Episode 49

Episode details · 245 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:12Melissa Erbacher: Episode 49, coming at you from Victoria and Queensland. Welcome to the podcast, Scotty.

00:00:17Scott Trickett: Hi, Mel.

00:00:20Melissa Erbacher: Have you had a good week?

00:00:21Scott Trickett: Yeah, I have. I have.

00:00:25Melissa Erbacher: There was some hesitation there. I'm not sure I believe you.

00:00:28Scott Trickett: I was trying to think, have I had a good week? And yeah, I have.

00:00:32Melissa Erbacher: Okay.

00:00:32Scott Trickett: I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what the highlight of my week has been. I should say. My daughter's Christmas concert. But it's not. I finished on top of my fantasy football league. That's been the highlight of my week.

00:00:48Melissa Erbacher: Well, what do you get for that?

00:00:50Scott Trickett: Cash. Cash money.

00:00:51Melissa Erbacher: You actually get cash, not just bragging rights.

00:00:54Scott Trickett: Nope. Real cold hard American dollars too.

00:00:57Melissa Erbacher: Wow. Congratulations.

00:00:59Scott Trickett: We go into playoffs now, so there's a prize for finishing on top and then there's a prize for winning the playoffs. Cool What's been the highlight of your week? Can you top that?

00:01:12Melissa Erbacher: Oh I don't know if I can top that. Oh, yes. Okay, so Kasia had her Christmas concert. I also had a Christmas concert and I played in it on Friday and I got to wear a smashing green dress despite some silly looking sunburn that I acquired the week before. But I played and I didn't even fake any of the songs this year. So that was the highlight of my week.

00:01:42Scott Trickett: Explain faking the songs.

00:01:46Melissa Erbacher: Well, this is the second year, so I've been learning to play cello for two years. And last year, we also had a Christmas concert. And there's always a workshop beforehand where, you know, and we've been practicing the carols for a long time. However, all the really good advanced level students play a lot faster than I do. So in these situations, rather than playing bad notes that everyone will notice sound terrible... you just kind of smile and fake it. So last year, I think I played two out of eight of the songs and all the rest of them I just happily pretended I was playing. But this year I played them all.

00:02:31Scott Trickett: Do you pull the bow away from the strings? So you're still moving your arms.

00:02:36Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, yeah, you still move your arms. You still move your fingers. You know, it's just like miming. And you just have it really gently on the strings so that everyone is drowning out any possible sound that your cello makes.

00:02:51Scott Trickett: Okay, that sounds like my kind of cello playing. I think I'd be good at that too.

00:02:55Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, but just don't tell anyone, okay? That's our secret.

00:02:58Scott Trickett: I don't look great in a green dress.

00:03:01Melissa Erbacher: Have you tried?

00:03:04Scott Trickett: No. But I love your accessories. I saw the photo.

00:03:09Melissa Erbacher: Yes, you're not the only one who pointed out the fact that I was wearing my GPS watch and my parkrun wristband.

00:03:16Scott Trickett: Yeah. But, you know, it's… Because you're so little, it stands out because the GPS watch is so big.

00:03:22Melissa Erbacher: And they're on my left hand too, of course, which is the one that is playing all the chords on the actual…

00:03:31Scott Trickett: neck of the cello so I'm sure they were prominently displayed for the entire performance well they're both worthy highlights do you think they'll make the news probably not because we just talked about them now but let's see if anyone else has got some highlights in the news When Tommy Patton Jr. parkrun processed their results on Sunday, they were the 1,000th parkrun event to do so. It was the first time parkrun HQ have processed more than 999 events in one weekend. We are also edging very close to having 3 million registered runners, with that number to tick over sometime in the next week or so.

parkrun news bulletin

00:04:17Melissa Erbacher: parkrun Adventurers Chasing Some Kilometres with Altitude this week set off at 5.30am on Friday 9th December. for the 2016 Coast to Kosciuszko. Bunyaville parkrunner Kevin Muller reached the finish line first in a time of 27 hours, 55 minutes and 5 seconds. Former parkrun Adventurers podcast guest Trevor Allen came in at 11th place with a fantastic time of 32 hours, 24 minutes and 11 seconds, closely followed by Victorian parkrunner George Mihalikoulis on 12th, 32 hours, 33 minutes and 30 seconds. And Wangaratta parkrunner Sharon Schultz was fifth lady over the line, completing her first C2K in 36 hours, 27 minutes and 44 seconds.

