our local parkrunners that come along to Cleveland and Wynnum and Logan and Kapala Bar. We all just pitched in and spent a good few hours there cheering on runners and handing out drink bottles. And they had like when you finish the run, the actual participants then get an email and they get the opportunity to vote. for their favorite cheer station and we were voted number one. So we got $1,300 just from having an aid station at a running event as well. So that went to starting up Sirromet. So we didn't really have that many problems getting the money. It was good.

00:19:20Melissa Erbacher: So, Liv, you're known in parkrun circles for your wonderful cakes. I understand you make cupcakes for all your 50 and 100 club milestone members and also anniversary cakes. Can we expect to hear news and see pictures on Facebook about a launch cake this weekend?

00:19:41Liv Coop: You know what? someone else has asked me this question and I'm just because of the time of year and I literally got back from holidays just yesterday I just haven't even had time I actually don't think I'm going to have time to have a launch cake and we're going to be having that many people I don't know if I could make one big enough to be honest so yeah but I do for Cleveland I do our 50 runners when they reach 50 I do it's just a cupcake with a bit of grass on top you know it's just something little that I make little packs flag just to say well done so after 50 parkruns i think you deserve a cake you said you it's just a cupcake with a bit of grass on top how does that go down sorry not actual grass it's coconut color green so i do chocolate frosting which makes it look like dirt and then do grass on top with and then i do a red 50 over the top so the grass is actually just green coconut shredded coconut and it's sprinkled on top and then i just print out a little flag on a toothpick and stick it in and So it looks like a little playground.

00:20:40Melissa Erbacher: So human edible, not made from the actual course or anything like that. Yes. Yes. But that's what it looks like.

00:20:48Liv Coop: It looks like grass. So, yeah. It's just something people can do. I like doing it.

00:20:53Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:20:54Scott Trickett: Making every other event very jealous that they're not doing their 50th Cleveland because I didn't get a cupcake for my 50th.

00:21:01Liv Coop: But other events do some really out there stuff though too for theirs with balloons and and all sorts of stuff. So I think it just depends on the ED and, you know, they use their strength. I'm really good at making cakes, so that's what I do. You know, it's just whereas other EDs are better at other things, so they do other things for their runners, you know.

00:21:18Scott Trickett: Thanks very much, Liv. Good luck for the launch on Saturday. Have you got an outfit planned?

00:21:24Liv Coop: Oh, I see. I haven't even thought of that. No. It will probably involve tutus. I'm a big fan of tutus, so I might wear a tutu and be a bit out there. You won't miss me, trust me.

00:21:32Scott Trickett: Okay. Good luck with it. Thanks for joining us on our very first Meet the ED segment.

00:21:38Liv Coop: No worries. Thanks, guys.

00:21:39[music]

Tim Oberg monthly Q&A (segment not given a name on air)

00:21:47Melissa Erbacher: He is the head honcho of parkrun Australia, and his name is Mr. Tim Oberg.

00:21:54Tim Oberg: Hi Mel, hi Scott, thanks for having me.

00:21:56Scott Trickett: Hi Tim, thanks for joining us. We're going to make this a regular monthly thing, so thanks for giving us your time. The idea is that parkrunners get access to Numero Uno, being you, where they can ask you any question that they want answered. Being our first episode and we don't have any listeners yet, Mel and I are going to ask you the first questions. One thing that I know you were involved in late last year, you had a little bit of a trip to the US. That was based on the fact that parkrun in the US needs a little bit of a kick along. Can you give us some info about what happened on your trip and what are the plans for parkrun in America over the next year?

00:22:37Tim Oberg: Absolutely. Well, it's no secret that parkrun in the US hasn't taken off the way that it has in other countries, namely Australia, UK, South Africa, New Zealand, etc. And we will... wondering why and I guess the UK team were managing it remotely and we thought we needed to get on the ground over there and I guess because I was the first person to really set up a park around the country outside of the UK from scratch then it was deemed by the powers that be that I would be valuable on that trip so I was asked to go over to the US and it was myself the CEO of parkrun, Nick Pearson, the founder of parkrun, Paul Sinton-Hewitt, and the UK country manager, Tom Williams. So it was the four of us in San Francisco. And we were meeting with one amongst other things. We met with Strava, who are based there, and one of our global partners, global technology partners. And Scott, I know you're a big Strava man. And Mel, are you on Strava?

