Episode 34 - Bill Irving

Episode details · 225 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:00[music]

00:00:11Melissa Erbacher: Welcome to episode 34 of parkrun adventurers 34 is the number i have been telling people for my age for years even before i was 34 don't ask me why it just it's just stuck what's how many more years it'll stick for welcome to the podcast scotty thanks mel how old are you in parkrun years

00:00:37Scott Trickett: Yeah, why not?

00:00:42Melissa Erbacher: No, what year is this? I'm 36. Yeah, see, this is the thing. Every year I think, what year is this? And that's how I figure out what my age is because I was born on a zero year. So I'm not actually going to turn 40 in 2020. I'm going to turn 20. No, I don't know. It's all a blur.

00:01:09Scott Trickett: 34. 34 is the answer.

00:01:11Melissa Erbacher: 34 is the answer. Yes.

00:01:12Scott Trickett: I'm 34 too. It's great. It's a great age.

00:01:15Melissa Erbacher: It is a great age. I always encourage people to be 34. Have you had a good week?

00:01:21Scott Trickett: Yeah. Still in party mode a little bit.

00:01:25Melissa Erbacher: Still in party mode? What were you partying for?

00:01:27Scott Trickett: It was a party weekend.

00:01:29Melissa Erbacher: Oh, it was the party weekend. Who could forget the cake, the costumes? Actually, I was pretty zonked. I had to have a big nana nap on Saturday afternoon. I think I slept for about three hours.

00:01:44Scott Trickett: Really? You partied too hard.

00:01:47Melissa Erbacher: Well, it was an early start for me. I got up at 3.30 to get to my parkrun. How late did you get to sleep?

00:01:54Scott Trickett: Well, how late did I get to sleep or how late did I have to leave to get to parkrun?

00:01:59Melissa Erbacher: know. I want to know how long you slept.

00:02:02Scott Trickett: I probably had a good eight hours.

00:02:05Melissa Erbacher: Well, there you go. So you beat me by about three and a half, which is where I made it up in my afternoon nap. So we're all even Stevens. So where did you party on Saturday?

00:02:17Scott Trickett: So I was partying at Maribyrnong. They celebrated their second anniversary in style, smashing their attendance record. And I Every time I visit there, weather is perfect. Even though we're still in the end of winter, we had a cracking day in Melbourne. Blue skies, nice cool temperature.

00:02:41Melissa Erbacher: You're just describing all of winter in Queensland to me.

00:02:46Scott Trickett: No, it's a bit like last week when Ewan said they had two glorious weeks of... Of summer in Canada, yeah.

00:02:53Melissa Erbacher: So did they, course attendance record, so what were the numbers then?

00:02:58Scott Trickett: We were in the 250s, which is good. Yeah, it's a good, you know, we've been talking about this perfect storm of numbers for a good parkrun event. All parkrun events are good, but 250 at Maribyrnong was very manageable. It was good. There was lots of interaction, lots of cheering. They did that last man standing thing.

00:03:22Melissa Erbacher: Oh, I love that.

00:03:23Scott Trickett: Yeah, it works if everyone gets into it, and it's really good if they can stick around for the end. And I think it just works really well. It's exciting to run up a finished shoot and get cheered.

00:03:37Melissa Erbacher: It is.

00:03:39Scott Trickett: You know what I also discovered on Saturday is that the warm-up is really important. I might start to do a warm-up. Do you do a warm-up?

00:03:48Melissa Erbacher: Isn't that the first two and a half kilometers of a parkrun?

00:03:51Scott Trickett: Well, that's how I've been training it up until now.

00:03:53Melissa Erbacher: Okay, so now you're going to be a serious parkrunner, are you?

00:03:58Scott Trickett: Yeah, this is the new Scott.

00:03:59Melissa Erbacher: You're getting serious.

00:04:00Scott Trickett: I'm getting very serious. I'm going to do a warm-up on Saturday.

00:04:04Melissa Erbacher: And how are you going to do that? What will that consist of?

00:04:08Scott Trickett: Well, I'm told 2K.

00:04:12Melissa Erbacher: Seriously, two?

00:04:13Scott Trickett: 2K gets everything moving, gets the body ready for running.

00:04:17Melissa Erbacher: Oh, that... Okay, that sounds really excessive to me. Can't you just, like, run till you're almost out of sight of, like, the car park and then run back or something? Do you actually have to break a sweat in the warm-up to be warm?

00:04:34Scott Trickett: Yeah, well, I might start with that. I think I don't... No, I don't think you do break a sweat. I think it's just... Getting ready to run.

00:04:43Melissa Erbacher: But see, all those people that are warming up, they're missing out all the pre-parkrun socialising. Unless you can find a warm-up buddy to go with you at your pace.

00:04:53Scott Trickett: I'm more serious now.

00:04:55Melissa Erbacher: Oh, okay, so it's not about the socialising.

00:05:00Bill Irving: This is serious, Scott.

00:05:02Melissa Erbacher: Well, I look forward to hearing how your first warm-up goes and whether or not it has any impact on your actual time or the way you feel. when you're running the next five of your seven kilometres on Saturday.

00:05:16Scott Trickett: Now, how is Hervey Bay for you?