00:05:07Scott Trickett: Richmond Olympic parkrun in Canada received a visit from some Aussie adventurers on parkrun Day and they arrived in style. The Buck family from Goondiwindi parkrun were escorted to and from their weekly timed 5k run in a stretch limo, much to the amusement of the other parkrunners. Reportedly this mode of transportation was more economical than taking two cabs. The adventurers were also fortunate enough to be treated to some snow. Fun was had by all. There was lots happening in the news, but let's get back to your parkrun adventures, Mel, because I know you had a jam-packed weekend.

00:05:50Melissa Erbacher: I did. I am absolutely knackered. It all started at Central Lakes, and actually it started before Central Lakes because, you know, they had a Hawaiian theme, and I was super excited because I was going to wear my pineapple dress, and I got my pineapple dress out, I should call it a costume because anything that adds what appears to be 50 kilos of weight to you is probably not classified as a dress by most women. But I got it out and I was having some wardrobe malfunctions with some of the sequins on it. So I had to repair those on Friday night, which I did. And it was all fine and I was all ready to go. And then on Saturday morning, I had to get Adam to help me get it on. Because it's one of those ones that you've got to go in from the bottom and you sort of dive. You have to have your arms up and... and your head tucked in between your arms and try to be as skinny as possible and then have it sort of pulled down around you. And I got it about two-thirds of the way and my head was still inside this giant ball of foam and it got stuck. I was freaking out. I get claustrophobic if my feet are restrained or if you have a sleeping bag that's too tight. I can't deal with that. And this was just – I had this moment of panic and I started screaming at Adam to take it off. And he couldn't pull it off fast enough. And he's like, stop squirming. And I couldn't. And I was screaming at him. I was like, I can't breathe. And so he eventually got it off. And then after the heart palpitation settled down – I went back down to the costume room and I got out my backup Hawaiian outfit, which is a grass skirt and a Hawaiian shirt and lots of leis. And then I was able to breathe and then we were able to go. But I'm a bit disappointed because, you know, four years ago I got to wear my pineapple costume and I was really looking forward to wearing it again. And I just couldn't physically do it. It was bizarre.

00:08:10Scott Trickett: Is the suggestion that you've grown or the pineapple has shrunk?

00:08:17Melissa Erbacher: I don't know. I think – I don't think so. I'm pretty sure like because it just – it didn't get stuck in places where you think you've added weight on or anything like that. It's just unless my shoulders got more broad or something, I don't know. It's – I think perhaps – I just had better control of my claustrophobia four years ago because I had spent, at that stage, like 50 hours making this costume. And I was going to wear it hell or high water. But, yeah, this time I was just like, no, it's not happening. No. If I can't get into it, I... I can't get out of it quickly. That's where the claustrophobia comes from. And you start thinking about, what if I fall in the ocean? And then I'm going to drown because it's going to soak up all this water and suck me down. And it doesn't matter that Central Lakes is nowhere near the ocean. It's all irrational.

00:09:13Scott Trickett: Well, it is obviously near a lake.

00:09:16Melissa Erbacher: Yes, there is a lake. I was volunteering as timekeeper, so there was no chance I was going near the lake. Like I said, phobias are not rational things. So they just, they get in your head and they take control.

00:09:30Scott Hawkins: And yep, couldn't do my pineapple costume.

00:09:34Melissa Erbacher: So yes, but I digress. We got to Central Lakes and it was a beautiful, cool morning, which is nice because it's been very, very warm. the last couple of weeks up here, and the girls did a fabulous job. There was a lot of bright Hawaiian going on and yummy cake to be had, and there were no hitches with any of the results, and it was a great morning.

00:09:59Scott Trickett: G'day. Sounds like fun, and a grass skirt, much more sensible. But the fun didn't stop there. parkrun extends beyond 7 o'clock on a Saturday morning for you these days.

00:10:12Melissa Erbacher: These days, it's 24-7. No, on Saturday night, I drove out to Wondai, which is west. Because Wandi is launching a parkrun in January, and they were having their trial run on Sunday morning. So rather than get up an extra two and a half hours earlier on Sunday, I thought I'd drive out. I stayed with Roz, who is the event director out there, or the co-ED. on Saturday night and spent all evening talking parkrun. So if I sound like I'm kind of losing my voice, that's a combination of cheering on Saturday morning, singing at the top of my lungs in the car for about five hours worth of driving over the weekend and talking a lot about parkrun when I was in Wondai. And they've got a fantastic course out there. All their runners who showed up at the trial are super excited. And they were hoping, you know, just wishing it could start next week. They're that ready for it. They don't want to wait till January. So it's going to be another great event. I can't wait to go back out in January and perhaps run it myself next time.

