Episode 12 - Trevor Allen

Episode details · 183 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:06Scott Trickett: It's another episode of the parkrun Adventurers podcast. Yay! Yay! My name is Scott.

00:00:14Melissa Erbacher: My name is Mel.

00:00:15Scott Trickett: And this is episode 12. I wonder if people are listening, like binge listening to this, and they've just heard 12 episodes back to back of us, or if they're getting their Wednesday fix, midweek parkrun fix.

00:00:32Melissa Erbacher: Well, I think if they're binging, they're going to have noticed this beautiful story arc where we got really, really good. Started off a little bit, you know, dodgy and improve every week.

00:00:44Scott Trickett: Yeah, we haven't reached the apex just yet.

00:00:48Melissa Erbacher: Oh no, we've got plenty more to improve on.

00:00:51Scott Trickett: Unfortunately, you don't sound as clear as you did last week and I'm looking at the picture of you in a hamster wheel and

00:01:00Melissa Erbacher: You weren't going to tell people what I was doing.

00:01:02Scott Trickett: Oh, really?

00:01:04Melissa Erbacher: That's what you said last week.

00:01:06Scott Trickett: Okay. Scrap that bit. It's okay. You're back on the Sunshine Coast, but on Saturday you were adventuring away from the Sunshine Coast again.

00:01:20Melissa Erbacher: They can't keep me out of airplanes at the moment, it would seem.

00:01:23Scott Trickett: Well, share your adventure, your jet-setting adventure with me. What did you do?

00:01:29Melissa Erbacher: On Saturday, parkrun Day, I was lucky enough to be at the launch of a very exciting new parkrun in sort of, you wouldn't call it far north Queensland, maybe middle north Queensland. Rockhampton parkrun has finally landed and it was excellent. It was a really, really good event.

00:01:50Scott Trickett: Is it going to be called Rocky?

00:01:51Melissa Erbacher: Officially, it's Rockhampton, but everyone's calling it Rocky parkrun already.

00:01:56Scott Trickett: Are they sick of the Stallone jokes in Rockhampton?

00:02:00Melissa Erbacher: Oh, who could possibly get sick of Stallone jokes?

00:02:05Scott Trickett: I'm not sure if you listened to the end of episode 11, if you saw my Mel Gibson impersonation or heard my Mel Gibson impersonation.

00:02:14Melissa Erbacher: Are you asking me?

00:02:15Scott Trickett: Well, do you want to hear my Stallone impersonation?

00:02:21Melissa Erbacher: Yes.

00:02:22Scott Trickett: We'll have to wait to the end of episode 12 to hear it.

00:02:25Melissa Erbacher: See, you're on my wavelength because I was already thinking that we would definitely have to have Rocky Balboa as our picture for the podcast post this week.

00:02:35Scott Trickett: So tell me about the parkrun. Good, gorgeous location?

00:02:39Melissa Erbacher: Yes. So the parkrun itself is run through the Botanic Gardens, the Rockhampton Botanical Gardens, right next to the zoo. There's a section of the course that runs near an emu enclosure. I will... I asked the marshals that were posted there the first time I passed them to make sure that the emus were at the fence by the time I got back. Unfortunately, they were too busy actually being volunteer marshals to also be emu wranglers. So I didn't get to see emus this time. But there was lots of bird wildlife. There are pelicans in as far as Rockhampton. That was a little bit bizarre. And corellas and cockatoos and lorikeets. And yeah, the course is very undulating. It's shady and sunny in various parts.

00:03:32Scott Trickett: I did take a look at the photos on Facebook. One thing that stood out to me, it's really green. Down here in the southern states, everything at the moment is yellow and brown. But up in Rocky, it's like emerald green. Is that because it's in the gardens or is that just Rockhampton?

