Episode 36 - Lucy Bartholomew

Episode details · 153 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:10Scott Trickett: It's time for another edition of the parkrun Adventurers podcast. Edition number 36. Six sixes are 36. We've just done 36 episodes. Welcome, Mel.

00:00:24Melissa Erbacher: Thanks, Scotty. Good mathing you just did.

00:00:27Scott Trickett: Now, I know people aren't interested in my math skills. I know people aren't interested in a lot of stuff. So this week, we're going to hit you with some news straight off the bat. Have we got some parkrun news to share with our listeners?

parkrun news bulletin (weekly participation stats + results round-up)

00:00:44Melissa Erbacher: We do indeed. Hit it. 18,862 parkrunners ran at 173 locations this weekend. 2,448 new runners joined the ranks and 1,664 volunteers made the magic happen.

00:01:06Scott Trickett: Now to the large quadrennial international sporting event. Two Aussie parkrunners have claimed some bling this weekend. Katie Kelly took out the first finish position in the para triathlon event. And Kurt Fearnley has taken the third finish position token in the parkrun distance. For Kurt, that makes four straight parkrun distance quadrennial international sporting event podiums. Well done, Kurt.

00:01:35Melissa Erbacher: Lucy Bartholomew continues to take the sky running world by storm, going on to win the China Mountain Trails Devil's Ridge 70k in the Gobi Desert this weekend. This recent effort is undoubtedly spurred on by the interview she gave parkrun Adventurers last week, the full account of which you will hear later in the show.

00:01:55Scott Trickett: Brendan Davies was first to finish the Run the Great Whitsunday Trail, 57.4 kilometres in tropical humid conditions. When commenting on the event, Brendan Davies stated it was super tough and technical on the lush rainforest single tracks, through creeks and up and down bitey little pinchy climbs. A classic Australian trail race.

00:02:20Melissa Erbacher: Major developments are happening once more in Sydney Park, resulting in yet another course revision for St Peter's parkrun. When contacted for comment, St Peter's parkrun event director Paul Wilcock initially responded with expletives before sending through his formal statement.

00:02:37Paul Wilcock: We've known that West Connex, a massive roadway project, was going to start construction in the near future. And sadly that means a very big section of path around the outside of the park is going to be unavailable for a long time and may not ever be available again. Redesigning the course to detour around the construction is going to be quite tough. With 300 to 400 parkrunners attending each week, We want to avoid a two-lap course and we also want to avoid an overly complicated, twisty, turny course where people can easily take a wrong turn. We spent a couple of years changing the course every few weeks when the park was getting a facelift, re-landscaped, but this will be a pretty big challenge. Either way, we're going to do everything we can to keep St Peter's parkrun alive. Paul, President for Life, Wilcock.

00:03:34Melissa Erbacher: To the weather now, and 11 events were cancelled across Australia last weekend due to widespread flooding. Several states were affected. Given the warmer weather this week, the expectation is that you won't need floaties or flippers this coming parkrun day. Our next guest is parkrun Royalty. He was the first ever Gareth to be the president of the board and he hails from Southbank parkrun where he's event director. Gareth Saunders, welcome to the podcast.

00:03:50[music]

Guest interview — Gareth Saunders (South Bank parkrun ED, five years with parkrun Australia)

00:04:21Gareth Saunders: Thanks guys, thanks for having me on.

00:04:23Melissa Erbacher: So you've got quite the parkrun resume Gareth. Can you tell us a little bit about what you've done for parkrun in Australia?

00:04:31Gareth Saunders: So I originally started up at New Farm parkrun a couple of years ago. I remember meeting Tim Oberg at the park one Saturday morning and I was a little bit too hung over to run the course and I wasn't actually capable of running 5k at the time. So I ended up turning up on my bike and riding along Tim while we strategized about starting New Farm parkrun. I guess I was at New Farm for a year and then after the first anniversary, I moved across and started Southbank parkrun. And around about the same time, I became the National Operations Manager as well. And I've been at Southbank parkrun ever since. And I was probably the National Ops Manager for a year or two, I think. And then went on to become the President of parkrun Australia, which was a fantastic opportunity.

00:05:19Scott Trickett: It is quite the resume. Let's go right back to New Farm and that hungover morning. It was the first event in Brisbane, correct?

00:05:28Gareth Saunders: It was, yep, second one in Australia. So right after Main Beach, the home of parkrun in Australia, it was the first one for Brisbane.