00:11:21Scott Trickett: So Wondi, how big is Wondi?

00:11:26Melissa Erbacher: I don't know what the population is like. It's sort of... It's one of those towns that's got about three streets of the main street, you know, just all together in the centre. It's a small regional town. I don't know what to compare it to.

00:11:44Scott Trickett: Okay, but I'm getting the idea. Three streets?

00:11:48Melissa Erbacher: Yeah.

00:11:48Scott Trickett: And it's going to be hot inland Queensland.

00:11:51Melissa Erbacher: It will be. It wasn't this weekend because it was so cool with the overcastedness. It didn't quite rain, but. Yeah, it will be warm. It will definitely be warm. But that's all right. We're built tough up here. We can handle it.

00:12:07Scott Trickett: No doubt. And great to see they're excited. And like we've said before, you know, regional towns really can embrace parkrun and can make a massive difference.

00:12:18Melissa Erbacher: Absolutely. And they've got a couple of running clubs there or in the surrounding areas already that are very psyched about it and are going to get on board and support it too, which is always wonderful to hear. Yeah. But then, of course...

00:12:30Scott Trickett: It didn't stop there either.

00:12:32Melissa Erbacher: It didn't stop there either. I just could not get enough of parkrun this weekend. And so back on the Sunshine Coast on Sunday afternoon, we ran a trial of another alternative course for my home parkrun at Kawana. Because during the summer period with the school holidays and the influx of adventurers, The existing path doesn't cope very well with the numbers that we get so for safety reasons we've been looking at alternatives, just to switch to for the summer months it's kind of a stipulation that we have agreed with with our local council it's not ideal but. making the best of a situation and it was a really fun afternoon. This alternative course actually starts on the beach and it runs the runners on a beach for about a kilometre before they join the normal path and then finish the rest of the course. And the feedback was overwhelmingly positive, which is amazing because there's been a bit of resistance from the runners about having to do an alternate course. And everybody was really, they were honest. They said it was challenging to run on the sand. Lots of them actually had to walk up the rise that moves them from the sand up onto the path. even the fast runners, they stopped and walked. And so they said it was challenging, but they all enjoyed it. And some of our other parkrunners that we didn't know about were down on the beach and took photos of them and they posted them on the page later and everybody was smiling. They were all having a great time. So I'm hoping it gets received very well. It's looking like it will be the preferred option of the two that we've trialled. I just have to Get the final okay from council that they're happy with it. And then we will be having a beach Christmas parkrun. So looking forward to that.

00:14:37Scott Trickett: Yeah, well, they actually don't know how lucky they are to be able to change it. It's only for a couple of months of the year. It is. And it sounds like you've come up with a great alternative, something completely different by running on the sand.

00:14:47Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, unfortunately, it does prevent pram runners from being able to participate at Kawana. However, we only usually get one or two of those. And we are lucky enough to be only three kilometres away from our closest parkrun, which is super pam-friendly and very family-friendly. So if they desperately must run, there's always the option of going to Brightwater.

00:15:12Scott Trickett: Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Do you want to hear about my parkrun adventures?

00:15:18Melissa Erbacher: Yes, I do. I've just dominated this conversation. Everyone's sick of hearing from me.

00:15:24Scott Trickett: Well, that's not true. But I didn't have any. Just went to my home run. But yeah, since going back to Westerfolds, I've been there for a few weeks in a row now, I'm starting to really feel like home again. Like you never left? Yeah, a little bit. But no adventures for me lately. But I know that's all going to change soon. The parkrun world is buzzing. We are ready to launch our 200th event here in Australia. And to join us on the podcast this week is the event director of that said 200th event. Welcome to the podcast from Mullum Mullum parkrun, Scotty Hawkins.

Meet the ED

00:16:14Scott Hawkins: Hello, Scott. Hello, Mel. How are you?

00:16:17Melissa Erbacher: We're super awesome.

00:16:19Scott Hawkins: Fantastic. And there's no controversy around it either. We are definitely the 200th parkrun, and no correspondence will be entered into.

00:16:28Melissa Erbacher: So explain to me, are you the only event that is launching on the 17th?

