Episode 23 - Brendan Davies

Episode details · 235 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:05Melissa Erbacher: welcome to episode 23 of the parkrun adventurers i'm mel and i'm joined with my co-host scotty hi mel how you doing this week scotty fantastic always fantastic that's good to hear it was a woolly weekend just gone there were adventures there were misadventures all up and down the east coast of australia and across the country did you have any weather related adventures this weekend scotty

00:00:34Scott Trickett: It was just wet down here in Melbourne. Nowhere near as wet as in other parts of the country because we had a whole bunch of cancellations. I know our national numbers dropped in half. So that's not good. People didn't get their parkrun fixed this week.

00:00:52Melissa Erbacher: I think there were a lot of parkrunners frantically Facebooking all the different events to see what was still open as cancellation after cancellation got posted on Saturday morning. trying to do a mercy dash to see where they could still manage to get one in. But I think you're right. There would have been a lot of people who missed out this week, unfortunately.

00:01:10Scott Trickett: But you certainly didn't. You had to leave the state to avoid missing out on your parkrun this week.

00:01:17Melissa Erbacher: Well, I did. That was a little bit more premeditated than just, oh, it's going to be a wet weekend. Maybe I'll go somewhere warm and sunny. I did book the flight six months ago. So I had an adventure to Darwin. which for me was very special for several reasons. The first one is that I've never been to the Northern Territory in my life, so was very keen to head up there. We interviewed Mark Connolly, the ED at Darwin parkrun and now Territory Director for the I got to go up and meet him in person, which was awesome. I also messaged him during the week in the lead up last week and said, hey, Mark, you know, I've got these two extra days after parkrun and blank slate. What should I be doing? What's to do in Darwin? And the first thing he said when he got back to me was, well, City to Surf is on this weekend or and then gave me this massive list of other amazing things to do. But the lure of getting a medal while I was away for a weekend in the Northern Territory was just too much to resist so ended up doing the last minute sneaky registration for the city to surf in the Northern Territory they had me at you get a finisher's towel as well as a medal and I thought oh that's pretty cool but when we're actually at parkrun they mentioned the fact that it's not just a towel you don't just get given a towel at the end like you do at so many races and This towel is wet, so they dunk it in water and then they fold it up and stick it in a freezer. So when you cross the finish line, they give you this icy cold towel, which might not seem very appealing to anyone who has, you know, just gone through this wet weather weekend. But in Darwin, where it's 95% humidity, but 33 to 35 degrees, that wet towel was very, very welcome. And it actually almost made me forget to take a finish medal as well when I crossed the finish line. I was too busy looking for the icy towel, so... But I digress.

00:03:29Scott Trickett: I can't get my head around it. As we speak right now, my thermostat says 7 degrees and you were running in 33 degree heat with frozen towels being handed out.

00:03:40Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I actually had trouble packing on Friday afternoon. I couldn't get my head around the fact that I was going someplace warm and what do you mean I shouldn't pack a jumper? What do you mean my flannelette pyjamas shouldn't be in the bag? It was, yeah, it was very difficult for me not to pack those things. But then when I got there, I couldn't get the concept of why is it so cold? Why is it so wet in Queensland? This feels like a tropical summer on the equator. But I have to give it to them. The Northern Territorians, far out. They are hardcore. I specifically picked June as the month that I would go up there for the adventure because I'm not hardcore enough to do Darwin in summer, basically. And they told us, oh, yeah, we've put the weather on for you. And we were like, seriously, this is putting the weather on. This is giving us a cool day because it was rough. Even parkrun was rough on Saturday morning. So it's very easy to register for an event when you're somewhere cold and you're not thinking too much about what the actual heat will be like, I think. But it doesn't always translate well. Still glad to have done it. The parkrun up there was amazing. They've got beautiful green, really well taken care of parks. And, of course, you've got the view of the ocean and these massive, massive old trees. I guess I always think that places that are so coastal and are prone to, you know, cyclones and things like that, they don't get to have big trees because they get blown over. But they had these gigantic trees in Darwin and you'd just be running along and all of a sudden you're under this thing that's probably 100 years old and it's just amazing. And it's my first loop ever. out and back course. So it's a two lap out and back. And on paper, those things don't ever sound like they could work to me. But it worked really, really well. And it was great because I got to see the whole bunch of the middle pack, who I never get to see till, you know, pretty much the turnaround point of halfway I got to see them at you know 700 meters or something because they would already turn around and coming back to me so it was really good great atmosphere volunteers were awesome couldn't have asked for a better morning very glad that I didn't have my event cancelled on parkrun day this week was there any sneaky reveals on the parkrun course yeah I I wouldn't call it a sneaky reveal. It was close. It was enough to stop me in my tracks and make me take a photo of the view. So it would be almost a sneaky reveal. There's a view out over the, well, I guess, do you call it a bay? I don't know. Over the water anyway, and it was stunning.

00:06:28Scott Trickett: What about crocodiles or tanks?

00:06:33Melissa Erbacher: Tanks, I didn't see any tanks. There were crocodiles, but the only ones I saw were behind a lot of Perspex glass in crocodile tanks, as opposed to the army kind. I was happy to see those there, although I did hold a crocodile. His name was Fluffy. He had his nose taped shut so he couldn't bite me, which I was grateful for. And he was really soft on his belly. He was really soft. So I have now held and patted a crocodile, a saltwater crocodile.

00:07:08Scott Trickett: Was he Fluffy on the belly?

00:07:12Melissa Erbacher: No, he wasn't Fluffy. That was just his name. His name was Fluffy. I think it's a popular name for crocodiles. And he was just a baby one.

00:07:20Scott Trickett: Sounds like a great adventure. It also had another significance for you.

00:07:26Melissa Erbacher: It did.

00:07:27Scott Trickett: Announce it.

00:07:28Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, you do it because then it's not so embarrassing for me.

00:07:32Scott Trickett: Because you entered a club, the 10th person in the entire world to enter that club. You are now a member of the Peel Club, which explain exactly what the Peel Club is for those that don't know.

00:07:45Melissa Erbacher: I think we may have hinted at it before, but we haven't ever explained what the Peel Club is. So the Peel Club is for parkrunners who have completed a parkrun event in every state and territory in Australia. So yeah, it's been a long-term goal of mine for a good long while now. And I've smashed a few different states this year to finally get there. It's been a little bit worrying the last few weeks because we've had, I think, three different people, no, four different people, including myself, enter the Peel Club in 2016. So it was originally started by Brendan Peel after who it's named, or he didn't start it. It just got named because he was the first person to do it. When he finished, he completed his last event in Queensland, actually. in April 2014. So he was closely followed by Alan and Rasheen Burrell, just a couple of months later, who did their last event in the Northern Territory. And then we didn't have anybody else in 2014. It wasn't until Dave Robbo in February 2015 got a bit around that we had some more entrants. And Tim himself, Oberg, joined in August that year as well. And yeah, this year we've had a few people join. Jenny Quigley, Richard Miles and Carol Cunningham. And as those people have all been joining, and as I've been getting closer, I've been keeping an eye on the actual Peel Club to see, you know, if I could make it to the top 10. And I'm not competitive in terms of being fast or anything like that. I don't compare myself to other runners. But when it started getting close, I really, really wanted to be in the top 10. So very, very excited that I made it. And it was a brilliant weekend in Darwin altogether. Everyone up there is so friendly and so lovely. And there was just a really, a really, what's the, it's a vibe of goodwill basically, I think. So I'm a bit in love with Darwin and the Northern Territory and I can't wait to go back.

