Episode 30 - Hamilton Island

Episode details · 219 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:11Melissa Erbacher: It's time for episode 30. We're back. We had a little bit of a break, but Mel and Scott are here. parkrun Adventurers are rested. Scotty, welcome to the podcast.

00:00:24Scott Trickett: Thanks, Mel. Good to be back.

00:00:27Melissa Erbacher: Did you have a nice holiday?

00:00:29Scott Trickett: I did. Holidays are lots of fun, and I had lots of fun.

00:00:33Melissa Erbacher: Excellent. They're usually too short, though, I find.

00:00:37Scott Trickett: It gets to that point. Like, at the start of a holiday, you're thinking, oh, my God, it's so exciting. What are we going to do? We've got so much time. And then the last few days you start panicking that, you know, the holiday's coming to an end. But this was a nice break. And the best bit about it was we got to do it together.

00:00:57Melissa Erbacher: There were some adventures. Yes.

00:01:00Scott Trickett: parkrun adventurers, in fact.

00:01:04Melissa Erbacher: parkrun adventurers on adventures. And where did we go?

00:01:08Scott Trickett: Well, we were in Hamilton Island. I've been lucky enough to run Hamilton Island before. You did it for the first time. First impressions?

00:01:19Melissa Erbacher: It was... Hamilton Island parkrun is an enigma. That is my first impression.

00:01:29Scott Trickett: It's not like other parkruns?

00:01:32Melissa Erbacher: It is not. There are several... things about it that are not like other parkruns but we're not going to give too much away what happens on the island stays on the island but it's fair to say it's a must visit it is a great morning it's a great setting very friendly crew beautiful Beautiful scenery. Yeah, definitely a must do. And that, for me, completed the Whitsunday double. So that's pretty exciting as well.

00:02:10Scott Trickett: One other cool thing that happened on the weekend is that my beautiful wife managed to chalk up 100 parkruns. Yeah, Yvonne. You ran with Yvonne?

00:02:23Melissa Erbacher: Yes, and Kasia. I ran with Yvonne and Kasia. So that was a wonderful experience for me. I felt very... I know I use the word privileged a lot, but I really did feel privileged to be there when she got to do her milestone because it's a big deal getting to 100 parkruns. And it was lovely that I was able to share that with her and Kasia. So... That was awesome. Well done, Yvonne.

00:02:50Scott Trickett: It was a long time coming too. We'd had like two false starts because she's had a little bit of an injury. And firstly, we tried to do it at Studley and then we tried to do it at Westerfolds and then she just had to settle with Hamilton Island.

00:03:05Melissa Erbacher: Yes, what a shocker. Terrible, terrible place to run a milestone.

00:03:09Scott Trickett: She does it tough, my wife. We also took to the trails while we were there too.

00:03:18Melissa Erbacher: We did. We took advantage of the various hills and the scenery to go look at a different aspect of the island. I'm still a little bit sore from that particular adventure, but it was good fun.

00:03:33Scott Trickett: I still struggle, even though it's July, August. I still struggle with the heat.

00:03:39Melissa Erbacher: Really?

00:03:39Scott Trickett: Yeah, I do. I admire how you guys go through summer even more.

00:03:45Melissa Erbacher: that no that was perfect weather I was impressed that I was able to wear a singlet running top as opposed to a t-shirt and a jumper or a long sleeve running top because yeah winter for me has has been very rugged up and long pants and everything and yeah so shorts and the singlet top that that was pretty perfect temperatures I recommend if you're going to head to Hamilton Island and you want to do some running, do it in the winter. I can imagine it would get quite warmer in the summertime and you have experienced that firsthand. But yeah, you're a bit soft if you think that was hot on the weekend.

00:04:26Scott Trickett: I just warmed up quicker than I'd like. That was all. But you're right, much cooler than when I visited in December last year. So we've had a holiday. A couple of weeks back, you also ventured out to Maryborough for their anniversary. Did you have some fun times there?

00:04:47Melissa Erbacher: I did. It was great to celebrate Maryborough's first anniversary with them. It is a wonderful community event. I love it more every time I go. This is the fourth time I've been. And it's just fantastic, the community that Andrew and Mel have, you know, brought in around them up there. And it's one of those events that I think once events get a little bit older, they stop attracting sometimes. the people that really need to be there, you know, the people that are going for their fitness or they've got weight loss goals in mind and they just, I don't know, they develop into events that have these people who've been going for several years now and they've moved through all those stages and they're fit and active even if they hadn't been when they started. But Maryborough is still maintaining, you know, that really... welcoming inclusive nature for people of all shapes and sizes and and all fitness levels and so it had a lot more sort of at the tail end of the parkrun in terms of the times that people were finishing than a lot of the other somewhat older parkruns that I've been to of late so I really I really loved being able to cheer in so many people who were at the back end and who were doing it so hard But you could just see the determination on their face and the struggles that they were overcoming. And, you know, it was a proud moment to just be standing at that finish line. I was timekeeper, so I wasn't finishing ahead of them. But I, yeah, had the privilege of timing them all. And, yeah, no, it was great.

00:06:30Scott Trickett: Good on you, Maryborough. Is this maybe a trend we're seeing in parkrun? We are becoming more inclusive and we're encouraging more, dare I say, regular folk down to join in at parkrun. As opposed to when it started in Australia, it was a running event.

00:06:50Melissa Erbacher: I think... Yeah, that would be a trend that I've seen certainly from behind the scenes with what the event teams are trying to do. You know, they're looking for more promotional assets to use, I guess, to help them encourage the walkers and help them encourage people of other abilities to come along and feel included. So, yeah, I would agree definitely that that's something that we're pushing more towards. which is great to see because it really is for everyone.