00:05:18Melissa Erbacher: Hervey Bay was magic, as it's always magic. They had a really good theme. They just went, fancy dress, you know? Just get dressed up in whatever costume you got in cupboard. It doesn't matter. And they had a great response from that. We had stormtroopers. We had a whole bunch of bat people. We had a teabag. There was a lady dressed as a teabag. Oh, what else did we have? There was a cat in a hat. kirsty who's the event director she was cat in the hat did you ask the lady about the tea bag the inspiration for the tea bag she just loves tea i didn't ask her she's too fast for me and she finished way ahead and i couldn't find her at the finish so i i wanted to because that i thought was priceless where does somebody get inspiration to be a tea bag i don't know but it was a great costume So, yeah, no, but it was a good morning and we had a really lovely afterwards. Everyone pulled out picnic blankets and just spread out on the grass and some people had bought some food to have for breakfast and it was just a really nice casual, you know, none of this running off to a cafe and everybody's paying for food. It was just everybody brought their own little sprawl and we sat in the sunshine and enjoyed each other's company and it was really nice.

00:06:45Scott Trickett: Did they have a big crowd? Did they get a good turnout?

00:06:47Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I came in 173, so I don't think we quite had 200, but it wasn't far off. So, yeah, it was well attended, that's for sure.

00:07:00Scott Trickett: Well, I'll let you in on a secret. We've got Ian Hay coming up later in the pod, but I don't want to steal his thunder, but a new record was broken over the weekend, a global record. More people went to parkrun this weekend than ever have before.

00:07:16Melissa Erbacher: Do you think it might have something to do with the fact that Sweden joined the parkrun family on the weekend?

00:07:23Scott Trickett: They would have contributed, no doubt. 91 Swedish runners and walkers showed up for their first event.

00:07:32Melissa Erbacher: Not to mention the fact that Canada's still on board and growing every week, no doubt. But I think as we get back into the Aussie spring, those numbers are going to start spiralling again in the upwards direction.

00:07:44Scott Trickett: Yeah, and don't forget South Africa. South Africa's still massive numbers, and you're right. There's Australia and South Africa coming to summer. Look out.

00:07:54[music]

ED guest interview — Bill Irving, Mount Clarence parkrun (the "Meet the ED" format, unnamed on air here)

00:08:04Melissa Erbacher: It was a big party weekend just gone for parkrun. One of those places who was celebrating an anniversary was Mount Clarence in Western Australia. And joining us now on the podcast, we have their Distinguished Event Director, Bill Irving. Bill, welcome to the podcast.

00:08:21Bill Irving: Thank you for having me, guys. It's a pleasure.

00:08:24Melissa Erbacher: So tell us a little bit about the party. How did you celebrate on Saturday?

00:08:28Bill Irving: We were very low key this year. We discussed amongst the event directors as to whether we would want to have a dress up or just to come and eat cake. And we decided in the end that just turning up and eating cake was probably the best option. I mean, who doesn't want to run for cake?

00:08:48Melissa Erbacher: Exactly.

00:08:49Bill Irving: And so we had a sort of very low key event. We had a few visitors from out and about. We had our esteemed territory director, Maddy Trent, come over from Geographe Bay. And the weather played nice for us, which was always wonderful. We did have threats of like multiple millimetres of rain, but it stayed away for at least the event, which was lovely.

00:09:16Melissa Erbacher: So now, Bill, your event is one of the few in Australia that has the word mount in its title. Can you tell us a little bit about your course and whether or not that mount equates to scary hills?

00:09:29Bill Irving: Yeah, it does, Lee. Part of my run brief every time I give it is I do ask people, have they heard whether or not we have hills? And usually the answer is a look of sort of trepidation and they sort of shyly nod their heads and go, yes. We're in the top five of the hilliest in Australia. So I think over the course, we have approximately 110 to 120 meters of elevation. We start at sea level and the first kilometer is all uphill. And then we go down and up and sort of shuffle along. And it's an out and back. So we go out about halfway, turn around and come back the way we came. Thankfully, the last kilometre is all downhill and you can put the foot down and come screaming down the hill. And we are a seaside run. So we have a wonderful view out over Princess Royal Harbour and over King George Sound For those who don't really know much about Albany, we're definitely on the south coast of Western Australia. We get quite often full-blown winter storms come through. But this time of the year, we also have the whale watching season as well. And fortunately, last year, we could see a lot of whales, although this year, they haven't really played the game and come in close. But we do live up to the mount in the Mount Clarence.

00:10:58Scott Trickett: And am I correct in assuming you finish on the beach?

00:11:02Bill Irving: Yes, we do. So we chuck a right turn with about 70 metres to go and then finish up on the beach. So that's just one of these precaution things that event directors lay awake at night sort of fearing where people will run into other people. And so the idea was to get as many people off the path as I could and the beach seemed the logical point to stop them off. And just to add in a little bit more difficulty to the 120 metres of elevation that we have across the course is to make people run across sand for the last 50 metres.

00:11:36Scott Trickett: But this also means you can really cannon down that last kilometre downhill and not worry about falling over, just smash into the sand.