00:23:42Melissa Erbacher: I am, but I only dabble.

00:23:45Tim Oberg: Okay, only dabble. Well, that's more than I do at this stage. But anyway, we met with Strava and then I met with the local Crissy Field parkrun team. And I guess we'd identified those guys as people we wanted to talk to because they have the ultimate parkrun location. It's basically the park that runs in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. So it's arguably the most iconic parkrun location we've got out of all 700 events. And so we met with them, and they're a really cool young team. They're all working in sort of techie-type industries. One of the team works at Facebook, for example. And, yeah, just talking to them about what's going on, and they would be getting sort of 50 people a week, of which 45 were tourists, and trying to understand... why the locals weren't getting involved and so on. So, you know, we're now working with them to try and grow that event and to use it as a bit of a case study as to how we can look to build parkrun in the US. But make no mistake, I mean, parkrun will end up being a big deal in the US, just the way it has in these other countries that I mentioned earlier. We've just got to get the formula. And certainly I'm very excited about playing a small part, I guess, in seeing that growth. And already we'll see that this Saturday, being the 9th of January, is the launch of parkrun in Washington, D.C., so another iconic American event. city getting an event and I think as we as we sort of grow park right in these big American cities that's that's really going to be the key is getting this iconic locations where there's going to be a lot of expats and also a lot of tourists and then and then we look to I guess spread the word amongst the locals as well so watch this space but it's going to be very exciting.

00:25:26Scott Trickett: So are you looking to expand in specific areas in the U.S.?

00:25:30Tim Oberg: Yeah, I mean, we've identified California as being a state that we feel would be worth targeting because it's a large state. It's from a lifestyle perspective. We think it works for parkrun in that there's a good portion of California has good weather for most of the year. It's got the perception of being an active state. And I think... I think one of the things that we've noticed in terms of trying to gain traction with sponsors in the US is that a lot of them are only interested in their states. Each state in the US has its own mini economy with its own taxes, its own laws, and a lot of businesses that only really operate within the state boundaries. So we're going to really look to focus on, I guess, a state-by-state approach. rather than attacking the whole country at once uh in saying that though of course if other cities come online you know washington dc as i mentioned which is on completely the other side of the country um you know we're certainly going to support that but yeah we're certainly going to look to work uh with strava i mentioned strava earlier like so they're based in california so We're going to look to work with Strava and come up with innovative ways we can look to grow parkrun, perhaps through using some of the info and data that Strava have recorded over their time to work out where we should be putting parkruns and potentially people who can be involved.

00:26:48Melissa Erbacher: Sounds like a lot of fantastic opportunities for parkrun adventurers to get a little bit of international tourism into make.

00:26:56Tim Oberg: Well, there's no doubt about that, Mel. It's obviously one of the things that we love about parkrun. It's obviously why we're here on this podcast is the opportunities that we have within the parkrun family to connect both, I guess, digitally through the chatter that we have on social media and whatnot, but also the opportunity to go and actually run in these fantastic places. And certainly I was super excited and felt super lucky to be able to go to Crissyfield and have a run there in California and enjoy all that San Francisco had to offer.

00:27:27Scott Trickett: Okay, how about we bring it back to Australia? What are the plans for parkrun Australia growth for 2016? Are we targeting a certain amount of events to launch this year? Are we targeting recruiting more runners, members to parkrun Australia? What are the plans?

