Episode 31 - Stephen Dinneen

Episode details · 140 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:00Melissa Erbacher: All right, are we ready? Yeah. Set. Not really. Go.

00:00:03[music]

00:00:22Scott Trickett: Welcome back to another episode of the parkrun Adventurers. I got the fever. I got Olympic fever, Mel. Have you got the fever?

00:00:35Melissa Erbacher: I don't know that that's what I would call it. What constitutes the fever?

00:00:42Scott Trickett: The fever is just being really excited to watch archery, to become an instant expert in swimming, that sort of fever.

00:00:54Melissa Erbacher: Ah, okay. Not quite there yet. Would this fever also entail having watched at least a minute or two of the Olympics so far?

00:01:06Scott Trickett: Well, my diagnosis is you ain't got the fever.

00:01:10Melissa Erbacher: Okay. I might need a dose of parkrun adventurers talking all about Rio to get me there.

00:01:17Scott Trickett: Well, you're in luck. BumperPod, all about Rio. I've got a couple of guests who have been involved and are excited about the Rio Olympics.

00:01:28Melissa Erbacher: Awesome. Hopefully some of that will rub off on me.

00:01:31Scott Trickett: In an hour's time, I guarantee you'll have the fever. Have you got the parkrun fever?

00:01:39Melissa Erbacher: Always have the parkrun fever.

00:01:41Scott Trickett: Yeah. It's hard to shake that one. You know what I did on Saturday? I ventured to my nearest parkrun. Which is always a bit weird because it's down the end of my street almost. But I very rarely get there. And I had a lovely morning out at Diamond Creek parkrun on Saturday. And I got a new appreciation for running in my neighborhood. I looked around and it was really pretty. Lots of green down here in Melbourne at the moment. My wife who has been struggling with some injury ran the whole 5k and i ran with her and i gotta say that's fun that's just one of the fun things about parkrun all these guys that go out and run guys and girls that go and run fast every week they're just they're not getting it slow down pace someone to a a PB or just run with a mate or your partner. It's lots of fun. Highly recommend it. So I had a really good parkrun day on Saturday.

00:02:48Melissa Erbacher: Awesome. Saturday was just another quiet one for me, volunteering. Got to see the pointy end and the not so pointy end as the runners came through the finish line. So I had a lovely morning.

00:03:00Scott Trickett: What about Sunday? Longest run for you guys up there.

Longest Run recap — Greater Sunshine Coast

00:03:04Melissa Erbacher: Oh, Sunday was a big day. They do not call it longest run because it's short, because it's not. No, it was a great day. We started very early. I think the alarm went off at something ridiculous like 4 a.m. because the event that we started at was the actual furthest away from me. We started at Central Lakes parkrun. And the start time was 6 a.m., so it was still dark. And I carpooled down with a bunch of ladies from the Sunshine Coast. And on Saturday night when we were arranging the pickup time, I'm like, oh my goodness, that's so early. And my friend said, yes, that's because some crazy person decided to schedule a start time for 6 a.m. And I'm trying to remember why I scheduled it for 6 a.m., but... think next year we might start at half past six just to give everyone a little bit more shut-eye before we get going that being said it was beautiful we started in the dim light of the day the Sun hadn't risen yet the actual sunrise was 624 a.m. but there was enough light in the sky that people didn't need the headlamps that a few of them brought along which was great The temperature was perfect. Somebody shared with me an article last week that was predicting more terrible, dangerous, wild weather coming this way by the weekend. And I refused point blank to even open it and look at it all again. you know, acknowledge the fact that somebody told me that there was not going to be good weather because if I didn't look at it, it wasn't going to be real. And it worked. It wasn't real. We didn't get a drop of rain. The temperature was not too cold, not too hot. It was overcast, so it was kind of shady. It was just beautiful, beautiful day.

00:05:05Scott Trickett: So give me the vibe of the day. What was the numbers of people that ran all seven and what were the number of groans of the people that ran all seven?

00:05:15Melissa Erbacher: So we had on average I think across the day we probably well we didn't have any fewer than 15 runners I don't think at any of the individual events and The most we had was at Kawana when I think we had 27. That was right in the middle of the day. But the vibe was great. Everyone... It's like a supercharged parkrun, basically. You know, everyone knows enough about parkrun. They're not all new to parkrun as a thing, but they're all new to longest run. And so many of them had only ever done their own event or one or two others as well. So... Being able to take people and give them briefs and let them run on up to five different new courses that they'd never been to, that was really good. I always love taking people on the guided tour so they all get to see new events and different courses that they don't have a chance to get to on parkrun Day.

00:06:17Scott Trickett: How was Nambour received? It's getting quite a reputation as the hardest parkrun and putting it in fifth was a little bit cruel.

00:06:25Melissa Erbacher: Well, it was either 5th or 6th and I thought 5th would be more appreciated than 6th. So geographically, it made the most sense to pop it in there, which is why it's scheduled as it was. Everybody actually really loved it. There were a couple of ladies who came up from the northern suburbs of Brisbane and who had run Nambour Course B which is more difficult than Course A and so they hadn't had an opportunity to do Course A and I think they enjoyed that. well obviously there's less elevation involved we we had one new member of the stack club went down in the creek which seems to claim the most amount of people if you're gonna stack it at Nambour it's generally through the creek and then people wonder why they changed to course B when it's really really wet so but it is very slippy and dangerous in the creek fortunately She didn't ruin her beautiful running tights. But I didn't answer your question before. All seven events, we actually had 10 runners did all seven this year, which is a colossal effort. A lot of them I know were rethinking this plan to do them all from about course number four. They were thinking, no, no, we'll sit that one out. And it's like, no, no, you can do it. You can do it. Just keep going. And, yeah, I think they were all very pleased at the end. And not even just those who did all seven, but those who did multiples. You know, we had people there who did three, which was a huge effort for them to run 15 kilometers all in one day. And three and four and five. And, yeah, I love longest run. I just love it. It's always a great day. So, yeah, good day.

00:08:12Scott Trickett: Good day. We'll get to do it all again next year.

00:08:16Melissa Erbacher: That's the plan.

00:08:17Scott Trickett: We've got a little bit of audio. Should we have a listen to that?

Roving adventurer report — Longest Run (Alyson Webster)

00:08:21Melissa Erbacher: Yes, we've got Alyson Webster, who was one of our longest runners, interviewed a couple of the other longest runners.