00:11:44Bill Irving: Well, yeah, I think there is a few photos of me laying on the sand at the end of it after I've just given myself a fair hammering coming down the hill. But there's many sort of nuances over the whole course. There are parts where it sort of gets progressively steeper over some of the hills. We run over boardwalk and over a normal pathway, I guess, sort of an asphalt pathway and We run past a couple of statues, Mustafa Ataturk, who's the founder of modern Turkey, because the Anzacs left from Albany. When the Anzacs left from Albany, the last place that they saw was part of the course that we now run on. And so we have a real connection to Turkey and to Ataturk. And the channel that we run up past, which is the channel into the Albany port, is actually named Ataturk Channel as well. And so there are really a number of very interesting sort of scenic points along the course and it's quite easy to get distracted and just go, oh, look, there's something out there and completely forget about running for 30 seconds or so. And I think that's probably one of the unique parts about our course is just exactly how scenic it is.

00:13:06Scott Trickett: You're selling it really well to me. I like the idea of a challenging course. I like the idea of a hill. Flat courses can be boring. You've got nothing to take your mind off.

00:13:16Bill Irving: Well, when I was initially setting the course out or trying to decide on an area to run parkrun back in 2014, there was, in the back of my mind, this course was always the elephant in the room. It was a very much a perfect five kilometre stretch if you went out and back. The only problem was the hills. All of the previous courses that I'd run, Claisebrook, Bunbury, even Pioneer to an extent, were relatively flat. And there's not very many hilly courses in the country, I guess. And so I was always looking for a flat stretch of land to put the course on. unfortunately nothing really fit and so in the end I decided okay I'll personally run the course and see if it's worth the effort and then I went up and over and came back and instantly in my mind I knew it was the perfect place to have an event.

00:14:20Melissa Erbacher: I love the concept of the last kilometre being all downhill so I think it completely pays off the fact that you have to run up hill for one kilometer to start with because yeah you can cane it down the end but have you had anybody just completely eat sand because they they hit it at such a velocity that they couldn't slow down um no thankfully we've actually got um

00:14:47Bill Irving: I guess in racing car terms, we've almost got a chicane that slows people down. So as we come down off the last kilometre, we've got a small little roadway that we have to sort of throw an S into. And so that's almost a chicane. So that slows people down before they hit the beach. Now, I haven't seen anyone spear over just yet. And in my heart, I'm sort of hoping that no one does. But I think that effective speed break in there or that chicane in there sort of, removes the risk, I guess, or the problem of someone spearing over and eating sand. And the sand down there is not actually overly soft either. So if they're coming looking for, you know, the soft white sand and something to land on, they might be a little bit disappointed.

00:15:35Scott Trickett: Now, Albany is not a big town, is it, Bill? And it's fair to say you're a fairly remote event in terms of parkrun. How are you finding that experience? Being a small town and being away from other parkruns, has the town embraced parkrun?

00:15:51Bill Irving: I was actually musing on this today when I wrote my run report for the event just gone. We average roughly 40 people per week in a town that's about 30,000 people. We get really fantastic support from the local athletics club who have really embraced the parkrun concept. And often they're sort of dragging people along that they know to parkrun itself. And then from parkrun, there's been people who've fed back out into the athletics community, which I think is very much what they, you know, what parkrun is all about. But we are a very small community. very local and unique event i think we're about two hours away from our nearest parkrun which is over in manjimup which itself is another very small very local event and so we probably do have a few quirks that the smaller events do have but knowing everybody by name and being able to encourage just about every single person out on course by name is a wonderful experience to have. And having run in events in parkruns in Perth where there's been 200 people, 250 people, I think being able to come to a small event and be embraced as a local is very rewarding. The sense of community has been incredible within parkrun. I'm not sure what it's like on the eastern states, but Western Australia does have a very, very tight-knit parkrun community. Every event supports every other event, and parkrun tourism is very much alive and well in Western Australia. In fact, the event just gone, we had a lady come down who got her statesman title. just being able to go to other events and to say, oh, here's Bill. It's nice to see you. Welcome to our event. And we'll, you know, discuss ideas and things like that as well. But there's also, for me personally, parkrun's been there to keep me focused when things are down, to give me support in the times when I've probably not been travelling as well mentally as I probably could have been.

00:18:25Scott Trickett: And so you talk about being down there. You're a sufferer. Do we call you sufferers of bipolar or is it just part of who you are?

00:18:32Bill Irving: We prefer to be, I guess, mentioned as people who have bipolar. I know there are certainly people who struggle with this illness and a lot of them would think of themselves as suffering, but I guess it's just part and parcel of who we are.

00:18:53Scott Trickett: So what about days when you're struggling and having a bad day and maybe you've got to be run director? Is that a challenge for you or is that something that you look forward to?

00:19:02Bill Irving: There are times certainly when it's a struggle to get out of bed, even on days when I'm a run director. But at the same time, knowing that there are these people that will be there and people that take such joy out of just turning up for a simple 5K run on a Saturday morning. is enough to get me out of bed. And I always feel uplifted and rewarded at times when I have felt down to go and to give to people for parkrun. And on days when I am running and I'm feeling quite down and quite flat, just to have people who are there who, you know, give you a high five on the course or, you know, give you a clap when you cross the line and Those sorts of things can really, really help for someone who is struggling with mental health issues.

00:19:53Melissa Erbacher: Bill, we've heard a lot of stories about how parkrun has helped people with mental health issues and sufferers of depression and things like that. I'm not personally very familiar with the specifics around bipolar. Can you elaborate on that a little bit for us and for our listeners who might not be familiar with it also?