00:05:37Scott Trickett: So tell us about that. How did you get the word out that parkrun was happening down at this little park in New Farm?

00:05:45Gareth Saunders: Look, I like to tell anyone and everyone about parkrun and that was kind of, I guess, the starting point. I guess with New Farm parkrun, it had a false start. There was a plan to launch it a little bit earlier and basically I don't think there was enough volunteers to get it going. So I kind of went on the back burner for a little while and ended up launching it a couple of months later. But there was already a little bit of gauged interest from people that had been parkrunning at Main Beach and people who knew about parkrun from the UK who were interested in seeing it come to Brisbane. To be perfectly honest, I turned up on that Saturday morning that nobody was going to show up, and I was really pleasantly surprised to see that 42 people came out and ran. So it was an incredible morning.

00:06:33Scott Trickett: And now New Farm is one of our largest events. How quickly did it grow? How long did it stay around 40 people?

00:06:41Gareth Saunders: Quite a while, because we obviously, being a free event, we don't have any, or at that stage we didn't have any money for marketing or any of that kind of thing. So it was all word of mouth. It was pretty small for a while. One of my proudest moments of parkrun is actually having a top 10 finish. It was the first time it actually rained at New Farm Park. There was 12 of us turned up and I finished ninth. So not that many people can claim to have a top 10 finish at New Farm, but I'm claiming it and I'm sticking with it.

00:07:09Scott Trickett: I understand you've also achieved a PB recently, a long overdue PB.

00:07:16Gareth Saunders: Yeah, absolutely. It was about three and a half years ago I ran a PB at South Bank straight after the City to South. I was feeling good and gave it a bit of a go. And then I got sick shortly after and ended up with a chest infection. I pretty much never got back to that time again. But just a couple of weeks ago, a few things lined up. I somehow managed to find myself closer to the front. It was a cooler day, fewer numbers, that kind of thing. And I just went for it and managed to take almost two minutes off my previous PB. So a lot of people thought that I wasn't really trying hard enough prior to that.

00:07:54Melissa Erbacher: When you did it, did you start like in front of everybody else at South Bank? Because I imagine I've only run there a couple of times, but both times it's taken quite a bit to get over what you consider to be the start line. So even if you start in the middle of the pack, trying to get a PB can be a bit of a,

00:08:15Gareth Saunders: um challenge depending on who else is starting ahead of you and whether or not they're running the same pace or slower so where did you start how did you did you approach it trying to get a pb no like i say i was just a set of circumstances i'd been just right up to the start because i was talking to the timekeeper and i was just kind of walking my way back in the crowd and they yelled go so i just turned and went for it so i wasn't on the front row uh i was you know maybe 20 metres back from the start line, but that's obviously a lot closer than I usually start. That tends to help with a good time as well. So, yeah, a few things lined up for me on the day.

00:08:53Melissa Erbacher: Because when I next tend to go for my PB, I am totally going to start in front of everybody else and they can all be damned and go around me. I don't care. I'm working that extra 20 seconds that I know it takes me to cross the start line.

00:09:08Gareth Saunders: I've got this goal that one day I want to be the first guy to the top of the Goodwill Bridge so I might just start on the front row one day and just put down a sprint and see if I can hold everyone off till the top. I might collapse afterwards but it's one of the things on my bucket list so it's going to happen at some stage.

00:09:23Scott Trickett: Southbank is one of our biggest attended events and you also have the record for the highest ever attended in Australia. Tell us about that day and how that came about.

00:09:34Gareth Saunders: Yeah it was on our first birthday and it Just sort of started from a few of us just having a bit of a chat and just saying, you know, what are we going to do for our first birthday? Usual conversation for event teams, I guess, in the lead up. And we thought, you know, we might as well go big. And, yeah, so put the word out around Brisbane and to other events and let them know that we're having our first birthday. We wanted to make it big. I guess Newey parkrun at the time had laid down the challenge. I think they had 800-odd at their birthday event, and I guess a lot of people liked the challenge and decided to turn up and give it a go. But it was a massive morning. I'm glad we got the opportunity to do it, and I'm really, really happy never to have another go at it again because it was hectic, I think is probably the best way to describe it. We've got some pretty busy bike paths around there, and If you imagine that many people at any of our parkruns or any ones I've been to, it's just not designed, I guess, to be that busy. So there was a bit of a queue over the finish line. We didn't have enough tokens. So while we were still running the event, we tried to collect all the ones from the start and resorted them and started handing them out again as well. And it was quite a production, but a lot of fun. But we got a chance to do it. But, yeah, not keen to repeat it.