00:03:51Melissa Erbacher: It has had a lot of rain lately, so not just the course. I mean, I'm sure they water the botanical gardens, of course, but especially because part of it's along a river and the river is prone to flooding in certain sections, but they have actually had a lot of rain in recent months. So it is particularly green at the moment. It's not so green all year round, I'm told. So now's a good time to go if you really love green, green, green. But yes, the botanical gardens themselves are very well taken care of. So there are massive, beautiful trees and there's this fantastic shady section of the course where you're running through an avenue of bamboo, which is just beautiful, especially you get to run that part of the course twice and the second time is after you've run about a kilometre in sun. So it's very welcome by the time you get back to that shade. You get to run past a stunning Japanese garden with a waterfall in a pond. And I particularly loved at the end, and I know it's not entirely accurate, but you come down to the last 200 metres and there's a cenotaph in the middle. And in front of it is R-A-N. which has been topiarized out of small hedges. And I just thought, oh, they know that I ran. I just ran parkrun. I'm almost finished. Of course, the RAN stands for the Royal Australian Navy. And as you go around the other side of the cenotaph, it also says Army and ANZAC. So, you know, obviously you need to pay your respects as appropriate as well. But I did think it was – It was very lovely that the first word you see is ran.

00:05:45Scott Trickett: It's close enough. Sounds good.

00:05:49Melissa Erbacher: We just need to get them to put a few more hedges in that say park in front of it.

00:05:54Scott Trickett: You caught up with the ED?

00:05:56Melissa Erbacher: I did. I caught up with the ED and a couple of the other volunteers as well on Saturday morning. And I'm here with three of the gentlemen who volunteered today. We've got Rod, Phil and Craig, who's the event director at Rockhampton parkrun. Gentlemen, did you have a good morning? Good morning.

Roving report — Rockhampton parkrun launch

00:06:12Craig: Fantastic. Awesome. Excellent event.

00:06:14Melissa Erbacher: What was the turnout today, Craig?

00:06:17Craig: We had 191 people across the line from memory. Rod might have missed one or two, but he's a first-timer, so we'll let him get away with one or two errors.

00:06:25Melissa Erbacher: So, Rod, you were on the stopwatch this morning. Any issues there?

00:06:29Rod: No, just like Craig highlighted, there was a couple of missed people, but overall we think we did pretty well for an inaugural event.

00:06:38Melissa Erbacher: Awesome. And Phil, you were out on the course doing a fabulous job with your marshalling duties. How did you find that?

00:06:43Phil: Yeah, fantastic. People were happy with the time they got to me. Still, you know, three Ks in, still a couple to go, so it was pretty hot.

00:06:52Melissa Erbacher: And you were in a very sunny position on the course. How did you think the vibe was from the runners? You said they were happy, but what was the vibe?

00:07:01Phil: Fantastic. Everyone was really happy and good to be there. I think nearly 99% of them will be back.

00:07:09Melissa Erbacher: That's a great percentage.

00:07:11Phil: I think, yeah.

00:07:13Melissa Erbacher: Might have to come back and do it all again next week. What is your motivation for volunteering at parkrun?

00:07:20Phil: Okay, so it's really about the people. I saw so many people today that I didn't know and have not seen before. And I do quite a few different exercises throughout the town, different things that we do. And, yes, it's new people. It's getting people out, doing themselves, and it's all good fun.

00:07:42Rod: Yeah, I had the privilege of going to a parkrun event in Hervey Bay a couple of years ago now. So I've been waiting for this to happen in Rocky. So unfortunately Craig got on board and has got it happening. But it's just getting out, getting involved, getting people that wouldn't normally think of getting out and going for a run and getting them active on a Saturday morning. Sharing something that we all have a passion for. That's great.

00:08:07Craig: A parkrun is a great opportunity. We've already mentioned the people. The reason we brought this to Rockhampton is because it's creating a safe place for people to come and be active. It's an opportunity for those that just don't know whether they can run or walk or do this sort of thing. It's an opportunity for them to get together and give it a go. And we know that they're going to come back because those of us that have done activity or led active lifestyles already know what reward you get out of achieving something, even if it's as simple as walking five kilometres. So these people can come and find that place with parkrun. And that's really what parkrun's about. It's sort of like an enjoyment concentrate. You just add people and away you go. So that's why we're here.