00:20:15Bill Irving: Absolutely. Bipolar disease used to be referred to as manic depression. It's usually characterized by periods of what they refer to mania or hypomania where people are, they're very energized, they're verbally quite proficient, I guess, in a sense. But it also coincides with a lot of risky behavior and can deteriorate to the sense of physically harming themselves. There is on the flip side of that, the depressive episodes as well. There are two types. There's type 1 and type 2. Type 1 is what is traditionally seen as bipolar with extended manic periods and depressive periods as well. Myself, I'm a type 2, which is more characterized with extended depressive periods and little spikes of mania that last only about 24 to 48 hours, but they can be incredibly debilitating at the same time.

00:21:16Melissa Erbacher: And what exactly is involved in the mania?

00:21:20Bill Irving: It depends on person to person. For me personally, there is an increase in risk-taking behavior. I can at times be financially irresponsible, I think is a good way to describe it. My wife does have a very strong hold on the credit card. But it can also be associated with aggressive behavior, sort of angry behavior as well. It really does depend on each person.

00:21:49Melissa Erbacher: So you say you can be financially irresponsible. Does that sort of extend as well, and this is possibly a little bit less serious, but to registering for things like ultramarathons? Do you find that you might, in those periods of time, commit to things that otherwise you might not?

00:22:09Bill Irving: Yes, that is actually a big issue for me as well. So one of the reasons I got involved in my first ultramarathon was because of, I guess, rising fear of missing out and also sort of a rising level of mania as well. And I just went, oh, look, shiny, and bought it as well. So shoes and gear can probably be another one of those issues where I probably need to be kept in check. Thankfully, at this point, I've sort of... discovered n minus one is the appropriate level of shoes that one needs to have where n being what will end in divorce minus the one shoe and is that a quantifiable number or is that something that your wife pretty much lets you know um it has been trial and error i think at the point so i love her dearly she has looked after me well

00:23:07Melissa Erbacher: Oh, well, you're obviously very lucky to have her.

00:23:10Scott Trickett: The other side of that is whenever my mates are feeling down, Bill, I'll just tell them, you know, go for a run, you know, clear their head. Does that help for you?

00:23:18Bill Irving: My wife will actually tell me, you're looking down, you're looking average, I guess, and she will send me out for a run. Or recently, because I've been injured, she'll send me out for a ride on the bike. And just getting out and getting in the air and being able to – clear your head, I guess, in a sense, is always beneficial to a lot of people. I think even a simple one kilometre run around the block is often enough to just remove yourself enough from where you are mentally and to be able to give you a new perspective and to refocus and to go ahead.

00:23:57Scott Trickett: Good for hiccups too. If you've got hiccups, go for a run. It has to be about 500 metres to a K. Cures hiccups.

00:24:05Bill Irving: Well, I'll have to check up on that one.

00:24:08Scott Trickett: I thought as a nurse you'd back me up on that, Bill.

00:24:12Bill Irving: Unless it is evidence-based, I can't confirm or deny.

00:24:17Melissa Erbacher: I have evidence that to cure hiccups, all you need to do is put your tongue on the roof of your mouth and think of a pink unicorn.

00:24:25Scott Trickett: See, that doesn't work for me.

00:24:27Melissa Erbacher: Have you tried it? I've researched this. And all my subjects, it's worked. So that's scientific evidence for you right there.

00:24:37Bill Irving: Submit it to a peer review journal and I think we'll work out how that goes from there.

00:24:43Melissa Erbacher: That sounds like work, peer review. Bill, you're also a member of a pretty wonderful running club. Have you found being a Zoolander has added an extra dimension to your life?

00:25:02Bill Irving: I think being a Zoolander is almost on par with being a parkrun event director. It has enriched my life no end. Knowing that there are people out there who are ridiculously good at running is always an incentive. And also for those people who aren't quite sure why they're there, but they're going to give it their best shot anyway, really sort of speaks of the parkrun ethos and also of the Zoolander ethos as well.

00:25:31Melissa Erbacher: I think you say that quite nicely. Whenever somebody tells me that they can run good, I say, well, some days you're the teacher, some days you're the student. That's how it goes when you're a Zoolander.

00:25:44Bill Irving: Absolutely. There is always a grasshopper to mentor in the Zoolander.

00:25:49Scott Trickett: We almost say it every week, our list of parkruns to do is getting longer and longer. I'm really intrigued by Mount Clarence. I realize it's a bit of a journey to get there, but it sounds like it's well worth it. So thanks for sharing your story and letting all the adventurers know about your beautiful parkrun.

00:26:09Bill Irving: Thank you very much, Scott and Mel. It's been an absolute pleasure and you are welcome anytime. Just bring cake.

00:26:14[music]

Facts in a Haystack

00:26:24Scott Trickett: If you were thinking to yourself, it's been months since we've heard from Ian Hay, you'd be correct, because it has been. But we're going to correct that right now, because welcome to the podcast. Ian Hay for our favourite segment, Facts in Haystack.

00:26:39Ian Hay: Thanks, Scott. Good to be back. That time goes way too fast.

00:26:44Scott Trickett: Well, you've been away a long time, which must mean you've got heaps and heaps of stats for us. Hit us with something.

00:26:51Ian Hay: Yes, that's right. Lots and lots. Now, before I start, I do have one thing that I have to raise. I've got a bit of a beef to raise with you, Scott. I was going for a run yesterday. I was listening to last week's podcast, and where you guys were talking about the James Bond. Now, I just have to say, you don't watch State of Origin, and you don't watch Bond. I was getting pretty upset there, Scotty.

