Episode 41 - Noah Carter

Episode details · 210 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:11Kasia: Welcome to the parkrun Adventures podcast. My name is Kasia. Hi Mel.

00:00:19Melissa Erbacher: Hi Kasia. Do you know what episode we're up to this week? No. It's episode 41. That's pretty impressive, isn't it? Yes. Are you ready to read the news? Yes.

parkrun news (read by junior parkrunners)

00:00:39Kasia: On Sunday, over 32,000 runners hit the streets of Melbourne at the 39th Medibank Melbourne Marathon Festival. Sydney parkrunner Tom Docanto won the men's marathon and future parkrunner Virginia Maloney won the women's marathon. They got to finish with a lap of the MCG which is pretty cool. It was really windy too. More parkrunners were successful in the half marathon with Olympians Eloise Wellings and Brett Robinson storming home to win the events.

00:01:18Unidentified speaker: Around the world, last parkrun day, 23,363 junior parkrunners went for a free timed run. 1,708 juniors helped their events by volunteering. High five to all those volunteers!

00:01:37Kasia: Super smart people at the University of Aberdeen have discovered exercising with friends increases the amount of exercise we do. They also discovered if your friends were supportive and encouraging, that was better too. The study didn't mention teddy bears, but teddy bears can be your friends too.

00:02:00Unidentified speaker: UK parkrunner Danny Norman ran his 500th parkrun at Bradford parkrun on Saturday. This makes him the sixth person in the world to earn the blue 500 shirt. 500 parkruns takes almost 10 years of running every week and longer when you do your share of volunteering. That's older than me.

00:02:27Melissa Erbacher: And you were our man on the ground at Melbourne Marathon this weekend, Scotty. What happened? Tell us all the news.

00:02:35Scott Trickett: Well, I was. I saw it in person. I saw Tom coming up St Kilda Road for the first time, looking so strong. A pretty good way to debut a road marathon. It was tough conditions in Melbourne. Very windy morning. And on the hardest part of the course, all the runners pretty much were into a headwind.

00:02:57Melissa Erbacher: What makes it the hardest part of the course? Is it the more hilly bit?

00:03:01Scott Trickett: Well, it's just for Melbourne, even for the half marathoners and the full marathoners, it's running back up into Melbourne and it's running back up St Kilda Road. So it's a little bit uphill. But it's also at that time, in both events, the half and the full, where it really gets really hard. You know, it's 30k onwards for the full and it must be about... 14k onwards for the half. And I reckon if you're organising, all the event organisers of marathoners all around the world, here's a tip. Make from about 32k onwards downhill.

00:03:40Melissa Erbacher: Oh, how many runners would just love you if you did that?

00:03:44Scott Trickett: Like Melbourne in particular is crap. The only elevation it's got is at about 37km. It's not a big hill, but still. Welcome to Victoria. Why do they do it? And it's also you're running. So you run into the city and you think it's nearly all over. And then they send you back out.

00:04:04Melissa Erbacher: So one of those ones that would really mess with people's minds.

00:04:08Scott Trickett: But not Tom's. He did great. So we had parkrunners winning at the front of the field and all throughout the field. You know, I did the Melbourne Marathon three years ago. And I didn't know anyone. Literally, I didn't know anyone. There was no one else I was running with that I knew. There was no one in the crowd that I knew. It was just my wife, my mum and my daughter. And so that was it. Today, as a spectator, I reckon I was into the hundreds of people that actually knew and cheered on. And that is 100% due to parkrun.

00:04:44Melissa Erbacher: And it makes a big difference, doesn't it, to the people participating?

00:04:48Scott Trickett: Well, I hope so. You know, some of the feedback, you know, we were just cheering today. I was there with my wife, Yvonne, and my buddy, Aaron, earlier on. And we were just standing in the middle of the road cheering people. Thankfully, the Westerfoldians are in nice fluoro green, which makes it really easy. But even, you know, others that weren't, were just parkrunners that I knew. It was great to see them. I know, running along... You just want a distraction. You just want to see a happy, cheering face. So hopefully we provided that to some of our people today.