00:08:52Melissa Erbacher: Thank you very much for your time this morning, gentlemen. Good luck with the future of Rockhampton parkrun. I'm sure it's going to be amazing. It was already a wonderful event today. So onwards and upwards.

00:09:02Craig: Thank you.

00:09:05Melissa Erbacher: And I'm here at the launch of Rockhampton parkrun with David and Gary. Guys, how did you enjoy the run today?

00:09:12Unidentified speaker: Fantastic. Loved it. Great technical course.

00:09:16Melissa Erbacher: And do you have any feedback for other parkrun adventurers who might be coming out here? Something to look out for?

00:09:23Unidentified speaker: Yeah, definitely. Looking on the map, it looks very scary, but it's very well marked, very well marshaled, so you're not going to get lost, so don't worry about that, and it's very scenic.

00:09:34Unidentified speaker: And yeah, it's a bit of an up-and-down course, nice and challenging, got a nice little steep incline on the way home, so really enjoyable.

00:09:44Unidentified speaker: And bring the kids, it's kid-friendly, because you've got the zoo, you've got the botanical gardens, you've got everything here. It's good. And a nice cafe as well.

00:09:53Melissa Erbacher: And I'm here with Craig, who's the event director at Gladstone parkrun. Craig ran the course at Rockhampton today. What did you think of it?

00:10:01Craig: I can't remember now. Yeah, very good course. A lot more hills than what I'm used to with Gladstone. I made it a bit of a challenge, especially the finish hill coming back up it. Very picturesque, lovely area, lots of scenery and the gardens are fantastic. give you something to look at if you're looking more for a casual walk than a hard run. So overall a good course.

00:10:31Melissa Erbacher: And what did you think of the vibe out there with the other runners today?

00:10:36Craig: Not used to having quite so many runners. We have a fair few less than what they had here. So there's a little bit of a congestion at the beginning like most big runs have. A lot of people seemed very happy to be out and about and having their exercise early. So it was a very good atmosphere.

00:10:59Scott Trickett: Nice reporting there, Mel. And great to hear from Craig from Gladstone. And lots of bird life, noisy bird life.

00:11:07Melissa Erbacher: I didn't share the pics of this, but the lorikeets. So the cafe at Rockhampton is in the botanical gardens and it's underneath these massive, I want to call them fig trees, but I don't think they're fig trees. Anyway, it's very, very shady. But all these lorikeets sit in the trees and they wait for you to finish your breakfast and hope that you leave some crumbs left over. And then they all swoop down onto the tables. And I actually have a photo of a lorikeet sitting on the edge of a coffee cup and then dipping his entire body into the coffee cup to see if there was any left in the bottom. So they're all over you as soon as you leave your food unguarded.

00:11:47Scott Trickett: I bet they're alert, highly caffeinated lorikeets, ready to pounce.

00:11:53Melissa Erbacher: Because if there's a parrot that you want to highly caffeinate, it is definitely a lorikeet.

00:11:57Scott Trickett: Yeah, I think that's common folklore, common knowledge. Okay, so we're going to add Rocky parkrun to our list that we need to get to soon. Well worth the trip.

Guest interview — Trevor Allen

00:12:16Melissa Erbacher: Our special guest today has run 89 parkruns at six different events, has volunteered 22 times and is down to volunteer next week too. This weekend he participated in the Canberra 48-hour race. He did pretty well. His name is Trev. Trev, welcome to the show.

00:12:38Trevor Allen: Thanks for having me, Mel.

00:12:39Scott Trickett: Now, Trev, the reason we've got you on the show is you've just completed 48 hours of non-stop running. That's true? Someone can do that?