00:08:28Alyson Webster: Tina Kerwin here at parkrun Adventures for the day. How did you enjoy the longest parkrun? It was great. Which race was your favourite? Definitely Nambour. Yep. Out the hills. Smashed it? Smashed it, yep. I've even got a bug in my eye. And when did you first feel your calf muscles? Yeah, taking off at Towner Seaside after finishing Nambour. Okay. Definitely. So we have Robert Harrison here at the longest parkrun for the Sunshine Coast. How did you enjoy your day, Robert?

00:09:05Robert Harrison: Loved it. It was a great day. Good weather and the company was fantastic throughout the day. Had a good time.

00:09:12Alyson Webster: And which course was your favourite?

00:09:15Robert Harrison: I'd like to say probably Noosa actually I like this one yeah it was a really nice course reminded me of Pine Rivers there at Petrie and nicely shaded and undulating good course and were there any courses that you'd never done before before today yeah so the only two that I had done before this was Central Lakes and then Golden Beach and I hadn't done any of the others so yeah there were five new courses for me today signing off for parkrun Adventurers

00:09:44Scott Trickett: Now, it wasn't all Sunshine Coast on Sunday. Brisbane also had a go. They had two different variations of the longest run. What are the reports out of Brisbane like?

00:09:55Melissa Erbacher: They did. The reports out of Brisbane were everything was a huge success. So the day ran like clockwork. Everybody ran on time. Liv and Alan said it was a great day. Judging by the photos, everybody had a lot of fun. Liv did say that she was really inspired and the highlight for her was a lady from Logan River named Mel. And Mel actually ran the first five events pushing a pram with her bub in it. And then when she got to run number six, which was at Capalaba, she ran that herself while another lady looked after the baby for her. And then she walked the seventh event at Cleveland with the baby on her in a carrier. How is that for a brilliant effort?

00:10:44Scott Trickett: That's a day. I bet she's tired.

00:10:47Melissa Erbacher: I bet she is tired. I'm impressed by the baby, you know, being well enough behaved that it could go on six out of seven of those runs, you know, the first five in the pram. She's obviously well trained.

00:11:05Scott Trickett: A future parkrunner as well. She's going to have a great story to tell. When she's five. Remember the time when I did six?

00:11:14Melissa Erbacher: Well, it might be a new, what's the word, tradition. It might be a new tradition for her mum to take her baby to all the parkruns, all the longest runs, I should say, as she grows up. Or he grows up. I'm not sure if the baby's a boy or a girl.

00:11:29Scott Trickett: Awesome stuff. Well done to all the longest parkrunners. Now it's time to catch up with someone who I know has also got Olympic fever. We're joined now by Stephen Dineen, who is a Melbourne runner, but has spent the past couple of weeks over in the States with Liam Adams, our Olympic marathoner. Welcome to the podcast, Steve.

Guest interview — Stephen Dinneen (Olympic build-up with Liam Adams)

00:12:03Stephen Dinneen: Yeah, thanks for having me, Scott and Mel. It's been a good few weeks. I've just come back now from training with Liam, so it's good to be back in Melbourne with the nice weather.

00:12:13Scott Trickett: So how did the trip to Arizona, Flagstaff is where you were, so how did that come about?

00:12:18Stephen Dinneen: So I've been running with Liam in the AVS Victoria Comp and training with him for a long time now, and I've been also just treating osteopaths for the last, three years, so often Liam and I will do a long 20, 30, 40k run on a Sunday and I treat him afterwards. And Liam had a bit of trouble in his last two marathon preparations with hamstring problems. So with his last bit he went to Poland to do a qualifier, so he took me with him. So I flew there and treated him and got him ready for the race and he qualified really well. And that helped me get through that race. So in the lead up to Rio, he's had a few little niggles which I've sorted out. And about a week before he flew out to Northern Arizona, he did the AV10K and ran really well. And then Liam's coach spoke to me after the race and was just saying, you know, he's amazed how his body's holding up and he's running the best he's ever ran. And it's a shame that I couldn't go to Northern Arizona with him to train. And I said to his coach, Ken Hall, you know, I'd love to go and help him out. But for me to go, I've got to take two weeks off work without pay, which is fine because Liam's a good mate. I'm happy to help him out. But the problem for me is flying over there. So Liam's coach said to me, well, if he pays for my flight and accommodation, would I go? So I said, well... you've solved that problem. I can't say no now. So we thought we'd go over and train together and yeah, treat him.

00:13:39Scott Trickett: That's a nice gesture from Liam because Liam is not, is he a full-time athlete?

00:13:45Stephen Dinneen: No, Liam doesn't get sponsorship at all. He doesn't get anything from AA or the VIS or anything. He's actually a working apprentice. So he works 40 hours a week as a Sparky and everything else comes upon himself. So his coach, that's why his coach, Ken, was able to help me get over there. And yeah, Liam... I treat Liam for free. We're good mates, so I look after him for free because we train together. So, yeah, if it wasn't for Liam's coach, I couldn't have gone. And, yeah, Liam works full-time like anyone else, really. So for all those people out in parkrun land, you know, they probably earn as much money running as Liam does, really.

00:14:23Melissa Erbacher: That's a brilliant gesture on your behalf, I think, as well. That's very generous of you to go over there, Steve. But for Liam... And that's a massive commitment as well. I mean, I guess, yeah, he's going to be in the Olympics, but what you do for him must be very important. I'm always confused a little bit between what an osteo does versus what a physio does. And there's so many different sort of sports type people. Can you explain a little bit more about what you do to keep his body doing what it needs to be doing?