00:05:21Melissa Erbacher: I'm sure you did. And it's also, it's not easy when you're cheering for, you know, tens of thousands of people over a finite period of time of a few hours, you know, trying to see everyone and that you know, you're going to miss people anyway, but it always helps when they recognize you and they yell out to you because then it's like, oh yeah, I'll cheer you as well because I know you. But yes, it's one of those things about cheering that you just, especially with that many people, you can't possibly catch everyone, but you do try to hope that you've got the most of them.

00:05:59Scott Trickett: The more I get involved in parkrun and running, I'm joining more and more clubs, it seems, as well. So I've got to look out, and I've got to represent the Westerfoldians. I'm in the Deneen Runners, so I've got to look out for all my Deneen Runners. I somehow became a dirty cheetah on Saturday.

00:06:15Melissa Erbacher: Those ones are more easy to recognize.

00:06:17Scott Trickett: They were. They stand out. I'm going to order my t-shirt during the week.

00:06:21Melissa Erbacher: What about your little cheetah ears?

00:06:23Scott Trickett: I've already got them.

00:06:25Melissa Erbacher: You've got your own cheetah ears? But...

00:06:28Scott Trickett: But Kasia took them.

00:06:32Melissa Erbacher: Oh, so you're going to have to get another pair.

00:06:35Scott Trickett: Maybe. I was pointed out that I do look ridiculous, and no one can take me seriously in them, but I was surprised anyone takes me seriously anyway.

00:06:43[laughter]

00:06:43Melissa Erbacher: I was just about to say, that's quite an assumption you're getting through there, that anyone takes you seriously.

00:06:49Scott Trickett: Yeah. But let's move on to that. I met the Dirty Cheetahs. They came down to Studley. A bit of a birthday celebration for them, and I was glad they chose... the beautiful surroundings of Yarra Bend Park to do that in, Studley Park. And they're a fun group. There's no denying that. They like to have a good time and very encouraging at parkrun. I ran around the course with Darota, who apparently I've butchered her name a couple of times on the podcast.

00:07:16Melissa Erbacher: You have. You have. I'm sure I also have.

00:07:21Scott Trickett: No, no, she made a point of saying, I butchered it, you nailed it.

00:07:29Melissa Erbacher: Excellent. That's another one for me. Did you find that, I mean, cheetahs as well, that you had a lot of adventurers at Studley this weekend because of the Melbourne Marathon?

00:07:40Scott Trickett: We did. I think the numbers were a bit higher up. Weather was beautiful down in Melbourne on Saturday, so that also helped. But, yeah, everyone's in town. I know Albert Park, you know, had ridiculous numbers, so most... adventurers and tourists might have headed there. But we got a bit of overflow at Studley, so it was great to see. I met Beaker Design, who we've given a shout out before for her wonderful graphic design work up in Newcastle, and a couple of other adventurers.

00:08:09Melissa Erbacher: Very cool. It's always good fun to meet the adventurers.

00:08:13Scott Trickett: What about your adventures?

00:08:16Melissa Erbacher: My adventures on – You had a party, yeah. I did. I went to – I helped, I should say, bring the Bright to Brightwater parkrun on Saturday. So that was very cool. Everyone showed up in their fluoro and their neon and anything bright or shiny they could get their hands on, which made for fabulous photos and happy smiles all around. And I went for a little plod around the lake at Brightwater, which is always beautiful. And a great morning.

00:08:46Scott Trickett: What run number was it for you? Just remind me.

00:08:50Melissa Erbacher: It might have been number 99.

00:08:52Scott Trickett: Wow. You're so close.

00:08:55Melissa Erbacher: So close. Let's just hope I don't have any kind of terrible accident between now and when I get to run my 100th run.

00:09:04Scott Trickett: Don't say that, Mel.

00:09:06Melissa Erbacher: People get hit by buses, you know. It happens. Stop it.

00:09:10Scott Trickett: I set you a challenge.

00:09:11Melissa Erbacher: Oh, God.