00:10:02Scott Trickett: You were lucky enough to catch up with a couple of them Should we have a quick listen to them?

00:10:07Melissa Erbacher: I went there with Nambour parkrun's event director, actually, Melissa Taylor, and, yeah, we bumped into some other Sunny Coast parkrunners who were up there for an adventure, completely unrelated to our own, and I also had a chat with some of the locals. I'm here with Shane and Lorraine Tull at Darwin parkrun. Guys, what did you think of the course?

Adventure recap with on-course interviews — Darwin parkrun (NT)

00:10:27Unidentified speaker: Very beautiful along the waterfront.

00:10:30Angela Evans: Very scenic.

00:10:32Unidentified speaker: Very, very nice. Good welcoming crowd. Nice course. A little bit warm.

00:10:39[crosstalk]

00:10:39Unidentified speaker: I think the term they're looking for is stumidity. Can I podcast bomb? Is that a word? Yes. Podcast bomber. Very stumid. I think I would have been drier at Nambour parkrun today.

00:10:52Melissa Erbacher: And there you have it, straight from the horse's mouth.

00:10:55Unidentified speaker: No storms here at Darwin.

00:11:02Melissa Erbacher: And I'm here with Louise, Jill and Joe, who are all locals to Darwin parkrun. Ladies, please tell us about your course.

00:11:10Unidentified speaker: My daughter Emily and I are doing the course as often as we possibly can, thoroughly enjoying it, and we find we're really good motivation for each other.

00:11:18Jill: Hi, I first did parkrun in the UK. When I moved to Darwin, it wasn't here at that point, so I was at the very first parkrun, and I've been coming regularly ever since.

00:11:30Unidentified speaker: Hi, I was introduced to parkrun by my friend Jill and it makes a whole difference to Friday nights now because I'm more keen to come to parkrun and have an early Friday night. So it's all good fun, I love it.

00:11:45Jill: Pictures on the straight and narrow.

00:11:48Melissa Erbacher: Now it's a little bit more of a humid course than the ones that I'm used to. You guys are pretty hardcore, how do you cope with the heat every week?

00:11:56Unidentified speaker: We're just used to it, I think, because it's a part of our daily life and it's getting hotter and hotter. I've been here in Darwin for 21 years from Tasmania. I think I'm gradually climatising.

00:12:10Jill: We all have crazy sweat up here. It's not just regular sweat, it's crazy sweat. Yeah, we drink lots of water.

00:12:16Unidentified speaker: And we're all just waiting for the dry season to come, whenever that's going to be.

00:12:20Melissa Erbacher: Lovely. Thank you very much, ladies. Thanks, Mel.

00:12:25Scott Trickett: Thanks for that, ladies. Sounded like a fun girls' weekend away for you, Mel.

00:12:30Melissa Erbacher: It was. It was a great weekend. We should have more of them.

00:12:34Scott Trickett: Well, I'm glad you're pulling the weight. We are called the parkrun Adventurers, and now I think we can legitimately say you are an adventurer, one of only 10 in the Peel Club.

00:12:45Melissa Erbacher: Oh, but wait. Before we go on, I should mention I actually have also come equal amount of most events with you now, Scotty. So I'm on 30 events as well. And ironically, I finished 150th at Darwin on Saturday. So 30 events at five kilometers equals 150. And that was my finished position token. Completely, completely unrehearsed or, you know, I couldn't have timed finishing 150th if I wanted to. So what are the odds of that?

00:13:21Scott Trickett: It's probably pretty high.

00:13:26Melissa Erbacher: But I'm coming for you. I'm on 30. I'm technically below you in the most events list because you got there first. You're on 90. I think, yeah, you're on 90th and I'm 95. So we're both top 100. But give me a couple more months. Don't launch anything else in Victoria for a little while. Give me a chance and I'm taking you down.

00:13:47Scott Trickett: Okay. Well, that'll be an interesting challenge. I'm stuck at home. Not stuck at home. I'll be home. for the next few weeks, but I've got some gaps. I've got some gaps in my calendar.

00:14:01Melissa Erbacher: Well, that's your challenge.

Guest interview — Brendan Davies (Comrades Marathon)

00:14:10[music]

00:14:10Scott Trickett: He calls the Blue Mountains home, but currently he sits in the middle of Kruger National Park. We're going to catch up with Brendan Davies. Welcome to the podcast, Brendan. Thanks. Thanks for having me on, guys. You are actually sitting in the middle of Kruger National Park, correct?

00:14:28Brendan Davies: Yes, that's correct. I'm having a bit of a holiday after comrades over here and we're staying at a place pretty close to Kruger and we've just taken a day trip in today and hopefully go see some of the big five and more hopefully. So we're really looking forward to it. Just sitting and getting ready to hop in the car and do some more exploring.

00:14:50Scott Trickett: So you are recovering from your comrade's effort two weekends ago.

00:14:54Brendan Davies: Yeah, I'm giving myself a bit of downtime. Still ticking the legs over and keeping fit just for maintenance really. Not really doing any training. We're staying at this place on the banks of the Crocodile River and it's got some awesome trails and thankfully the animals are all on the other side of the river. So it creates like a bit of a buffer zone. So I've been doing some just nice, easy, relaxed running in the morning and afternoons and seeing some pretty epic stuff like rhinos and elephants and lions and stuff so thankfully I haven't had to run too fast away from any of them or my easy runs would become quite the tempo session but yeah I've been just ticking the legs over keeping things nice and steady.

00:15:36Scott Trickett: How is trail running in South Africa compared to Australia?

00:15:40Brendan Davies: Oh look I mean it's so diverse just like Australia and depends where you go in the country I'm South Africa's got some pretty epic mountain ranges, the Drakensberg and that. So, I mean, that's your big mountainous type runs. But where I'm kind of staying at the moment, it's semi-arid kind of environment. So it's nice and flat and pretty dusty and dry conditions. But, you know, like it's still trail running. It's just a different form, I guess. So, yeah, it just depends on where you go.

00:16:13Scott Trickett: Have you seen any live animals? How close have you got to some live animals?