00:15:00Stephen Dinneen: Yeah, for sure. So the simplest way we put it between an osteo, a physio and a chiro is a physio generally looks at the soft tissue and focuses in on where the pain is. Now, this is very generalized. A chiropractor normally relates everything to the back and they'll do you more adjustments. As an osteopath, I can do both of those things. I can treat the way a physio treats. I can treat the way a chiropractor treats. and we do other things as well. So we're a bit more holistic as in we treat the whole body and rather than treat the symptom, we treat the cause. So we find out what's actually causing the problem and then work on that. So with Liam, he's had a lot of hamstring problems in his last two marathons. So yeah, I've done a lot of soft tissue work through his hammies, but a lot of his problem comes from his quads and his lower back. And that's what actually tightens his hamstrings up. So I've been doing a lot of treatment on his lower back and his quads as well as his ankles in order to fix the hamstrings. So really the hamstrings are just the last sort of trick on the line of the problems. So I've done a lot of that. I've also got a sports science degree. So I did a three-year sports science degree and I studied biomechanics, advanced biomechanics and a lot of the other things. So along with my osteo work with Liam, I do other things like... biomechanics to make sure his ankles are working good and his back's working good as opposed to just sort of treating where he's sore. So, you know, it's not too often I'm going for a run with Liam and he'll run ahead of me and I'll just say to him, oh, look mate, there's a problem with your little left ankle there. We'll look at that when we get back. He'll go, oh, how did you know? I said, oh, you know, just looking at your running, your ankle's not quite working properly. So we try to get onto things before they become a problem for him as well.

00:16:34Scott Trickett: That's handy. Hopefully Liam's body's feeling good. How's your body feeling after two weeks? running around with an Olympic marathoner.

00:16:42Stephen Dinneen: I tell you what, it's an amazing lifestyle. Trained up there with him. So we're at altitude. I think we did a 33K run up there near the... Grand Canyon, and it was around about 3,000 meters, which is almost twice the height as Falls Creek where the boys go for summer. And so the altitude training was really hard, and just trying to keep up. It's amazing to see what Liam can do and how he goes. And me, sort of being the next level below him, I was probably working twice as hard to get half the result. So I got really sore as well. But Liam's a good fella. He actually, every night, I treat him for about an hour. Then after I finished treating him, he'd give me a massage on my calves, on my quads, because he knew for 14 days I couldn't keep going without him giving me a massage. So he became my little massive masseuse while I was over there as well.

00:17:31Scott Trickett: So how many kilometers do you run in two weeks?

00:17:36Stephen Dinneen: We actually added it up. I was there for 14 days, and I would have run about 360Ks. So we did about 180Ks a week, 180, 185K a week. At altitude? At altitude. At altitude, I think we're only averaging roughly one run a day, sometimes two, but often we're doing one run a day. So we're averaging around about 25k a day for most days.

00:17:57Melissa Erbacher: Do you ever think about just getting a bike and following him around on the bike?

00:18:04Stephen Dinneen: Nah, because my goal is to do Melbourne Marathon this year. I want to try and run around about a 2.18 marathon myself in 10 weeks. Part of me is to go up there and pretty much get better myself. The only time Liam really pulls away from me is when we do sessions and we go hard. He's just got that extra gear over me. For me, it was a great chance to get away and do two weeks of solid training. I worked full-time back here in Melbourne. I've got a family as well as trying to run 170k a week. So for me to get over there and do 180k a week with just Liam, I got the opportunity to actually do my big 30k runs and then have a sleep. Whereas normally I do that and I'm playing with my beautiful little daughter. So it was a good little training camp for me. So the bike was never an option because hopefully Liam's helped me out and I could do better. Thanks for just being there.

00:18:56Melissa Erbacher: And bears. I hear there are bears in Flagstaff.

00:19:01Stephen Dinneen: Yeah, we did a run over there. I'm not sure if the parkrunners are familiar with Nick Willis. So Nick Willis is a New Zealand runner. He's a 1500m runner. He won a silver medal at the Olympics eight years ago. So Nick's going to his third Olympics. And we're running with a couple of Kiwi boys, the three guys that are doing the Olympic 1500m, along with myself and Liam. And we got to the top of this track in Flagstaff, it's called. Aspen Corner, and two metres about into the start of this run, there's a massive sign saying, beware of bears. It's been a high incidence in the area, and if you see them, you know, these are the things you've got to do, and the one thing you shouldn't do is run away from them. And I just kind of laughed at the boys and thought, the one thing we are doing is going for a run. If we don't see them, we could be in a little bit of trouble here. And the scariest thing for me is there was five of us running, four of them on the way to Rio, and I was the fifth guy. So I think all the other four guys felt comfortable that the bear did come. I was going to be the first one to get chewed up.

00:20:06Melissa Erbacher: That's really why he got you along. It's nothing to do with the medical help. He just wanted the bear bait just in case.

00:20:14Stephen Dinneen: Well, I reminded the three Kerry boys, I played Aussie rules for about 10 years, so if they couldn't handle a bump, they may not get away.

00:20:25Melissa Erbacher: Love it.

00:20:25Scott Trickett: Do you know how fast a bear runs?

00:20:28Stephen Dinneen: Well, that's what we're chuckling about. They're a lot faster than humans, so they'll beat Usain Bolt, no worries. And the other thing is they can climb trees. So if they're faster than us across the ground and they can climb trees, there's not much we can really do.

00:20:41Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, that's exactly why I don't travel to places that have bears.

00:20:44Stephen Dinneen: I just assumed we're five skinny runners, so I don't think the bear would have got much meat out of us, so I just assumed he'd move on for a deer or something.

00:20:53Melissa Erbacher: So you're not slow exactly yourself. I understand that you have the record at Westerfold's parkrun, is that correct?

00:21:02Stephen Dinneen: Yeah, I took my group down there around about maybe six weeks ago. And yeah, I got around the parkrun pretty good there. I think I hold my own. I'm trying to run a 64 minute half marathon. I'm trying to get down to a 216, 217 marathon. So I think I can hold my own okay. But it is quite funny when we have done a few runs and guys fly from us. So I've told Liam that now I've got the Westfields parkrun. He's not allowed to come down there. I want to hold it for a little bit longer at least.

00:21:36Scott Trickett: Well, there's lots of parkruns too. You can just keep going to the next one and taking that record.

00:21:41Stephen Dinneen: Well, the other guy I train with, Mitch Brown, so Liam's other training partner is Mitch Brown, and he's got the Maribyrnong Rivers parkrun record, which is sub 15 minutes.

00:21:53Scott Trickett: I did note that. I reckon Mitch has got a chance at the Australian record because he was only maybe 15 seconds off the all-time Australian record when he ran at Maribyrnong.

00:22:04Stephen Dinneen: Yeah. And, you know, Mitch, myself and Liam trained together a fair bit. And that's why I kind of had a laugh because the week that Mitch did the park on that weekend, I trained with him and Liam the week before. And it's quite scary that, as I said, like I'm at one stage of this 10K effort. Mitch is about 100 metres ahead of me and Liam's 100 metres ahead of him. So I've told both those blokes, leave Westerfold alone, and they should have a go at Albert Park. Do you think Marnie again, Scott? I think Albert Park.