00:27:15Scott Trickett: What are you suggesting, Ian?

00:27:17Ian Hay: Well... You saved it a bit. I was good to hear about the Bourne. So you've covered off the Bourne. So I think you saved yourself there. So that sort of covered it.

00:27:25Scott Trickett: We might save this for another podcast because I can go into an argument on James Bond with anyone any day of the week.

00:27:32Melissa Erbacher: Why, that's absolutely… I'm not sure he'll win because he's never seen any James Bond. But he could certainly have an argument about it.

00:27:40Scott Trickett: That's right. Exactly.

00:27:43Ian Hay: Cool. So stats. Now, I was also listening and you guys were talking about EDs a bit. So I came up with all the EDs coming up and visiting at the Sunshine Coast last week for the Sunny Coast Marathon. So I thought I'd cover off a little bit of stats around EDs and traveling. So our ED adventurers, I guess. I thought I'd do a bit of a breakdown of our EDs and just see what they've been getting up to around the country because they're usually pretty flat out running events and getting a lot done there. So can they still get out and about a bit was my question. And for those of you who know all the regulars within parkrun, I don't think it'll come as any huge surprise who comes out on top of the list here. So I grabbed out some stats on who's run the most number of unique events, so individual events across all of Australia. And I don't think it'll be any surprise that Alan and Roseanne were at the top of that list, sitting on 74 events across Australia. That was as of last week, so I assume that's still correct. And Fiona Edmonds from Logan came in third on that list, so she was doing really, really well. I also thought I'd have a quick look and see who our speediest. I know it's not a race, but it's always cool just to see how fast some of our event directors are out there. And Mr. Dave Robertson comes in at number one, 16 minutes 50 as a PB, which is very, very impressive.

00:29:11Melissa Erbacher: That is very quick.

00:29:13Bill Irving: Mm-hmm.

00:29:15Ian Hay: Smoking it. And Neil Bath from Rocks Riverside up in Brisbane here comes in at 17.24 as a second, so... Very impressive times from those guys.

00:29:25Melissa Erbacher: Adrian Royce must be quite up there too. He's a fast runner.

00:29:28Ian Hay: He certainly is. He's at number five. There's literally a couple of seconds between fourth and fifth. So it all gets very, very close towards that top end.

00:29:39Melissa Erbacher: I think what Scotty wants to know, Ian, is what does he have to aim for to be in the top ten? So what is the time of the slowest of the tenth person? So we've got to ballpark.

00:29:53Ian Hay: 18 minutes and 33 seconds.

00:29:55Scott Trickett: That's fast. I'm glad I'm not an ED anymore.

00:30:00Melissa Erbacher: Well, maybe we need to find out who the fastest TD is.

00:30:05Ian Hay: I actually was going to break it down by TD. I just ran out of time this afternoon. So that would have been cool to break it down as well.

00:30:12Melissa Erbacher: I would totally be in the top 10 for that because there aren't 10 female territory directors. So we've got to make our own clubs for these sorts of things because that's how you get in the top.

00:30:22Ian Hay: Can't do top 10. We'll work the numbers a bit so we can come up with another grouping.

00:30:27Melissa Erbacher: Exactly.

00:30:28Ian Hay: Yep. So, yeah, very, very impressive times from these EDs and very cool to see them.

00:30:37Scott Trickett: Now, Ian, we also had some questions from a couple of our listeners that we fired off at you. Have you got some answers for our mate Peter and Simon? Simon?

00:30:48Ian Hay: Excellent questions. They really brought up some interesting stats. So I'm hoping everyone else will find it just as interesting as me. The first one that I brought up was who are the youngest and oldest parkrunners to hold a course record in Australia? Now, just two caveats with this. I could only pull it up based on age categories. So I don't have visibility of actual age, but fortunately the stats turned out really, really easily. And it's current course records I can only look at. So I'm not sure if they were... anyone younger at a previous stage or anything. Uh, but currently Samuel, hopefully I pronounced it right. Samuel Soper, um, is a junior 11 to 14 and he holds the record at Narrabri of 19 minutes and 12 seconds. So he's our youngest in Australia at the moment, which is once again for an 11, 14 running 19, 12. That is just impressive.

00:31:40Melissa Erbacher: Yeah. We've got some fast runners, uh,

00:31:43Ian Hay: in that age bracket too but they don't own the course records so yep so very cool that someone at that age can have a can have a course record i love seeing that um and also looked at the oldest and i don't know if this person might be putting them in the bracket of the oldest but um it's it's the course record so neil bath is um sitting at the oldest is the oldest holding the course record at pittsworth in 1758 so once again still an absolutely cracking pace as well so

00:32:14Melissa Erbacher: Far out. Age has got nothing to do with that one.

00:32:17Ian Hay: Doesn't slow you down at all.

00:32:20Scott Trickett: What age is Neil Bath then? Sorry, Neil.

00:32:25Ian Hay: 50 to 54, so he's still a young'un.

00:32:27Scott Trickett: He is. A fast young'un.

00:32:30Ian Hay: Yes, a very fast young'un. So, yeah, well done to those two. That's very cool to see. Next question. Which park one has had the most events without breaking their attendance record? Now this one challenged my stats ability to be able to pull out event streaks, so to speak. So this one was interesting and it may not be to whoever went to the launch of this one, but Blackbutt is sitting at the top with a record 160 weeks since they've broken their streak. Now they had a launch, they had a massive launch out of Blackbutt. I'm trying to remember exactly what the numbers were of that one. But it was huge. And they are nowhere near it. They're not getting anywhere near it again.