00:16:18Brendan Davies: Oh, yeah, yeah. So this place I'm staying at, it's on the banks of the Crocodile River in a game reserve. So, yeah, every morning and evening, and actually around the game reserve, there's your more placid-type animals like zebra and kudu and ganoos and stuff like that. On the other side of the river, they keep all the dangerous stuff in the Kruger. I've seen rhinos, elephants, lions, giraffes, and buffalo. Look, it's just epic over here. I've never seen anything like it, the amount of mammals just walking around. It's pretty unreal. It's just everything you think that Africa could be and more. It's pretty intense.

00:17:07Melissa Erbacher: So you did all right. You did a bit of okay when you actually participated in Comrades and Brendan.

00:17:13Brendan Davies: Oh, yeah, yeah. I was very happy how things turned out. It was my big A race pretty much since December last year, so all year I've been training for that and all my races this year have been more or less training runs leading up for Comrade so I definitely brought my A game to the table and very happy how things panned out on the day I kind of ventured off my original race plan a little in the morning but it actually turned out to be quite a good thing and yeah I finished 19th and it is the most competitive ultra In the world, there's no doubt about that. I've been to world championships in Europe. I've been in, you know, Western states and epic trail races and stuff. But nothing can compare to the African kind of competitiveness and depth of the field. You know, like the World 100K Championships has a very strong field too, but they tend just to be European and continental-based runners. Africa's, you know, got your South Africans, Zimbabweans, Ethiopians, everything under the sun. come all over the place come from Africa so it's just a depth it's so much greater unfortunately I don't think you're ever going to get a race where the best ultra runners in the world get together in the same spot you know Africans can't really travel too far from home over to Europe and Europeans you know don't tend to come to Africa too often although there was quite a strong European and American contingent over for comrades. Um, it's just not, yeah, it's just not possible for a lot of them. So, um, yeah, but it's by far the most competitive field I've ever been part of. And yeah, got, got under six hours, which was my big aim. Um, and yeah, very happy with how, how the race turned out.

00:19:02Melissa Erbacher: So was it an up or a back version of the course this year?

00:19:06Brendan Davies: Uh, it was a, it was what I call a down year, which is a bit of a misnomer because, um, Yeah, there's some down in it, but there's a lot of up too. So it started in PMB, so Pietermaritzburg, and then finished at Durban, which is the original course. And then every second year, or alternating year, they do an up run, which is Durban to Pietermaritzburg. So, yeah, this one was 89 kilometres, 1,800 metres of downhill and just over 1,000 metres of uphill A to B race, all on road.

00:19:41Melissa Erbacher: Okay, so you said you deviated a little bit from your original game plan. When you're looking at 90 kilometres, what kind of plan can you possibly go in with?

00:19:51Brendan Davies: So I was just aiming to kind of get into a rhythm and kind of take the first half, which is more undulating type terrain, up and down, lumpy type of road for, you know, around that 405, 410 pace. And then I was aiming to when the real downhills kicking towards the end of the race in the second half of the course, trying to then run, you know, three 45 to three, four minute pace. Um, didn't really work out like that. I felt really comfortable in the morning and it was very cool and expected to get warmer late in the day. So I, I thought, oh, well, it actually might be a better, a better plan to do a positive split race. So put, put a bit of time in the bank and then, you know, just try and bring it home as strong as I could and, and, You know, don't be too unhappy if it isn't a negative split. Just go for, you know, as consistent as you can. But, yeah, so I ended up doing, you know, 347 type pace for the first 30Ks on this undulating terrain. And then I soon discovered when the downhills were meant to be really ferocious, they actually aren't that really steep and long and it kind of goes downhill. Then it will flatten out.

00:21:00Scott Trickett: In fact, the last kind of 30Ks,

00:21:03Brendan Davies: If you look at it on an elevation map, it's quite deceiving because it looks very like it's all downhill, but it's not. It's because the elevation charts obviously can't show, you know, it can't be too long. So it kind of condenses it up and it kind of looks like it's all downhill. There's actually quite a lot of flat and downhill running. So my second half was probably a little slower, I think 10 to 15 minutes. But, you know, I set up my race and my result early in the race and it was a really, good well executed race because I just climbed my way through the field all day. I think I was 60th at the first checkpoint and then it gradually just pulled in people all day and got to the 19th in the end. Super stoked with that.

00:21:46Melissa Erbacher: 347 minute kilometers. I think I may have done almost that one time on a bike riding downhill. That's insane.

00:21:55Brendan Davies: yeah yeah so yeah my aim was to kind of average under four minute case for the entire race um and i did that i averaged 358 kind of kilometers for 90ks so yeah happy if it went um there's all there's you know 1800 meters of downhill so there's a few kilometers there that are very fast um so yeah it kind of makes up for the the uphill kilometers a bit um but yeah it's good uh good uh consistent pacing from an effort type level, more than looking at a, if you looked at my splits, they'd be all over the place, but the effort level was very consistent, I guess.

00:22:36Scott Trickett: It was very consistent. I looked at it. You sat on like 347 the whole way. Is that like you're looking at your watch and you can time yourself to go exactly 347?

00:22:48Brendan Davies: um no it's it's it's actually like although it's not a trail run because it is on road um it feels like a trail run because of all the little ups and downs and elevation change so it's actually quite difficult to evenly split you know in that classic marathon flat road run type sense um so i i kind of called on my trail running experience a lot more in the race and ran very much to effort um which is another way to kind of pace your race it's just by letting yourself go by how your body feels and maintaining a consistent effort whether you're on the flats or going up or down so the only time i really looked at my watch was when i was on a flat and i was um you know just making sure i wasn't pushing threshold um too long um but yeah i'm very accustomed to that kind of running because of my trail running history so i quite enjoyed it and i thought the course played to my strengths a lot um there was a lot of guys that blew up a lot late in the race because i think they just overcooked themselves and i noticed as well that a lot of the runners that i was passing were i was always passing them on the ups and downs and that's because they're i think coming from a marathon a flat kind of marathon background and they just didn't have the strength to to run the ups or the conditioning to handle the downs and you know i'm very accustomed to running downhill because i live in the blue mountains most of my training's on hilly terrain so my legs can cope with the punishment and the hills don't worry me at all. I'm very strong up the hill. So yeah, most of the guys I passed were either cooked or just not able to sustain a pace going uphill or downhill. So yeah, very, very good race for me because the course played to my strengths a lot.

00:24:32Scott Trickett: When you set out to run 89 kilometres, mentally, is that a long way for you to run?

00:24:39Brendan Davies: Um, no, um, I've actually run much longer races in my past. I've run, you know, five or 600 mile races on trial. I've run Coast to Kosci 240 kilometers. So I know what to expect in these long races. And, um, again, I feel that history played to my strengths because a lot of these guys doing comrades over here, um, they're not ultra runners. I think they're, they're coming from a marathon runners background, which obviously gives them a massive advantage in terms of speed. because I just don't have that kind of speed. I'm not a 220 marathon runner. I'm a 230 kind of runner, not a sub-230 runner. So I don't have the speed, but what I have in that race that a lot of those guys don't is the stamina and the endurance to maintain a pace for a long period of time. I've done 400K World Championships. I've done lots of running on road. in road ultras and, you know, trail ultras, western states and, you know, runs in Australia all the time. So, no, it's not a very long way. In fact, 90 Ks to me was, you know, it seemed a little short.