00:12:51Trevor Allen: Some people can. It's pretty much non-stop, but you obviously have to stop for toilet breaks and Some people take rest time like over that period of time You try to stay out on track as long as you can so you can maximize the amount of kilometers you can cover but um, yeah, basically, um, you stay out there for as much as you can and

00:13:16Melissa Erbacher: And so when you go into a race like this, Trev, what kind of goals do you set for yourself and what kind of strategy do you set up so that you can cope with 48 hours of almost non-stop movement?

00:13:36Trevor Allen: This one was a little bit different for me because I just got a coach 10 weeks ago. I had a bit more of a plan this time.

00:13:44Melissa Erbacher: So this isn't your first 48-hour event?

00:13:46Trevor Allen: No, I've done three a few years back since I've done one, but I've done three previously.

00:13:53Melissa Erbacher: Wow, you're a glutton for punishment.

00:13:56Scott Trickett: Yeah. So you've had a coach for 10 weeks. Surely you've been training longer than 10 weeks though.

00:14:01Trevor Allen: Yeah, well, I just sort of, before I had a coach, just did parkrun on Saturdays, did a bit of speed work on Thursday with the Noosa Tri Club and just maybe fit in a run here and there. But nothing sort of planned or consistent. So just sort of thought this year I've got a bit extra time and be more committed to try and improve a little bit more.

00:14:28Melissa Erbacher: Okay, so you're coached by John Pearson, is that correct?

00:14:32Trevor Allen: Yep, yep.

00:14:33Melissa Erbacher: And he's a fellow parkrunner who was incidentally the inaugural course record holder at Nambour parkrun. And I understand he was also participating this weekend in one of the other events, wasn't he?

00:14:46Trevor Allen: Originally he was planning to do 48 hours, but he's just had a few minor setbacks, so he ended up just running the six-hour event. Just the six-hour event. And he ended up winning. He sort of had a bad patch in the middle and struggled a bit, but he did enough on the day to win, so that was good.

00:15:10Melissa Erbacher: So when you approach somebody like John and you say, okay, I've got 10 weeks, what can you do for me before a 48-hour run?

00:15:21Trevor Allen: Yeah, it's not ideal because he obviously would like to have a couple more months to prepare. And because my training wasn't sort of big mileage beforehand, we sort of just had to fit in as much as we could without overloading. We just did as much as we could in the 10 weeks and then just know that we could probably improve on next time around.

00:15:47Melissa Erbacher: And there's going to be a next time.

00:15:51Trevor Allen: There will definitely be next times in running the long operators, but I'm not saying there's definitely going to be another 48-hour track race very soon.

00:16:01Melissa Erbacher: It's still a bit recent, isn't it?

00:16:03Trevor Allen: Yeah, no, there are lots of good times out there. It's a very fun event, but... When you're out there, you're thinking, gee, this is a bloody long time on your feet. When you're out there for 48 hours, the 24-hour event looks mighty good.

00:16:18Scott Trickett: I imagine the mental battle is probably just as hard as the physical battle at some point during the 48 hours.

00:16:29Trevor Allen: Yeah, I think it's probably more important than the physical. The people that really do really well at them just... so mentally tough it's just amazing how determined they are and just keep fighting like for the whole time it's amazing some people out there how did you get into running, Trev and how did you get into parkrun okay yeah well i got into running just really in 2009 just started the gym probably a few months before and just running on the treadmill enjoyed that so just the next step was to probably go in a running race, and that would end up being the Mooloolaba Twilight 5K in 2009. And I really enjoyed that, so I've pretty much been running ever since.

00:17:13Scott Trickett: And Mel mentioned at the start, you're a pretty good parkrunner. You've done 89, you've done a bit of venturing at six different events, and you're a good volunteer. How did you get introduced to parkrunning, and has that helped your ultra running in any way?

00:17:27Trevor Allen: Yeah, it definitely has helped. I probably can't remember exactly. I know my first 26 parkruns were at Kawana so I got introduced, I think I got introduced to parkrun through my ultra running from people that I met from doing ultras and they were parkrunners and I just went down and did my first one at Kawana and pretty much did 26 there over the first couple of years and then Then they started a new one close to home, so I've pretty much spent most of my parkruns at Noosa since.