Roving adventurer report — PK at Strathalbyn parkrun (SA)

00:07:22Scott Trickett: Also two weeks ago, PK, our man in South Australia, visited Strathalbyn parkrun, and he got a bit of audio for us. So let's take a listen to that.

00:07:37Paul Kitching: G'day, Scott and Mel. This is Paul Kitching, or PK, from South Australia. checking in again with some parkrun adventuring. Just on our way, me and Gary, Gaz, Gary Denham, on our way to do the Strathalbyn parkrun, which is about 45 minutes out of Adelaide, into the hills. It's been a bit of a wet and windy couple of days up here, so there was a bit of a worry there for a while that it might not actually go ahead with lots of trees down, et cetera, but I believe all is good. So we're looking forward to that. Strath is one of the new courses here, or new events here in South Australia. And, yeah, really looking forward to checking it out. We'll let you know once we've finished it. OK, we've just finished the Strathalban parkrun, and what a beautiful parkrun it is. I'm here with a few parkrun adventurers like myself. G'day, Rhys. Hey, Paul, how are you? Good, mate. I put a little lazy comment on Facebook during the week when Rhys mentioned that he was coming back from an injury, saying, well, mate, you should come and do parkrun at Strath. Not thinking that he'd join me up here in the hills, but very impressed that you made it, mate. How did you go?

00:08:45Rhys: Thanks very much, Paul. It was good this morning. I came out with Dad and my son, Finn. We kept a natural age order of things going. Dad came in first, I came in second, and Finn did ninth, I believe.

00:08:55Paul Kitching: Yes, he just beat me. I just saw Finn rocking past me. Doing very well. Love it when a youngster, you know, beats you. Yeah, you've done a few parkruns then.

00:09:04Rhys: I've done, what's this, my 53rd or 54th, something like that.

00:09:08Paul Kitching: Congrats. Where's your home parkrun? Torrens parkrun in Adelaide. Torrens. Fantastic. And how's the Strathcourse, mate?

00:09:14Rhys: I like the Strathcourse. It's kind of like Murray Bridge. It's a nice out and back, then do it twice. Lovely atmosphere, good bunch of people, well run, good volunteers.

00:09:22Paul Kitching: Yeah, fantastic. Good on you, Rhys. I'll just say g'day to the rest of the family. Yeah, so we've got three generations here at parkrun today. Well done, Peter. How'd you go? Well, I know where you came.

00:09:30Peter Sandery: Where'd you come?

00:09:31Paul Kitching: First. Yeah, well done. And how many parkruns have you done?

00:09:35Peter Sandery: 101.

00:09:36Paul Kitching: Far out. This is the legendary Peter Sandery that we're speaking with here. What's your background, Peter? You've run all your life?

00:09:43Peter Sandery: No, I started when I was 14. Really? Yeah, I started when I was Reese's age. Smart move, Peter.

00:09:47Paul Kitching: Yep. We even have a photo taken here by young Gaz. Good work. Great to see you here. And Finn, enjoy.

00:09:53Finn: Yeah, it was all right.

00:09:55Paul Kitching: It was all right. It was the best thing that you've done this Saturday so far, isn't it?

00:10:00Finn: Yeah, it was. First thing I've done, other than waking up.

00:10:04Paul Kitching: Well, good on you for making the effort, mate. Well, thanks, guys. Well done. We'll go and chat to a few other crew, and awesome to see you out here at Strath.

00:10:10Hamish Campbell: Cheers, CJ.

00:10:13Paul Kitching: Okay, we are now at the after-party, the parkrun after-party at Jack's Cafe here in Strathalbyn, and I'm here with James Clegg, who's the event director. For Strath. How are you, James?

00:10:28James Clegg: Yeah, good, thank you.

00:10:30Paul Kitching: Congratulations. Strath's a beautiful course. You should be very proud. Four weeks in now. How's it all travelling?

00:10:37James Clegg: Yeah, it's been a bit of a rollercoaster, getting everything sorted out. Myself and Paul Jude, who's the other event director, put a lot of time and effort into it, but it seems to have paid off.

00:10:48Paul Kitching: Beautiful local community, and great to see quite a few people out here enjoying it. Where was your course, I suppose your home course before Strath,

00:10:57James Clegg: Um, home course was Mount Barker, but, uh, managed to do, um, one in, uh, main beach and, uh, done Victor. Um, we've done, uh, Huddersfield in the UK. Nice. Um, and, uh, it's probably a couple more, but sort of think of it at the moment.

00:11:14Paul Kitching: That's all right, mate. No, that's good. And, um, good to see more people out here. So wonderful that South Australia's, um, getting more, uh, parkruns. Um, we've, uh, we've got Christie's next week, Renmark opened last week. So, um, No, it's awesome. Strath's a beautiful part of the world, and I highly recommend more people getting out here. Good on you, James. Thanks to you and the volunteers and everything you've done. Thank you. Good work. Thanks, mate. Over and out from parkrun Strath.

00:11:37Scott Trickett: Another fantastic job from PK. We're going to start to assemble our own Channel 4 news team, and I think PK's already made the cut.

Channel 4 News Team (roving reporter crew)

00:11:47Melissa Erbacher: He has indeed. Thanks very much, PK, and welcome. Also out and about... since last we had an episode was Dave D'Alessio who went to have an adventure on the longest run in New South Wales this weekend. Let's hear from Dave and all the fun he had.