00:25:54Scott Trickett: It's remarkable. Something that's a bit shorter than 89 Ks is parkrun. We only do five. You're a good parkrunner. You've got a good parkrun history and a good history of adventuring. Where do you call home?

00:26:07Brendan Davies: So I have two really. My first one, I guess, that I attended is Penrith Lakes parkrun. And then, you know, a year later, one about five kilometres from my home opened up a Lawson parkrun. And I think Lawson has to be one of the toughest parkruns in Australia. It's actually a trail run and Has a fair bit of elevation gain for a 5k little parkrun. Some whopping hills in it. But yeah, I'll probably go down to Penrith more often because for that kind of distance, a 5k distance, I'd prefer to test myself on a flatter kind of course. And especially in the lead up to Comrades, I did most of my training on the road. So I spend a lot of time down at Penrith Lakes, either doing parkrun or doing laps around that regatta centre where the parkrun course is. It's a really good training facility, and parkrun was an important part of my build-up for sure. In a both mental and physical point of view, just knowing that I was quick over 5K gave me a lot of confidence going into Comrades. I broke my 5K PB. Funnily enough, not at Penrith, but at Rhodes parkrun. No, sorry, the Ponds parkrun, which is another one that's close by to me. um so i did 1609 and i knew that i was in good shape then and just knowing that just gives me such a good confidence boost and the self-belief to know that okay well i've got the speed um i know i've got the endurance from my background so i knew that i was going to have a good comrades i just needed to um execute right on the day and that was the only ingredient that i needed to make sure that i um you know that i that i pulled off and i mean from a pacing and also from a nutrition and hydration point of view because that's the other massive element of ultra running that you need to get right on the day for a successful race to ensue. So yeah, very important part of my buildup, parkrun.

00:28:05Scott Trickett: It's good to hear. We had Scotty Westcott on a couple of weeks ago and he said the same thing. parkrun's going to be a big part mentally for his confidence heading over to Rio. So it's good to hear the elites get a lot out of parkrun.

00:28:19Brendan Davies: Oh yeah. You know, you get good competition at a lot of these parkruns, so you do tend to push yourself a little harder.

00:28:27Scott Trickett: And because you're racing against others or the clock, you always put in that little bit more effort.

00:28:34Brendan Davies: And like I said, the fact that it's also a consistent course, you can track your progress over time. So, yeah, I brought my Penrith Lakes parkrun down from, So a high 16-minute kind of average to a low 16-minute average. And so 30 seconds, it might not seem a lot, but that's massive when you then run in a 90K run. You just know that that's going to equate to massive minutes. in the end.

00:29:07Melissa Erbacher: As Scotty mentioned before, you've done quite a few different parkruns in Australia, but you're in another country that is very famous for having lots of parkrun events. Are you going to do any parkruns in South Africa while you're there?

00:29:21Brendan Davies: Oh, you know what? I've been trying to, but my itinerary has just been, everything has been played against us. The first week we stayed in a little place called Salt Beach, which is north of Durban and We like flew in on the Saturday and then we flew out Saturday morning. And then the next opportunity I would have gotten was the day before Comrades. And, you know, obviously I was resting and I didn't want to do anything except sit on my couch and veg out. So I didn't get a chance then. And then now we moved to this part of South Africa up in Kruger and we left on Saturday morning. from the place we were staying in Cape Town which I had a great time in Cape Town but unfortunately we moved on the Saturday morning so we weren't able to do that one either. So everything kind of played against us a bit but I think we have an opportunity because I'm going to Joburg just before I fly back to Australia and I think we get there on a Friday so I might have an opportunity on the Saturday, hopefully.

00:30:26Melissa Erbacher: You need to be more careful about when you're planning your flights.

00:30:29Brendan Davies: Yeah, for sure.

00:30:32Melissa Erbacher: Do you have any favourite courses that you like of the ones that you've done already?

00:30:39Brendan Davies: So, yeah, I've been to a few different ones. I've been to Albert Park down in Melbourne and that was a good course. It was a nice 5K loop. I've been to a few in Queensland as well. I haven't actually raced them but I've run on them and I know where they are. But yeah, I think my favorite, I think in the end has to be Penrith Lakes. It's got to be one of the fastest parkruns in Australia. It's got zero elevation gain or maybe a few meters because it goes over a bridge at one point. But apart from that, it's completely flat and sealed and off-road. And I mean, when I say off-road, I mean traffic-free and there's no, rarely any other people there. So it's a pretty... Fast course, as fast as you can get. So yeah, I think that's got to be my favourite.

00:31:36Scott Trickett: But unfortunately Penrith are going through a bit of trouble at the moment.

00:31:39Brendan Davies: Yeah, a few access issues with the parking. I guess all parkruns have faced some of these problems. As they get bigger and more people start attending, obviously it has some logistical issues and it's just an access issue with parking. and using a gate into the access of the regatta center where the parkrun is held. I'm pretty passionate about parkrun because as a full-time coach, it's one of the only few grassroot level events around that isn't attached to an athletics club or a little athletics association or something like that. I'm all for obviously fighting for its existence. Yeah, I've done a little bit of campaigning, I guess, with the local member and it looks like they've come to a bit of a solution. So it looks like I just heard this morning actually from one of my assistant coaches who's also on the committee at parkrun there that everything's been kind of worked out and the future's quite bright for Penrith Lakes parkrun. I'm just watching a couple of warthogs dig up a bit of a ground A dirt mound in front of me. It's pretty comical to watch. They get down on their wrists when they eat. Their front legs. Anyway.

00:33:05Scott Trickett: Yeah, that's great news about Penrith Lakes. Breaking news. You've broken some news for us, Brendan.

00:33:11Brendan Davies: Yeah, yeah. It looks like there's an agreement there in place. So, yeah, good news.

00:33:16Scott Trickett: Before we wrap up, I just want to touch on something else you're involved in. You've got the Trail Kids program. What can you tell us about that?

00:33:24Brendan Davies: Yeah, so Trail Kids is a side venture that I run with a female friend of mine, also elite trail runner, Jo Brischetto. And so we just keep it pretty low-key at the moment. We offer weekend clinics, trail running clinics for kids and basically just get them out in the bush, get them mucking around in nature in a pretty unstructured, um kind of way where they can relax in nature and not feel um yeah just try and break down some of those myths that uh you know playing in nature may have um trying to just um also get them used to the terrain and running on uneven ground and just um getting themselves dirty basically and mucking around. So, um, yeah, we do like little clinics and weekend holiday camps and stuff, but, um, also put on a few little kids races attached to the local trail running, uh, race, um, organization up here running wild. So, yeah, just, um, just being, uh, part of that for a couple of years. Um, and we're, we're, yeah, we would love to throw more weight behind it as far as what we can offer, but unfortunately it's not our full-time jobs. So, We do it pretty limited at the moment, but it's all good fun when it comes around.

