Episode 19 - Facts in a Haystack

Episode details · 188 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:07[crosstalk]

00:00:07Scott Trickett: of the parkrun adventurers podcast is ready my name is scott and i'm in sydney and i'm joined by my colleague mel who's not in sydney i'm healthy are you healthy this week i am i still don't properly sound like it but i promise i am do i sound any different coming from sydney um no i can't say that you do no fancier

00:00:34Melissa Erbacher: I was thinking higher up, you know, like elevation-wise, you sound like you're coming from higher above sea level, but I couldn't say you sound fancier.

00:00:46Scott Trickett: I'm actually here for work. I'm not here for parkrun, which is a bit disappointing. I have mapped out a couple of freedom runs. I've looked at the map and I've looked around my nearest parkrun that I haven't done yet, which would be all of them in Sydney because I haven't done a parkrun in Sydney yet. And that leads me to, have you ever looked at the map, the events map, and mapped out your nearest event not yet done yet? Is that right? I buggered that up, didn't I?

NENYD — Nearest Event Not Yet Done

00:01:16Melissa Erbacher: It's N-E-N-Y-D.

00:01:18Scott Trickett: Nearest event not... Done. Yep. Have you ever done that?

00:01:24Melissa Erbacher: I haven't, actually. I know that there's going to be a whole cluster of them in the northern suburbs of Brisbane that I haven't done, so it'll be one of those. Probably Petrie parkrun, actually, I think is the closest one now. I should figure out how far away it is. Have you done that for your home area? Yeah. have and I'm torn I'd have to get out my mapping tool my rulers and so you've got a choice I think so I'm split between Wyndham Vale and Pakenham and Pakenham's been around for a while so I think I need to pay them a visit soon okay well let me just google map this so I definitely think because I've done North Lakes I've done Central Lakes I've done all the lakes in northern Brisbane I haven't done Sandgate, but that's over more toward the coast. Yep, no, it's definitely Petrie. And Petrie is approximately 78 kilometres from where I live. So when you say you're torn between Wyndham Vale and Pakenham, is it Pakenham?

00:01:45[crosstalk]

00:02:30Unidentified speaker: Pakenham.

00:02:30Melissa Erbacher: Pakenham. When you say you're torn between those two, so what are we talking about in terms of distances? Would they be 50 kilometres closer, an hour drive?

00:02:40Scott Trickett: I think so, maybe 40. I don't think they're anywhere near 74, whatever you said. 78. 78.

00:02:49Melissa Erbacher: Which is about an hour's drive from here. So you think yours are even closer than that? Yeah, but they're still an hour away. Oh, okay. So it would still take you an hour to drive there.

00:03:00Scott Trickett: But that's good for all adventurers to look up your Nendi? Nenid? Nenid? Nenid?

00:03:14Melissa Erbacher: Nenid. Let's call it Nenid, like Leonard.

00:03:16Scott Trickett: Nenid.

00:03:17Melissa Erbacher: Okay.

00:03:18Scott Trickett: So get on the map this week and find your Nenid and start crossing it off.

00:03:23Melissa Erbacher: Well, I'm interested, Scotty. Why do you think... Why have you not been to those events that are so close to you?

00:03:31Scott Trickett: Well, Wyndham Vale launched. We had Maria and Andrew on an earlier episode, so they've only been around for a while. And they launched the week before Studley. And since Studley's launched, I've been a bit busy. So I haven't made it out there. Pakenham, it is a long way away, but I don't have a great excuse for not visiting them.

00:03:48Melissa Erbacher: See, mine is a little bit more strategic than that. I feel like if I'm going to travel for a parkrun, then... I should really travel for it and these ones are my closest ones so I'm kind of like keeping them until I really need to get to another event that I haven't done yet but they're my because they're close it's just like yeah I don't want to use up all my really close ones it's like a chess game you know yeah I'm it's just like I'm saving them because they're closer so I know that I can I can drive two hours or two and a half hours or three hours on a parkrun morning and get someplace that is a little bit further away. So I'm more inclined to do that than I am to go to a place that's closer, which I know doesn't make a lot of sense.

00:04:37Scott Trickett: No, it makes perfect sense. I get it. You just want to catch me on the most events list. I get it too.

00:04:43Melissa Erbacher: Well, and I don't have a lot of free weekends lately, so they're all allocated for a few months out in advance now.

00:04:52Scott Trickett: Have you ever been down to Fingal Bay parkrun?

00:04:55Melissa Erbacher: I haven't. Would have been good to go there last weekend, though.

00:04:58Scott Trickett: Wouldn't it? Because Colleen O'Shea became the oldest female parkrunner in the world to complete 100 runs. Colleen's 86.

00:05:08Melissa Erbacher: And from what I understand, the next woman behind her is quite far behind her as well in those stakes. Nowhere near their 100 runs.