Roving adventurer report — Dave D'Alessio at Sydney's Longest Run (NSW)

00:12:09Dave D'Alessio: Morning listeners. We're down here for Sydney's inaugural longest run. First stop is Cronulla. Beautiful morning, 6.30 in the morning, nice healthy turnout. Cronulla parkrun is a mix of trail and sand dunes, so I wouldn't be wearing Vibram Five Fingers or Barefoot for this one. Well that's number one out of the way, Cronulla. Good time, beautiful sunrise. Lot of sand this morning. Fair amount of runners, probably 40 at least. Everyone's glad to get Cronulla out of the way. Now we're gonna go for some coffee and breakfast and head to Menai. Now we've just done Menai, longest run number two. It's a two lap course. It's around the big park, around some bush over a bridge, up the back street and back, and again for two laps. Wayne looks after this one, and he generally blow or dries the course, but I think he had the night off.

00:13:13Rhys: It was a bit leafy today.

00:13:16Dave D'Alessio: G'day, parkrun adventurers. I'm here with Bruce. Bruce, quick 30 seconds. Which parkrun are you from? I've come from Cronulla. Cronulla. Now, how many parkruns have you done? I'll be about 15, 16 now. Okay, now, have you enjoyed today?

00:13:30Scott Trickett: Absolutely magnificent.

00:13:32Dave D'Alessio: Yeah? Love the challenge. How's your time's been going? Better than what I expected, around 26 minutes overall. Yeah. Now, would you do it again next year? I'd love to. I'm going to do the Melbourne one next year too. We're here at... Mossman parkrun. Mossman parkrun. We've just finished it. We've got one more to go. I'm here with Paul, who's been the chief flag bearer and the most unreal host, hosting everything. So I'm going to ask Paul a few questions. Paul? Why did you do it?

00:13:59Paul: Why did I make you suffer?

00:14:00Dave D'Alessio: Yeah, please.

00:14:00Paul: No one's suffering. Everyone's fine. Is everyone sweating around? No, it's been great. It started up in Queensland, obviously, and, yeah, it's been really good down here. I think the course has been good. We have a few little delays at the end because people are getting so tired, but it's all been pretty good.

00:14:18Dave D'Alessio: It's also Sydney traffic.

00:14:20Paul: Yeah, Sydney traffic.

00:14:21Dave D'Alessio: It's a nightmare, but it's been very well organised. Our group, The Rebel Runners have loved it. You're a great host. Thanks. Can't wait to do it again next week. Sorry, next year. Next year, yeah. I don't know if I'll be able to sit down at work tomorrow. But well done, Paul. Thanks. Congrats. And we'll get a few more interviews. Yeah. Thanks, bud. Thanks. I'm here with Klaus. Klaus, quick 30 seconds. Yes. How have you enjoyed today's longest run?

00:14:51Klaus: It's been tough. We're just about to come to our last parkrun. We've done six already. It's been good, very enjoyable, very tight-knit group, about 30, 40 of us.

00:15:02Dave D'Alessio: Now, speaking of tight-knit, can you confirm or deny that you actually ran St Peter's, which is number five, in a cape today?

00:15:10Klaus: Yes, I thought I'd do a little bit of a dress-up today, so wore a cape and mask. Okay. Yep, and now we're in Curl Curl. On the beach, so kind of a bit of a beach-themed game.

00:15:22Dave D'Alessio: All right. Now, podcasters, it even gets even funnier. Because, Klaus, how did you get the cape off after the run?

00:15:30Klaus: I struggled with the cape. I actually got it in a knot. I had to go to a garage and ask for an attendant to cut the cape off.

00:15:36Dave D'Alessio: Okay, so now you went in the Shell service station. Yes. And you asked him if he could cut your cape off.

00:15:43Klaus: I asked him, have you got a knife?

00:15:45Dave D'Alessio: Yeah. Did he try to sell you, like, two extra Snickers for five bucks or something like that? No, he didn't. No, he didn't. He was good.

00:15:50Klaus: He was very good.

00:15:51Dave D'Alessio: Now, speaking of more clothing, what are you wearing now for the last one?

00:15:56Klaus: Well, I thought I'd go Ron Kirkle. We're on the northern beaches. I thought I'd go the board shorts, a little bit of zinc cream, and throw in a Hawaiian shirt.

00:16:05Dave D'Alessio: Hawaiian shirt. Why not? And how have your times been today?

00:16:08Klaus: Times have been pretty good, yeah. I was happy with them early on. Obviously, they've sort of slowed down a little bit towards the end.

00:16:14Dave D'Alessio: Yeah. Which is expected. Oh, it's just tough work. But overall, been happy with the times. All right. Well, it's been a great day, hasn't it? It has been fantastic. All right. Well, thanks, Klaus, for the interview. Really appreciate it. If you want to say hello to all the podcast fans, Mel and Scotty.

00:16:29Klaus: Hey, Mel and Scotty. Thanks for listening. And it's been a great day today. Really enjoyed it and look forward to doing it again next year.

00:16:37Dave D'Alessio: Now, make sure you download the podcast. Thanks, Klaus. Alright, I'm here with Mel, another Mel. Mel, how's your day been?

00:16:47Mel: It's been a long day from sunrise out at Cronulla, but feeling a little bit tight and tired now. It's been a good day though.

00:16:55Dave D'Alessio: Okay, and where's your home parkrun?

00:16:57Mel: Shell Harbour.

00:16:58Dave D'Alessio: Shell Harbour?

00:16:59Mel: Yeah, down at Killalea State Forest. It's beautiful.

00:17:01Dave D'Alessio: So, what time do you leave down there to get up here this morning?

00:17:04Mel: 4am.

00:17:05Dave D'Alessio: 4am? You guys are nuts.

00:17:06Mel: We're keen.

00:17:07Dave D'Alessio: Keen. Keen parkrunners. How many parkruns have you done down there?

00:17:11Mel: 46.