00:34:48Scott Trickett: Yeah, it sounds fantastic. I took my eight-year-old daughter on a night trail run last week, and she was initially really scared, but about a couple of minutes in, she loved it. You know, when we startled a kangaroo, it was just the excitement of not knowing where we were going. I think it was fantastic. So good luck with trail kids.

00:35:11Brendan Davies: Yeah, thanks. And that's exactly what we find too. You know, it might be a bit uneasy at first, but, you know, 10, 15 minutes later, they're loving it.

00:35:20Scott Trickett: Thanks for giving up your time while you're on holidays.

00:35:23Melissa Erbacher: And sharing your adventures.

00:35:26Brendan Davies: Yeah, no problem. I've given you a bit of insight into Africa too.

Meet the ED — Tracey Bryan, Aveley parkrun (WA)

00:35:41[music]

00:35:41Melissa Erbacher: Our next guest on the podcast comes from Western Australia. She's the event director at Aveley parkrun. Welcome to the show, Tracey Bryan.

00:35:51Tracey Bryan: Hello. Good to be here.

00:35:53Melissa Erbacher: What's the weather like in WA this weekend, Tracey?

00:35:57Tracey Bryan: Well, we're just about to get a storm through tonight, so batten down the hatches. I hope it's not as bad as you guys have had over Easter.

00:36:06Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, it's got a bit messy over here on recent days. Hopefully it's not going to be like this all winter.

00:36:15Tracey Bryan: Yeah, roll on spring, eh?

00:36:17Melissa Erbacher: Exactly. So you guys are heading towards your third anniversary in July with a doctors and nurses theme, I understand. And that's related to you've just recently received an AED for your event. Do you want to tell us a little bit about how that happened?

00:36:33Tracey Bryan: Oh, the AED, yes. We, obviously, Tim asked around to see which part runs had access to a defib. We didn't. And a local company, an accountant in Ellenbrook, were advertising... to donate a thousand dollars to a not-for-profit organization. So I wrote, penned a little letter telling them all about us and how we would love to put the money towards a defib and at the end we got a thousand dollars from those guys, which was brilliant. And then I applied to the Stockland Aveley Community Grant and got twelve hundred dollars from them. So it didn't leave much really to to get so it worked out at $30 per person so we have 30 people 25 in the end actually came on the day because it was a very stormy day and a few people had fences blown down and whatnot so we had 25 people that turned up and yeah we're just wanting to get our certificates but we were awarded the defib at the end of it which I shown all our part runners on Saturday and yeah it's now part of our kit And hopefully we'll never have to use it.

00:37:52Scott Trickett: You've been around for three years. Were you there at the start? Were you the founding event director at Aveley? No, I wasn't. Dave Allmark was.

00:38:00Tracey Bryan: I actually heard about parkrun quite a few years ago from my sister, who does Heaton parkrun in Manchester. So I looked on the website to see if it'd come over here, and it had, but it was over east. There was nothing in WN. I thought, what a shame. And at the time, I would have loved to have contacted parkrun and said, you know, can I help? but things were going on in my life and I couldn't. Then next time I looked, Claisebrook Cove started. So I registered, but never actually got around to going. And then all of a sudden Aveley was starting. So I sent Dave a message and just said, look, I've been practicing my 5k. I've done it on the treadmill and grabbed a friend and, asked her to come out with me and managed to do the 5K, so I was ready. But I said, you know, I would offer to volunteer. And he said, no, you've never done it before, so you need to have a run. So I had a couple of runs and then volunteered and obviously looked quite keen. So he asked would I be a run director, which I said yes. And then last year he stepped down, so I took over the reins from him. And, yeah, I'm absolutely loving it.

00:39:11Scott Trickett: You've done 59 runs, but you've also fantastically done 41 volunteering stints. Do you like the volunteering part of it?

00:39:19Tracey Bryan: I do. I mean, to be honest, yeah, I was actually looking to do some volunteer work in the community prior to finding parkrun, but just wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I used to do Meals on Wheels in the UK. So, yeah, I do enjoy helping out in the community. So when this came along, I just, didn't know what parkrun was and just assumed that it would just be for athletes and didn't really know what I was going to be doing there. But then realised actually it's not, it's for everybody, runners, walkers, all members of the community and it just filled that niche that I was looking for in regards to volunteering.

00:40:01Melissa Erbacher: Tracey, you mentioned your sister runs at Heaton. Have you had any international parkrun adventures yet or are they on the agenda?

00:40:10Tracey Bryan: No, not yet. Next time I go over, hopefully next year, I will hopefully be partaking in a part run or two, but not as yet now.

00:40:21Scott Trickett: Tracy, we're both over on the east. Explain where Aveley is in context of Perth and describe your course a little bit.

00:40:30Tracey Bryan: Okay, I think we're about approximately 25km from the CBD in the Swan Valley. It's beautiful. We've got lots of wineries. just down the road from our parkrun. Our parkrun is based around Central Lake, Central Park, sorry, which is based around the lake in Aveley, and we do one lap of the lake, then we run out of the park and run along some bushland on the pavement until we come to our main road, and then we turn around and back into the park again around the lake, and then the Yes, up a nice little hill at the end.

00:41:09Scott Trickett: Other than that, it's pretty flat. Finishing on an uphill or a downhill? Up. So everyone's spent when they're finished.

00:41:16Tracey Bryan: Yeah, when you run 5k, that little hill at the end is a bit of a surprise.

00:41:22Melissa Erbacher: Now, your course record holder, Matt Smith, is actually in Spain at the moment, recently taking part in the World Duathlon Championships. So that just goes to show, I guess, parkrun is for everyone. And how did he do, Tracy?

00:41:38Tracey Bryan: Yeah, he came fourth, but first in his age group. Back to back, he did last time as well. So he's doing absolutely awesomely well. And we're very proud of him.

00:41:49Melissa Erbacher: Do you have many world champions run with you on a weekly basis? No.

00:41:55Tracey Bryan: We have had a next Olympian though from the UK that came a couple of years ago.

00:42:00Melissa Erbacher: You've got a couple of other events that you've been to. So you've been to Claisebrook Cove and I know more recently you were at Bunbury. I had the pleasure of meeting you at Bunbury for the first time in person this year. Have you got a list of want to do events around the country, Tracey? And if so, what are they?

00:42:18Tracey Bryan: I think I'd definitely like to do more within WA. That certainly would be a lot easier. So yeah, I think it Just the circumstances at the moment, it's just been easier because I do work, I'm a practice nurse, so I do work weekends sometimes. So, you know, when I have worked, which I'm working this Saturday, I do like to get back to Aveley just to, you know, make sure, I mean, everything's fine, but yeah, just to show my face there. So, yeah, when things settle down a bit, mainly WA, but obviously over east would be great, but I can't see that happening for the next few years. Although, never say never.