00:16:35Scott Hawkins: No, I wasn't actually so precious about it, but it has been explained to me that we were the 200th event to register, and that we're also... Technically, because of the time difference between Queensland and ourselves, actually the 200th event to run as well. So, yeah, it's pretty exciting. A monumental feat for Australian parkrun and just a fun time for the people of Mullum Mullum.

00:17:05Melissa Erbacher: Hence the no correspondence, shall we enter into.

00:17:11Scott Hawkins: Yeah, there are other launches that are happening on the day too. And we wish them all the best as well.

00:17:16Melissa Erbacher: You don't have to delay processing your results or anything like that. You're not going to be in any kind of results standoff. Who's going to be the last one to do it?

00:17:26Scott Hawkins: No, I don't think so. It's all good natured humour.

00:17:30Melissa Erbacher: There's no ill feeling between the two of you?

00:17:33Scott Hawkins: None at all.

00:17:34Scott Trickett: Well, tell us about Mullum Mullum because whereabouts? It's in Melbourne.

00:17:39Scott Hawkins: So it started when you and I had a conversation on one of our Westerfolds runs. And I noticed that there was just a big hole in between three other parkruns. So we're Westerfolds parkrun and Lilydale Lake parkrun and Gels parkrun. There's a big gap in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne. And it's in the Ringwood-ish area, which is the main hub of the Outer East. And so we looked around for some time to find the right location and, yeah, landed on a place at Mullum Mullum Park that follows the Mullum Mullum Creek next to the Mullum Mullum Tunnel. That's a lot of Mullum Mullums.

00:18:29Scott Trickett: Was that the reasoning behind going with Mullum Mullum over Ringwood?

00:18:34Scott Hawkins: No, my understanding is that the trend is now to name the parkruns after the park and not after the region that they're in. So because it follows Mullum Mullum Creek and the Mullum Mullum Reserve, yeah, that was why the name is that. Although there were some people who were cheering for it to become Ringwood parkrun because I think that would have made it the only parkrun in Australia starting with an R.

00:19:03Melissa Erbacher: Now, tell me, Scott, there's rumours running rife that Scott Trickett is actively locating any parkrunner named Scott and putting them up to being an event director or, you know, just suggesting that they should start their own event because he wants to inflate the numbers of Scots that are volunteering in a competition with the Mels that are volunteering.

00:19:30Scott Hawkins: And so, yes, I'm all for it.

00:19:33Scott Trickett: Then tell us about your parkrun journey and your running journey. Because when I met you, I think it's fair to say you weren't a typical runner.

00:19:42Scott Hawkins: Yeah, well, that's true. My parkrun journey actually started a long time before I actually did my first parkrun. I actually remember being at our former house and at a park across the road. And my kids used to enjoy... kicking the soccer ball around the park. And dad, will you come and kick the ball with us? About five minutes into kicking the ball and I am wheezing and puffing and I can barely move. So I kicked the ball under a fence and the kids didn't want to go climb the fence to be able to get the ball. And I rudely said to those kids, to my shame, if you don't get the ball and I have to go and get it, the game's over. knowing that they wouldn't do it just so that the game would end. So I could, uh, in my own torture, which is what happened. I went and got the ball and I ended the game and the kids were all disappointed. And at that, that was the trigger for me that said, no way. That's this. How bad is that? As a dad, I had to end a game of soccer just because five minutes into it, I was wheezing and puffing and couldn't, couldn't go anymore. I was 120 kilos. And, uh, and terribly out of shape and it started a journey and it began with some well a lot of diet change and some walking and eventually the walking became cycling and the cycling became running and I heard from a friend of a friend of a friend about parkrun so I googled it and saw that there was one at a park down the road from me and was way too nervous to actually just turn up for the first event so Went for a jog around the park myself to see if I could first of all make the distance. Concerned that I wouldn't be able to make the distance. But managed to be able to do it. So turned up on that first Saturday. Didn't know anyone. And loved it. Had a great time. Came back the next week and a guy called Barney remembered my name. And because he was called Barney, I remembered his name. And it just began a journey of getting to know some great people. And, yeah, it's been so much fun. And in that time, I've missed one parkrun in the whole time. And that was because I was in a country that didn't run parkrun. And I even Googled to see which country was closest that I might be able to get to one, but it was ridiculously long distance. So I've only ever skipped the one.

00:22:21Scott Trickett: And all that leads to you starting your own this Saturday.