00:17:12Dave D'Alessio: 46. Now, have you done any of the other ones today? any of the other previously oh no this is my um i'm a virgin out of town parkrunner right that's good how are the legs a little bit stiff but not too bad really all right welcome back listeners i'm here with um what's your name barry barry legstrong barry legstrong and you're from uh westerfold westerfolds park did you hear that, Scotty and Mel? Westerfolds parkrun um

00:17:37Barry "Legstrong": Why are you up here? Why are you up here? Look, it's part of my training for Rio.

00:17:41Dave D'Alessio: Rio.

00:17:41Barry "Legstrong": Yes.

00:17:42Dave D'Alessio: Right, so are you on the next plane?

00:17:43Barry "Legstrong": I am. I'm waiting for the charter plane. It was a special ask for the coach. Yeah. Some of this interval training. Yeah. And, look, they really need me. So, look, I thought I'd give it a good stab. And, look, I'll be off later tonight.

00:17:54Dave D'Alessio: Now, you've done all seven today?

00:17:57Barry "Legstrong": Correct. That was in the plan, all seven. Yeah.

00:17:59Dave D'Alessio: Now, it looks like since this morning your hair's grown a lot longer.

00:18:02Barry "Legstrong": Look, the perm does fall out a little as it gets a little bit sweaty. Yeah. But, look, it's not a hindrance at all.

00:18:08Dave D'Alessio: All right. Now, how many runs have you done at Westerfolds?

00:18:11Barry "Legstrong": Westerfolds, I've done about 90-odd at Westerfolds now.

00:18:14Dave D'Alessio: Now, why did your mate Scotty go and start up Studley? And he's a Westerfoldian.

00:18:18Barry "Legstrong": He is. Look, he loves to spread his wings. He's a man of many talents.

00:18:21Dave D'Alessio: Yeah.

00:18:21Barry "Legstrong": And Studley is a precious course. Have you done Studley? Yes, it's a bit of a trial run in a beautiful park. Look, a man, he's got an insatiable appetite for parkrun and... Look, he just couldn't help himself.

00:18:33Dave D'Alessio: All right, now, is this the first time you're up here in Sydney doing all these runs?

00:18:36Barry "Legstrong": It is, yes. I haven't done any parkruns in the Sydney CBD sort of area.

00:18:41Dave D'Alessio: What's been your favourite one today?

00:18:43Barry "Legstrong": Well, I've got two. Curl curl here to finish is gorgeous. A beautiful flat track. Well, you're all dressed up.

00:18:49Dave D'Alessio: I mean, you've got flouro green, what is it, hockers?

00:18:53Barry "Legstrong": No, I've got the Skechers on.

00:18:55Dave D'Alessio: Skechers, you've got Skechers, you've got... I've got the Nike top, sponsored by Nike. You've got the Melbourne Marathon number, 26061, so we'll stalk you. Was that last year's one?

00:19:04Barry "Legstrong": Exactly, yes, yes.

00:19:05Dave D'Alessio: All right. And what time do you do...

00:19:08Barry "Legstrong": Do today's running. Oh, it's not about the times.

00:19:10Dave D'Alessio: No?

00:19:10Barry "Legstrong": It's not about the times. It's about the distance and it's about how I feel. Okay. And it's been really good.

00:19:14Dave D'Alessio: All right, Barry. Well, listen, absolute pleasure talking to a legend. Good luck in Rio and don't set the place on fire with any smoking.

00:19:22Barry "Legstrong": I'll try not to. Cheers.

00:19:23Dave D'Alessio: Thanks, Barry. The final wrap, Cronulla parkrun. Beautiful morning, beautiful sunrise, out-and-back course, a little bit tough, but well worth the trip down south to the Shire. Then we went over to Menai, where we actually found Menai was a little bit colder than Cronulla. That's a two-lap course, out-and-back twice, around the park. That was quite good, and then followed by that, we went over to Rhodes, and this is where we got lost, and we ended up 20 minutes behind Cronulla. The start, but Rhodes, beautiful run out near Ikea, near Homebush, Sydney traffic, absolute rubbish, but a very nice, flat, easy, fast run. After that, we headed over to Cooks River, where that's a two-lap course, out and back twice next to the river, quite grainy, quite peaceful, and I think everyone was pretty well hungry by then because everyone was looking forward to the lunch break at the Golden Barley Hotel, which is at Marrickville. After we had lunch, we headed over to St Peter's, which is about five minutes away. Did the big St Peter's run. We actually had some volunteers help out to marshal, because if you see it on the map, it looks like a bowl of spaghetti. But we managed to successfully have lunch. no lost runners at St Peter's. It's my home run, I love St Peter's, and our chalk marker, Athene, she does a wonderful job, and the chalk was still there from yesterday morning's run, so we had no one lost on that one. Followed by St Peter's, then we hit the road over to Mossman down near the Spit Bridge, and that's a three-lap course around the park and then up a hill, which is quite murderous, actually. Now, the funniest thing I think that happened at Mossman was when Paul from the cheaters group said, ready, set, go, and then everyone started to go and then everyone just groaned and grunted and everyone was in pain. But great afternoon down by the river, done the three laps, jumped back in the car and headed for the seventh and final one, which was over at Curl Curl. Now, this was Paul and his crew's run, and Curl Curl's very well organized. They had marshals there. They were so happy to have us over, and it was a great run. Getting dark towards the end, but... Really a great run. Enjoyed Sydney's longest run. Wish it was probably a little bit more advertised. We had a hardcore group of about 40 runners, and there was a lot of encouragement from the first person that had done any course in 20 minutes to the final person who had done it in, you know, 50 minutes. Everyone was very positive, encouraging, and supportive, and can't wait to... have this event back again in Sydney at least it was a little bit warmer than it would have been in June but once again thanks to Paul and his cheaters group and everyone else who organised the longest run it was unreal having said that my legs are very sore and I think work tomorrow is going to be a struggle so Mel and Scotty thank you for letting me have the opportunity to report Back to you on Sydney's longest run. It was an absolute blast. I hope you enjoyed the interviews and the characters and the people. They were just unreal. So this is Fleurot Dave from the Rebel Runners at St Peter's signing off. Thanks, guys.