00:09:12Scott Trickett: A few weeks ago. How are we going with that challenge?

00:09:14Melissa Erbacher: Oh, no, no, you didn't set me. Well, you may have mentioned that I was supposed to take 30 seconds off my time every week. I may have added about an extra five minutes this week to last week's time again. So we're on track for a 100th parkrun that takes about an hour. If you're basing the time on the track record that's been progressing over the last five or six weeks. So yeah, there are not going to be any personal best times. But I have assurances that two of my favorite little people, my niece and nephew, are going to be there. on Saturday, so I'm going to run with them and have a wonderful time. Our next guest is a nine-year-old Wynnum parkrunner who recently ran a world record breaking time for his age group over 15 kilometers at the Brisbane Road Runners Club 15k championships. He did it in negative 5k splits as well. His name is Noah Carter. Noah, welcome to the podcast.

00:10:44Noah Carter: Hello.

00:10:45Melissa Erbacher: Tell us, how do you feel about being the fastest nine-year-old in the world over 15 kilometers?

00:10:50Noah Carter: I feel happy because it was only my third go at running 15K.

00:10:57Melissa Erbacher: That's amazing. Only your third time ever. Yeah. Wow.

00:11:02Scott Trickett: And so this is a world record. What needs to happen for it to be recognized as an official world record? Do you know, Noah?

00:11:10Noah Carter: It needs to be a... On a certified course. Yeah, it needs to be on a certified course.

00:11:17Scott Trickett: What was this course like? Was it flat?

00:11:21Noah Carter: No, definitely not.

00:11:23Scott Trickett: And what do your friends think of you running?

00:11:26Noah Carter: I actually run with my friends at parkrun and we all enjoy it.

00:11:31Melissa Erbacher: Okay, cool. So do you do any training outside of parkrun or are you just a naturally fast runner?

00:11:38Noah Carter: No, I train once a week on a Monday.

00:11:41Melissa Erbacher: And what's involved in that training? Is it just a 5K run as well or do you do different things?

00:11:47Noah Carter: I normally do a sprint session.

00:11:50Scott Trickett: Have you always wanted to be a runner?

00:11:52Noah Carter: Yes, since I started walking.

00:11:56Melissa Erbacher: So you walked first, huh? You didn't run first?

00:12:00Noah Carter: Yeah, I walked first.

00:12:02Melissa Erbacher: And do you want to be an Olympian one day? Is that on the goal list?

00:12:06Noah Carter: Yes. Yes, it is.

00:12:08Melissa Erbacher: Do you have a particular distance that you think you might like to run in the Olympics?

00:12:12Noah Carter: 5 or 10K.

00:12:14Scott Trickett: And what about parkruns? How many parkruns have you done?

00:12:17Melissa Erbacher: 148 whoa that's more than me and me and you're only nine how many different parkruns have you done do you know that uh yeah my dad's told me 11 so you're quite the adventurer as well so you've done 11 different parkruns what are your top three favorites that doesn't include your home run and what do you like about them

00:12:42Noah Carter: My top three that is in my home one is Minnippi, Stones Corner and Wishart. And I like them because they're my top three fastest times but not at my home one.

00:12:58Scott Trickett: Okay, so you're all about the speed, Noah. What about if you could travel anywhere in the world to do a parkrun? Have you thought about that?

00:13:06Noah Carter: Yes, yes I have.

00:13:09Scott Trickett: Where would it be and why?

00:13:11Noah Carter: It'd be Bushy because it's the home of parkrun and that's where a lot of people go. That's where parkrun started.

00:13:19Scott Trickett: It's a very popular answer.

00:13:21Melissa Erbacher: And I'll let you ask this last question, Scotty, because this one was yours.

00:13:25Scott Trickett: Enough about the running. Are you more of a Marvel or a DC Comics guy?

00:13:30Noah Carter: Um, my dad had to tell me what that meant either because I don't really, I don't really watch, I don't really read comics.

00:13:40Scott Trickett: Okay. So what, what else do you do besides running Noah as a nine year old?