00:22:36Scott Trickett: I actually think Ben St. Lawrence.

00:22:38Stephen Dinneen: Oh, no, it was Ben St. Lawrence. Sorry, it was Ben St. Lawrence. He did it when he came down to watch Zatopek after he was returning from his hamstring injury. He's a very good runner. Well, Ben's racing the 10K. So I was chatting to Ben, and he's in very good shape. And then Scott Westcott had a big parkrun send-off. Scotty's travel over 15, 16 years to get to Rio is amazing. And I think if anyone deserves to be picked in the team, it's definitely him. And the support he gives to parkrun and they give to him, I think that's probably an amazing journey for both of them. parkrun to have pretty much one of their own get to the Olympics is phenomenal. And after his journey, I think if anyone's not inspired by Scotty's story, he'd be a hard man to get inspired by, I'd say. It's just great to see there's a lot of top-level Australian runners that are getting down to the local parkruns and supporting it.

00:23:33Melissa Erbacher: We definitely agree with that. It's great to see the big boys and girls that are still willing to play with the rest of us.

00:23:41Stephen Dinneen: I think it's a compliment to parkrun, really. It gets the community involved. And I know amongst the elites, they all talk about getting down at some stage and having a run. And I think they love nothing more than just getting amongst the, let's say, the people of the running world and seeing how they're going. When you get to know them, you realize all those guys and girls are like anyone else. The only difference is they run quicker. There's no other personalities. They try as hard as everyone else. They give it. They're as friendly. It must be nice to actually, for a lot of people, you can go to an event at the same time with Australia's best. If you follow any other sport in Australia, football, cricket, tennis, what are your chances of having a hit of tennis with Tomic? None. What are your chances of having a kick with Gary Ablett? None. But the fact you can go run with these guys and it's up to you after the parkrun, I think it's just great. It's good for both the elites and for parkrun runners themselves.

00:24:36Scott Trickett: One thing I noticed, Steve, you also hold the record for the two bays down here in Victoria. So you obviously like a bit of trail running. Do you prefer trails over the track?

00:24:48Stephen Dinneen: Oh, I just love running. So I grew up playing football and cricket and I kind of got out of those sports. I was not too bad at those sports growing up, but I kind of got out of them, especially football, just because I just wanted to enjoy running. I felt football was too much pressure and there were too many personalities of... Not the person that I like playing around so I went to running and I just love you go for a trail run Or you race a do a road race your track run you race the elites you race anyone You know two days and everyone you go. It's very hard made a runner that I don't like they've got great personalities So for me to do Two Bays, I actually did it as just a training run. It was my long run I thought I'd have a go and see how it goes because a few friends of mine have done it And in order of doing it, it was just the people down there are brilliant. So I love the trail running. I love getting out and running on the trails, but I probably love the people more. It's just they've got such a good attitude. Things like Two Bays, the rock and roller coaster they do. The ballerina run, it's just amazing how much they just encourage people, you know. You get to a serious road race and your competitors aren't encouraging you to keep going. You go to those runs and win, lose or draw, everyone's really good about it. So I guess for me, the attractions, the people along with the actual trailer.

00:26:10Melissa Erbacher: They're a bit of a magic place to spend some time with some good people. Now, Steve... It's not very long now until the big run, the big race. Where will you be when Liam runs his marathon?

00:26:26Stephen Dinneen: So I'm actually going to be at a pub near my house on a Sunday night. So my wife will be there with me. My daughter hopefully will be here or she's in bed and I'll get my mother-in-law to look after her. And then Liam's girlfriend, who I coach and does a lot of running with, she's coming over. So she was meant to be in Queensland racing. So she's flying back. And then a few members of my running squad, Benin Runners, are going to come across. So there should be maybe... 10, 15 of us at the local pub watching it and cheering him on.

00:26:56Scott Trickett: Let's hope he does well. Has he got some expectations?

00:27:00Stephen Dinneen: Yeah. I think, personally, he's in PB shape. So Liam's run a 213-something at Rio. I think he's in much better shape than that. So I think the expectations with him would be it's a pretty good course. We looked at it while we were up in Flagstaff. It's a pretty flat course, given that it's hot. I think he's in great PB shape. So for me, I think... Ideally, he can get top 20. I think he can probably be the first Australian. I know Shelly's in great shape. But I think him and Shelly are kind of going into the race at very similar levels. So whoever has a better day. And I think he can run 213. And people say, oh, it's 2.13. Not many Australians have ran close to their personal best at the Olympics. It's normally a slower race than normal. I was trying to think in the last six Olympics, no, five Olympics, I think Steve Moneghetti is the only one to go under 2.14. Or maybe it might be one other. But yeah, Moneghetti, I think he's gone under 2.14 in his last five Olympics and no one else else has. So if Liam can go 2.13, that would be a great result, I think. But it depends, again, what the weather's like. If it's 30 degrees, then you can add a bit more time on for that.

00:28:10Scott Trickett: Well, I reckon, for what it's worth, I reckon 2.13's fast.

00:28:15Stephen Dinneen: It's really fast. But, you know, just training with him. I haven't said this to Liam or anyone else, but just training with Liam over the last six months, especially seeing what he's done over the last two months. If I could tell you about some of his sessions, I think he's in about 211 shape, 210 shape, given the perfect race, perfect conditions, everything perfect. So I reckon if he's in round 2-11 shape, you think, you know, given it's the Olympics, the race, the heat, everything else, if he can do 2-13, that's just a phenomenal effort. 2-13, 2-14 would be brilliant for him.

00:28:47Scott Trickett: Well, our fingers will be crossed. Thanks for coming on and sharing a little bit of experience of what it takes to get someone to the Olympics. And I hope you head out to some parkruns in the next coming weeks and smash some more records.

00:29:03Stephen Dinneen: Definitely, I'm looking forward to bringing my group down to some parkruns. We're gonna test out the Coburg one in the next few months and also the one at Yarra Bend and then get back to Westerfolds. So we plan probably once a month to get my group down and just get amongst it and use it as part of the training session. And I was just going to say, if anyone in parkrun is interested, so Liam, so parkrun's 5K. If you're on Instagram or that, Liam did a session, I think, four weeks ago on the athletics track. He did 4x6Ks, which is a long way, 24K, and he averaged around about 257 per K. So he would have taken out most parkrun's records in doing that session of 24K. That's crazy. Yeah.