00:11:01Melissa Erbacher: That was going to be my next question, Gareth. I mean, you were only two people away from cracking four digits. Are you not even the slightest bit tempted?

00:11:12Gareth Saunders: No, not at all. As you guys know, parkrun, it's great to run with a lot of other people, but it's not about the numbers. It's just about getting out there and having a crack. So we're happy, like I say, to have done it, but not interested in chasing down that anymore. It's not really... you know, what we're after. So maybe if somebody got one up on us, we'd reconsider it, but I don't think so.

00:11:36Scott Trickett: For those that don't know, Gareth, describe the South Bank course to us because it's right in the heart of Brisbane and it's got some unique features that we don't see at other parkruns.

00:11:46Gareth Saunders: Yeah, it's based at South Bank, which is obviously directly across from the city. So it's a beautiful spot to start a weekend. And we meet at a spot called the Riverside Green, which is a nice big park area. And then from there, we sort of walk down to the start line because it's a loop course, but it's a little bit over 5k. So we've got to walk down to the start line. And then from there, you pretty much take off along the Along the water's edge, go over the Goodwill Bridge, which is a great way to warm up. It all happens within the first kilometre. Good way to get the blood pumping. And then from there, you run on the city side. You run underneath the freeway and then along a boardwalk until you get to the go-between bridge. And then we've got some stairs, which a lot of people have a love-hate relationship with. Obviously, a lot of people love to hate them. But you go up the stairs and then over the go-between bridge back on the south bank side and run back to the finish. So it takes in both sides of the river. Thankfully, it's got a bit of shade, which is great, especially with summer coming up. And one of the highlights for me is we've actually got a pool at the end.

00:13:02Melissa Erbacher: Gareth, you've missed out one of the parts that I find the most exciting. about your, well, not your course, but your event, you can scan your barcode in the underground parking and it drastically reduces your parking prices. Can you tell the adventurers about that?

00:13:21Gareth Saunders: Yeah, it looks amazing. Obviously, parking around inner city is quite expensive. So if you rock up there at about half past six, you've got plenty of time to get there. By the time you get to leave after coffee and breakfast tomorrow night, it's like $300 for a car park. So if you scan your parking barcode on a machine, it'll be under $2, which makes it great.

00:13:43Scott Trickett: Hey Gareth, you've had a massive influence on parkrun in Australia. Thanks for coming on the pod this week. Thanks for your contribution over five years. I hope it continues, and I hope your love of parkrun continues.

00:13:55Gareth Saunders: Thank you very much, guys. Thanks for having me on.

00:14:05[music]

Main interview — Lucy Bartholomew (skyrunning)

00:14:12Scott Trickett: It's now time to catch up with one of my local parkrunners, although she's not very local at the moment. We're going to have a chat to Lucy Bartholomew, who loves a bit of trail running and is over in the UK at the moment. Welcome to the podcast, Lucy.

00:14:27Paul Wilcock: Hi.

00:14:30Scott Trickett: Now, Lucy, you are from Diamond Creek at the moment, so Diamond Creek would be your home parkrun, but at the moment you're over in the UK, correct? Correct. And you're over in the UK after spending a few months in Europe. What have you been doing over there?

00:14:44Lucy Bartholomew: For the past two years, I've spent the summers in Europe competing for my sponsor, Salomon, in the summer series, the sky running, mountain running series over here. So I come over June to September and I travel around France, Spain, Italy. I base myself in Chamonix and do my training and racing over here before heading back to Australia to compete. to finish off the season there.

00:15:11Scott Trickett: And what sort of events did you get up to while you were over there? What was the highlight?

00:15:17Lucy Bartholomew: The highlight, there was a lot of highlights. I did four main races whilst I was here. I did the Mont Blanc Marathon in early June, which was a really beautiful base in Chamonix. And then I ran in the Sky Running World Championships, which is held in the Pyrenees in Catalonia. And that was the main goal race for this year. So that, yeah, that was July. And then I did the Matterhorn Ultraks, which was held in Zermatt in Switzerland. So that's a 48-kilometer race. And then I finished off the year with a small, shorter race in the YCC, which is part of the UTMB Ultra Trail Mont Blanc weekend.