00:13:47Melissa Erbacher: Nothing, I guess. Well, that's a good answer too. I did say to Scotty, I'm not sure if Noah will be on the Marvel or DC. If you have a side to take with that, because you are a runner and I don't know a lot of kids your age who like running, who also like sitting indoors and reading comic books. So I'll talk that one up to me for experience.

00:14:11Scott Trickett: Are you faster than your dad, Noah?

00:14:13Melissa Erbacher: Stop it.

00:14:14Noah Carter: Yes, I am.

00:14:17Scott Trickett: How much faster?

00:14:19Noah Carter: A minute.

00:14:19John: Two minutes now.

00:14:21Noah Carter: Oh, yeah, a minute and a half.

00:14:22John: A minute and a half. So 19.30 on the weekend. So you got me by a minute and a half. Yeah.

00:14:28Melissa Erbacher: Now, I want to go back to the thing about the official world record. So is the course that the Brisbane Roadrunners lay out, is it officially recognised or no, it's not registered?

00:14:41Noah Carter: Half, half, I guess.

00:14:44John: Okay. So it has been measured.

00:14:51Melissa Erbacher: Okay, cool. So is the next step for you guys to seek out an officially measured accredited 15K course so you can take it? Hopefully, yes.

00:15:04John: I might answer this one, Melissa. Go for it, John. Yeah, he... He enjoys it. I don't think he needs that sort of pressure. He ran a pretty quick parkrun time and then Noah's pretty self-motivated, so he went and looked up the times for those. you know, those records and worked out he could probably run that time and asked me to look for a 15K. And I guess we found that 15K at Roadrunners. But I think, yeah, I think it might be a little bit, potentially some, you know, expectations placed on him if we were to organise it at a serious event. He has had done something like that previously where he had a go at the 5K, the 5K world record when he was seven. Sure. Similar sort of a scenario where we had to find a, yeah, We found an accredited course. I think we just let him continue to enjoy his running and let his running develop. He's very, very passionate about it. Loves parkrun. I guess loves the... What do you like most about parkrun? What do you like when you go down?

00:16:14Noah Carter: Other than going fast, I don't really know.

00:16:17John: You like volunteering.

00:16:18Noah Carter: Yeah, I like volunteering and just helping parkrun so it can... be spread across Australia.

00:16:26Melissa Erbacher: I understand from Adrian Royce that you're also really encouraging of other runners while you're out there running. So how do you have time to also yell out and encourage other runners while you're needing to breathe and run that fast?

00:16:43Noah Carter: Just say it as quickly as I can and get it out of my mouth.

00:16:46[laughter]

00:16:46Unidentified speaker: LAUGHTER

00:16:50Melissa Erbacher: Well, maybe if I didn't cheer so many people on, I could run faster. Or maybe I just need to speed up my cheers. That's a tip I'm going to take from you, speeding up my cheers.

00:17:01Scott Trickett: Well, Noah, we're very impressed, not only with your speed, but also your love of parkrun. So thanks for coming on the parkrun Adventurers and sharing your story with us. Thanks for having me. Okay, so we've just been chatting to Noah, who's all about the speed. We thought it'd be good to chat to someone who's got their purple shirt. Welcome to the podcast, Kate.

00:17:31Kate Lilley: Thank you.

00:17:33Scott Trickett: Now, how many times have you volunteered?

00:17:37Kate Lilley: Um, 26.

00:17:39Scott Trickett: And have you actually ordered your purple shirt yet?

00:17:43Kate Lilley: No, not yet.

00:17:46Melissa Erbacher: But you're going to have it ordered soon, aren't you, honey?

00:17:49Kate Lilley: Yes.

00:17:51Melissa Erbacher: Cool. So you volunteered a lot of times. You've done a whole bunch of different roles when you were volunteering. Which one do you think is your favourite?

00:18:01Kate Lilley: Probably photographer.

00:18:04Melissa Erbacher: And why is that?

00:18:05Kate Lilley: Well, I'm good at taking photos.