00:05:21Scott Trickett: So she joins Norm, who we had on in episode two, I recall.

00:05:26Melissa Erbacher: Oh, you've got a good memory. It was very early.

00:05:28Scott Trickett: Yeah, we're keeping up a good tradition here in Australia of longevity and parkrunning. So our Aussie runners just don't give up. Good on them.

00:05:39Melissa Erbacher: We are world leaders. And now we're headed back to North Queensland because we've been away from North Queensland for a really long time on the parkrun Adventurers podcast. And we're joined now with Tracey Cullen, the event director at Riverway parkrun. Welcome to the parkrun Adventurers, Tracy.

Meet the ED / Event Director interview — Tracey Cullen, Riverway parkrun

00:06:04Tracey Cullen: Thank you. Hello, everybody.

00:06:07Melissa Erbacher: Now, Tracy, you are... are actually coming to us over the sound waves tonight with an injury. Can you tell us what happened?

00:06:15Tracey Cullen: Yep, this is true. I have broken my toe and I now have a lovely moon boot for the next couple of weeks to help with it because there's nothing else they can do for a broken toe.

00:06:32Melissa Erbacher: Which toe is it? It's my big toe.

00:06:35Mary: Yep.

00:06:36Melissa Erbacher: Damn. And okay, so how did this injury occur? It's ridiculous.

00:06:41Tracey Cullen: It's not very exciting to be honest. It is a running injury. Yesterday for Mother's Day, the phone was ringing at dinner time and I got up. I was so excited that the phone was ringing for me. I ran to the phone and I tripped over a slit across the floor on my hip and didn't get to the phone on time. Damn. Yeah, I got up. I thought my hips really sore and I didn't even know that I'd done anything to my toe until a little while later when it became very, very apparent that it was not okay. So yeah, ended up in hospital on Mother's Day and got myself a lovely boot. Not quite the ones you can buy in Sydney though, Scott.

00:07:30Scott Trickett: That's good. So this means you're off running, which means you'll be volunteering, I imagine.

00:07:36Tracey Cullen: Well, yes, I do volunteer more than what I run. But yes, I will have to be slowly getting back into it. They didn't actually tell me how long it takes to recover from a toe, a broken toe, but they did just say to stay off it for a week. So I don't really know how much longer it's going to take than that to probably recover. Probably six weeks, I guess, but I'm sure I'll be getting active before then.

00:08:02Scott Trickett: Well, this is where I was leading because I looked up your stats and you're correct. You've done more volunteering than running. So Riverway has been around for three years. Tell us why you've, do you just love volunteering?

00:08:16Tracey Cullen: Okay, this is, yeah, I do actually. We do have a great, a great group of run directors and I think it just takes time when you first start a parkrun to get a core group together. So I think I did most of my volunteering probably in the first year and then after that it, yeah, it slowed off a bit. I think it just all depends. Everybody sort of steps in and we all sort of take turns and, Oh, there was one point where I was looking after North Shore as well for about six months. So I think that's where the stats got higher in regards to volunteering over that time before the lovely Stacey and Sandra stepped in. Yeah, North Shore has been – they've been – taken care of North Shore now for about a year. So yeah, no, I do, I run and I do get my exercise in, but it's generally not on a Saturday morning, unfortunately, but I do participate when I can. So juggling between kids and work at the moment to try to get down there.

00:09:26Melissa Erbacher: So Tracy, was Riverway the first parkrun in Townsville?

00:09:33Tracey Cullen: Yeah, it was the first parkrun in North Queensland when we started three years ago.

00:09:40Melissa Erbacher: And how did you learn about parkrun? I mean, if you're the first in an area that's obviously so far away from where other parkruns are, how did you hear about parkrun and decide that it would be good to bring one to your hometown?

00:09:54Tracey Cullen: Okay. Well, I was very overweight, Mel. I was 105 kilos probably about five years ago, actually. And I started the 12-week weight transformation online. And it became apparent that to lose weight, you had to exercise and eat well. And when you're short on time, the fastest way to to get your exercise in is to run basically, to burn as many calories as possible in the shortest amount of time. And so I saw a friend of mine on Facebook losing so much weight and she was going to, I think it was South Bank parkrun. And I kept seeing her week after week at parkrun. I thought, what is this? And yeah, I checked it out and then I ended up having to go down to Canberra for something. Not long after that, I went to Gin and Dara parkrun and ran that one with my little sister. That was the first time she'd ever run 5Ks, which was really cool to do it with her because she's from Perth, actually. She goes to Claisebrook Cove now. Yeah, so I went there and I thought, yep, this is really cool. I think Townsville, we need this. We need this. We really need it for our community. We really need it to help get people fit and active and to stop the barriers between, yeah, and the excuses. I think people like to make a lot of excuses. I know I did as to why I couldn't exercise and this takes away the money factor and everything. So that was the reason. Yep, simple as that.