00:22:25Scott Hawkins: So, yes. Yeah, yeah. Well, you and I were out for a job together and I'd said, look, I've been thinking about this big gap in the events in the Outer East and you highlighted to me that somebody else was thinking the same and Matt Fullerton was also thinking that and so together we went to the local council and put some proposals forward and heard some reasons why it couldn't be run here and couldn't be run there, came up with a solution. But our solution ran across three different council boundaries. What are we going to do? So I approached three different councils, all had different rules, all had different people, all had different ways of processing it all. And we did wonder whether it was ever going to get off the ground. But then it was through another parkrunner who happened to work for the main East Link Highway, that said, you know what, I reckon it's the highways department that owned that path and not the local councils. And sure enough, we were able to work with them and it was able to get off the ground. And it was about an 18-month journey, I think, from concept to launch. But, yeah, we're getting ready to launch this Saturday and it's gotten very real all of a sudden.

00:23:44Melissa Erbacher: 18 months. You had that number 200 on the goal the whole time, didn't you? Yeah.

00:23:49Scott Hawkins: Right. That was always our goal. We thought, no, we're going to hang out. We're going to hang out.

00:23:58Melissa Erbacher: It'll be worth the wait.

00:24:00Scott Hawkins: It will be worth the wait. We are that stubborn.

00:24:05Melissa Erbacher: Now, Scott, I am really impressed that you have the honesty to admit that it was a moment with your children that, you know, like a rock bottom moment almost that sort of was a pivotal for you in your journey. Do your kids ever come to parkrun with you?

00:24:26Scott Hawkins: They do. And that's been my absolute joy. And, uh, I've had four of my five children have run with me and it's fantastic. And I had one of my younger kids said to me, oh, no, I won't come. I don't want to slow you down. And I had to explain to them that the whole reason that I'm doing this is because I want to be able to engage with my kids more. And so every week I run with my kids, sometimes all of them, sometimes some of them. And they're doing great. From the time that my boys were four years old, they were running. And now my five-year-old son has a 38-minute PB. And my six-year-old son has a 28-minute PB. And it's just amazing. They really give me a workout. My wife gets a bit concerned. And she said, you sure you're not pushing them too hard? I said, are you kidding? When they cross the line, the first thing that they want to do is go and play tiki and run around the playground afterwards. So they finish their run and they want to keep running. So it's been fantastic. And it was my son's birthday on Thursday. It also happened to be the day that he got his 10 Junior parkrun t-shirts. And you could imagine that none of the other birthday presents compared to the joy of receiving his Junior parkrun t-shirt. He thought that was fantastic. He was running around the kitchen fist pumping the air saying how great that shirt was and ignoring the rest of the presents that we spent ages thinking about and dollars buying but nonetheless. He loves it. So, yeah, it's been a real family journey for us. And the whole family will be there on Saturday to a whole new era of it as well.

00:26:28Scott Trickett: I've seen firsthand the impact that you've had with your boys, not with your family, running. And on the weekend, we awarded Scott the parkrunner of the Month at Worcester Folds. And Lucas was a bit chuffed with the trophy.

00:26:42Scott Hawkins: Took it to show and tell today. He was showing all the kids in his class. And talking about how he won parkrunner of the Month and his teacher had to point out that it's actually his dad's name that's on the trophy. But he claims that because he's in the photograph and because he helped me carry it around the five kilometres, it equally belongs to him as well.

00:27:04Scott Trickett: No doubt.

00:27:05Scott Hawkins: Which I won't begrudge him because I think it is a part of you.

00:27:09Scott Trickett: No, I think I watched him for about 30 seconds on Saturday just playing a game of standoff with the trophy. Wouldn't take his off. Yes.

00:27:19Scott Hawkins: staring it down to see who was going to back away first. Exactly. Very good.

00:27:27Scott Trickett: But that truly is one of the joys of parkrun to see that and, you know, to see families and dads and their boys running together. It was just fantastic. It's great. Absolutely. You're going to be able to do it.

00:27:37Scott Hawkins: Yeah, it's great.

00:27:38Scott Trickett: Mullum, mullum. Let's just touch on the course a little before we wrap it up. It's half trail and half path.

00:27:46Scott Hawkins: We take off on dirt. We head on to concrete. We then move on to tarmac. We head from there up a trail hill and down the other side across some wooden bridges and turn around and then follow along the creek. So it's got everything. It's got some undulation. It's got a hill that's not an incredible hill, but it's still a hill. and you'll know about it by the time you get to the top. It's got different kinds of trail and path. It's interesting. It's gorgeous to look at and a great course to run.