00:18:09Melissa Erbacher: That's very handy when you're the photographer. Nobody likes to be in bad photos. And do you do it, I know last year at Kawana's anniversary, you did it at the special event. Do you choose particular weekends that you want to be the photographer for a reason?

00:18:24Kate Lilley: No, not really.

00:18:27Scott Trickett: And do you get some good feedback from the runners and walkers when you are a photographer?

00:18:32Kate Lilley: Yes.

00:18:34Melissa Erbacher: So do you know what are the kind of comments that you get, Kate? Can you give us some examples?

00:18:39Kate Lilley: Great photo. Nice work. Awesome. And that's it.

00:18:49Melissa Erbacher: Okay, so what do you like most about volunteering? You've done it a lot of times. You've done it more times than you've actually run. What do you like about it?

00:18:59Kate Lilley: I get to see my friends. I cheer on people. I like to see people smiling. And that's it.

00:19:10Melissa Erbacher: What would you say to anyone who's never volunteered before?

00:19:14Kate Lilley: I'd probably say come to parkrun. You can volunteer. There's nothing to pay and you can do it for fun.

00:19:23Melissa Erbacher: Perfect. That's a great way to recruit volunteers. We should send you out and get you to do it officially.

00:19:32Scott Trickett: What about your teachers, Kate? Do you tell your teachers about parkrun and that you get up early on Saturday morning and go volunteering?

00:19:40Kate Lilley: Sometimes. Some of them do it.

00:19:42Scott Trickett: Yeah. What do they think about it when they see you volunteering?

00:19:46Kate Lilley: They think I'm good.

00:19:48Melissa Erbacher: How old are you, Kate?

00:19:50Kate Lilley: I'm nine.

00:19:52Melissa Erbacher: Alrighty, Kate. How about, do you have a favourite memory from parkrun or a funniest story?

00:20:00Kate Lilley: Fancy dress.

00:20:02Melissa Erbacher: Ah, you're on my wavelength. Tell me about fancy dress. What's your favourite fancy dress been?

00:20:09Kate Lilley: I went as a cat once. We made the ears. We wore leggings, a long black T-shirt. We made a tail and painted a black nose and whiskers. And we also wore gloves. And I was also the photographer that day.

00:20:34Melissa Erbacher: All right. Well, thank you, Kate, so much for joining us on the podcast this week. It's been lovely hearing about your volunteering and thank you for volunteering so much. It's always awesome when our juniors want to put their hand up and help out where they can. And I do know that you do take fantastic photos. So keep up the good work.

Roving Adventurers (roving reporter crossovers)

00:21:03Scott Trickett: The junior fun continues. A couple of weeks ago, Zara Curtis visited the Yu Yang's launch. And like all good Junior Roving Adventurers reporters do, she got us some audio. Let's have a listen to what Zara came up with.

00:21:19Zara Curtis: Hi, Mel and Scott. This is Zara Curtis reporting for Yu Yang's parkrun launch for parkrun Adventurers. It is a surprisingly warm morning and I would like to acknowledge everyone who got out of bed to come and celebrate Yu Yang's parkrun launch. I am with parkrun Adventurers Michaela and Vanessa, who I know are die-hard parkrun tourists. Welcome.

00:21:42Unidentified speaker: Thank you.

00:21:42Zara Curtis: Thank you. Tell me what's so great about parkrun.

00:21:48Unidentified speaker: It's a great community event. It gets us our exercise in instead of sitting home on the couch and you get to meet great people. How do you find the course? The Yu Yang's course, I loved it. Just one loop and a little bit of an incline at the start but then it's downhill from there so really enjoyed it.

00:22:10Zara Curtis: What's your home parkrun and is it any different to Yu Yang's parkrun? How?

00:22:16Unidentified speaker: Berwick Springs is our home parkrun and it's a double loop of a lake so it's a bit of torture on the second loop but this was a really nice one loop.

00:22:25Unidentified speaker: And Berwick Springs is a mixture of Concrete and gravel, like stony gravel, like Yu Yang's.

00:22:32Unidentified speaker: And up to about 300 people there, so it's very busy. How many parkruns have you both done?