00:11:39Scott Trickett: The climate in Townsville is hot and warm.

00:11:44Tracey Cullen: Very.

00:11:44Scott Trickett: Yeah, does that pose any barriers for people getting out running or do you have to run earlier or run later in the evening?

00:11:52Tracey Cullen: Well, when we first started, I spoke to Tim because obviously, you know, when you're starting up an event, you have to... There's lots of things that sort of go into it. You need to talk to council and think about, yeah, the time factor as well. And at that point, I'm pretty sure most other parkruns were starting at 8 o'clock. And I said to Tim, we really can't start at 8 o'clock. It's by 7 o'clock. Most of the fitness community up here has already done their workout and they're having their breakfast by 8 o'clock anyway. I know that I sort of get up before the sun. do my exercise, and then, yeah, it's really hot. It can be really hot at 7 o'clock in the morning. So, yeah, so I thought it'd be best not to start at 8, if we could start at 7.

00:12:38Scott Trickett: I've actually run your parkrun. I did a freedom run there. And that was one of the things, because I thought, why are all you Queenslanders so soft that you can't start at 8 o'clock like the rest of us?

00:12:49Tracey Cullen: So when I did my freedom run...

00:12:53Scott Trickett: So when I did my freedom run, I thought I'll take off at 8 o'clock and I can confirm it was really hot by the time I finished.

00:13:00Tracey Cullen: I guess it depends what time of year. During the dry season, during July, it's fine. It would be okay. I remember having a discussion as well and I said, can we do seven during summer and then 8 o'clock during winter and Tim said no because we just need to be consistent across the board with everything. So we went with seven. And even so, especially during summer, we do get a lot of people saying it would be great if we could start at six. But I don't think they realize that the volunteers are there half an hour. beforehand, sometimes an hour beforehand, sorting things out. And you can't really ask people who are not getting paid. They're just doing it for the love of it to be there at five o'clock on a Saturday morning. So the weather's not too... I think there's been stats done on it as well. And it's not that much hotter up here than what it is in Brisbane at that time of the year anyway. So everyone just sucks it up, really. I don't get many complaints about it anymore. I know that there was to begin with, but not now.

00:14:10Scott Trickett: One really cool thing you do have, which I discovered, is right where you start, you've got a massive pool and it's free, open to the public. Yep.

00:14:17Tracey Cullen: Yes, that was one of the deciding factors in having to start a parkrun there. We did originally want to go along the Strand, much like Cairns goes along the Esplanade there, really wanted to do the Strand, but we got knocked back and I tried a few more times and kept getting knocked back and had to look around for other places and Riverway seemed like the perfect spot because of the open spaces. There's a beautiful big kids' playground there as well. There's showers and toilets. There's a cafe. There's lots of car parking, beautiful scenery, and, yeah, the free pools as well. So there's so much to do. So you can come down in the morning and stay, stay for a swim. A lot of people do that, go to parkrun, go for a swim, have a coffee, go home. So, yeah. It's really, it's a lovely, it's a lovely, lovely location. We're very lucky.

00:15:16Melissa Erbacher: Tracy, Scotty mentioned that he did a freedom run of your course and I've also done Riverway in the past. Fortunately, I walked it with you guys.

00:15:28Tracey Cullen: Oh, actually, you were a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. I'm sure of it.

00:15:32Melissa Erbacher: Yes, I was. One of the whole team, there were four of us Ninja Turtles, um, So obviously I had the benefit of somebody to guide me around the course. And I did listen to your pre-run brief beforehand, but I was still confused. And I don't know, I think Scotty may have done a little bit of an extra distance when he did it.

00:15:55Scott Trickett: Just a little bit.

00:15:56Melissa Erbacher: Can you explain your course for those listeners who haven't been to Riverway and had the pleasure of running it there yet?

00:16:02Tracey Cullen: Oh Mel, you are right. It is a tricky course to explain, but when you are doing it, it makes more sense. So basically, we start out the front of the stadium and we sort of go around the oval at the front there. We go across the front of the cricket nets, across the front of the car park, go left past the pools and up towards along the river up towards the the weir bridge go over the weir bridge and then there's a bit there's a roundabout so we sort of go left around the roundabout but veering right and then we follow the river along the other side all the way down to um the ring road bridge which is called the Vickers Bridge cross over the bridge, take another right so you're coming back up the other side of the river now and then you take a right again when you get to the apartments following the river all the way along past the pools again and then keep going up and there's a turnaround point just after the playground come back towards where the start is and then you sort of have to do a bit of a dog leg so it goes left right right and you're at the finish so It seems tricky, but when you're actually doing it, we've got marshals, we've got chalk. But yeah, a lot of the first-timers, if they aren't paying attention, do get lost a bit. But we are hoping to actually get some more permanent signage. So with any luck, we'll have something in place to prevent the extra signage. extra meters and kilometers getting done.