00:23:06Scott Trickett: Love your work too, Dave. Also making a strong case to be added to the Channel 4 News team. Great first up effort. You must be looking forward to your longest run. It's a long time coming, Mel. It's coming up for you this weekend.

00:23:22Melissa Erbacher: I am so excited. I can barely contain myself. It's going to be amazing and awesome. With all the wonderful weather we've been having lately, I think it's just going to be another magical day this coming weekend. And yes, I cannot wait. Cannot wait. It's going to be awesome. Joining us next, we have parkrun Australia's second only... full-time employee. She is the National Operations Manager which I'm pretty sure means she's the glue that keeps it all together and keeps our big boss team in line. Welcome to the podcast Renee Gimbert.

parkrun Australia head office guest interview with listener questions — Renee Gimbert

00:24:07Renee Gimbert: Thanks guys for having me.

00:24:09Scott Trickett: It is good to have you on the pod, Renee. Last time we had Tim on, I threatened to get you on this time around and we would ask Renee the hard-hitting questions. But before we do that, let's find out about Renee. How did you get involved in parkrun and what's your parkrun story?

00:24:27Renee Gimbert: Well, my parkrun story goes back to day one, the launch on the Gold Coast, Main Beach. I wasn't a runner at the time. my husband had found out about parkrun through work it was you know this this new great thing coming to the gold coast so we decided to go along um there was a hundred odd people on the first event um everyone's standing there looking awfully nervous no one knowing actually what's going on um and we ran it and from that moment i was hooked so as I said, I wasn't a runner. I think I did my first parkrun in 36 odd minutes. Um, to me, that was a massive achievement. I'd not been running much at all. I think I'd entered one sort of paid event in the lead up to that. So to finish parkrun and then enjoy it, love it, you know, be proud that I actually achieved the whole thing without stopping that sort of thing made me want to go back for more. And, um, So we were hooked from that moment on. We were hooked every weekend. We would go to parkrun at Main Beach. From there, a good 12 months later, we decided we didn't live near Main Beach. It wasn't our, you know, now it's certainly not our closest run, but it wasn't. We travelled, you know, 20-odd minutes to get there. So we then decided... we wanted to give other people the same opportunity that we had so we looked to launch in a location a little closer to home but also there's kind of this stigma on the gold coast i think that people don't like to travel too far so we took parkrun to coomera that was at the time the seventh parkrun in australia and we started a great family friendly community environment which is still still our home run. We converted to there. It just was the right fit for us, the right move to actually go and be able to start a parkrun in another location and let other people experience what we did. I then took on the role of territory director. So I stepped back from being on the front line and had less of a hands-on role, but then being able to travel around to different runs and be there to help other event directors out was a perfect fit for me to also step down as event director.

00:27:05Melissa Erbacher: Now, Renee, you are still a Territory Director for parkrun Australia, but recently you became the National Operations Manager. How did that all come about?

00:27:16Renee Gimbert: Like most people, I have this passion for parkrun and it was something that I thoroughly enjoyed and wanted to do more of. So I helped out Tim where I could. growing so much in such a short period of time meant, you know, the workload was growing. So I'd put my hand up to help out Tim and behind the scenes was doing things to help out, looking after some local supporters. So it was at that period that, you know, I'd volunteered for some time and then When a role became available, it seemed like a good opportunity, a perfect fit to move into what I was already doing part of. Obviously, since then, my role's expanded into a lot more. It was a great fit for me. It's an ideal role and I'm sure that there's a lot of people out there that are passionate about parkrun and that would feel the same in that they want to be doing it, you know, every day.

00:28:18Melissa Erbacher: That brings us quite nicely actually to our very first question from one of our listeners. Peter Pohlman would like to know, what does your role do for parkrun?

00:28:29Renee Gimbert: All right, so my role looks after all the operations aspects. So I've taken all of the operations side of Tim, which means it can allow him to work work on the strategic side of parkrun, it gives him the opportunity to look for sponsors. Whilst parkrun will always be free for runners, there's always a cost to actually deliver parkrun. So we need to be actively looking for sponsorship opportunities so we can continue to offer parkrun for free, which is the case, it will always be free. So my role actually allows us as an organisation to grow because I'm looking after the behind the scenes side of things. So my role also helps streamline the whole process. So I've been able to implement processes since starting. I'm able to come up with, you know, like to implement policies or new procedures and that also helps our events to be consistent.

00:29:40Scott Trickett: Peter also wants to, he's curious to know if parkrun is happy with the take-up of the Allaby Gold gear or the apricot gear as our UK friends insist on calling it. And is there a top five of parkruns being requested?

00:29:57Renee Gimbert: Okay, so to answer the first question, we are most certainly happy with the take-up of the apricot shirt. There's a number of reasons in why we have produced those and part of it is because there was a need for runners. So you look out there now and at every event, I would say there's someone with an apricot shirt on or more so in Australia, an apricot singlet. So there was such a demand for runners to want to get something that they can run in. So whilst our club shirts are brilliant, a lot of people in Australia don't like to run in a T-shirt. So we've had We've been able to implement the apricot shirt for that reason, but there's also a benefit in us launching this singlet because there's an increased running cost in delivering parkrun every week. So part of the sales will always go back into parkrun, which therefore will continue to make parkrun free. But it also is a great opportunity for us to support Tribesports. Tribesport are a small business and the way that the relationship with them started is quite interesting in that they put their hand up because they wanted to help. They reached out because they knew we were having issues with sourcing a new t-shirt supplier. So by purchasing a shirt is an ideal way to support them who then in turn support us by providing us these free club shirts for every milestone.