00:22:39Unidentified speaker: I'm coming up to nearly my 100th, so in a few weeks I'll be doing my 100th, so probably around, I think today might be my 96th.

00:22:51Zara Curtis: I think today's my 60th. Have you been lucky enough to do any parkruns interstate or overseas?

00:22:57Unidentified speaker: We've both done ones overseas.

00:22:59Unidentified speaker: Yes, I've done a Russian parkrun recently. So that was a lot of fun. And the only word they know in English is parkrun.

00:23:08Zara Curtis: That really does mean your parkrun adventure is. Which is your favourite parkrun?

00:23:14Unidentified speaker: My favourite parkrun would have to be, I'd have to say the Russian one that I did because it had a palace there.

00:23:26Unidentified speaker: Yeah, I would say my favourite, besides Russia, which was pretty cool, is Wilson Botanic because it was really hard. It was a double loop of really hard hills. So the scenery up the top was just beautiful. So, yeah, no, that's a really pretty one.

00:23:42Zara Curtis: Thanks very much. Enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you.

00:23:47Scott Trickett: Thank you. You too.

00:23:48Zara Curtis: That's all from you, Yangs.

00:23:50Scott Trickett: Thanks, Zara. Good work. The biggest weekend of the year for anniversaries in parkrun Australia is coming up this weekend. It's not officially known as that, but I'm declaring it.

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

00:24:04Melissa Erbacher: Because it's important to us.

00:24:05Scott Trickett: Yes. And joining us for future years will be Orange in New South Wales. They're launching this weekend. Welcome, Orange.

00:24:15Melissa Erbacher: It's pretty exciting. I think Orange has been on the cards for a long time, so I'm sure that community are very happy to be having them join the crew. I will be eating cake this week, Scotty. Will you be eating cake?

00:24:27Scott Trickett: Here's a little confession. I'm not a big cake person.

00:24:31Melissa Erbacher: Not even after you've run 5K?

00:24:33Scott Trickett: I don't always eat the cake. No.

00:24:39Melissa Erbacher: That's okay. I'm sure there's plenty of other runners who are quite happy to eat your piece.

00:24:44Scott Trickett: Yes. There will be cake at Highfields. They're celebrating their first anniversary.

00:24:49Melissa Erbacher: And we've got five events celebrating their third anniversaries this weekend. They are Mosman in New South Wales, Bunbury in WA, commonly known as Funbury, Darwin in the Northern Territory, Mudgeeraba... I hope I got that right, in Queensland, and a not often spoken of event we like to call Westerfolds in Victoria.

00:25:13Scott Trickett: I do remember the day vividly, three years ago, because it was around the time when there weren't a lot of events launching, and then all of a sudden, out of the blue, bang, there were four events launching on the one weekend, and Westerfolds was one of them.

00:25:27Melissa Erbacher: So you're a quad, or Westerfolds is a quad, a quad tuplet.

00:25:33Scott Trickett: And it's funny, I've always followed the journeys of Bunbury, Darwin. I reckon it's Majiraba.

00:25:39Melissa Erbacher: Majiraba?

00:25:40Scott Trickett: No.

00:25:40Melissa Erbacher: How did I pronounce it? Majiraba.

00:25:43Scott Trickett: Something like that, yeah.

00:25:44Melissa Erbacher: Majiraba. Yeah, Majiraba sounds right.

00:25:47Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:25:48Scott Trickett: So I have followed the progress of those three other events. So it's an exciting time for me and also you, because there's another little event on the same weekend called Kawana, celebrating their 4th.

00:26:01Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I can't believe it's been four years already. That has gone so fast. So fast.

00:26:08Scott Trickett: And you'll be baking the cake. You will be personally baking the cake?

00:26:12Melissa Erbacher: I will personally be baking the cake. I have actually personally baked the cake for every anniversary at Kawana thus far. So certainly not ready to break with tradition just yet. Haven't poisoned anyone yet. Never have to take any home. Always a plus. So yeah, I will be baking cake at Kawana this weekend.