00:17:40Melissa Erbacher: I'm sure there's not too many that actually do it. It's just the fast ones. I do know of one particular gentleman, though, who he kind of chases course records or at least first finishes. at new courses wherever he can travel with his work and I was quite amused when I heard that he'd been to Riverway and he thought he was coming first but he ended up going the wrong way so possibly it's important a couple of weeks ago wasn't it No, you've got a more recent story. No, this was probably about 12 months ago now, I think. And it was after I had been up to visit you. So I was aware of, you know, the little intricacies of the course. And yeah, when he was telling me about it, I thought, yeah, you didn't end up coming first, did you? Because you didn't actually do the course. But he's fairly determined to go back and, you know, map it out a little bit better now that he knows and have another crack at a first finish. But I do always find it amusing when the tourists show up, the adventurers who want to go fast and they don't either listen to the run brief or, you know, they seem to be the ones who take the wrong course.

00:18:56Tracey Cullen: We need to do their homework definitely to prevent that because as you know we're all volunteers and some weeks we have a lot of marshals and some weeks we don't and so it just depends. If we've got a lot of marshals on then you probably won't get lost but if you unfortunately have to turn up on the weeks where there aren't too many then that can happen so it's best to Check the course and, yeah, know what you're doing beforehand. Or even if you are visiting, come down the riverway before. Come down on Friday and have a go.

00:19:33Melissa Erbacher: So you've also done a little bit of adventuring yourself. You mentioned earlier that you've been to Ginninderra. Have you been over to Claisebrook Cove to visit your sister and run that course over there?

00:19:43Tracey Cullen: Not as yet. I would love to. I've heard about the dolphins. There's dolphins there at Claisebrook Cove.

00:19:49Melissa Erbacher: Am I right? Possibly not on the course.

00:19:53Tracey Cullen: No, not on the course. They go along the river there. Yeah. Oh, maybe I'm dreaming.

00:20:00Melissa Erbacher: I think, I'm sure that's where it was, that there's always dolphins in the river. It's absolutely possible. We should get somebody to verify that.

00:20:10Tracey Cullen: Yeah, I've also been to Airlie Beach parkrun. That was probably, I thought that we had the most, the prettiest sort of course, but then went to Airlie Beach for the launch and I went, yeah, you're right, Airlie Beach.

00:20:25Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, theirs is okay, you reckon? Yeah.

00:20:28Tracey Cullen: Yeah, so lovely. No, honestly, that course is just so beautiful. It really is. And yeah, I was dreaming of Hamilton Island while I was down there too.

00:20:40Melissa Erbacher: Well, Scotty's done both of those. And from what I understand, Hamilton Island is quite hilly. Oh, really?

00:20:47Scott Trickett: It is. It's really hilly. It's a tough one. There's a bit of growth in North Queensland for parkrun at the moment. I know Bowen is coming soon.

00:20:56Tracey Cullen: North Shore started a couple of months after Riverway. So those guys have been going for almost three years. In June, they'll be having their third birthday. After North Shore, Cairns started up. And then since then, we've had Airlie Beach and Hamilton Island. And recently, Mackay started parkrun as well. Not in Townsville, not that I know of. I mean, we probably do have enough enough people to, or even enough space to do a third one. But no, not that I've heard. We get, in the beginning, we started, we were getting about 60 people doing our course, probably for the first year. And then for our first birthday, we got around 100. And now we're at our third year, we're getting about 200 people doing our course. And I think North Shore are getting about half that. So they're getting about 100 a week. So... Yeah, I think there probably is room for it.

00:22:00Scott Trickett: Could we put one, is it Castle Hill? Could we put like 2.5k up and 2.5k down? Do you think that would be popular?

00:22:08Tracey Cullen: Well, actually, I know a few of our regulars that do do Castle Hill quite frequently. And, yeah, we'll have to talk to the head of the social committee. His name's Darren Lowe. He would probably be very good at organising that event.

00:22:28Scott Trickett: Okay, that'll be awesome. That'll be an iconic parkrun. So come on, Darren, jump on board.

00:22:35Melissa Erbacher: He'd love that. Tracey, you also mentioned earlier about your athletes who are in wheelchairs. Do you need to do anything different to make your course accessible for them?