00:15:58Melissa Erbacher: um which was just 15 kilometers for people that were not old enough to do the main events um and yeah just it's been a real mix and they've all been highlights lucy let me get this right you spend your the european summers in europe running in magical places and you get sponsored to do this yeah that's pretty much it how do we get a sweet deal like that how fast do you have to run

00:16:28Lucy Bartholomew: It's crazy because you're in the mountains. You actually don't really end up running so much. I call myself more of a hiker at the moment over here. Once I've landed back in the UK, I can't believe how hard it is to actually have to run for a few hours rather than in Chamonix. It was just like, no, you ran a little and then it was just a big walk up, big hike. I think it's very funny that people, they're sponsoring me to be a runner and I feel like I'm here just kind of walking around and Getting to run in these amazing places. But yeah, it's a funny one.

00:17:01Melissa Erbacher: I can walk. I can hike. I can do those things. Yeah, I kind of feel like that.

00:17:07Scott Trickett: Yeah, but come on. You're not actually giving me hope here. You're actually walking in a lot of your runs, races?

00:17:13Lucy Bartholomew: Yeah, so sky running races, what classifies as a sky running run is that there's a certain amount of elevation gain within the distance. So I run the marathon distance. And so within that, Most of the races have about 3,000 meters climbing, 3,000 to 3,500. And it has to be above a certain altitude. So the last race I did went up to 3,500 meters. So it's all quite high altitude. And yeah, because you've got to get that amount of elevation gain in such a distance, it's really, really steep. You do 1,000 meters climbing in 2Ks. It's just nothing like you have in Australia or you've ever seen. But you don't take the tracks that zigzag. You just go straight up.

00:18:00Melissa Erbacher: And so what is the terrain like? Because I have been to certain places, even in the European summers, and there are snow-capped mountains. Do you end up getting that kind of elevation?

00:18:11Unidentified speaker: Yeah, definitely.

00:18:13Lucy Bartholomew: Yes, I think most of my races have gone up into the snow because the snow has stayed around for so long this year. Yeah, so most of the races go up to about 3,000 metres, and in Chamonix the snow line sits at about 2,500. Um, so yeah, you end up kind of mixing your alpinism and your skiing, which I've never done. And yeah, it's the quickest way down. So it's actually really handy.

00:18:40Melissa Erbacher: And what kind of clothing do you wear? I mean, obviously you get hot, but you wouldn't want to be running around in a singlet top in the snow, surely.

00:18:50Lucy Bartholomew: No, so like you have to carry a lot of your gear with you. So you have, you normally have like a wind jacket, rain jacket or a thermal top or something. The Europeans are pretty, pretty crazy with what they, in Australia you have to carry everything. You run a hundred K in Australia, you carry a fleece, a waterproof snake bandage, waterproof pants, leggings, everything. You're kitted out as if you're going to go for a week. The Europeans are, You know, I did a 70k race and all you needed was a wind jacket. And that's crazy to me, especially when you're going up to the snow line and going up into high altitude.

00:19:29Scott Trickett: All this running led to the Sky Running World Championships in Spain. You finished 10th. How did the race go for you?

00:19:38Lucy Bartholomew: Um, it was, it was a slow race for me. Um, I had been training, uh, in Chamonix and then I went across to the Pyrenees only a few days before. And when I saw the course, I realized that it's, it like, yeah, it wasn't running to me. Like it was rock hopping, a lot of scrambling in sections. I just, I remember in the race just being like, this is ridiculous. Like this is not a course, this is not a trail. This is just, someone's gone along and spray painted some dots on a rock and is expecting everyone to go over it. It was a hard race and I've never on a downhill had to actually step off the trail or move over to the side and let people pass because I was like, this isn't working. I'm slowing everyone down and that's something I would never do. But in this race, it was something that I had to do because it was just so technical.

00:20:32Scott Trickett: One thing we haven't, and maybe the listeners aren't aware, you're actually quite young, aren't you too, Lucy?

00:20:36Lucy Bartholomew: Yeah, I'm 20 years old.

00:20:38Scott Trickett: Yeah. So what was the average age of the runners running? Were you lacking a little bit of experience?