00:26:34Scott Trickett: What's the cake of choice? What can we expect?

00:26:38Melissa Erbacher: As in what will the design be or what will the flavours be?

00:26:41Scott Trickett: I'm more interested in flavour.

00:26:45Melissa Erbacher: Well, I am a big fan of Martha Stewart's work because the woman knows how to bake and she does this amazing, what do you call it? It's like a... It's a golden sheet cake is, I think, the official term. Lots of eggs, lots of butter, lots of sugar. Those are the key factors. And it basically just dissolves on your tongue.

00:27:15Scott Trickett: Okay. And the design?

00:27:17Melissa Erbacher: Well, there's going to be two cakes. So that one will be that. And I'm thinking about going gluten-free for the second one, but I haven't determined that yet. If I do, it will be a gluten-free chocolate cake. And they are going to be barcodes because Kawana is having a barcode party. Now that we're four years old and we're old enough to have our own barcode.

00:27:34Scott Trickett: That's clever. So you're going to go dressed as a barcode.

00:27:38Melissa Erbacher: No, everything's black and white. So all the runners can come in anything black or white. I have had some people say they're going to be barcodes and other people say they're going to be scanners. So it'll be interesting to see what people come up with. I personally am, for the very first time in several costumes, going for something a bit feminine. But I will not be divulging that because it's a secret.

00:28:03Scott Trickett: Well, have fun. You'll have two reasons to celebrate on Saturday. Can't wait to hear about it next week. Should we go out this week's show with our mate PK from the Channel 4 News team? He's still over in the UK adventuring like crazy. And this weekend he was at Bath. So thanks, Mel. Take it away, PK.

Channel 4 News Crew

00:28:26Paul Kitching: G'day, Scott and Mel. It's PK underscore PK. I am on my final... parkrun Tourism journey, final day of the parkrun Tourism journey here in the UK. I spoke to you guys a couple of weeks ago when I did the Bushy parkrun for their birthday, which was awesome. Last week I did the Lanhydrock one, Lanhydrock, try and say that in a hurry, in Cornwall, which was amazing, through a castle, grounds, just absolutely stunning, probably the hardest parkrun I've ever done in my life. very hilly. Apparently it's the second hardest one ever, people tell me. I'm not sure what the hardest one is. We'll have to find out. Anyway, that was great. And now I'm in Bath. So in beautiful Bath and about to take off and do the Bath parkrun as a bit of a farewell to the UK. So let's go and do it and then we'll have a chat with some of the crew after.

00:29:24Mark: Just to go over the course briefly, as you depart from here, you're going to head down to the path and turn to the left. You'll follow the rugby pitch around on your right-hand side. There's a slope that you will go down. There's many ways of taking the slope. The Superman approach, while spectacular, is not recommended. You'll then run along the skyline with a super view this morning of Bath and come up 37 steps just to warm you up a little bit further. As you come to the top of the steps we have a new diversion set up in order to protect the path. The National Trust have asked us to look after the path and it's slightly wearing so as you come out at the little wooded area there's a diversion set up that will keep you to the left and hugs the field along to the left. If you could keep over to the left as far as possible that would be fantastic. You'll then come back off the track And then you'll turn left into the wooded area. I'm told as you run through the woods this morning, there is some smoke going across the path. Someone has set up a bonfire, so if you just take it steady as you go through there, that would be superb. You'll then run down the path towards the field of cows. I'm told there are some cows in the field to help you get your personal best today. I've also been made aware that there are some conkers on the track as well, so be careful underfoot. Some of the adults may be collecting the conkers later on, but we don't want you twisting any of your ankles on the conkers, please. And going through the woods, there are some exposed stumps. If you're under 11, you must stay with your adult, I'm afraid. There's a number of reasons for this. One, it is the rules, and it gives some of us to get a better chance. If you've got a dog, if you take your dog to the back and start with a short lead, that would be superb. Three, two, one, go!

00:31:27Paul Kitching: And we're off. Okay, so we've finished the awesome Bath Skyline parkrun. And I'm here with the event director, Helen, who's also known as... Bath Runner.