00:42:58Scott Trickett: You're a nurse, did you say, Tracey?

00:43:01Tracey Bryan: Yes.

00:43:02Scott Trickett: And is that the thing from behind the theme for the anniversary in a couple of weeks' time?

00:43:06Tracey Bryan: No, not at all, no. It was actually Dave that came up with the doctors and nurses idea, only because we've just got the defib. So I thought, well, we'll go with that one. So I'm just trying to borrow a theatre gown. I'm going to go as a patient.

00:43:23Scott Trickett: Just to mix things up a bit. Yes. To go as a nurse would be too cliche, wouldn't it?

00:43:28Tracey Bryan: Yeah, yeah.

00:43:30Melissa Erbacher: You're going to go as one of those patients with the back that just flaps open to show your naked bottom?

00:43:35Tracey Bryan: Well, it won't be naked. I've actually got a false bottom that somebody's going to lend me, so... excellent you've thought of every angle literally pun intended and i've actually got access to plaster of paris so i'm going to do two um back slabs on my arms as well that i can take off obviously um but while i'm reading out the prize winners names um i will have my arms in plaster so that will be fun that's going to be very interesting are you are you going to have it all the way up past the elbows so that they're bent and can't move yeah

00:44:07Melissa Erbacher: Can't wait to see the photos of that one.

00:44:09Scott Trickett: Yeah, it's what I like to see, the ED setting a high standard.

00:44:12Tracey Bryan: Well, yeah, I mean, Dave, he's been Darth Vader. Last year he was Pirates of the Caribbean. So, yeah, I've got a lot to live up to, I think, with Dave.

00:44:26Scott Trickett: Are you a keen runner, Tracey? I touched on your volunteering, but are you a runner? Yeah.

00:44:32Tracey Bryan: No, not really. No, I only started three years ago, just like I said before. I started at parkrun and didn't think I could run and then found out, well, actually, yes, you can. I'm not very fast, but that doesn't matter. And my goal was to do a marathon before I was 50 and I did that last year and I'm 50 this year. So I did it. So I'm very proud of myself.

00:44:59Scott Trickett: So you should be. Marathon's a bloody art.

00:45:02Tracey Bryan: Yeah, yeah. So I did it and never thought I would. So you just never know.

00:45:09Melissa Erbacher: Is that something, do you think, that parkrun made achievable for you?

00:45:14Tracey Bryan: Oh, definitely, yeah. Definitely, I wouldn't. Marathon was just a dream. You know, it was just, that's for other people, that's not for me. But once I started running the 5K and then you just get, just, I don't know, you just... People get talking about the races they're doing and you think, well, maybe I could give it a try. And, yeah, you just go on from there. So, yeah, it's parkrun's fault.

00:45:41Melissa Erbacher: It's always good to have somebody to blame. Yeah. I think we have parkrun to blame for a lot of things.

00:45:49Tracey Bryan: No, it's all good, though.

00:45:50Scott Trickett: Give us a parkrun highlight.

00:45:52Tracey Bryan: Every parkrun is a highlight for me. I just enjoy the whole experience. Even when, you know, a couple of weeks ago, we were going to cancel and a few of the northern suburbs parkruns did cancel. And our new RD wasn't sure what to do and I wasn't actually going to go that day. But I jumped in the car and came and gave her some support. I said, you know, I think we'll be fine. And 12 people turned up. We all got absolutely soaked, but it was fantastic. So I would say that was pretty good, even though we got wet.

00:46:27Scott Trickett: It was wet over here on the weekend, and naturally enough, the numbers dropped. But, you know, we were all huddled around our little shelter, and I think we got all a little bit closer. Numbers were down, but it was a fantastic morning.

00:46:40Tracey Bryan: Yeah. No, it is. It doesn't matter really how many numbers you get or how many people you get. I think, yeah, just the whole experience is good. But our numbers are not very big anyway. We're lucky if we get 60, 70 people, and that's fine by me. We're getting some new people every week, so that's good. And now, obviously, there are a lot more parkruns, people sort of leaving hours and going to ones maybe that are a bit nearer to them, and that's absolutely fine. But I like the low numbers. It's easy to manage, and we all get to know each other, so I think that's really good.

00:47:17Scott Trickett: Well, you've been on the podcast now, so prepare yourselves for an influx of new parkrunners descending on Averley. We'll be ready. Tracey, it's been great to catch up with you and venture over to WA again. Thanks for coming on the podcast. Thank you very much.

Roving Adventurer report — Paul Kitching at the West Beach parkrun launch (SA)

00:47:46[music]

00:47:46Paul Kitching: G'day Scott and Mel, this is Paul Kitching or PK doing a bit of roving reporting for the parkrun Adventurers podcast coming to you from sunny South Australia this morning and we're out here at West Beach for the launch of the West Beach parkrun, fantastic, so good to have more parkruns in South Australia and a beautiful day down here on the beach as the name suggests, yeah anyway we're actually on the course now, we are We've already taken off and been walking for a bit. I'm actually walking today with the family. Yeah, and it's a great course. It leads from a reserve right on the beach. You head along a bit through some sand dunes on a path, and then, Scott, you'll be very pleased to know, we go over a bridge. Yes, there is a bridge on the West Beach parkrun, so you definitely have to put it on your list, mate. We then head under the bridge and up Linear Park. So Linear Park... Up the Torrens. For those people that know Adelaide, they head up the Torrens. So it's the end or the start of the Torrens. And you go along and we've just gone past some horses out for their morning exercise. And, yeah, so it's an out-and-back course out along the Linear Park. And this is actually the third parkrun in Adelaide that's on the Linear Park. Anyway, we'll come back a bit later after it's done and see if we can chat to some of the people behind parkrun. Okay, we've finished the course and it's fantastic, a really nice way to end when you come through and you see the beach and you think, yep, I might have a swim after all that. But we're here at the end of the launch of the West Beach parkrun and I'm with Camilla and Angela and some pretty important people that have helped get this parkrun happening here at West Beach. So I'm just going to have a quick chat with Camilla and find out what it is that she does so well for everyone in the local region here.

00:49:41Camilla: So I work with children and families in the city of Charles Sturt, encouraging a healthy lifestyle. And this is one really great way to set a culture of being active and enjoying the beautiful open spaces that we have in Charles Sturt.

00:49:52Paul Kitching: Fantastic. Thanks, Camilla. And Camilla is also representing Opal, I think it is, which is...

00:50:02Camilla: you know, around concerns with the rising levels of childhood obesity and diabetes and things like that, but obviously being active and eating well has so many other benefits. You know, it brings people together, it gets the community to know each other, and this is just lovely to see so many people out here today.

00:50:17Paul Kitching: Isn't it great?

00:50:18Camilla: Enjoying an active lifestyle, yes.