00:31:37Melissa Erbacher: Tribe Sports certainly do a great job. Do you know, Renee, if there are a top five parkruns being requested? So I'm assuming what Peter means is that on those technical tees and singlets, you can actually choose to have your home parkrun printed on the shirt. So are you aware? Is that something you'd have access to?

00:32:01Renee Gimbert: I don't have access to that at the moment, no.

00:32:04Scott Trickett: Let's just assume. It's probably Kawana Studley.

00:32:08Melissa Erbacher: Coomera. Yeah, well, that's the top three anyway. We've also got another question from a parkrunner in the ACT, William Barlow. He would like to know what sort of things do and do not get shared on the parkrun Australia official Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages because in general he would like to see more posts. All right.

00:32:31Renee Gimbert: So this is – I can answer part of this question. But I can also tell you that this side is not something that I am hands-on with every day. The social media side is still looked after by Tim. In regards to what social medias we use, Facebook is our main means of communication, and that's not only with runners out there but internally with our event directors, territory directors. So we like to use the channels for all sorts of things. important announcements, and that's both Australia-wide and also worldwide. You'll notice we often will put on there if an event has unfortunately had to cancel at the last minute due to, you know, weather, we use it to run competitions. We always put on there our newsletters. I think if Williams are looking for more posts, I mean, that's certainly something we can look to do. But I would also encourage people to get on board with their local Facebook page. So not only the parkrun Australia page, but also at a local event level. So runs that you've been to or runs that you're going to or your home run as well. Because I think there's also a great interaction and a great community on those local pages.

00:33:54Scott Trickett: Do you think there's room for parkrun Australia to do more in the social media space?

00:33:58Renee Gimbert: I think there's always space to do more. Social media is for us, is the way that we advertise. We don't pay for advertising. We don't have any need. It's all by word of mouth. So social media is our biggest tool in getting people to parkrun. So there's always an opportunity to do more. But, again, I think it comes back to across all levels. So whilst we can promote things at a parkrun Australia level, We don't sort of mention individual runs generally. It's more of a broader running sort of communication or worldwide what's happening in the parkrun world, in other countries or things like that. So, yeah, I definitely think we can do more. But I think that will also come across more from parkrun Australia and also on local sites.

00:34:49Melissa Erbacher: Now, Renee, we're called the parkrun Adventurers for a reason. And that's because we love adventures. You have been to 40 different events in Australia. Can you give us a top three? And you can't say Coomera.

00:35:06Renee Gimbert: I noticed that you say in Australia. I have been to international runs as well.

00:35:12Melissa Erbacher: Well, you're welcome to include those.

00:35:14Renee Gimbert: Okay, top three. And I'm not allowed to use Coomera. Is that right?

00:35:18Melissa Erbacher: No, that is correct.

00:35:20Renee Gimbert: So I suppose you're expecting me to give you Kawana and Studley as an example.

00:35:26Melissa Erbacher: Only if you've done them.

00:35:28Renee Gimbert: I haven't run Studley, shame on me, but it is on my list. So I'm going to say top three. All right, the first one will be Main Beach and this is because I can't use Coomera. So Main Beach is what got me into running and, you know, it's always a special parkrun to me. It's also very close to me now and I enjoy the run. I even run the parkrun track other days of the week. It's not just a Saturday parkrun for me. It's a brilliant run. It's a mix of sand and gravel and trails and it's got a beautiful view. So that's going to be my number one. Remembering I can't say Coomera. The second one I'm going to say Bushy Park. Bushy... it was the very first parkrun in the world. It is a strange story, an adventurous story. My husband and I flew into London one Friday night, Friday afternoon, stayed the night, ran parkrun and then got back on a plane. It was, you know, we were on the other side of the world and we didn't want to miss out on a parkrun. I'm sure there are lots of other people out there like that. What's, what, was quite amusing to me at the time was the signs about deer. So they have deer around the park, which I thought was actually the only parkrun that would have deer on their course. I've since learnt that there's Hamilton Island parkrun actually used to be a deer park. So there are deer in Hamilton Island apparently. Number three. This is a tricky one. I've done a lot of different parkruns. I'm going to say Curl Curl parkrun. Curl Curl's in New South Wales. It's in my hometown where I grew up. So that parkrun's very special to me because when I visit there, which I'm actually going to next weekend, I get the opportunity to run with my sister or my dad. And last time I was there, I ran with my sister. I'm sure she wanted to kill me because I kept making her feel like vomiting. But for me, that's what it's about, being able to go there and run with my family. So that's my number three.

00:37:52Melissa Erbacher: And make them feel like vomiting.

00:37:54Renee Gimbert: Yeah. Not all the time.

00:38:00Melissa Erbacher: Love it. I love that you've got two in your top three for sentimental reasons and one for a super adventure reason. Do you have many on the list of like must-get-to-next events?

00:38:15Renee Gimbert: Studley.

00:38:19Scott Trickett: Great answer. But I'm not there every week, so.

00:38:23Renee Gimbert: So I have to line it up with when you're there.

00:38:26Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, call ahead.

00:38:27Renee Gimbert: Call ahead, okay. Yeah, look, there's a lot of runs that I haven't actually done that are close to home. There's a number of runs in Brisbane and also on the Sunshine Coast that I haven't made it to yet. I'm actually at a different parkrun every week, so I do struggle to get to newer parkruns, but it's definitely on my list. Another one is Sirame parkrun is on the high up the list of wanting to travel to very soon.

00:38:55Melissa Erbacher: Purely for recreational reasons, I'm sure.