00:27:45Tim Oberg: Yeah, it's an interesting one, Scott, because as you would know, we've never really had specific targets in terms of wanting to be a certain size or whatnot. The strategy has always been to grow organically, not invest in marketing and so on and let that all happen. uh and that to a point that's still the plan i i can tell you now that we will without without even trying we'll launch another 50 50 events this year um and if we do actually have some targets i guess in terms of event numbers or or where we want to put certain events then that that number will increase um as it stands right now i'm probably getting 15 new event requests per week uh in terms of new new locations for parkrun of which only a small percentage of them ever go to the next stage which is you know seriously looking at setting up you know i think a lot of people get a get a great idea after a couple of wines on a saturday night that they want to set up a parkrun and they send me an email and that's fine um and but it as both of you would know there's a lot of hard work that goes into it so um yeah so a percentage of them obviously go on to become a bit it's but the bulk of them don't but Yeah, so there's no doubt that we'll launch another 50. We launched 50 last year. We'll launch another 50 this year without too much effort. However, I think what we'll find as parkrun gets bigger and bigger is we'll look to have additional growth strategies outside of the organic growth. And what I mean by that is we might look to target certain areas where there's a certain demographics of people or you know areas that are i guess targeted by governments as areas that may need something like parkrun and i guess what i'm saying is a government might say look we've got areas of low socioeconomic uh i guess demographics where where we think parkrun would be would be useful and successful and then we would work with um you know local governments to do that so so i probably haven't really answered your question there but i think we'll launch at least 50 uh and and 50 plus would be the answer in terms of events. And in terms of registrations, at the moment we're growing at about 2,500 a week. By the end of the year, we'll probably be growing at about 3,500 to 4,000 per week. So, you know, do the maths on that. But we'll probably go close to being on half a million registered runners by the end of this year, I would think. Probably 400,000 by the end of this year. We're currently on 260,000. So that's where we will get to, I'd say, this year.

00:30:27Melissa Erbacher: So, Tim, to bring it back to, you mentioned you would receive about 15 emails a week from people who want to start up an event. If somebody wanted to start their own parkrun, what do they need to do exactly?

00:30:42Tim Oberg: Yes, so the process, Mel, is that on the parkrun.com website, there's a button for start your own event and that basically gives you a form that you fill in and it asks you for name, location and some details that you might have. When that gets filled in, it comes to me and then I'll respond with an email with much more detail as to what's involved and I guess... things like that they need to contact council and get a course and what are the parkrun requirements for a course and so on and so forth. And it's at that point that I think we do lose a few people because it does go to show that there's a fair bit of work involved in setting an event up. It's not just the glamour of turning up on a Saturday and, you know, 100 people chanting your name ready for parkrun so um so but yeah that's that's how it all works basically use the online form that comes to me i'll then get back to you with with the details and we go from there and certainly um as as we are growing i would think that our our system for setting up new events is becoming more and more supportive with uh the territory directors that we have based all over the country who are there to help people locally in the trenches getting things set up. It doesn't just sort of come down to me here in my office trying to get it done. So yeah, it does require a lot of work. So if anyone out there listening is thinking of setting up an event, there's a lot of work involved, but I think everyone who's been through the process would also agree that it's a highly rewarding, I guess, thing to do.

00:32:14Scott Trickett: Hey, Mel, has anybody ever chanted your name on a Saturday morning?

00:32:19Melissa Erbacher: Certainly not hundreds of them, Scott. Yeah, I didn't pick up on that when Tim mentioned. Obviously, I've missed out there. I don't know what I've done wrong.

00:32:29Scott Trickett: Yeah, I missed out on that too.

00:32:33Tim Oberg: It's my metaphor for the glory of being an event director. That's what I was referring to.

00:32:39Melissa Erbacher: It certainly is very glorious. I do have to say that.

00:32:42Scott Trickett: Let's wrap it up. Are you enjoying being back involved with an event team now that you've got a home run at Airlie Beach, basically at your doorstep? How have you found that experience?

00:32:52Tim Oberg: Yeah. Yeah, well, it's really the first time I've ever done this because even when we launched Main Beach parkrun way back in April 2011, I launched that event with an event director and run directors. I was never a run director at that event. I think there were times I did run direct, but I was never an official run director. And so really, I've probably learned more in the last month about run directing. than I have in the four and a half years previous, and I'm really enjoying it. I'm not going to be a regular run director here at Airlie Beach anyway, but I'm doing it now because the event's in its infancy and we're still growing it, but certainly the long-term vision is not for me to be run directing every second Saturday. It's, you know, the community here needs to take ownership of the event just like they do everywhere else. And then I'll be able to, I guess, drift back behind the scenes and be doing what I do, you know, visiting other events and just having a run as well. But I must say I was pretty stoked because I did get my 25 Club email a couple of weeks back. You know, it's funny that I haven't actually officially volunteered. Yes, thank you, thank you. I hadn't actually seen this before.