00:50:20Paul Kitching: Yeah, absolutely, Camilla, and that's exactly what parkrun does, is we, as all of us who love it, know it well, and so it's just great to have yet another parkrun here in Adelaide, or in South Australia, I should say, and also we managed to score an Opal Water bottles. Water, the original cool drink. And I'll be using this at all my future parkruns, so thank you. That's great. Thank you so much, Camilla. I've now got Angela Evans, who's the Mayor of the City of Charles Sturt. Is that right, Angela? Yeah, that's right. Thank you so much for your support. It's very important that we have the councils on board, and you've been a massive supporter, I understand.

00:50:48Angela Evans: Well, it's our pleasure. And in addition to that, I'm really impressed by the turnout that we've got here today. There are people here from all over Australia, in fact. who are having an absolute ball and the energy is fantastic. The terrain here is a really good one for runners, a little bit of a challenge. Five kilometre run along the coast and along our beautiful Linear Park and the day is glorious. You just can't get better.

00:51:14Paul Kitching: Sure is beautiful. Councils are a really important part of parkrun. As we know, there's been a bit of contention overseas with the parkrun closing because of the Council. I'm not sure if you know, but it's... And certainly that's why John Lorry, who is the State Director, actually put something on Facebook here the other day, just saying how happy we are and how important it is when councils get behind what it is that we do and keep people fit and healthy every week. So I just want to reiterate how much we do appreciate the support of the council. You're very welcome.

00:51:43Angela Evans: Well, the City of Charles Sturt, it's got a very significant emphasis on lifestyle and wellness, and we want to encourage that in all the ways that we possibly can. And this is just one opportunity of a vast variety through just our recreation reserves, our parks. We've got community centres and sporting clubs. There's a whole range of things, but parkruns is just another option for people to get in and join.

00:52:11Paul Kitching: Sure is. That's great. Well, thank you both so much, and I look forward to maybe seeing you at another parkrun in the future.

00:52:16Unidentified speaker: Will do.

00:52:16Paul Kitching: Thank you.

00:52:17Unidentified speaker: Bye.

00:52:18Paul Kitching: Okay, I've now found some parkrun tourists. They haven't just come from another parkrun here in Adelaide like we've come from Mount Barker or others have come from Lochiel Park. These guys have come from a little bit further, actually overseas, I believe.

00:52:28Unidentified speaker: Oh, not quite. I'm from Tasmania, so yes, there is a small sea to come across.

00:52:35Paul Kitching: So I'm here with Leanne and Lee, who I actually saw last week at the Lochiel Park parkrun. which is fantastic. So you're obviously doing a bit of parkrun tourism in South Australia.

00:52:43Unidentified speaker: Yes, we always time plan our holidays around our parkrun. So if we've got a Saturday, we always make sure there's a parkrun that we can attend.

00:52:51Paul Kitching: That's fantastic. And we always try to do a different one, don't we? That's correct. And we love inaugural ones, so we had to come today. Yeah, I know. Sorry, Mount Barker, we burnt you off today. That's all right.

00:53:00Unidentified speaker: We had to come to the Lord.

00:53:02Paul Kitching: You can hang around in Adelaide to do Mount Barker next week. No.

00:53:05Unidentified speaker: No, they weren't heading home. No, that's all right.

00:53:07Paul Kitching: Maybe next time. But a lovely course, though. So how does it compare, I suppose, to other parkruns that you've done elsewhere, this course?

00:53:16Unidentified speaker: The course was beautiful, running out along the beach to begin with and then down the river. It was an awesome course.

00:53:22Paul Kitching: Very nice.

00:53:23Unidentified speaker: And just a very slight undulation just to give you a bit of variation. So, yeah, it was a great course.

00:53:28Paul Kitching: Love it. Love it. Well, thank you so much for your support. And it's great to have lots of people here today for the first parkrun at West Beach. Sure is. And thank you for being tourists and enjoying the South Australian countryside and what parkrun offers here. And I hope you continue to enjoy parkrun around Australia. Always will. Good on you.

00:53:45Unidentified speaker: No worries. Thank you.

00:53:46Paul Kitching: Cheers. Thank you.

00:53:47Unidentified speaker: No worries.

00:53:48Paul Kitching: I'm here now with Shelly and Lorraine. Well, Lorraine's on the timekeeping and Shelly's got the tokens. And I reckon, what number are we up to there, Shelly?

00:53:55Unidentified speaker: We are up to 188.

00:53:57Paul Kitching: 188. That's a fantastic turnout.

00:53:59Unidentified speaker: With far more than we... Yeah, I'd actually imagine. More than we anticipated.

00:54:05Paul Kitching: And you've had to go through... And so the trials, I've been looking at the trials online. So I'm here talking to the event directors, so your joint event directors of the West Beach parkrun. We are. No doubt you're happy with how the day's gone?

00:54:18Lorraine: Yeah. Yeah, beautiful. 187 so far.

00:54:20Paul Kitching: No, how good, right?

00:54:21Lorraine: Amazing, isn't it?

00:54:21Paul Kitching: Yeah.

00:54:22Lorraine: And the sun's shining.

00:54:23Paul Kitching: Beautiful, beautiful day. Congratulations on a great course. What's your parkrun journey, I suppose? Have you both done other parkruns?

00:54:28Unidentified speaker: I've only done one actually. Okay. I've run twice in parkrun in the city, but we really wanted one at the beach.

00:54:37Paul Kitching: Yes.

00:54:38Lorraine: And because we have both been injured, we thought we'd put our energies to organise the time.

00:54:44Paul Kitching: Fantastic. Well, certainly, you've got to go back and do the timing. But certainly with the beach, I think, yeah, this is great to launch it in winter because, you know, if you get lots of people here and then I'd say you'll have quite a few people wanting to come and do parkrun tourism down here and fall into the ocean afterwards.

00:55:00Unidentified speaker: I think we will. We've got two people here today that have come from Tasmania.

00:55:04Paul Kitching: I know, I've just spoken to them. I know, and they were at Lochiel Park last week, so it's so good.

00:55:08Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:55:08Paul Kitching: But anyway, I'll let you get back to it. But thank you all. We'll look forward to coming and joining in parkrun and thanks for helping us expand the parkrun community here in South Australia.

00:55:17Lorraine: Thanks, Paul. No worries. Thanks for coming and doing a little report. No worries at all.

00:55:22Paul Kitching: It's all good. So that's me, PK or Paul, signing out from parkrun West Beach for the launch. Well done, West Beach.

00:55:29Scott Trickett: Great work, PK.

00:55:31Brendan Davies: West Beach has launched successfully.

00:55:34Scott Trickett: So the South Australians have another parkrun to adventure to. And that can only be a good thing.

Social Adventurers — social media round-up

00:55:40Brendan Davies: Bit of interaction on social media this week.

00:55:43Scott Trickett: We cleared up, you may remember a couple of weeks ago when I did a freedom run out at Cooks River and I questioned why we weren't crossing the 17 or so bridges that we ran past. Nick Bailey got in touch with me, or got in touch with us and just cleared that up. They might have wanted to have crossed those bridges but it was a negotiation with council. And they lost that negotiation. So at the moment they're just running along one side of the river.