00:38:58Renee Gimbert: Oh, most definitely. And for all the fans out there, I also hear that there's a Pokemon stop or Pokemons out there on the course. So that's not the reason I want to go, but others might be interested.

00:39:10Scott Trickett: I'm guessing you must be excited about the future of parkrun Australia.

00:39:14Renee Gimbert: Most definitely.

00:39:16Scott Trickett: Have you got anything big planned in store? Can you tease us with some exciting news coming?

00:39:25Renee Gimbert: There's a lot of new parkruns on the carts and we're at this rate, we're growing rapidly. We've got a new parkrun launch lined up for most weekends. So it's exciting that we... And not only growing in sort of larger cities, but we're growing out in regional areas as well. I would like to see more in other remote areas or regional areas as well, where it just is a massive change for the town. So a recent example is Weeper parkrun. It started two weeks ago. They had 3% of their population come out to the first parkrun. So there's 3,000 in the town. They had 100 people come out to their first run and what struck me with that is the event director was so excited that parkrun was coming to the town because apparently it's the best thing to happen to the town since colour TV.

00:40:25Melissa Erbacher: That's impressive.

00:40:27Renee Gimbert: Apparently also exciting for them. So growth is the biggest thing happening with parkrun at the moment and then As I was saying before, in my role, a lot of it is around communication. So we hope that although it's not a big exciting news, we can continue to communicate with the parkrun event directors, with the teams of volunteers. And that is actually exciting for us that we've got this platform and we're developing these platforms where we can be communicating with everyone effectively.

00:41:08Scott Trickett: Sounds good. Sounds exciting. Renee, thanks heaps for coming on our podcast. We're honored. And we're also excited for you and for parkrun that you're on.

00:41:17Renee Gimbert: Thank you for having me. If you have any more tricky questions, you can send them through and I can, you know, get some answers to you or whatnot. Great.

00:41:27Scott Trickett: We might have some, Tim's got some competition to get back on the pod.

00:41:35Renee Gimbert: I might remove that from his schedule. Pop myself in.

00:41:40Melissa Erbacher: We'd love to have you back.

00:41:43Renee Gimbert: Thank you.

Meet the ED — Hamish Campbell, Rhodes parkrun (NSW)

00:41:55Scott Trickett: It's time to catch up with another event director from one of our events around Australia. We're visiting out to Rhodes. a cool name, and also a course that I Freedom Runned a few months ago and really enjoyed. So welcome to the podcast, Hamish Campbell.

00:42:11Hamish Campbell: Thank you. Thank you, Scott. It's good to be here.

00:42:14Scott Trickett: Now, the Rhodes parkrun is situated out at Sydney Olympic Park. That's where you start, isn't it?

00:42:21Hamish Campbell: Yeah, so we start in the area of Sydney Olympic Park in what's called Bicentennial Park. And so we do a small loop in Bicentennial Park, about a K, and then we head up to the suburb of Rhodes and run along the water. There's a little bay there, and then we come and loop back all the way back into Bicentennial Park.

00:42:44Scott Trickett: Running up to the water is really nice, but tell me a bit about the park itself. I think when I ran there, I got it completely wrong, I think. How much of it do you run in the Olympic precinct there?

00:42:58Hamish Campbell: Well, we have a simple kind of loop where we start off, and so that is about a K. And so probably two Ks all up within Bicentennial Park. And before we hit the suburb of Rhodes.

00:43:15Melissa Erbacher: Tell us how Rhodes came about, because it's not where you originated. You started parkrun somewhere else.

00:43:23Hamish Campbell: Yes, that is true. I started my parkrun, well, career story. I don't know which is the best phrase. I'm at Parramatta parkrun. Back in the day when Jonathan Arthur, who's now the territory director, was setting up Parramatta parkrun, I was actually a colleague of his at a place called the Children's Medical Research Institute. So he knew I was interested in running and asked whether I'd be interested to kind of help him with Parramatta parkrun. And I thought it was a great idea. I hadn't been to a parkrun before that. I started going to Parramatta, got absolutely hooked on the idea, started training really hard to try and get faster and faster and faster. Unfortunately, I think I've fallen off my pace at the moment, but that's okay. And then after we'd probably been going for about two years, I think it was, the Canada Bay Council, which is actually the neighbouring council to the Parramatta Council, they were very interested in getting a parkrun set up. The numbers at Parramatta were growing quite considerably, so I thought this was a great opportunity. Sat down with Jonathan and said, look, I think this is great. I'm keen to put my hand up and be event director at Rhodes. Once that was all sorted, then had the fun job of trying to find a suitable course, trying to find 5Ks. We have had multiple re-additions of our course just due to various construction that's going on in the area, but we've settled on one which we think will probably hopefully be our long-term course.

00:45:01Scott Trickett: You just changed it recently, didn't you?

00:45:03Hamish Campbell: Yes, yes. There's been a new bridge put across the bay at Rhodes, so that blocked off our original course. But then we had various loops around within Bicentennial Park, but it seemed that the bridges were going to be Rhodes' kryptonite because they kept on closing different bridges or doing maintenance work on different bridges. So our course then ended up having to kind of... slot into the current course it is.

00:45:36Scott Trickett: You've been going for over a year now. Have you enjoyed the experience so far at Rhodes?

00:45:43Hamish Campbell: Yes, I've absolutely loved Rhodes parkrun. So we've had our 67th event last Saturday. And I think we've got a really good core team of volunteers that help me run Rhodes parkrun. And we have some really dedicated volunteers

00:46:00Melissa Erbacher: locals that turn up every week and it's formed a really nice community there and yeah it's it's been great you have actually got a reputation preceding you for having such a wonderful welcoming commit um community there hamish i understand that you recently welcomed the girls from the run beyond project

00:46:21Hamish Campbell: Yes, that is true. That is true. And I do believe that they've just finished their Blacktown Running Festival run on Sunday, actually. So the Run Beyond project was a great kind of project to try and get disadvantaged youth into running and give them something to aim for. So it was really great that they could come along to Rhodes. We did try and kind of make them feel welcome and encourage them on. And it was really good to kind of see them, see the project through to the end on the weekend.