00:20:44Lucy Bartholomew: Yeah. I think I looked and everyone above me was about 30. So this sky running sport and this kind of, you know, a marathon takes about six hours in this kind of terrain. A lot of people are... older because it's longer it's harsher in your body people and it's slower going like you know in a way so it's kind of something that people revert to after they finished off the roads and faster running and so I think everyone was about yeah about 30 so it's like 10 years so I always keep telling myself that and you know I'm not interested in age groups or anything like that because yeah like I just figure I want to be competing against the best in the overall

00:21:27Melissa Erbacher: Lucy, you talked about them putting dots on the course and you expecting people to scramble over them. Is it the same course every year or do they mix it up?

00:21:38Lucy Bartholomew: No, so the World Championships is held every two years and two years ago it was held in Chamonix. So it was actually pretty much the Mont Blanc marathon course I ran this year. And that was the year that I kind of broke out into being sponsored by Salomon because I won the junior category of it. So I was named the junior world champion for sky running. And that's where I kind of got picked up by Salomon and started doing this double summer every year and just getting the best experience that I could. So next year, I think it's in China.

00:22:17Melissa Erbacher: How long have you been doing sky running?

00:22:19Lucy Bartholomew: Um, sky running, uh, really only, um, two, like I started maybe two years ago. Like I got onto the team because the team wasn't super competitive to get onto. Just by being a female and putting my hand up, I was pretty much on the team and then have continued to do it since. Before that, I was doing more just longer runs. So when I was 15, I started running with my dad and he was training for the North Face 100, which is held in the Blue Mountains. And I ended up crewing him and just running around from checkpoint to checkpoint. I ended up covering probably about 60 kilometers myself. As a 15-year-old, people thought I was absolutely bizarre when there was a quite well, you know, a bus that took everyone, but I decided to run. And then at 16, I ran the Surf Coast 100, a 100-kilometre race on the Victorian coastline with my dad. And we finished that in 12 hours, 12 and a half hours, and just loved it. And I just, I thought, this is what I want to do. I want to do the long stuff. And then people have told me, As a young person, you shouldn't keep running 100 kilometers because of the effects on your body. I thought, okay, I'll step back to the marathon distance because that's considered shorter and just went to the more extreme of it. I still get to spend the long hours in the mountains running, but the impact's not so great.

00:23:51Scott Trickett: you followed your dad's footsteps. So you must have done a lot of running with your old man. Is that how you fell in love with running?

00:23:58Lucy Bartholomew: Yeah, pretty much. It kind of started as just a way for me to spend time with him between work and then him training for this 100 kilometer. I didn't see him very much and I wasn't going to go to work with him. So I decided to start running with him. And to be completely honest, I didn't really enjoy it at first because I wasn't very good at it and he was much stronger than me and I didn't like that. But it's one of those things where, you know, small goals, small improvements was very noticeable at the beginning. And I've kind of just built upon that. And what I've decided to take on has gotten harder and harder. And the variety of races that I'm doing are just so vast. And it's just always a new goal and very entertaining. And dad's always there to run with me, which is really cool.

00:24:42Scott Trickett: Let's bring it back to the shorter stuff. parkrun, it's only 5k. Do you still manage to enjoy a 5k run?

00:24:49Lucy Bartholomew: Do you know, last week I did a seven-hour run in Chamonix to finish off my training there. And then I came to the UK and I did the Southampton parkrun. And I reckon I pulled up more sore from this five-kilometre run than that seven-hour run. It was unbelievable how tired I was. Yeah. How much I thought that that 18 minutes of running was just absolutely brutal. Quite happily go for a seven-hour, you know, walk, run any day. But I do enjoy it. It's definitely one of those things I enjoy after it's finished.

00:25:27Scott Trickett: How is the Southampton parkrun compared to Diamond Creek where you've been running mostly?

00:25:34Lucy Bartholomew: Um, it's massive here. Um, I think there was 700 on Saturday, but I think that the thing I like about Diamond Creek parkrun is that it's, you know, everyone it's, it's, it's quite a nice size, you know, everyone kind of knows each other and that's a lot of fun. Southampton's so big that it's just, you just get lost amongst everybody, but it's, yeah, it's really nice. And it's a nice course. Uh, it's always, I love to, you know, try and travel and try and find parkruns to do, because I think it's a nice way to meet other runners. You know, it's something that you know is on Saturday, 8 o'clock, 9 o'clock, depending where you are. And I just, you know, I've been bringing – my mum did her first one. I bought her. Mum's got someone staying with her. She came along. And I think it's just a great way to get your fitness done in the Saturday morning and then enjoy the rest of your day.