00:18:05Scott Trickett: Well, you've gone sub-18 at Noosa. You've done a 17.59.

00:18:09Trevor Allen: I've done three sub-18s, like one at Wynnum. I did a 17.58 and I've done a 17.59 at Noosa for winning a 17.53 at Noosa to come second, so... The goal this year is to try and get to probably 1740, just a little bit of improvement would be nice.

00:18:33Melissa Erbacher: That sounds a bit blistering to me, 1740.

00:18:37Scott Trickett: That wasn't your pace for the 48-hour race, was it, Trev?

00:18:40Trevor Allen: No, it wasn't. Definitely not. I usually start off about 10km an hour and sort of probably kept that rolling for the first six. The race started at midnight, so then it gets dark and at 12 hours, I think it was 107 k's.

00:18:56Melissa Erbacher: So it started at midnight or did it start at...

00:18:59Trevor Allen: It started at midday. I think starting at midday actually helped getting through the first night because sometimes I start at 9 or 10 in the morning and that extra couple of hours running before the night time, you can sort of, because you've been running for longer before the night or the fatigue gets in, it's harder to get through the night sometimes.

00:19:20Melissa Erbacher: Okay. And as part of the crazy things that you do, and we have to be honest because it is crazy, 48 hours running, you've done the Costa Kosciuszko a few times.

00:19:34Trevor Allen: That has to be one of the best events that I've ever done. Done in the last five years and I'm hoping to go there this year to do six and then have a break after that, hopefully.

00:19:49Melissa Erbacher: So this is one of those events where you actually have to qualify before you get accepted. Is that correct?

00:19:55Trevor Allen: Yeah. There's sort of like a minimum qualification. You have to run 180 Ks in 24 hours on the track or do a hundred mile race within 24 hours. And you have to do a hundred kilometer race as well. So you have to do a minimum of two races. over two years. It's recently got very popular, so there might be well in excess of 50 suitable participants, but it's capped at 50, so then it's up to the race directors who gets in the field pretty much.

00:20:29Melissa Erbacher: Okay, so it's a bit of a popularity contest.

00:20:32Trevor Allen: Well, it sort of goes on results, your previous results. You've probably got more chance if you've done well in your race. It basically comes down to the race directors want everyone who starts, they want them to finish. So if they think that you haven't had a good success rate at finishing and you haven't got proven track record at finishing, or they don't believe that you're quite ready to tackle the 240 kilometres, they'll let you know and give you some feedback and then hopefully you can build on it and reapply the next year. But at the end of the day, there's plenty of people that will qualify and

00:21:14Melissa Erbacher: be suitable but because it's capped at 50 some people are going to miss out which is um which is always hard but it's just um the way it's going to be okay so you you just said it was a 240 kilometer race i'm guessing that judging by the fact that it's a coast to kosciuszko that there's also a decent amount of elevation in there do you know off top of your head what the elevation is

00:21:42Trevor Allen: No, I'm not too big on elevation, but it starts at the beach at Eden and finishes on the top of Kozzie, which is, I think, about 2,200 metres per, or feet, I'm not sure.

00:21:56Melissa Erbacher: It's high. It's a big mountain.

00:21:58Trevor Allen: Yeah, well, but there's a lot of, yeah, there is a lot of uphill. There's a bit of downhill and flats, but it starts at the lowest point and ends at the highest point, so it is, yeah, uphill. A lot of uphill, especially the last 60 kilometers of the race, the climb from Jindabyne. So it probably makes it a slower 240 kilometers than most races because of the uphill.

00:22:27Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, you just said the last 60 kilometers of the race, and that's pretty much where you lost me. I was just thinking the last 60 kilometers.

00:22:35Scott Trickett: I make that the hardest. That's cruel. Now, let's also be honest. There's actually not many people that can actually do this ultra running thing. So I imagine the fraternity of ultra runners is pretty tight, pretty small, but pretty tight. There's some parkrunning links in amongst there.