00:46:55Scott Trickett: We also had Jess Trengove on the show a couple of weeks ago. And she mentioned Rhodes. She mentioned that she'd run there. Do you remember the day Jess visited?

00:47:04Hamish Campbell: Yes, yes, yes. It's amazing how someone with that caliber can run along and chat and still get a very good time over 5Ks.

00:47:15Scott Trickett: Did you beat her?

00:47:17Hamish Campbell: No. I wish, I wish. She looked very comfortable for all her 5Ks and was there chatting to people around her.

00:47:27Scott Trickett: We did notice that you do like to run pretty fast, Hamish.

00:47:31Hamish Campbell: Yeah. Yeah, so the thing is, I suppose I have been faster, probably a little bit off the pace at the moment. I think my PB is just under 18 minutes, but currently I'm running just over 20.

00:47:44Scott Trickett: That's fast.

00:47:46Hamish Campbell: Oh, good. Well, we've got the city to surf coming up in a couple of weeks, so I've been hard training for the last two weeks.

00:47:56Scott Trickett: So what do you use parkrun for your running experience? Do you use it just to run as hard as you can every week and test yourself to find out where you're at?

00:48:05Hamish Campbell: Yes, I do. Saturday mornings, parkrun is my fast run for the week. Some weeks, of course, things... your day job and other things get in the way, so training might not be so great. But I usually do probably go quite hard out at parkrun to try and get a good, to get as good a time as possible given the training I've been doing.

00:48:26Scott Trickett: And what about your adventuring, Hamish? You said you started at Parramatta, which I think you've still done most of your runs there. Do you get around?

00:48:35Hamish Campbell: Yeah, so I... I haven't been to too many different parkruns. Not as many as I'd like to, especially because there's some very close around Rhodes. There's Cooks River. That's fairly close. I've never been there. The Ponds is not too far away. I've never been there. But I have been to a few. I've been to one in New Zealand called Hagley. I've run there a couple of times. And I've also been to one in the UK as well. I have been to Lawson. I think that's a great parkrun. Very different probably to Rhodes. Of course, that's hilly and more kind of fire trails, whereas Rhodes is kind of flatter and more tar seal.

00:49:19Melissa Erbacher: And do you have a list of want to do in the futures, Hamish?

00:49:25Hamish Campbell: Well, the first ones I'd like to do are the ones immediately around the area. So that would be the ponds and Cooks River. So they're the next two that I really, really want to get to in the near future.

00:49:37Melissa Erbacher: Wonderful. Well, we hope you manage to get there sometime soon. Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast. Lots of big things happening out and about around the grounds in the last fortnight. We've got congrats to go to the Run Beyond Project girls who did complete their goal of running the 10k event at the M7 West Link Blacktown Running Festival. Wonderful job girls. We're sure you all got every cheer that you deserved. So well done. Congrats also to Brendan Peel who recently became a navigator joining the Compass Club when he ran Kingscliff parkrun two weeks ago. And New Farm parkrun celebrated its 250th event on Saturday. How awesome is that? They get to wear the beautiful forest green now.

Around the grounds — milestones and achievements

00:50:38Scott Trickett: Well done, New Farm. Social media blew up for us while we were away, and we loved it. So we managed to stay in touch with all our adventurers. So many posts and photos that we're not gonna run through all of them, but just to say we love them all and keep them coming. Instagram went crazy over the weekend in particular.

Social Adventurers (social media round-up)

00:51:02Paul: So thanks.

Where is the cake? (launches and anniversaries)

00:51:04Scott Trickett: We have one event launching this week. that we're all a bit excited down here in Melbourne. Chelsea Bicentennial is launching on Saturday. So this will help fill this big black hole we've got in Melbourne, southeast, where Melbourne's growing. It's blowing up everywhere, except for the most populated part of Melbourne. So hopefully Chelsea will fill that void.

00:51:30Melissa Erbacher: And where's the cake this week, Scotty?

00:51:33Scott Trickett: Well, there's lots of anniversaries. We've got Blackbutt in New South Wales. They're celebrating their third anniversary. Anything starting with the letter C?

00:51:45Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I'm keen to know where that came from because C is not for Black Butt. It's not for the number three. It's not for parkrun. So...

00:52:00Scott Trickett: Third letter of the alphabet.

00:52:01Melissa Erbacher: Maybe it's possibly. Yeah, possibly. Or maybe it's code. For creative. If anybody knows, let us know.

00:52:12Scott Trickett: Claisebrook Cove in WA. And Victor Harbor in South Australia.

00:52:18Rhys: And as both these events are coinciding with the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics, they're having an Olympic-themed run.

00:52:26Scott Trickett: Which is good for us, because next week we're going Rio crazy.

00:52:30Melissa Erbacher: We are going Rio crazy. It's going to be all about Rio. Thanks, Scotty, for joining me back. I missed you this two weeks.

00:52:40Scott Trickett: It's good to be back. It's good to have a break.

00:52:43Melissa Erbacher: Yes, all of these things are good.

00:52:46Scott Trickett: You actually saw more of me and spent more time with me than you usually do.

00:52:50Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I could have had another week off after that.

00:52:54Scott Trickett: Well, that's not going to happen because we're coming back next week. and probably the following 29 weeks after that. Maybe that can be our routine. We have a break every 29 weeks.

00:53:06Melissa Erbacher: Sounds like a plan. A really bizarre plan, but a plan nonetheless.