00:22:47Tracey Cullen: Well, yes, we did actually. We had our first wheelchair athlete turn up. uh just before christmas last year so 2015 and he did the course and i and before before i did i said you're you know you're our first wheelchair athlete we we designed this course deliberately so it would be wheelchair friendly would be um pram friendly as well and uh i really um valued his feedback and our finish line was actually on grass and up a little bit of a hill and I had no clue but yeah wheelchairs don't do too well on grassy hills and so we've We've moved our finish line to be parallel with the pathway. And the reason we had taken the finish line off the pathway is because sometimes you can't tell who is a parkrunner, who isn't a parkrunner. So we had deliberately done that. But then, yeah, to be... more inclusive, we've moved the finish line so it's parallel to the pathway. And there's not much else that we had to do apart from that. There are a few tricky spots on our course. If there are any adventurers who are in wheelchairs, And that's just at the beginning of the course. There's some bollards up. And if you do have an athletic or sort of like a wider wheelchair, it is a bit of a tight squeeze to get through there. And then when you get across the bridge, there's pebble crete, and that's quite slippery as well. And there are a few cracky sort of gaps in the pavement, which isn't very... isn't very wheelchair friendly. But that can all be sort of worked around. And yeah, we haven't had any complaints. And we sort of went from one gentleman, Zach, coming down. He's brought his friend, Davin. And now we've got Ryan. And there's about three other guys that come down as well. They're all basketball athletes. And yeah, trying to gain fitness to help with their other adventures. So yeah.

00:25:07Melissa Erbacher: Fantastic example of how inclusive parkrun is.

00:25:11Tracey Cullen: Yeah, it's very cool. I love it. I absolutely love it to see everybody getting out there, getting active together.

00:25:19Scott Trickett: We hope you can join them soon and your recovery is quick.

00:25:25Melissa Erbacher: Thank you. One of them could hook you up with some wheels. I know. Just for a few weeks.

00:25:33Tracey Cullen: Well, yes. could I actually ride a skateboard as well Mel and I normally go skateboarding Thursday night and I was wondering how on earth I'm going to ride my skateboard with a moon boot and I might need a toe I don't not an actual toe but a toe behind another skateboard maybe I should ride an oh well you're not allowed to have skateboards no no that wouldn't work for parkrun No.

00:25:59Melissa Erbacher: And you might find you end up in two moon boots if you try to skateboard in one. So I wouldn't recommend that either. No.

00:26:08Tracey Cullen: No, I'll be back. Yeah, I'll be back for it in no time.

Facts in a Haystack

00:26:18Scott Trickett: Once again, it's time for my favourite segment on the podcast.

00:26:22Melissa Erbacher: Our favourite.

00:26:24Scott Trickett: Our favourite segment, Facts in a Haystack. It's been a bit longer, the wait, so I'm just anticipating all these stats and facts you're going to throw at us, Ian.

00:26:33Ian Hay: Lots of people hanging out for it, haven't I?

00:26:34Scott Trickett: Yeah. Welcome to the pod.

00:26:37Ian Hay: Thanks, guys. How are you both?

00:26:38Melissa Erbacher: Oh, just hanging out for stats.

00:26:40Ian Hay: Hanging out for stats.

00:26:41Melissa Erbacher: Hanging out for them.

00:26:42Ian Hay: It's good to hear, because this week, this month, the amount of work I've put in, I've really outdone myself.

00:26:49Melissa Erbacher: Undone yourself? Undone myself?

00:26:52Ian Hay: Well, I think these stats are going to blow everyone away. They're just that good. I think they're almost newsworthy.

00:26:58Melissa Erbacher: Oh, wow.

00:27:00Ian Hay: Yeah, so I'll keep everyone in suspense.

00:27:02Melissa Erbacher: Anticipation is high.

00:27:04Ian Hay: Exactly. And they're on my laptop and they're looking fantastic. Unfortunately, the laptop's not starting up and not behaving, so everyone's going to have to wait just a little bit longer, I'm afraid to say. What?

00:27:18Scott Trickett: I don't understand.

00:27:22Ian Hay: I think the analogy goes it's like a fridge mechanic. They usually have fridges that don't work and an IT person generally doesn't have a computer that works. So I think it goes along those lines.

00:27:31Melissa Erbacher: Is there something known as a fridge mechanic?

00:27:34Ian Hay: There is my father's one, so I can say that.

00:27:38Scott Trickett: Okay, enough about fridges. I want stats. You can't be serious. A stats nerd tech guy can't be telling his computer doesn't work.

00:27:48Ian Hay: Yeah, I tried to turn it on about 10 minutes ago and she ain't starting it up. So I'm still standing by how good these stats are, by the way. I'm still backing that up. I just can't really follow through too well.

00:28:03Melissa Erbacher: Well, can you sing? Dancing is no good to us on this podcast. We need sound.

00:28:10Ian Hay: Singing I couldn't do for anyone. That's just cruel.

00:28:14Scott Trickett: Well, I had a go.

00:28:18Ian Hay: So, yeah, I'm so sorry, everyone. We're going to have to wait a little bit longer. They're really that good, I promise you.

00:28:30Melissa Erbacher: I don't know what to say now.

00:28:33[other]

00:28:33Ian Hay: I think we need a tumbleweed sort of rolling past. Do we have sound effects or anything like that?

00:28:37Melissa Erbacher: The crickets aren't even making any noises. That's right.