00:29:48Melissa Erbacher: Can't wait to cheer him on.

00:29:49Stephen Dinneen: Thanks for having me, guys, and to both of you as well. Great work with parkrun and, you know, it's really inspiring what both of you guys are doing and getting parkrun bigger and better for the community.

Guest interview — Dave 'Robbo' Robertson (Rio preview)

00:30:07Melissa Erbacher: It wouldn't be a show about Rio if we didn't talk. to Robbo Robbo is heading over there and it's very exciting and we're very excited to have him on the show Robbo welcome back to the parkrun adventurers thanks very much Mel and g'day to you and Scott and all the listeners out there great to be back on great to see it still going super super strong so tell us tell us all about Rio and what's going to happen for you and Mossy

00:30:34Unidentified speaker: Yeah, well, it's pretty exciting. We're not there yet. So I'm talking to you from my home in Newcastle still. We don't fly over there until this coming parkrun day. And I think it's a bit of a wise move actually reflecting on it because we went to the Glasgow Commonwealth Games a couple of years ago. And I've got to say, Mel, I was physically, emotionally, mentally drained and burnt out after about the first 24 hours. So I think... This time around, we're just going to take it easy for this first week and a bit like a good impact player coming off the bench in that second week and we'll look to make an impact over there in Rio and really get behind all the green and gold athletes, but in particular in the athletics where we've done a bit of work and got to know a lot of the athletes and the athletic doesn't kick off until... this weekend anyway. So, yeah, it'll work out pretty well. And we've got our inflatable kangaroo, Jumpy, and he was a big hit over on the streets of Glasgow. And I think he'll go down pretty well with the locals in Brazil over there as well. We've got him a Brazilian flag, and we're going to get him a Brazilian soccer football jersey to don as well. So, yeah. it's funny I guess how it all came to be we weren't originally sure if we were going to go over there at all it was always an intention to do that we joke with people say it's what you do you're not quite good enough to compete yourself you find some other way to get over there and Luckily, it's all worked out that we've managed to do that. We ended up winning a little competition through the Australian Olympic team's official chocolate partner. They've been kind enough to send us over and now we've got this amazing 10-day trip at the Olympic Games and we can't wait to sink our teeth into it.

00:32:21Scott Trickett: So are you going over there just as fans and as spectators or are you going to be doing some reporting there?

00:32:28Unidentified speaker: Yeah, well, nothing official, Scotty. No accreditation, no official media duties as such. So, yeah, basically we're fans. We're fans in the stands and we'll be looking to, I guess, still create some coverage, but more using social media platforms and on the Mossy and Robbo channels. And just trying to really bring out some of the colour and excitement and action that's happening from a fan's perspective. And we've got no sureties of getting any access to any of the Australian athletes, catching up with them. Who knows? You're not sure how it's all going to work. Certainly... bit more tightness around security and getting access to athletes and stuff at an Olympic Games. So we'll wing it a little bit, I guess. But yeah, no set media obligations for this one, which is great. We can just enjoy it and really just do what we do best, I think, which is just go crazy. We'll wear a whole bunch of green and gold and tear up the streets and the stands and

00:33:37Melissa Erbacher: be seen and heard hopefully so yeah looking forward to it you'll be winning everyone over with your smiles and your inflatable kangaroos

00:33:45Unidentified speaker: We don't hide away from the fact that the kangaroo is a much bigger celebrity than we are. Everyone wanted to get a photo with Jumpy when we were in Glasgow. Yeah, the Jumpy, the kangaroo, he'll be a big hit with the locals. As long as they don't want to try and eat him. They eat a lot of meat over there, I know. So I don't know if they've got a taste for roo or not. So hopefully he can stay inflated.

00:34:09Melissa Erbacher: So Robbo, you said you're going to be there for the athletics. Do you know specifically which events you might be getting along to yet?

00:34:16Unidentified speaker: Yeah, well, it's pretty exciting, Mel. First morning we wake up there and the women's marathon is on and I checked the hotel that we're staying at is actually on the course of that. So that just, you know, couldn't be planned better and can't wait to cheer on one of your previous guests on the show, Jess Trengove, along with Lisa Weightman, who's at her third Olympic Games and Milly Clark, who's a really exciting prospect making her debut at the Olympics in the marathon too. So, That's going to be super exciting. And that's the Sunday, the first full day we're there. And then Sunday night's opportunity to hopefully see Usain Bolt in the 100 metres, which will be pretty interesting as well. But the big climax, I guess, the end of the games, the end of the athletics program, will be the men's marathon and an opportunity to cheer on our good mate, Scott Westcott, one of the three Aussie men in that event, and joining Michael Shelley and Liam Adams. So, yeah, I think we'll be worn out by the end of all that. But, yeah, look, it'll be really exciting and having worked with Athletics Australia in the last few years and got to know some of the athletes and, you know, you follow them on the domestic tour and you interview them and they get to, I think they come to appreciate what we've sort of been trying to do in terms of building their profile and building the profile of the sport. So it'll be nice to sort of be there at the end of their journey and especially for some of the younger athletes who are making their debut at Olympic Games and, yeah, Yeah, it's a huge deal and we'll be there and hopefully share the special moments with their fans and supporters and family. So, really excited.

00:35:57Scott Trickett: Can you give us a little preview to the Track 5K event in Rio? How are Australia's chances? Who's competing? And what sort of times are they going to run?