00:31:37Helen: Bath Runner.

00:31:38Paul Kitching: I saw her last night on their Facebook page, Bath Runner. I thought, what a great tag, what a great name. So clearly you're well known around Bath as a runner.

00:31:46Helen: I am now. Yeah, we've been going about two years here. Fantastic. But yeah, it took 18 months to bring it to Bath. So I've had that Twitter account going since the beginning. Fantastic. So everyone's just got to know me, I think, just because of that.

00:31:59Paul Kitching: Brilliant. And so I suppose over here in the UK, it's a matter, it's not just councils, it's also National Trust, isn't it? That you have to speak.

00:32:05Helen: It is. Well, this particular area where we run here, it's all National Trust land.

00:32:10Paul Kitching: Right.

00:32:11Helen: And as you can see, it's stunning. It's a mixture of open countryside, beautiful ancient woodlands, and then you get the great vistas of Bath, so it is stunning. But we need to protect it, and we're very keen on making sure that we do that, so we work very closely with the National Trust to ensure that we can.

00:32:25Paul Kitching: And even this morning I noticed that, well, not that I noticed, because it was my first time, and got a PB, mind you. No, no, I didn't. I got a PB as it was the first one. I totally didn't get a PB. I stopped and took too many photos. What a tourist. Anyway, I noticed that you mentioned that there were some changes. So obviously you do change the course every now and then because of the grounds?

00:32:45Helen: Yeah, that's right. So it gets a little bit eroded where we've run over it for the last two years. So we shift the course around. So we mark it out each time to make sure it's the 5k. And that way then it regenerates over the winter and we follow a different route.

00:32:59Paul Kitching: Far out. It makes some of the parkruns back home or around the world sound A lot easier to run when they're just on a concrete path or whatever that stays the same. That said, our home parkrun has had to change a few times recently because we've had floods. Oh, wow. Lots of parkruns were cancelled in Australia the last few weeks, certainly in South Australia because of floods. But here, I don't suppose you get flooded. You just get lots of mud.

00:33:24Helen: Yeah, and how did you find the steps? Do you have steps back home?

00:33:26Paul Kitching: The steps? Oh, no, not on my one. No, not at all. No, you're right. It was interesting going up. Up the steps, it was good. It slowed you down, though. It meant I could take a few photos. No, it was beautiful. Thanks so much, Helen. I'm going to go and find Mark, who was today's RD. But thanks so much, and congratulations on a beautiful parkrun.

00:33:44Helen: Thank you. Lovely to meet you.

00:33:46Paul Kitching: You too.

00:33:46Helen: Thank you.

00:33:47Paul Kitching: So I'm now with Mark, who was today's RD. Mark, thank you. Beautiful course. Well done. Congratulations. Enjoy today.

00:33:56Mark: It's been a super day. I think we've had about 295 runners out today. Awesome. I'm glad the sun's come out for you. It's been a good day. You've enjoyed it.

00:34:06Paul Kitching: I sure have, my God. It was just a beautiful course and your briefing was really good. I actually recorded it. Yourself, have you done other parkruns around the UK?

00:34:15Mark: I've done a couple around the UK. I've only been a run director for two months now. Oh, congratulations. I'm taking over from someone. Sure. But, yeah, I've been around Orpington, Bromley, around Southampton. It's just a super event. Yeah. It's super volunteers. Everyone who wants to be here wants to be here. Wants to be here, isn't it? It's a beautiful... It's just enjoyable.

00:34:34Paul Kitching: Absolutely.

00:34:35Mark: And if you enjoy my briefing, then happy days. Come again.

00:34:37Paul Kitching: No, you're good. I've certainly been to... You know, I've been to a few now, certainly a lot through South Australia and... Now they're my third one in the UK. And certainly, as you say, as we all know, the post-parkrun adventurers know, it's just a beautiful family and we all love it. And the more people that get out there and do it, the better. So anyway, I just want to say thanks before I chuff off. But thanks again. Thank you. Really appreciate it. Thanks, mate.