00:26:23Melissa Erbacher: Are you in the UK for much longer, Lucy? And will you get to get around to a few different parkruns while you're there?

00:26:29Lucy Bartholomew: Unfortunately, I leave tomorrow to go to China. And it's kind of on my way home to do a race there in the Gobi Desert. So that's a longer race of 70 kilometers. And then I'm back to Victoria and back to Diamond Creek, I think, will be my next parkrun. Probably the following week, just to give myself a bit of a rest. But I would like to kind of get around Victoria and do some of the other ones down on the coast, the parkruns there. I did the Westerfolds one. I've done Albert Park. But, yeah, I think that it's just a great thing to do and I've been offered to go to others. So it would be really nice to kind of meet some new people, see some new courses and, yeah, run five kilometres.

00:27:08Scott Trickett: Well, you know where you have to come, Lucy. You have to come down to Studley. Studley's all trail parking.

00:27:15Lucy Bartholomew: I know. I do want to do it. I've heard good things about it. I'll have to come, yeah.

00:27:25[music]

Social media round-up (Twitter / Strava club)

00:27:33Scott Trickett: Last week, as I hope many of you tuned in and listened, we had Tom Williams on. And on Twitter, we got a bit of love on Twitter. Lots of retweets. What do you do on Twitter? Do you love it? Do you heart it? Like it? Whatever that is, we got lots of that. So thanks, tweeters. Over on Strava, the club is growing. Grows every week. Now we're sitting at 216 members. We have a new leader. Brendan Davies has been knocked off his top spot.

00:28:05Melissa Erbacher: And who's winning? Well, no, not winning. Who's first finishing at the moment? Or most finishing with the most amounts of kilometres and elevation?

00:28:14Scott Trickett: George Alexandropoulos. George went for 21 runs in one week.

00:28:19Melissa Erbacher: Oh, my God.

00:28:20Scott Trickett: For a grand total of 335.6 kilometres.

00:28:26Melissa Erbacher: Who's got time to run 21 times in one week?

00:28:30Scott Trickett: I don't know. He's got a lot of time.

00:28:34Melissa Erbacher: That's a lot of kilometers as well. And so to even get on the leaderboard, I'm assuming it's gone up from three kilometers. What is it now?

00:28:42Scott Trickett: It has. 26.2 kilometers gets you on the leaderboard.

00:28:45Melissa Erbacher: Oh, man. Well, no, I don't think that's quite accurate because I'm pretty sure you go on the leaderboard if you do a three kilometer run on day one.

00:28:55Scott Trickett: Absolutely.

00:28:56Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, so I might not stay on the leaderboard for the full week, but I reckon I could get on there if I just do some Monday action. Got to start running on Mondays, obviously. Screw this Saturday thing. It's too late by Saturday. Don't wait for parkrun Day, people. Got to get out there during the week. Far out. Okay.

00:29:19Scott Trickett: Something to aim for for you when you actually upload your runs to Strava.

00:29:23Melissa Erbacher: Yes. Well, I'm going to partake of our Strava Art Competition this week, I think. I haven't submitted an entry yet, and nobody made any rules that we couldn't submit entries also, as well as judge them. So I'm going to get out there and make some streets work for me.

Strava Art Competition (listener challenge)

00:29:41Scott Trickett: We have had, you mentioned, we've got a few entries. They're coming in. You've still got another week, and it's time to update the final entry into option A for the prize pack to the winner.

00:29:52Melissa Erbacher: It is. Are you going to reveal it this week, Scotty?

00:29:55Scott Trickett: Sure. Mel, do you partake in polo Wednesdays?

Polo Wednesdays

00:29:59Melissa Erbacher: I don't have a horse, Scotty.

00:30:01Scott Trickett: Oh, it's a different kind of polo. I'm talking your attire.

00:30:06Melissa Erbacher: Oh, as in one of those shirts with a collar on it?

00:30:09Scott Trickett: Yes.

00:30:10Melissa Erbacher: I try not to wear things that have collars or need ironing.

00:30:15Scott Trickett: You're just casual, 24-7?

00:30:18Melissa Erbacher: If I could wear pyjamas to work, I'd wear PJs to work.

00:30:21Scott Trickett: Or activewear. I never iron my activewear.