00:36:08Unidentified speaker: Yeah, look, it's always interesting, Scotty, and the tactics come into it a lot more when you get to these big championship events. And so what I mean by that is it's not always quick times that you'll see. Apart from David Rudisha, who... listeners might remember him winning the 800 metres in a world record in London. And he led from the front and basically, yeah, said good luck to anyone else in the race. And that's one way to do it. But often a final in an 800 – 800, usually they're a bit quicker, but 1500s are often very tactical – So they'll jog, jog, jog for a couple of laps and then they'll start to warm up and then it sort of turns into a kickdown at the end. 5,000 metres can be a little bit the same and it's very cat and mouse and athletes, you know, no one wants to really lead and they'll slow down to a pace where a lot of parkrunners could probably keep up with a, you know, for a half lap or a lap every now and then. It's quite bizarre to see. It's almost, you know, gives you shades of what you see in a velodrome with the two cyclists sort of, cat and mousing sometimes. But in terms of the Aussie contingent, well, we're going to see a good field in the men's event. I'm sticking with those guys. So Brett Robinson, who is originally from Canberra, he lives down in Victoria these days. He's coached by Nic Bideau, a very famous Australian athletic coach. And he previously was a national record holder for parkrun. He's done a number of parkruns down in Canberra. He'll be in the mix there. He's been at a World Champs before. But a couple of young blokes with him who is sort of part of the same stable, also coached by Nic Bideau. So Sam McEntee, who's from West Australia originally, and then Pat Tiernan, who's from Queensland. And Sam and Pat have been... uh living and studying and and training over in america at one of the colleges in villanova and they're yeah really you know young and exciting and um yeah great prospects so look i wouldn't be saying talking up metal chances um it'll be a big achievement if these guys can get into a final so they'll have to run a heat first and uh and yeah and hopefully sneak into the final so But on his day, Brett Robinson's probably the best of those three. And, yeah, if he runs well and it all goes well and other results pan out okay, then he's a good chance of getting through to the final. But, yeah, I wouldn't rule out those other guys too. So that'll be pretty exciting in the men's. And then in the women's parkrun distance, we've got a full card there as well, which is very exciting. And Eloise Wellings, Madeline Hills and Gen LaCaze. And I think of those three, only Jen hasn't done a parkrun yet. Eloise certainly has done plenty. And I know Madeline, who's from down near Wollongong, she's done a couple down that way too. So Gen LaCaze and Madeline will be also backing up doing the steeplechase, which is on first. That's earlier on in the program. And... Eloise will have run the 10,000 metres as well. So they'll be backing up all three of those girls. But again, you know, Eloise and Maddie in particular, yeah, just going from strength to strength in recent years. And that'll be pretty exciting. So from an Aussie perspective, yeah, it'll be really great to get in and watch these girls. Hopefully they can get through the heats and we can see as many of the women and the men sneak into the 5,000 final.

00:39:42Melissa Erbacher: And what kind of times would we be expecting these guys all to run?

00:39:48Unidentified speaker: They won't be running PBs. So the Diamond League events where they have paces, often one or two or three pacemakers out in front, they're often much quicker races. These ones, like I was saying, they'll be generally slower sort of times. But in saying that, you know, you can expect 13 minutes for the men and under if they're going really really quick but yeah you know the qualifying times just to get a seat on the plane for the men for the Aussies was 13 24 I think it was so these guys have all had to do that just to get there and they'll have to run probably a good chunk quicker than that to then sneak into the final as well, I would say. But depending, you know, it depends how it's all run. The women, not too much slower. So Gen LaCaze, for example, she had a PB in the high 15s and she's taken 20 or 30 seconds off that this year. So she's down to 15, 20, 15, 30. And Eloise has got down to low 15. I'm not sure if she snuck under. So that's the sort of speed that these girls can run. But, yeah, expect the runs to be a little bit slower just depending on the tactics. And the tricky thing as well, which is sometimes a bit annoying and I think a bit of a disadvantage, depending on which heat you're allocated in, if you're in the third, say there's three heats and you're in the third and final heat, you know what the times have been in the first two heats and where you need to finish and what time you need to run, which is, I think, a big advantage. But that's just luck of the draw. Like, no one can control that. But, yeah, it's certainly stung. Like, Madeline Hills at the World Championships in Beijing last year, she missed out by one spot in both the 5,000 metres and the 3,000 steeplechase in qualifying for the finals. So... Hopefully she doesn't have that sort of bad luck again and can sneak into the final and the other girls as well.

00:41:48Melissa Erbacher: You say it's an advantage if you're in the third heat because you've got the wisdom of knowing how fast everyone else has done it. I don't really get that because I understand how fast everyone else runs at parkrun and I still can't manage to go, oh yeah, I just need to run this fast. My legs disagree.

00:42:10Unidentified speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, and so, um, with getting, with, with qualifying through, it'll be, you know, um, it might be a time you have to beat, but often it's, you know, the first three or four or five runners are guaranteed to get into the, into the next stage, next into the semifinal or the final as well. So, Often it'll just be about getting yourself into that sweet spot, into that top five position. But yeah, Mel, I'm glad you're thinking about it and comparing to the parkrun. But yeah, it's nice. parkrun's a little bit more relaxed, I guess, than what these guys are going to be faced with.

00:42:47Melissa Erbacher: Just a tad. And speaking of which, you guys out at Newy gave a bit of a decent send-off to one of our Olympians on the weekend. How did that go?

00:42:59Unidentified speaker: Look, it went really well. I'm still on a bit of a high from it, if I'm honest. I know you guys have experienced it yourselves. It's one of those, I'm going to say rare, but it's not that rare at parkrun. parkrun has a beautiful way of creating these little situations, these circumstances and situations. Look, all credit to the team at Newey parkrun, Andrew Dodd in particular, and another mate of mine, Dave McGaw. Dave has a collection of flags from all around the world. He's an Olympics tragic, he's a sports tragic, and also a parkrun tragic as well. So he's... his life is a living tragedy, it sounds like. But he's a great guy and he had all the flags there from every country that's ever hosted a Summer Olympic Games. And what we orchestrated, what the guys orchestrated, was a parade of nations. And Dottie jumped on the microphone to... to to mc it and so we we heard about every uh nation that had hosted olympic games in order going back right back to athens and greece in 1896 and then just a few little running anecdotes in particular with each of those events and any uh pertinent australian uh performances from each of those so that was really nice and But as well as that, we had an actual former, he's an Olympian, an Olympian from the 1960 games, the father of one of our regular parkrunners, Jody Whitehead. His dad is Colin Whitehead and he would play basketball. in 1960, and he was in the stadium when Herb Elliott won his gold medal in Rome. So that was pretty special. I had a chat with him, and we were able to honour him. And then president of the Next Door Rowing Club, who we share the grounds with at Newey parkrun, John McLeod, he had been a... a support runner for the Sydney 2000 Games. His son was one of the torch relay runners, the torch bearers. He had all the gear and he had the official torch there. We were able to celebrate that as well. Then one of our other volunteers pulled out a genuine towel from the 1956 Olympic Games as well. So, yeah, you know, a few little touches like that really gave us a great sense of occasion. And it was all kicking off, you know, only an hour before the opening ceremony started in Rio. But Scott Westcott, as you mentioned, just bizarre how it all worked out. He actually hadn't travelled overseas yet. He was still in the country and wanted to do his final hard hit out, which he's done for the last of his few marathon preparations. Hard hit out at parkrun. He actually did a double parkrun. So he started his first 5K leg at quarter to eight. And then we had the parade of nations. And then when Scott came back through the crowd and then went on to his second lap, that was the start of parkrun proper. And we all tried to chase him. And I actually tried to stick with Scott for a little while. And I think my lungs are still burning from attempting to do that. But yeah, it was fantastic. So there we were with a live Olympian from the current Olympics. running shoulder to shoulder, getting his barcode scanned, hanging around at the end, having a chat, getting selfies, you know, giving back to the running community. I'll point out it was pretty cold and it was raining the whole time as well. And there was this guy who's, yeah, he's one of us, you know. He's made this Olympic dream come true, but there he is. He knows... Where he's come from, he's very proud of the fact that, you know, his roots are community-based running. And he was at Newey parkrun number one, and he's been at a number of them since. And, yeah, great to see him sort of giving back. And it was a real thrill for everyone that was there. So, yeah, can't wait to, I guess, get behind him in the entire parkrun community in Newcastle and around the Hunter. And I'm sure all around Australia we'll be getting right behind Scott and the other Aussies in those races as well.