00:28:43Scott Trickett: Do you know if we broke any records this week, or have you got a hunch? Can we do hunch in a haystack?

00:28:49Ian Hay: No, we had a launch. We had a launch. No, it was a pretty quiet week, actually.

00:28:58Melissa Erbacher: It was quieter than usual, so no. It's one of those quiet ones. So what you're trying to tell me, Ian, is that if you don't actually have your computer, you can't give us any statistics, right?

00:29:14Ian Hay: But there's nothing. There's nothing. And I think it's the old age too. I can't remember things off by heart anymore like I used to. So it's just in one ear and out the other.

00:29:24Melissa Erbacher: All right.

00:29:25Scott Trickett: Hey, but while we've got you on.

00:29:27Melissa Erbacher: We've got to salvage this somehow.

00:29:30Scott Trickett: You had a party a couple of weeks ago.

00:29:33Ian Hay: We did. Stones Corner. parkrun, I assume you're referring to.

00:29:38Scott Trickett: Yeah. You turned one. We turned two. Big two.

00:29:44Ian Hay: Two years. It's gone very quickly. I think every event director, every run director out there would agree it just goes so quickly. It's unbelievable. Actually, that's a good stat. We broke our record by 100, which is massive for us. I think we had about 430 runners. It was 100 record there for us, which is huge.

00:30:04Melissa Erbacher: Did you run out of cake for all those people? No.

00:30:07Ian Hay: No, we actually had leftover. I was very surprised. So we had a very big cake. It was massive. How do you feel about that?

00:30:14Scott Trickett: You break your record by such a big margin. You're probably never going to get back to it again.

00:30:19Ian Hay: Normally that would bother me, but we were breaking records every week. So this year I think we've broken our attendance record about five or six times. It was happening over and over again. So it's going to quiet that down for a little while. But, yeah, prior to that we hadn't broken it since launch day. So it's... Might have been a bit harder after that, but yeah.

00:30:38Melissa Erbacher: All right. So it sounds to me like you've got your own event. We could probably talk about Stone's Corner. We haven't talked about Stone's Corner before, have we?

00:30:47Ian Hay: I don't think we have, no.

00:30:50Melissa Erbacher: All right, Ian. Tell us about your course.

00:30:52Ian Hay: We've got a two and a half kilometre out and back. I actually had one of my run directors, last year we did a blue theme and that was to signify the blue stream in the middle. It's actually a drain pipe. It's sort of more brown water or anything, but I'm not describing it too well.

00:31:09Melissa Erbacher: You had us a drain pipe.

00:31:11Scott Trickett: Yeah, that's right. Brown water was tempting for me.

00:31:14Ian Hay: But no, it is a very nice course. Everyone who runs it loves it. It's a nice flat one. It crosses a couple of little bridges and a couple of little tunnels. And out and back is always fun because you get to see everyone as you're coming back and all the high fives and cheering each other on. So it's lots of fun. Yeah. It's a big family course as well, so we've got lots and lots of kids and parents out there. Yeah, just have a blast.

00:31:39Melissa Erbacher: Have you done much adventuring, Ian?

00:31:44Ian Hay: I've done a little bit, not too much. Not as much as I'd like to. I'd like to do a bit more, to be honest. I've only got out to the local ones around here, so Wynnum, Manipi, Southbank. That's about it, to be honest, but I do want to start getting out further. I've got a young family, so I find it hard to get out sometimes. My wife also works on a Saturday, so it makes it even harder to go too far astray. But, yeah, no, we would like to be more of a tourist soon.

00:32:12Melissa Erbacher: That's something you guys had the whole of the South Bank parkrun event crew looking after your event on your birthday. Is that correct?

00:32:21Ian Hay: Thank you for reminding me of that. Yes, they certainly did. We got spoiled. They came down and they looked after it. which I'm actually very grateful for that we did have such big numbers for South Bank. I think it was an easy morning for them. So 430 parkrunners was probably a walk in the park for South Bank. So, yes, they kindly came out and took over every volunteer spot for us. All us RDs got to go out and run together in tutus. So we had a great time.

00:32:47Melissa Erbacher: They didn't confuse any of your runners when they told them to cross over the Go Between Bridge or the Goodwill Bridge?

00:32:52Ian Hay: And there was no stairs as well. I think that shocked them, so... But, yes, we were very spoiled. I think we're a little bit nervous about returning the favour in the future. For those who don't know South Bank, you can certainly get up into the high 600s and higher on anniversaries. So, yeah.

00:33:09Scott Trickett: Well, didn't last anniversary South Bank tried to break the Australian record? I'm sure they hit in excess of 900.

00:33:16Ian Hay: 998.

00:33:16Melissa Erbacher: Wow, that's just amazing.

00:33:19Ian Hay: That's huge.

00:33:21Scott Trickett: That's a great stat too, Mel.