00:33:23Melissa Erbacher: So it's not just the longest streak. It's just that they have never matched their open day record.

00:33:31Ian Hay: That's right, yeah. Well, they had 538 on their launch. I just brought up their page. And they still have... They sort of average between 100 and 200 runners by the looks of it. So to try and beat 500, there must be a huge number coming out there for the launch.

00:33:48Melissa Erbacher: Sounds like the whole region of runners.

00:33:50Ian Hay: Exactly. Number two was South Bank at 144. So their last time, they've held that streak since late 2013. I think, once again, they had an anniversary where they had 900-odd people come along to their anniversary, and they haven't broken that since then. I probably don't want to break that again because that's quite huge.

00:34:11Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, but wasn't it 998? So there were just two runners off the magic thousand. So I would still be tempted to try that again. Gareth might disagree with us.

00:34:22Ian Hay: Yeah, that would be – I can't even imagine handling that many. That would be huge.

00:34:29Scott Trickett: I'm involved in an event that had a massive launch. And it's kind of a little bit deflating when you have these massive launches because you know you're never going to get near an attendance record again.

00:34:40Ian Hay: Yeah, it means you're not going to be. And it is so cool. It is very cool to be able to beat your record. It is a nice feeling to be able to do. So out at Stone's Corner, we broke it for the first time beginning this year. We broke it multiple times again and again. It was quite exciting. So it is fun to beat that.

00:34:58Scott Trickett: Yeah, it's like validation that you're growing and you're doing a good job. But when you have a massive launch, I feel for the guys at Black Butt that they're never going to be able to get excited about breaking their record. Not for a few more years anyway.

00:35:11Ian Hay: Yeah, to reach that 500 again would be a tough feat. But yes, the other one was Bunya. So they've held their streak for 138 events. Once again, that was late 2013. So yeah, I just found those streaks quite interesting, so. And all of those, so the top 10, they're all still within their streak now. So that's as of this week. They're still holding those streaks.

00:35:36Melissa Erbacher: Maybe we need to organize some kind of mass parkrun adventurer streak breaking record attempt.

00:35:43Ian Hay: Yes, exactly.

00:35:45Melissa Erbacher: With the blessing of the events, of course.

00:35:49Ian Hay: Just turn up. I think Blackbutt and South Bank would appreciate that. the last one, um, are there parkruns where 50 club or a hundred club is the majority of parkrunners, um, or the opposite. So very few club members. So, um, once again, um, Pittsworth. Yes. Correctly. Pittsworth, Bunbury and Gatton once again, all at the top. So yeah. Uh, and I did look at the, the a hundred clubs. Um, so Surfers Paradise is sitting at the top with, uh, 27%. Um, 100 clubs. So once again, I think it's the events that have been running a bit longer and have those sort of people. And the one that was sitting by itself was Rockhampton. So they're at the other end of the scale. They had 136 runners this week and none of those are 50 clubs or 100 clubs.

00:36:45Melissa Erbacher: That's because Rocky's only, what, four or five months old?

00:36:49Ian Hay: Yeah, that's right.

00:36:51Melissa Erbacher: And they are quite geographically distanced from their next closest parkrun so unless somebody has moved then or a bunch of people have moved en masse from another parkrun area it's not likely that they'll have a lot of 50 clubbers for a while spot on but but like you said it shows that it shows the commitment of those local groups that you've got those same people that are week in week out just coming and just love it so much which is very cool to see

00:37:17Scott Trickett: We had some help from our listeners. So once again, thanks Peter and Simon for sending those questions in for Ian. Ian, we'll try not to make it so long between visits next time.

00:37:28Ian Hay: Exactly. And if anyone's got any more questions, then certainly throw them this way because I really enjoy doing that. It makes it easier to try to think up something myself too.

00:37:37Melissa Erbacher: Well, the gauntlet's out there now.

00:37:40Ian Hay: Anything could come this way now. I'm prepared.

00:37:43Scott Trickett: Thanks, Ian. Thanks for coming on.

00:37:45[music]

00:37:45Ian Hay: Excellent. Thanks, guys.

Social Adventurers

00:37:57Scott Trickett: We have got heaps and heaps of social adventuring to get through this week, so let's crack on. Facebook is where it starts. Liv Coop, our very first ED guest, had so much fun volunteering at Cabela Bar parkrun this morning.

volunTOURing (the "V word" running gag)

00:38:15Melissa Erbacher: You got it wrong, Scotty.

00:38:17Scott Trickett: Cabela Bar?

00:38:18Melissa Erbacher: No. The V word.

00:38:21Scott Trickett: VolunTOURing?

00:38:23Melissa Erbacher: Yes, that's better. You said volunteering.

00:38:27Scott Trickett: Anyway, if you haven't volunteered at another event yet, I would highly recommend it. Now, this is something you've also done, correct, Mel?

00:38:36Melissa Erbacher: Volunteering?

00:38:37Scott Trickett: Yeah.

00:38:38Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I've got, I've volunteered at almost, yeah, 11 or 12 events, I think.

00:38:44Scott Trickett: Have you volunteered RD?

00:38:46Melissa Erbacher: I have volunteer RD'd, yes. I loved it. It was Christmas Day. It was really fun.