00:22:55Trevor Allen: You know, like the ultra community is much very similar. Although like the parkrun is five kilometers and the ultra running is obviously a lot further, the community is almost the same. Like it's just, a great bunch of competitors that are close-knit because we all do the same thing. You have a great bunch of race directors, volunteers. You put the events on. So in many ways, it's very similar in the community feel like when you're doing the parkrun and the ultra runs. In many ways, very similar. And that's why I think there's a lot of ultra runners who have taken up parkrunning and love it so much.

00:23:38Scott Trickett: Is there a lot of money in ultra running? Because it's not in parkrun.

00:23:44Trevor Allen: No, it's not very big. Nearly all races are no prize money. It's basically the track events are getting more popular because there's the opportunity to race for your country, like in world championship events. So it's getting the more elite runners racing the longer distances. There is probably a bit more money in the longer trail stuff, which has got more sponsors, and typically most ultras are just for pretty much your own self-achievement, pretty much.

00:24:19Scott Trickett: Right, so you don't have to answer this, but you finished second on the weekend, so there was no prize money attached to that.

00:24:26Trevor Allen: Yeah, no, well, I finished third, but, yeah, second male, so, no, there's no prize, but this was actually the... The prize was actually pretty well for the type of race it was. I think I got a bouquet of flowers, a new pair of Hoka shoes, and a box of Lindt chocolates. And I got a trophy for finishing second in the event. And it doubled as the Australian Ultra Runners Association's 48-hour national championship. So I'll get a second-place trophy for that as well.

00:25:05Melissa Erbacher: Did you get a medal?

00:25:07Trevor Allen: Yeah, everyone who competes in the event gets a medal as well.

00:25:10Melissa Erbacher: Even if you only do two kilometres?

00:25:12Trevor Allen: Even if you only do two kilometres, yeah.

00:25:14Melissa Erbacher: Oh, I'm going to be there next year.

00:25:16Trevor Allen: Yeah, no, everyone gets a medal. It's a big ask even just to start to take on the challenge.

00:25:26Scott Trickett: Well, Trev, it's a mind-blowing achievement. I can't get my head around it, but well done. Thanks for joining us on the parkrun Adventurers.

00:25:34Trevor Allen: No worries. Thank you, Scott, and thank you, Mel.

00:25:36Melissa Erbacher: It's been great having you, and congrats again on your awesome super achievement. There's not even adjectives. I was watching you on the live tracker, and I felt like I should have been sitting there with popcorn because I was just like, oh, look, and now he's done this many laps, and now he's done this. I was live updating everyone who'd listened, so well done. I would love to come along and watch the next one.

00:26:03Trevor Allen: Yeah, that would be awesome, Mel.

International roving report — Hagley parkrun, New Zealand (Cassandra)

00:26:13Scott Trickett: Last week we set the challenge and we had our adventurers recording themselves doing Freedom Run. Cassandra, she was out over in New Zealand adventuring at Hagley parkrun this week. And you know what she did Mel?

00:26:29Melissa Erbacher: What did she do Scotty?

00:26:31Scott Trickett: She took her phone and she recorded a bunch of interviews with parkrunners and she even caught up with their ED whose name is Mordecai. Take it away Cassandra. Wow.

00:26:42Cassandra: Okay, so I'm Cassandra from Stone's Corner parkrun. I'm over here at Hagley parkrun today, adventuring and doing a bit of touristing in New Zealand. And I'm here with Mordecai, who's the run director. How are you today?

00:26:51Mordecai: Very good, and yourself?

00:26:52Cassandra: Good. So tell us a bit about the course here at Hagley.

00:26:55Mordecai: So the course is an obscure figure of eight to say. So it goes around the beautiful Victoria Lake here at Hagley Park and has a loop around completing the figure of eight and we finish right back across the lake as well.