00:47:02Scott Trickett: Did he run a good time? Is he in form?

00:47:05Unidentified speaker: He's in good form, yeah. He's going well. I think he's running like he's a 20-year-old kid again. He's maybe not quite as quick as he once was, but on his own, in the wet, with a few turns to negotiate, he got around the 10km in about 30 minutes and 50 seconds. So I think his official parkrun time was 15, might have been 15.20 or so. So almost a minute slower than his PB on that course, which is also the Australian parkrun record. But yeah, Yeah, no, that's basically what he wanted to sort of do. And to put it in perspective, he ran a similar sort of time, probably about eight weeks or so ago at an event in Sydney, which was, yeah, much better conditions as well. So he's in good shape. He's feeling good. And look, he's realistic about... what he will go over there to try and do. And yeah, he's basically sort of said his plan is to run a pretty measured race, not get too excited at the start and go through halfway in about 68 minutes and then look to come home

00:48:11Stephen Dinneen: in the same sort of time, if not a little bit quicker.

00:48:13Unidentified speaker: So, yeah, you know, if he runs a measured race and it comes in at 215 something and he's overtaking a lot of people in the back end of the race, there's no reason why you might end up in the top 20, 25 runners or so. You just... You just never know. And the great thing with the Olympics is you've only got to race against three Kenyans, three Ethiopians. There's not 20, 30, 40 of them flying. So it's a smaller field. And hopefully he can jump in with a few other runners that will be running at the same sort of pace and have a really strong and great performance. And we'll all be proud of him no matter what he does.

00:48:54Scott Trickett: And you were lucky enough to catch up with him. and grab some audio. So let's have a listen.

Pre-recorded interview — Scott Westcott at Newy parkrun

00:49:00Unidentified speaker: Righto, we're rolling and we're here with great Scott, Scotty Westcott. It's the morning of the opening ceremony here in Australia and you've just knocked out double parkrun. What are you doing here? Why aren't you in Rio?

00:49:08Scott Westcott: I'm getting ready to go home and cook pancakes and watch the opening ceremony with my kids and family.

00:49:14Unidentified speaker: Haven't been able to even hook you up with a uniform. I've been able to get one. You've got a shirt here. But these are the shoes, mate. I can at least give you those to wear while you're watching the opening ceremony.

00:49:22Scott Westcott: We're ready. I might look, yeah, that's right, look like Kingu. But, yeah, look, go Aussies. and I'll be wearing my pinstripes on the 21st of August. Tell us Scotty, you're competing in the last days, the ultimate event, the Men's Marathon, but what are you looking forward to most about the Games besides obviously competing? Well, I'm looking forward to seeing how your voice holds up over 16 days, but I'm looking forward to probably going and watching track, possibly seeing Usain Bolt or David Rudisha go around, that's just going to be very special. Just sitting in my bed in the Olympic Village, just listening to the sights and sounds of the Olympic Village.

00:50:04Unidentified speaker: Sounds like he was having a good time on Saturday Robbo, hope you have a good time over in Rio I'm pretty sure you will Thanks, mate. Yeah, no, something's gone horribly wrong if we can't have a good time over there. So, look, yeah, I'll struggle to probably sleep the next few nights with excitement, but can't wait to get on the plane, get over there. And, yeah, if people want to sort of follow our adventures, the best way to do that is just to follow any of the main social media platforms, just at Mossy and Robbo. In particular... Facebook and Instagram but also on Snapchat and Twitter you can find us on there as well but yeah we'll try and get as much coverage as we can and the other thing I should point out Scott and Mel is hopeful I haven't got it packed yet but hopeful of sneaking a parkrun flag in the bag and getting over there and on the Saturday the 20th of August at 8am or 7am we'll look to stick that in the sand maybe at Copacabana Beach and we'll will claim the first ever pop-up parkrun in South America and Brazil. So stay tuned on that. That will be one hell of a parkrun adventure if we can get that up.

00:51:34Scott Trickett: Well, Jess said a couple of weeks ago she was keen to run a parkrun, a pop-up parkrun over there. So I know you've got at least someone who will join you.

00:51:43Unidentified speaker: Perfect. I'm sure we'll be able to recruit a few more between now and then. So, yeah, stay tuned. Follow the updates and we'll hopefully get a little parkrun happening on the last Saturday of the games.

Social Adventurers (social media round-up)

00:52:01Melissa Erbacher: And the parkrun adventurers were out in full force all over the country this weekend. Recreating Mel was at the launch of Chelsea Bicentennial with a bunch of awesome women and said it was a very successful launch filling a big hole in the southern burbs of Melbourne. A very lovely course that's flat as a tack and mostly on a gravel track.

Channel 4 News team (mention only)

00:52:23Scott Trickett: our official member of the Channel 4 News team, underscore PK, just wanted to beat my, or just wanted to beat his 2534 PB. And what did he do? He came in at 2427. He was pretty happy with that, and he's best positioned too. All thanks to my new 5-minute K playlist.