00:34:08Melissa Erbacher: That is a milestone to reach.

00:34:11Tim Oberg: Yes, yes. I mean, obviously, in the first couple of years of parkrun, I volunteered almost every week, but it was never on the roster. I was overseeing event launches and whatnot. So now that I've officially volunteered 25 times, I feel proud to be part of that illustrious club. But yeah, the event here is going really well, and I'm thrilled to be helping out, and I'm really enjoying it. But certainly, the long-term vision isn't for me to be doing it every week.

00:34:38Scott Trickett: Thanks, Tim. Thanks for giving us your time. We're going to do this once a month.

00:34:42Tim Oberg: I'm available and I'm excited that parkrun's back on the air with the parkrun Adventurers and it's a great concept and certainly the parkrun Tourism is something that I love personally and certainly endorse for everyone to get involved in and obviously the number one parkrun Tourism loop now is the Whitsunday Double, Hamilton Island and Airlie Beach. So I look forward to seeing everyone up here at some point in the future.

00:35:08Scott Trickett: Very exciting. Okay, thanks, Tim. So if you want to put a question to Tim, get in contact with us through email or a Facebook message. We'll get them together and fire them at you next month.

00:35:20Tim Oberg: Thanks, Scott. Thanks, Mel.

00:35:21[music]

parkrun adventure challenge (listener challenge)

00:35:29Scott Trickett: Okay, so now for what we're going to try and introduce as a regular feature to our show. We're going to set you on a little parkrun adventure for you to take part in. This week, one of the best parts about parkrun is getting to know people that you've never met before, who then become lifelong friends. So this week, we want you to go up and introduce yourself to the run director or the event director at your parkrun on Saturday morning. Perhaps thank them.

00:35:57Melissa Erbacher: Yes, thank your event director or run director for bringing you your free weekly timed five kilometre parkrun fix. They do an awesome job and there is not enough gratitude out there for the work that our volunteers do. In fact, give all the volunteers a high five. That's a good mini adventure as well. But to prove that you've thanked them, make sure you grab a photo with them. You can either post it on Instagram or Facebook. Make sure you use the hashtag parkrunadventurers or tag us in your post so we can see it and we can check out who's been getting to know their event directors and run directors during the week.

00:36:33Scott Trickett: Good idea. One other awesome aspect of parkrun is volunTOURing. Mel, explain to me what volunTOURing is.

volunTOURing explainer

00:36:41Melissa Erbacher: Okay, Scott. So, volunTOURing is when somebody volunteers at an event, a parkrun event that is not their home parkrun. So, for example, one and probably the leader in volunTOURing is a parkrunner named Gary Nisbet. And Gary... has got the record for volunteering at the most events in Australia. So he has traveled around to many events that he has run previously. He's way up there on the most events list as well. But the wonderful thing about Gary is that he went back to many of those events and to show his gratitude and thank them for putting on such a wonderful event, he has volunteered for them. So he has travelled away from his home parkrun and volunteered for the parkrun that he has visited. So that's what volunTOURing is all about.

00:37:35Scott Trickett: Gary, you are awesome. You know that. Everybody loves you. So that's what volunteering is. Even though we've never actually done a podcast, Mel, we actually have our first email, courtesy of Jez over in Western Australia. Jez wrote to us and informed us about the wonderful Abdul Rayouf Mohamed Issa. Abdul, on the weekend, became the parkrun statesman for Western Australia. Mel, do you know what a parkrun statesman is?

Listener email

00:38:02Melissa Erbacher: I do. That's a parkrunner that has completed every event in a given state or territory in Australia, isn't it, Scott?

00:38:09Scott Trickett: It is correct. Coined out of the parkrun show AU version that was hosted by Robbo and Russ. Did an awesome job for a year. They came up with the term parkrun statesman. So Abdul is now a parkrun statesman for WA. He has done all 17 WA parkruns, but he has also volunteered at every WA parkrun, which makes him a volunteer statesman.