00:38:51Scott Trickett: Did you get really nervous? It was the only time in my life where I've really got nervous, I think.

00:38:57Melissa Erbacher: Were you nervous that you'd get the course wrong, or why were you nervous? I've got no idea.

00:39:02Scott Trickett: I think it was just I was nervous because I was in an unfamiliar environment. But it's good to see that you and Liv loved it, and I've learned to love it.

00:39:10Melissa Erbacher: Well, that's good. I don't have any problems getting up in front of any parkrunners anywhere, I have come to realise.

00:39:17Scott Trickett: Melissa Ellis was also getting her volunteer on at Warragul parkrun, where they celebrated in another magic 50th milestone. And she commented that it's a great little community out at Warragul. Peter Pohlman sent us a video back in the video world. His greetings from the final star we needed to complete the Southern Cross Circuit, Pittsworth parkrun. The trick in the video, though, is that we continued our adventure onto the Japanese Gardens in Toowoomba.

00:39:52Melissa Erbacher: That looked very pretty. And congratulations to all the peas who made it to becoming stargazers when they finished their final star in the Southern Cross circuit. Linda Coombs shared a post from Warwick parkrun and said, in case you were planning on touring to Warwick, sorry, we are flooded. Come see us next week for our birthday. But in the meantime, if you're coming west, consider checking out one of the other Southern Cross Circuit parkruns. I do love how they've got the circuit going on and they promote each other down there.

00:40:24Scott Trickett: Mark Caldicott was looking forward to finally gaining his statesman status this Saturday at Portland, but he is not looking forward to the 832k drive. That's commitment, Mark.

00:40:39Melissa Erbacher: I look forward to seeing the pictures. Brendan Scholar, he also said last week, another great episode, guys. Thank you both. Why, thank you, Mr. Scholar. And he just wanted to clarify the pronunciation of Ulladulla. You know what? He gave us a video which showed us the pronunciation and I'm still pretty sure I got it wrong.

00:40:59Scott Trickett: Here it is now.

00:41:00[other]

00:41:00Ian Hay: Ulladulla.

00:41:01Scott Trickett: That's how you say it.

00:41:05Melissa Erbacher: Thanks, Scotty. I'll manage to forget that again by next week. Over to Instagram, we had Mr. Dave Robbo fresh back from Rio, which we're allowed to say now because it's not the 24th of August or before anymore. And he said at the launch and standby at Dubbo parkrun is pretty much the perfect parkrun layout and mix of terrains. Def must do, especially on Dubbo Stampede weekend.

00:41:31Scott Trickett: Yes, because they had a powwow at Dubbo over the weekend.

00:41:35Melissa Erbacher: They did, the final one for 2016.

00:41:38Scott Trickett: Will be 1981 from our first parkrun together March 2014 through to yesterday. I have done, as in Will, has done 112 parkruns and April has done 50 on her feet. Together we've volunteered 18 times. Well done April. And another great photo of her and Penny.

00:42:01Melissa Erbacher: And Evans High last week said the ERC was in beast mode today in their interval session. Look out at the Ponds parkrun. Evans Run Club is ready for you. So that was a message midweek. And then on the weekend, they shared congratulations to all of the Evans Run Clubbers who ran their first 5K event at the Ponds parkrun today. and thank you to everyone who came along to support. Some of you may remember the Evans High girls who were part of the Run Beyond project and their teacher, Amanda, who was going to start the ERC, the Evans Run Club, after the cohort finished with their major event but before the new cohort we're going to happen next year and it looks like they are flying and they've got heaps and heaps of students involved so that is awesome to see keep it up guys also on instagram beaker design gave us a shout out we gave them a shout out last week and we are going to get in touch we're going to collaborate on something super awesome stay tuned for that

00:43:10Scott Trickett: MacGirl19, they were celebrating their fourth birthday down at Balyang Sanctuary, so they were in party mood for party weekend last weekend.

00:43:20Melissa Erbacher: Love the tutu, MacGirl19. And Phil Ackland said, looks like a great spot for a bit of parkrun adventuring to me at Warrnambool parkrun. Warrnambool hasn't launched yet, so that's a sneaky preview. Looks pretty cool.

00:43:37Scott Trickett: And wrapping up on Instagram, we had Jen P., who loves running with her friends at Bendigo parkrun. Always fun, but she was also adding 5K to her Run India total.

00:43:48Melissa Erbacher: Over to our favourite social media, Twitter. Mike Bristow shared a pretty disturbing article with us this week. JK Rowling condemns voluntourism. parkrun adventuring will never be the same. I did read the article. Fortunately, the voluntourism that J.K. Rowling is referring to is not of the parkrun variety. Somebody has pilfered the term that we have coined on this podcast and are using it indiscriminately to refer to people who are going to volunteer overseas in orphanages.

00:44:29Scott Trickett: Oh, that's not as nice as the way we use it.

00:44:32Melissa Erbacher: It's not, it's no and unfortunately the people are selling it as and I would agree with JK Rowling in her stance in condemning it. They're selling volunteering in these orphanages as like a lifestyle experience and something that will look good on their CV. It's pretty disgusting actually.

00:44:55Scott Trickett: Well, let's bring the mood up a little bit. Thanks to George Sullivan. First time listening to the parkrun adventures. Informative and entertaining. Goes some way to fill the void left by the parkrun show. Great job. I think he was referring to us, Mel.