00:27:13Cassandra: So I hear it's a pretty fast course over here.

00:27:15Mordecai: Yeah, it's fast and flat. Literally, I think the most incline is just a little dip on the path, and that's about it, but the whole course is pretty much flat.

00:27:27Cassandra: And you guys actually run through the middle of a golf course. Have you ever had a runner hit by a stray ball?

00:27:33Mordecai: No, I can't say we've had that happen yet, although I must admit when I do run it myself, sometimes I do wonder if today is going to be that day. But in all seriousness, no, it's a safe course to run, and actually I don't think there's ever been a stray golf ball hit anyone at all. That's nice to hear.

00:27:52Cassandra: So there's 11 parkruns in New Zealand. Have you run any others?

00:27:57Mordecai: Actually, I'm yet to run any of the other parkruns. I've been a part of this one for just about a year. But yeah, I'd definitely be keen to try some of the other ones across the world as well, actually.

00:28:10Cassandra: Yeah, because I've seen that there's only two on the South Island in New Zealand. Are there any plans for more? Do you know?

00:28:15Mordecai: Yeah, actually, one of our parkrunners here who lives about 40 minutes to an hour's drive from here, he's actually planning on starting up a parkrun in Pegasus. So just to prevent people who are a little bit further out from having that 40-minute commute just to come in and run. So that's really good. The parkrun community is growing.

00:28:36Cassandra: Sounds good. We want extra parkruns over here for us Aussies to come visit. So what would you say to an Aussie to convince them a Kiwi parkrun is better?

00:28:44Mordecai: No wild animals, no snakes jumping at you or anything like that, and probably optimum temperature for running, I'd say, because it doesn't get anywhere near as hot as it does in Australia here.

00:28:55Cassandra: So you mentioned the weather. What's the coldest it ever gets over here, and do you ever get ice on the course?

00:29:00Mordecai: We have actually gotten ice before. I think that was last winter. It got down to minus four, but we still had our committed parkrunners turn up. We had 40 that day, and there was literally ice on the pavement, but that didn't stop us from coming out.

00:29:17Cassandra: Wow, sounds extreme to me as a Queenslander. Thanks for having me today, and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

00:29:21Mordecai: All right, thank you very much.

00:29:23Cassandra: Alright, Ciska, what would you say to an Aussie to convince them a Kiwi parkruns better?

00:29:27Ciska: I would say it's much flatter here. There's no snags and the air is very clean because we have less traffic here in Christchurch.

00:29:36Unidentified speaker: We have really fast courses and it's so much cooler.

00:29:40Unidentified speaker: We've got great friends support each other. I would say that it's a bit cooler and you don't have to worry about the snakes or anything jumping out, so go for it.

00:29:49Unidentified speaker: I can see the beautiful landscape and trees in, yeah.

00:29:55Craig: Because over here, the Kiwis will always beat you.

00:29:58Scott Trickett: Well, judging by all that, that sounds like a challenge from our Kiwi friends. We're going to have to visit New Zealand soon.

00:30:06Melissa Erbacher: I'm up for a trip across the pond. I haven't done an international parkrun yet. Have you, Scotty?

00:30:11Scott Trickett: No, neither have I.

00:30:12Melissa Erbacher: We need to work on that. We need to up our adventuring game.

00:30:18Scott Trickett: We do. Let's take a look at the social scene.

The Social Scene

00:30:21Melissa Erbacher: Lots going on again this week. Everybody loves us on the social scene. Everybody loves an adventure, I should say. Our good friend underscore PK got amongst my own at parkrun Adventurers Action on the weekend, volunteering for the first time as the tail runner at Mount Barker parkrun, flagging at the end.

00:30:41Scott Trickett: and ruin a dish. He got caught up in last week's episode and he just wanted to experience Westerfold's parkrun. So he enjoyed a wet and wild morning out there on Saturday.

00:30:55Melissa Erbacher: Macalicious21 said, parkrun adventurers today at Mornington Peninsula parkrun love a little parkrun tourism.