00:33:25Ian Hay: You're putting me to shame here.

00:33:29Melissa Erbacher: It's possibly the only statistic that I will ever contribute to the show, so you're welcome.

Junior roving adventurer report — Zara Curtis at Altona Beach parkrun

00:33:43Zara Curtis: Morning, this is Zara Curtis reporting for parkrun Adventurers, enjoying Altona Beach parkrun's first birthday. Chatting to parkrun Adventurer. My name's Wendy. How did you go this morning? I had a great run.

00:33:56Unidentified speaker: What did you think of Altona Beach parkrun? I loved it, but people told me there was a hill and it was barely a hill at all. Where are you visiting from? Westerfolds. How many different park roads have you been to? I think this one makes it number 14. Which is your favourite? See, that's a really hard question because you told me before we started this interview I wasn't allowed to say Westerfolds. And so I'm trying really hard to think. But I did love this one and I did love Inverloch. Maybe it's the water. What's the best thing about parkrun? The people.

00:34:28Zara Curtis: Thanks very much. That's a wrap from Altona. Next stop, Portland. parkrun launch May 21st.

00:34:35Scott Trickett: And we've got another new junior adventurer. Zara has joined our, what's a collective group of roving adventurers called? An avalanche. She's joined our avalanche of junior roving adventurers. So thanks, Zara. I'm already looking forward to her report from Portland in a couple of weeks' time. We also had Jeremy Savage reporting from a visit. He was adventuring over here. down at Geelong for the weekend. Take it away, Jez.

Roving adventurer report — Jeremy Savage at Balyang Sanctuary parkrun

00:35:07Jeremy Savage: So this is the Western Australian correspondent, Jeremy Savage, reporting in from the stunning Balyang Sanctuary parkrun. I'm here with... Dale. And I'm here with... Mary. Who are parkrun adventurers. Dale is the event director from Balyang Sanctuary, and Mary is from Ballarat. So... Today is not what I expected. It's actually a beautifully sunny day here in Balyang Sanctuary. I believe it's absolutely teeming with rain back home in Perth, so ha-ha for me. Dale, how long have you been event director at Balyang Sanctuary for?

00:35:44Dale: I was part of the group that first set up the event, but I guess I've been the event director for two and a bit years now. So I was a bit of a run director the whole time, but just took over from the original guys that set up, or I was assisted setting up, back when we launched in 2012. And I believe today was a significant run for you today. Yeah, I finally did my 100. So it's taken me a fair while to get there, but finally did it. So I think I've come in 100th position as well. So pretty happy about that. We'll wait until we get the results though. So yeah, good day.

00:36:20Jeremy Savage: So it's always significant when the event teams get their milestone shirt. So congratulations, Dale. Welcome to the 100 Club. Mary, you're from Ballarat. How did you find today's parkrun?

00:36:31Mary: It was good. Thanks, yeah. I really enjoyed it.

00:36:34Jeremy Savage: Was today your first run at Balyang Sanctuary or have you been here before?

00:36:37Mary: I think this is my third.

00:36:39Jeremy Savage: On a scale, how does it compare? I mean, I've never been to Ballarat. So how's Ballarat compared to Balyang Sanctuary?

00:36:46Mary: I probably enjoy it here more. It's a bit more scenic. Ballarat's a flat two laps, yeah. So this is, yeah, more scenic, I think.

00:36:58Jeremy Savage: Balyang Sanctuary is not a flat 2.5km out and back, so it seems to be majority downhill on the way out and then you turn around the garden bed and then run 2.5km. And it seems uphill all the way down. Is that right? Is it really uphill all the way?

00:37:15Dale: Uh... To be honest, I'm not sure, but it's fairly flat, you're not... I mean, the river doesn't... You are running upstream on the Merritt River, so I suppose it probably... I would have thought it might have went up, and then you're coming back down a little bit, maybe.

00:37:30Jeremy Savage: Well, it is a beautiful course. It's undulating. Well, I'm going to say it's fun-dulating. Do need to work on your high fives though, guys. I did feel like the village idiot handing out high fives and getting lots of strange puzzled looks like, what are you talking about, you freak?

00:37:47Dale: Yes, well, I would say, well, I believe our course is... There's a lot of runners at our course, I guess. A lot of people... I do enjoy the running, I guess, rather than the social aspect. A dedicated group, I suppose, at the back that bring up the rear that are certainly more of a social walkers and runners. But, yeah, there's a strong contingent that are out there to set good times, I guess.

00:38:11Jeremy Savage: Okay, so if there was a perfect parkrun course, I would say this is definitely up there in my top, probably top 25 of what I would consider a perfect course. Thanks, guys. Enjoy the sunshine.

00:38:22Scott Trickett: Thank you.

00:38:23Jeremy Savage: Thank you.