00:56:12Melissa Erbacher: Something that may be worthwhile noting is that council said the bridges weren't safe, which is a bit of a concern considering people are walking and running across them anyway.

00:56:22Scott Trickett: When we launched Studley, people were concerned the bridge was going to fall down. Well, if the bridge is going to fall down when people are running across it, it's not a bridge I'd want to go across any time.

00:56:32Melissa Erbacher: Shouldn't be open.

00:56:33Scott Trickett: Exactly. And last week on Instagram, we asked for some commute pics.

00:56:41Tracey Bryan: And we got it. Hey.

00:56:43Scott Trickett: Chris Fraser was listening to parkrun Adventurers podcast on the train to the airport where we got a shot of the beautiful Illawarra coastline, escarpment and sunrise. He was on an adventure to run New Farm parkrun and City to South.

00:56:58Melissa Erbacher: Pretty sure New Farm was cancelled on Saturday though, so I hope he managed to make it to another event close by. There were a few runners that dashed across to Kapalabar parkrun, which wasn't cancelled, so they got some of their inner city parkrun fixed. But the weather, fortunately, was spectacular for City to South in Brisbane on the weekend, so at least one out of two is not too bad.

00:57:24Scott Trickett: And we had another commute pick from Johnsy Webb. He was on the train platform on his way to work listening to the podcast.

00:57:32Melissa Erbacher: Must have been the week for trains because on Twitter we had Procrastinations who was listening in transit and there was also a picture of the platform. I'm assuming it looked underground. That's trains, right? You catch trains underground these days in cities? Okay, cool.

00:57:49Scott Trickett: Big cities, yeah. That happens. Is that all our mentions? Is that all our Twitter mentions?

00:57:56Melissa Erbacher: That's all our Twitter mentions, yes.

00:57:59Scott Trickett: Let's go back to Instagram, where Stuart Marshall Training was back again. He was volunteering at parkrun, so thumbs up. And we like Stuart because he's one of our biggest fans because he said, shout out to the awesome parkrun Adventurers for their awesome podcast every week. All factually correct, so thanks, Stuart.

00:58:20Melissa Erbacher: Will be 1981. Got video of Josh Torley on the warm-up at Tuggeranong parkrun on the weekend. Josh ran in just over 15 minutes in the pouring rain. And he reckons we need to keep an eye out for Josh to break some of Marty Dent's course records. That's pretty cool. Course records in the rain, though he probably didn't have too many people in his way.

00:58:42Scott Trickett: I like running in the rain. I reckon it cools you down. Can make you run faster.

00:58:49Melissa Erbacher: I'm a fan.

00:58:51Scott Trickett: Over on Facebook, Ben Brockman, the ED down at Devonport, he got in touch with us to let us know that he received an email during the week and the subject line was volunteering. And he was right. We were excited to hear that news that people are starting to use the word volunteering.

00:59:11Melissa Erbacher: Thanks for letting us know about that one, Ben. That made my absolute day.

Where's the cake? — launches and anniversaries

00:59:15Scott Trickett: We have one launch this week. Goondiwindi in Queensland. Again, my knowledge of Queensland is lacking severely. Whereabouts is Goondiwindi, Mel?

00:59:25Melissa Erbacher: Oh, you're asking the wrong person, Scotty. What I do know is it's inland, it's regional, and it should be an awesome event.

00:59:34Scott Trickett: I think it's on the border, isn't it? I think it's right up on the New South Wales-Queensland border.

00:59:39Melissa Erbacher: It wouldn't be too far. I'm sure we'll have plenty of parkrun adventurers that are much better versed in geography who will be more than willing to point out exactly where it is on a map for us during the week when they've listened to the episode.

00:59:53Scott Trickett: Do we have any cake this week? Where's the cake?

00:59:55Melissa Erbacher: Well, we've got anniversaries, which we're having high expectations of cake at this weekend. We've got Frog Hollow in Victoria having their second anniversary with a Once Upon a Time theme. That'll be great. There'll be a lot of frogs and princesses and, you know, castles. People dressed as castles, I'm sure.

01:00:16Scott Trickett: Yeah, why not? It's around a marsh, so maybe you're on the right track of frogs there.

01:00:25Melissa Erbacher: Well, it's called Frog Hollow. I'm saying frogs because of, like, the frog prints, you know? It's a fairy tale. Once upon a time.

01:00:32Scott Trickett: Yeah. I'm sure that's what they were thinking when they came up with Once Upon a Time. You were right. What do you reckon Mitchelton were thinking when they came up with their ugly sock theme for their third anniversary?

01:00:44Melissa Erbacher: Well, they might have decided that wacky socks, which has been a thing a little bit recently, wasn't quite for them. So they've gone with ugly socks because I guess, you know, everybody does have ugly socks. Well, I don't, but I'm sure a lot of people do. All my socks are bright and wacky anyway.

01:01:03Scott Trickett: Your ugly might be my pretty. That would be awkward. Um, you know, you could turn up to Mitchelton in what you consider your fuggliest socks going around and then someone there, they've got the same pair of socks in their drawer at home and they love them.

01:01:22Melissa Erbacher: These are the risks you take when you have risky themes like ugly socks for your birthday. I'm sure the Mitchelton parkrunners are not going to mind at all. Newy are having their fourth anniversary. We actually spoke to Robbo about that a few weeks ago and they're having a green theme. So they might have frogs there as well. It could be frogs all over the place.

01:01:43Scott Trickett: And speaking of green frogs, Shell Harbour. are having their second anniversary and having a pirate party. Shell Harbour, often referred to as one of the most picturesque parkruns in Australia.

01:01:55Melissa Erbacher: Is that how you're linking it to green frogs?

01:01:59Scott Trickett: You didn't get the connection?

01:02:01Melissa Erbacher: No.

01:02:03Scott Trickett: It's subtle. Go back and have a listen.

01:02:06Melissa Erbacher: Okay. I think subtle may actually translate to tenuous in this situation.

01:02:13Scott Trickett: Possibly.

01:02:15Melissa Erbacher: Possibly. But what's not tenuous is pirate party. Nothing screams having fun like having a pirate party.

01:02:23Scott Trickett: Challenge to the ED Brendan there. We want you to do your presentations in pirate talk.

01:02:31Melissa Erbacher: And that's all we've got time for this week. Is it? Yeah, we've come to the end of another one.

01:02:38Scott Trickett: How would you rate this one? In our top 23?

01:02:43Melissa Erbacher: Definitely in the top 23. Maybe even in the top 24.

01:02:48Scott Trickett: I had fun. Great catching up with our guests this week. Look forward to doing it all again next week. We're sorry this one's a bit late.

01:03:11[music]

01:03:11Melissa Erbacher: I'm pretty sure we didn't say goodbye. But you can just say goodbye.