00:30:24Melissa Erbacher: No, I don't iron my activewear either, but I'm not one of those people from that YouTube video either. I don't do things in my activewear unless I've actually done active things first. Usually.

00:30:37Scott Trickett: Well, if you wanted to partake, moving forward from this Wednesday is Polo Wednesdays. Every week, you are a polo. If you win the Strava Art Contest, we will send you a parkrun polo shirt, so you too can

00:30:51Melissa Erbacher: Can look schmick on Wednesdays.

00:30:54Scott Trickett: For Polo Wednesdays.

00:30:56Melissa Erbacher: Nice. How awesome is that? That reveal is the last of the four amazing prizes for option A. Or you could pick option B. But really, who wouldn't pick option A? Just saying.

The Perlustration (annual listener survey)

00:31:11Scott Trickett: One thing we also launched on Facebook this week was our now annual Perlustration. We're going to do this every year, assuming that we hang around for more than one year.

00:31:24Melissa Erbacher: Where are you going?

00:31:25Scott Trickett: Things happen, Mel. You know, after going through some of this feedback.

00:31:30Melissa Erbacher: Yeah. Well, we did ask people to be honest, didn't we?

00:31:34Scott Trickett: So I hope you can do that if you haven't done it already. Look it up on our Facebook page. There's a link there. Quick 10 questions. Give us your thoughts. Bathurst parkrun shared it.

00:31:45Melissa Erbacher: They did. And they actually also called us parkrun Australia Tragics. How do you feel about that title, Scotty?

00:31:53Scott Trickett: I'm wrapped. I'm wrapped with that. I'll gladly be called a parkrun Australia Tragic. With you as well.

00:32:01Melissa Erbacher: Tragics plural. Yeah, that's all right. I'm quite comfortable with that. Thank you, Bathurst parkrun, for sharing our post. It's lovely to see the love going out there amongst the events. Marie McDougall, she didn't share. She posted on our parkrun Adventurers page this week, and she said, Steve Hicks from Shepparton ran a PB at his 100th parkrun yesterday. Is there a club for parkrunners who run a PB at a milestone, or can we start the Hicks Club? I don't believe there is one that has been named. I am aware of a lot of people who have already run PBs on their milestones. I don't know what it is about milestones that makes people run faster. Have you ever run a PB on a milestone, Scotty?

Listener posts / Facebook feedback (the "Hicks Club")

00:32:52Scott Trickett: No.

00:32:52Melissa Erbacher: No.

00:32:53Scott Trickett: I think people get excited.

00:32:55Melissa Erbacher: What do you mean, get excited?

00:32:57Scott Trickett: Oh, it's their milestone. They're all excited, so extra energy, adrenaline.

00:33:02Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I know. So what's your excuse? Why didn't you get a PB?

00:33:05Scott Trickett: Oh, me?

00:33:06Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, that's what I'm asking.

00:33:07Scott Trickett: Oh, I'm excited every parkrun.

00:33:09Melissa Erbacher: It's difficult to maintain a PB. So I should be running a PB every week. Yes, well, I volunteered last week, so working toward that, taking 30 seconds off my parkrun time every week is not going so well. We'll see how I do by the time I get to my 100th.

00:33:30Scott Trickett: So we've got a new club, the Hicks Club, maybe. Is being a statesman part of a club?

Statesmen

00:33:38Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, that is the club, the statesman.

00:33:40Scott Trickett: Because Melissa Ellis was curious, how many events does each state in Australia have? Suggesting it would be harder to get statesmanship in Victoria as opposed to Tasmania. And that was a question for Facts in a Haystack. But thanks to Michael Schultz, he gave us the answers.

Facts in a Haystack

00:33:58Melissa Erbacher: Well, the answers are that last week. Well, there weren't any launches last weekend, but we've got launches coming up this weekend, which will skew all his numbers. But thanks, Michael, for letting Melissa know what they were. If you pop onto the post on Facebook, you'll be able to see all the numbers that Michael kindly provided for Melissa Ellis's curiosity. And he did indeed prove that it is more difficult to be a statesman in Victoria than it is in Tassie, because Victoria has 37 events. And Tassie only has three. However, if you really, really want to make it hard on yourself to become a statesman, you need to come to Queensland because we currently have 63 events. So that's more than a year of parkrunning at a different event every week before you even get there. I'm a long way off that one.