00:38:24Scott Trickett: Thank you WA correspondent Jeremy Savage and congratulations to Dale completing his 100th run on the weekend. We had some follow on from our Red Shirt Challenge from last week. On Facebook Gary Nisbet and Melissa Ellis contributed a couple of photos where they continued the Red Shirt Challenge. Thanks guys. We also had a contribution from TOC, who was in the nation's capital for a bit of parkrun tourism. Or was he parkrun adventuring?

Red Shirt Challenge follow-up

Social adventurers / social media round-up

00:38:56Melissa Erbacher: I would say he was adventuring. He's an adventurer, Tok. And Tok, if you're listening, and we know you are, now's the time to run faster for the rest of the podcast, all right?

00:39:06Scott Trickett: On Instagram, one of our keen listeners, Mama of Hope, recently ventured over to London to compete in the London Marathon. And she's also now in Paris, enjoying a holiday over there. And like all good parkrun adventurers, she's visiting her local parkrun on Saturday mornings.

00:39:26Melissa Erbacher: She did Paris parkrun last weekend. Did she? She did. It was beautiful. Well, it looks beautiful from the photos. And not to mention... the gorgeousness of Paris, but she was also the first female over the finish line. I believe there was about 20 runners altogether, most of them adventurers from various places, but I would totally own that. If I was the first finisher anywhere in my gender or age category, I'd be all over that.

00:39:57Dale: So well done, Sally.

00:39:59Scott Trickett: There's only 20 runners at Paris parkrun?

00:40:02Melissa Erbacher: Last weekend. I'm not sure how they do on average. We should look that up. But, you know, not only a fantastic place to go for an adventure, but you get a low finish number as well.

00:40:15Scott Trickett: You need to get there soon, though.

00:40:17Melissa Erbacher: Yes, before it just gets absolutely massive and everyone realises it's there.

Launches and anniversaries / Where's the cake?

00:40:22Scott Trickett: We have one launch this week in parkrun Australia. The Entrance is coming to New South Wales on the central coast up there. They've got a 7am start for those who are heading to the launch, not a usual 8 o'clock start. If you get there at 8 o'clock, you've missed it. So good luck to everyone involved with the entrance. Where's the cake?

00:40:46Melissa Erbacher: The cake this weekend is in New South Wales and Queensland again. So Curl Curl are having their third anniversary, which I understand is it Caped Crusaders? Is that the theme?

00:40:58Scott Trickett: Yeah, another name for superheroes.

00:41:03Melissa Erbacher: Well, you can be a crusader in a cape and not be a superhero.

00:41:08Scott Trickett: The Curl Curl Caped Crusader.

00:41:11Melissa Erbacher: And Yarrabilba in Queensland are celebrating their second anniversary with an op shop formal $10 black tie theme. So another opportunity for people to use their creativity and, you know, recycle.

Witty sign-off / the think tank

00:41:26Scott Trickett: We had lots of good suggestions for clever and witty sign-offs. They've all gone in the think tank.

00:41:33Melissa Erbacher: We put a lot of things in the think tank. It's a pretty big tank.

00:41:37Scott Trickett: So we don't have a witty sign-off this week, but what we are going to leave you with is a review from Jeremy and Kelly. We just heard from Jeremy and his wonderful interview skills at Balyang Sanctuary. But one thing they also did is they reviewed their adventure. So that's what we're going to leave this episode with.

parkrun adventure review — cafe, parking and toilets (Jeremy and Kelly, Balyang Sanctuary)

00:41:58Kelly Underwood: Jeremy and Kelly, your West Australian roving reporters for parkrun Adventurers. We've just returned to Perth after our trip to Melbourne and Geelong for the Wings for Life World Run and Ballying Sanctuary parkrun. And we thought we'd put in a few tips for people who fancied visiting Geelong for Ballying Sanctuary parkrun.

00:42:19Jeremy Savage: Cafe parking and toilets. There's plenty of parking at the start. There's also a toilet block very close by. At the cafe, we went to the Barwon Edge Boathouse, which is approximately 800 metres from the start finish of the parkrun. Following the parkrun course from the start, 800 metres down on the right-hand side. is a lovely cafe. It had great facilities. It was really quite friendly.

00:42:50Kelly Underwood: Excellent French toast. It opens at 9 a.m., so if you are a fast finisher, you might want to hang around the start-finish area of parkrun before you head down to the boathouse. The alternate cafe that the Ballying Sanctuary parkrunners often use is also called Two Sugars, which is about a kilometre away, but is probably easier to get there. by car than on foot. Now, our accommodation we managed to get, it was literally 1.4 kilometres from the start line. We ran there. There are four caravan holiday parks that you can stay at on Barrabool Road in sort of south of Geelong. As I say, 1.4 kilometres from the start line. All you had to do was run down Barrabool the the towpath of the Barwon River and then over the shannon avenue bridge to the start line couldn't have been easier