00:31:04Scott Trickett: Oscar the Hound has got an Instagram account. He's a greyhound who loves parkrun. With his best Labrador friend. Very cute.

00:31:15Melissa Erbacher: Heather's.happysnap said, A wonderful end to the Tamworth Tri Club season with my fastest parkrun all year this morning, followed by a 30-second PB in the Twilight Triathlon. The night was topped off at the presentation dinner where I received an award voucher for having the best tri suit. Great job, Heather.

00:31:35Scott Trickett: And wrapping it up on Instagram, the Bunyaville trail runners went mad. tagging us in a bunch of photos where they're enjoying the trails, jumping over some small creeks and splashing in paddles. Looked like fun.

00:31:50Melissa Erbacher: Looked like they had a great time. Would love to check out Bunyaville parkrun sometime soon. On Facebook we have some friends at New Farm parkrun who shared our page, both Facebook and Twitter actually, and Thank you very much, Newfound parkrun, for spreading the parkrun adventurers' love.

00:32:11Scott Trickett: And also Rowan Durant was on Facebook, and he said they may take away our sunshine, but they can never take away our freedom. Runs. And he hashtagged the parkrun adventurers in his post. So don't just leave it all on Instagram. Go crazy on Facebook. Hashtags work there too. We will find them.

00:32:33Melissa Erbacher: They do. And Shell Harbour parkrun was another one with a stunning pic of the sun rising over their course. Come on down Shell Harbour parkrunners. Perfect conditions. Hashtag parkrun Adventurers.

00:32:47Scott Trickett: We've got a lot of support from Shell Harbour. Thank you. And I want a quick mention to our iTunes reviewers. We've had a few. They're all positive. They're all five stars. So we can keep them coming.

00:33:01Craig: Very happy with that.

Launches and Cake (birthdays / where's the cake)

00:33:02Scott Trickett: No launches this week, unless there are any sneaky ones in Western Australia. I try and get bias. But we're pretty sure there are no launches this week. But can you tell us where the cake is, Mel?

00:33:17Melissa Erbacher: Well, there'll be Cake at Manjimup, who have been their second birthday, and their twin, Mount Barker, in South Australia is also turning two. And we've got Riverway up in Queensland turning three this year, and all of them, given the fact that they're on the beautiful long weekend for Easter, are having Easter themes.

00:33:41Scott Trickett: Makes sense.

00:33:43Melissa Erbacher: It does. Chocolate, cake, you know, what more could you want? That's it? No, already? Already. Another week over? Yeah. Now we're going to have to wait another seven days. I hope there's a parkrun in between now and then.

00:33:48[crosstalk]

00:33:58Scott Trickett: Next week is going to be our 13th episode.

00:34:01Melissa Erbacher: Ooh, lucky 13.

00:34:04Scott Trickett: Or is it?

00:34:07Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I feel lucky about 13.

00:34:10Scott Trickett: You're right. And only seven more days to wait. Only a few more days until parkrun. Unless, of course, you binge listening.

00:34:18Melissa Erbacher: Speaking of which, to all of those of you who have been listening since January, we love you. You're great.

00:34:26Scott Trickett: Thank you very much. Probably name them personally.

00:34:32Melissa Erbacher: It would only take a couple of minutes. So your little, thank you very much then, sounded a little bit reminiscent of Elvis. Have you got any other impersonations for us, Scotty?

Scotty's impersonations / end-of-episode song

00:34:40[music]

00:34:51Scott Trickett: You're trying to entice me into another song.

00:34:55Melissa Erbacher: See, you're singing. I just, it's the dulcet.

00:35:00Scott Trickett: I tell you what, if it's not in German, I don't sing it.

00:35:04Melissa Erbacher: Somebody asked me if you knew 99 Red Balloons. to save that for episode 99. oh yes i can't wait it's going to be a long two years to get there but that's yeah looking forward to it excellent

00:35:54Craig: Edmund! Edmund!