00:34:54Scott Trickett: I can tell you now there's not going to be too many Queensland statesmen. That Weipa event is a real challenge.

00:35:01Melissa Erbacher: Yep, it's a big financial challenge. The 5k part I'm sure is fine and very enjoyable and it's in a great place and a high percentage of the Weipa population are enjoying that parkrun. So great job Weipa, you're doing an awesome, awesome thing for your community. I think there's quite a few statesmen out there that are cursing you at the moment. Or possibly just super excited to be getting up there sometime soon.

Launches and anniversaries

00:35:34Scott Trickett: Let's touch on some new launches because we've finally got some after a few barren weeks. And if you're a statesman in Northern Territory, as in you've run Darwin parkrun, things are going to change because we're launching Palmerston in the Northern Territory on Saturday. So that will make two events in the Northern Territory. So you are no longer a statesman for Northern Territory, Mel?

00:35:57Melissa Erbacher: I'm still a statesman for the next few, well, until parkrun Day. I'm still a statesman until parkrun Day. That's all right. I'm quite happy to go back to NT. I had a great time in Darwin, and kudos to Mark and all the people involved in getting Palmerston off the ground. It's going to be great. I was going to say, you guys have got some more fun going on in Victoria this weekend with another launch yourselves.

00:36:21Scott Trickett: Yeah, we're going to launch the You Yangs, which is a very popular running spot down here. It's on the outskirts of Melbourne.

00:36:31Lucy Bartholomew: It's a great name.

00:36:32Scott Trickett: It's a trail event. Yeah, the You Yangs. I think it's going to be a tough run.

00:36:37Melissa Erbacher: And to round out a week of launches after a little bit of a dry spell, we've got more relaunching in New South Wales.

00:36:45Scott Trickett: And we've got a couple of anniversaries as well on Saturday. New Farm that Gareth touched on, they're celebrating their fifth anniversary in a purple theme.

00:36:57Melissa Erbacher: That'll be great. And you know what's good? I mean, apart from the fact that purple is the volunteer colour, aubergine, New Farm have got all those beautiful trees, all those, they're not poincianas, jacarandas. With all the beautiful purple flowers. I hope now that it's spring they've got a lot of those in bloom for their fifth anniversary this weekend.

00:37:23Scott Trickett: I'm not sure if there are any jacarandas out at Pakenham, but I'll be able to tell you next week because I'm heading there for their second anniversary, which is an 80s theme. My long-awaited 80s theme.

00:37:36Melissa Erbacher: Which you're going to wear.

00:37:38Scott Trickett: Finally get to go to one. You'll have to find out on Saturday.

00:37:41Melissa Erbacher: Have you got a hair crimper?

00:37:45Scott Trickett: Personally, I don't. There might be one in the house.

00:37:51Melissa Erbacher: I'm looking forward to seeing the picture.

00:37:53Scott Trickett: I don't have much hair to crimp. That's the problem.

00:37:56Melissa Erbacher: Everybody needs hair crimper in the house.

00:37:59Scott Trickett: Pakenham is also my NENDY.

00:38:03Melissa Erbacher: So I'm going to cross that off my list. So you're going to be adding another event to the most advanced list this weekend. been a long time coming it has for for a parkrun adventurer i haven't done much adventuring lately so really looking forward to getting out to packenham so scotty tell me truthfully when you were creating that graphic for the perlustration did you look up synonyms for survey are you doubting are you doubting my level of education No, not at all. Possibly your vocabulary, but not your level of education.

00:38:50Scott Trickett: I don't give away all my secrets.

00:38:52Melissa Erbacher: Let me change the question. Did you, before this week, know of the existence of the word proliferation?

00:39:00Scott Trickett: Life is all about learning. Learning new words, learning new life lessons.

00:39:08Melissa Erbacher: It is. So thank you for sharing that. Because I had to look perlustration up in the dictionary to figure out what it means. I'm sure I'm not the only parkrun adventurer who has also got the dictionary out today. So thank you for educating all of us.

00:39:24Scott Trickett: I consider it a service.

00:39:26Melissa Erbacher: Perhaps you should teach everyone a new word every week.

The new word of the week

00:39:29Scott Trickett: That's how we can finish the podcast. 36 weeks.

00:39:33Melissa Erbacher: The new word of the week. Yes.

00:39:36Scott Trickett: The new word of this week is perlustration.

00:39:39Melissa Erbacher: Sounds like a good plan for me.