00:45:12Melissa Erbacher: Are you sure he wasn't listening? Yeah, those are the words that make me think he might have been listening to somebody else.

00:45:21Scott Trickett: Well, this week we've been informative. I gave you the stats early on, so that's me ticked off there. You're always entertaining, so that's it. Thanks, George.

00:45:31Melissa Erbacher: And Paul Kitching said, Coffee in the sun after parkrun. Another well-balanced morning. Love to see it. Coffee... After parkrun, it's one of the staples for so many parkrunners.

00:45:44Scott Trickett: Now, Twitter may be your favourite social media. Is Strava considered social media?

00:45:51Melissa Erbacher: I think it depends on how you use it. It could be.

Strava Art Competition

00:45:56Scott Trickett: Well, for this next three weeks, we're going to claim it. Because the Strava Art Competition was launched. We've announced the design you have to try and create. We've announced one of the prizes in option A. Remember option P, everyone, if you win this competition. Mystery prize of undisclosed value.

00:46:17Melissa Erbacher: Did we mention last week that the undisclosed value could be 50 cents? I'm not sure if we mentioned that. Or it could be $10, but it could also be 50 cents.

00:46:29Scott Trickett: That's why you don't disclose it.

00:46:31Melissa Erbacher: Exactly.

00:46:32Scott Trickett: Should we reveal the next part of option A?

00:46:36Melissa Erbacher: Oh, I think we should. Can I? May I? The second prize for option A, in addition to the one-of-a-kind costume accessory personally crafted by moi... is a one-of-a-kind certificate personally designed and created by Scotty, creator of other such certificates as parkrunner of the Month, the Certificate of Awesomeness and the Points Prize Medals. Woo! Who doesn't want one of those?

00:47:06Scott Trickett: Yeah, those Points Prize Medals, they're going to be collector's items because they're Gonski.

00:47:11Melissa Erbacher: Limited edition. But not even just that. This one-of-a-kind certificate. So we need to get some more information, Scotty. Is it going to be a certificate that is saying that they're the winner of this prize? Or is it going to be a certificate if they need a certificate for their own purposes to say so-and-so was a winner of something?

00:47:35Scott Trickett: I think we can work with the winner on this one. I think we might move it up to them. I'm pretty versatile.

00:47:45Melissa Erbacher: Excellent. Who wouldn't choose option A over option P? Seriously.

00:47:51Scott Trickett: So we still have two more prizes to announce in option A.

00:47:55Melissa Erbacher: But we're very excited that everyone is getting on board and getting excited about this competition. We have actually already received an entry, which was pretty interesting. We did tell people to be creative and to submit anything. Because you know what? As near or far from the actual image it's supposed to be replicating that it is, that first entry is legitimately coming first at the moment.

00:48:27Scott Trickett: Don't give up, people. I think you're still in the show, with the show.

00:48:34Melissa Erbacher: And you've got a couple of weeks to do it, but if I were you, I would get in soon. So you can start honing and perfecting your Strava art. It looks a lot easier than it actually is.

00:48:45Scott Trickett: And we should also say, not everyone who listens to the pod is on Facebook. So we want you to recreate an image of the parkrun logo, the tree logo.

00:48:55Melissa Erbacher: Who's not on Facebook? Do you really think we've got listeners that aren't on Facebook?

00:48:59Scott Trickett: I hope so. Maybe one or two.

00:49:02Melissa Erbacher: Well, guys, if you're not on Facebook and you're listening to this podcast and you want to see the image, drop us a line at parkrunadventurers at gmail.com and we will email you a copy of the image. Or you could get onto Facebook. You could get onto Facebook, like our Facebook page, and it's right there. And did we mention last week, Scotty, that there's also a prize for the entry that makes us laugh the most?

00:49:31Scott Trickett: I don't think we did because we haven't got a prize for that.

00:49:35Melissa Erbacher: But we can make up a prize for that. I want people to submit things without any inhibitions. It doesn't matter what it looks like. Even if it does not resemble the image at all, I still want to see every attempt.

00:49:50Scott Trickett: It could morph into whatever.

Where is the cake? (anniversaries and launches)

00:49:53Melissa Erbacher: Now, there were no launches on the board for this week, Scotty, but there's a few places we might be able to find cake. Where are they?

00:50:00Scott Trickett: Blue Gum Hills, second anniversary. Broadbeach Waters, second anniversary. Lochiel Park, first anniversary. Warner's Lakes.

00:50:12Melissa Erbacher: Warner Lakers. Somebody, this, I literally have copied this straight from the newsletter. I can't be held responsible when there's typos.

00:50:22Scott Trickett: But Warner's Lakes is... No, it's Warner Lakes. It's in Queensland. And Warwick have been around for three years, and they're having a party on Saturday.

00:50:34Melissa Erbacher: So we've got a few options in Queensland this weekend, and one in New South Wales and one in South Australia. You guys should have launched one in Victoria this week, so next year you could have had an anniversary.

00:50:44Scott Trickett: Well, next year. I'll make sure we get something up.

00:50:48Melissa Erbacher: Thanks for joining me on the podcast this week, Scotty. It was good fun.

00:50:52Scott Trickett: Always fun. Mel, thank you.

00:50:55Melissa Erbacher: Just say done and then we're done.

00:50:57Scott Trickett: Done.