00:52:44Melissa Erbacher: And congrats on the PB. You do realise that you wasted a whole bunch of other PBs that you could have had in that minute. that you shaved off your time, but I'm sure it's a lesson learned. Running Guy Ryan was a parkrun tourist this week at Riverway parkrun in Townsville, travelling over 1,300 kilometres to celebrate a friend's 100th parkrun. He said, such a beautiful course, definitely a must-do parkrun. And I would agree with that. Riverway's gorgeous.

00:53:12Scott Trickett: I would agree with that too. Can't wait to go back and do that. I might move to Townsville just to do Riverway again. Oz Twin Mama said, So this happened yesterday at Harvey Bay parkrun, and she posted a picture of a fantastic certificate that is only awarded to the parkrunners of the Month.

00:53:32Melissa Erbacher: Two certificates in fact.

00:53:33Scott Trickett: Yes, because with Stuart Marshall training, they were the first couple to win. Love parkrun and all that it means. Wouldn't be where I am today without it. parkrun is my favourite day of the week. We have something in common, Oz Twin Mama. It's great.

00:53:50Melissa Erbacher: Miss Spelt was out. She was at the longest run this weekend, and she shared various pics from throughout the day, keeping everyone who was at home on the couch or couldn't otherwise make it abreast of all the goings-on at the longest run, Greater Sunshine Coast.

00:54:09Scott Trickett: M. Botto got in the video spirit and shared a video with us from St. Peter's. Yippee! And ouch, as they slid down a slide. With Dora Tosingo and the Dirty Cheaters.

00:54:26Melissa Erbacher: And obviously the Dirty Cheaters were there with her and said a proud cheater at Cashews 7 was chosen to carry the Olympic torch during today's Rio run at Maylands Peninsula parkrun. So they must have shared that photo that came from somewhere else.

00:54:42Scott Trickett: Axel Bar shared some beautiful pictures from Cairns parkrun. Jamesy Wamesy, he was at Diamond Creek with me and he was winning. Somebody asked him if he won and then congratulated him and he replied, yes, I won versus my old self.

00:55:00Melissa Erbacher: And that's exactly the attitude that we love at parkrun. Mama of Hope shared a pic of her. I believe she was volunteering at Westerfolds. So that would have been volunteering. And she said she was a massive clown. I think she was doing one of those jump shots.

00:55:16Scott Trickett: Run with Erica walked the gorgeous Bunya parkrun trails with my mini-me.

00:55:22Melissa Erbacher: Hey TJ was also at the launch of Chelsea Bicentennial parkrun. That was a big one this weekend, Scotty. You didn't get along to that, but did you feel the ripples of it spreading out amongst Victoria?

00:55:36Scott Trickett: Lots of people went, so there was lots of conversation down here. And very smooth launch, which is good, good to hear. So I think that will be a big success. Mac girl 19 was also there with her mate run Joe run. And they also posted photos from that launch. So definitely a popular launch. Can't wait to get down there. There'll be another event for me to get closer to you. You got some catching up today on the most events list, or is it going to get a new name?

00:56:16Melissa Erbacher: Well, it might get a new name.

00:56:18Scott Trickett: What name can we come up with for that?

00:56:22Melissa Erbacher: I don't know. Maybe our listeners should make some suggestions. That's how I think. over to Facebook and we had one of our regulars Peter Pohlman wondering what other clubs there may be out there and he's listed off a bunch of the clubs that we all know and love in parkrun Australia land and wants to know it has he missed any are there some that he hasn't listed and I do know of at least one that he hasn't listed but I'd like to hear from everybody else. You guys, jump onto the Facebook page, check out the list that he's given. If there are any that you know about, let us know what they are so we can let everyone in Australia and the world know. And he also confirmed for us that the Blackbutt 'C' theme for their anniversary last week was related to being the third letter in the alphabet. So apparently, if I prefer a different letter, I can plan ahead accordingly.

Listener Facebook question — parkrun clubs

00:57:24Scott Trickett: Paul Curtin was enjoying coffee after the Chelsea Bicentennial launch, which we know now is the highest launch in Victoria, 388 runners.

00:57:36Melissa Erbacher: And Tina Kirwan, who was also out at Longest Run, said, Thanks for a great day, everyone. Fantastic to meet lots of new faces and see lots of familiar ones too. Love checking out all the courses.

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

00:57:48Scott Trickett: Now, we have no new launches this week, which is a little bit unusual, but gives us all time to breathe.

00:57:54Melissa Erbacher: But there are anniversaries.

00:57:56Scott Trickett: There are. Where are they, Mel?

00:58:00Melissa Erbacher: Well, we've got Callaghan in New South Wales who are celebrating their first anniversary. They're going to have an Olympics theme because it's Rio. We're all in Rio fever at the moment, so... I think we're going to have a few more events that still do Olympic parkruns in the next couple of weeks while all the fun is happening.

00:58:21Scott Trickett: Wishart aren't, though. They're going to go with a superheroes theme for their second anniversary this Saturday.

00:58:26Melissa Erbacher: And that will be very cool and lots of fun as well, I'm sure.

00:58:29Scott Trickett: Okay, we've come to the end. Have you got the fever now?

00:58:35Melissa Erbacher: Oh, I have to admit that I'm a little bit excited. Speaking to Steve and Robbo about the Olympics and, you know, we've had Scotty Westcott and we've had Jess Trengove and, yeah, the last few interviews have, yeah, they've got me in the mood. I am a little bit feverish.

00:58:57Unidentified speaker: Okay.

00:58:58Scott Trickett: Well, I'll let you go.

00:59:00Melissa Erbacher: I'm sure if I turn the television on now, there'll be something happening.

Listener challenge / call-out

00:59:03Scott Trickett: olympics related that i can watch they don't do curling at this one do they that's a winter olympic sport that is a winter i am partial to a little bit of curling well just discover a new sport over the next two weeks or over the next week and let's report on it next week deal your favorite olympic moment that maybe nobody else is talking about that's not making the news You're tired. I'm tired. Have a good week, everyone. Have a good park rundown Saturday.

00:59:40[other]

00:59:40Melissa Erbacher: You're not going to leave my yawn in the podcast.

00:59:46Unidentified speaker: Yep.

00:59:51Scott Trickett: It's been a long one this week. We're all a bit tired. So let's go. See you next week.