00:38:37Melissa Erbacher: Yes.

00:38:38Scott Trickett: Now, hard thing to do. I don't think there would be many in Australia.

00:38:44Melissa Erbacher: Certainly not. I mean, we've got, well, he's got 17 events to get around. So that's a fair chunk of his year that he has spent traveling to other events and volunteering, which is just awesome. But when you think about other states as well, Queensland has, you know, more than 50 parkruns. And so it wouldn't be very easy to do so. not in this state. However, if you lived in Tasmania, for example, or the ACT, or even the Northern Territory, the Northern Territory's only got one parkrun at the moment, it would be quite easy to become a statesman, either of the normal variety or a volunteer statesman. So that could be a good challenge. In fact, I think it would be a great challenge to become a statesman in the volunteering at Queensland.

00:39:32Scott Trickett: Yep. almost impossible it is with the right launches we're having at the moment i think yeah i don't think we've got a queensland statesman do you know anybody who's close

00:39:43Melissa Erbacher: I believe Alan and Rasheen were statesmen in Queensland as recently as mid-last year. I know they travelled to the Maryborough launch to maintain their statesmanship. However, some events have launched, obviously, in the far north Queensland at Airlie Beach and Hamilton Island, and I don't believe they've been to those yet.

Launches and anniversaries ("Where is the cake?")

00:40:06Scott Trickett: Okay, so this week, where are we going? Where are the launches? Where is the cake?

00:40:11Melissa Erbacher: The cake, well, cake is probably more likely to be at the anniversaries. As we already heard from Liv Coop a little bit earlier, Sirromet will be launching in Queensland on the 9th of January, which is this coming Saturday. but there will not be cake at Sirromet. However, being on a vineyard, I do believe there will be wine after breakfast, so that's worthwhile heading up to. If you do want cake, however, you need to be in either Western Australia or Victoria because Pioneer and Shepparton are sharing their second birthdays this weekend and I'm sure they're going to have cake. You've got to have cake at an anniversary, don't you, Scott?

00:40:50Scott Trickett: You do. Alan, who is the event director up at Shepparton. Alan and I share a very similar story. We started parkrunning together out at the beautiful Highlands course in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. Alan is not only celebrating his second anniversary at Shepparton, he's going to celebrate his 100th run this week.

00:41:08Melissa Erbacher: What a fantastic achievement though. Two years and his 100th run as well. That's just awesome.

00:41:14Scott Trickett: Yep. I wonder if he timed it to coincide with his anniversary, his own event. I'm sure he did.

00:41:21Melissa Erbacher: I'm sure he did. You get close enough to these things and you start thinking, hmm, I'll just move some numbers and some volunteering around and then all of a sudden you've got a nice round milestone achieved on a very appropriate date.

00:41:35Scott Trickett: So well done, Alan. You have to be particularly fantastic to have run 100 runs. Let's wrap it up. Thanks, Mel, for our very first episode. This is the episode where we're going to go back to, you know, once we've done 100 and 200 episodes of the parkrun Adventurous podcast. We'll go back. We'll listen to the first episode. We'll cringe. We'll cringe a lot, I think. We'll cringe a lot. We might cry. But it's history. It's in the bank. Thanks for doing it. parkrun's a big part of our lives. We just wanted to make it more part of our lives. So we hope we can contribute to making parkrun a bigger part of everyone else's lives.

00:42:15Melissa Erbacher: And who doesn't need a parkrun fix by Tuesday? Seriously. You know, that's days and days away from the last Saturday and days and days before the next Saturday.

00:42:25Scott Trickett: So what you can do as our listeners is you can like us, you can review us on iTunes and You can share us. We have the Facebook page. We have the Instagram page. We have a Twitter account. So look all that up, hashtag parkrunadventurers, and hope you can join me next week.

00:42:45Melissa Erbacher: Oh, I think we all need to come back, Scott, and do it all again. In the meantime, guys, enjoy your parkrun day. Have lots of parkrun adventures. We'll chat to you next week.