00:28:31Melissa Erbacher: Are you expecting crazy crowds, especially of adventurers who want a piece of the 200 action?

00:28:40Scott Hawkins: Well, it would be nice to have 200 people at the 200th parkrun, Certainly on social media and on the website, there has been a lot of interest. And just anecdotally talking around with other runners, there's good evidence to think it'll be popular. And it's right in the middle of a busy corridor of people that haven't had access to a community event like this run weekly and free. there's certainly some interest from other people outside of the parkrun community about starting up now that there's going to be an event that's close enough for them to participate in so yeah I'd expect that there'll be a lot of people and so we've listed some alternate parking places and things like that to make sure that there's room for everybody but yeah it's going to be great and we're looking forward to building a community of people who see it as their regular run as well as welcoming people that come in as adventurers from all over the country and around the world. So looking forward to both.

Facts in a Haystack

00:29:56Melissa Erbacher: I cannot even count the episodes it's been since we've spoken to Mr Hay for Facts in a Haystack. But you need not wait any longer because he's here. Ian, welcome back to the podcast.

00:30:10Ian Hay: Hooray, finally. It's been way too long. Time goes way too fast this year.

00:30:15Melissa Erbacher: It does. It's been one of those crazy ones and we're definitely deep in the silly season now. So thank you for making some time to get some stats together for our adventurers. What have you got for us?

00:30:26Ian Hay: I thought I'd better finish the year in a bit of a review and go over the year that has been and pull out some stats. I've done some stats on different events and what they've done for the year and also some around some parkrun as well. So start out with some event information. The first one I've got is around event records. I thought I'd look at the ones we had. I don't know if everyone remembers, but closer to the beginning of the year, we had a lot of event records. leading through January, February, March. There was a lot of, usually get the New Year's resolution is coming in in January, but it seemed to go on for a really long time just getting event record after event record. So I thought, look at who got the most records for the year. And we've got at the top of the list, we've got the Ponds. They had nine event records this year, which is huge.

00:31:14Melissa Erbacher: You mean attendance records?

00:31:15Ian Hay: Attendance records, yes. I'm glad you're always here to explain what I'm talking about sometimes.

00:31:22Melissa Erbacher: No, that's all right. I'm sure probably everybody else understood, but I just take a little bit of extra.

00:31:27Ian Hay: That's all right. But yes, nine at the ponds, which I think that's massive.

00:31:31Melissa Erbacher: And were they quite closely grouped together or were they spread out throughout the year?

00:31:37Ian Hay: Most of them were at the start of the year, but I haven't got the ponds one, the specifics in front of me, but I think they went out a bit further into the year. But the group that got second, so we actually had a group of three that got second that had seven event records, Maribyrnong, Shellharbour and Stones Corner. I know Stones, at Stones we had them all, most of them at the beginning of the year. It was just one after the other. It was fantastic. So it was fun at the time.

00:32:03Melissa Erbacher: Something to look forward to for next year as well, no doubt.

00:32:07Ian Hay: Oh, yeah. So I don't know about Stones because I think we hit 450 for our – our anniversary, and I don't know if we want to go quite that high too quickly again.

00:32:16Melissa Erbacher: But you can't turn away parkrunners, especially not the new resolution ones.

00:32:21Ian Hay: That's right.

00:32:23Melissa Erbacher: They're serious for a couple of solid months there.

00:32:26Ian Hay: Yeah. But I thought I'd break it down a bit further and see who had the longest streaks. So who had the longest attendance event record streaks? So rather than just going to full nine, who held it week after week? And Wangaratta came in first. So they had four weeks in a row of attendance records.

00:32:47Melissa Erbacher: Nice job, Wangaratta. That's pretty impressive. We haven't had too many course attendance records on the Sunshine Coast in a while. It's just interesting to see which areas have the growth during those busy periods.

00:33:02Ian Hay: Yeah, that's right. I thought I'd look at something a little bit different too was I tried to pull up a bit of different stats this time. I found one that I was looking at was who had the biggest difference in number of attendances. So what were their smallest number of parkrunners one week to the biggest over this entire year, so over 2016. And the one I found was the Terrace. So it was actually a launch. So their launch was 693 and their smallest was 28. So quite a big range there.

00:33:33Melissa Erbacher: I was going to say Sirromet because they had a similar situation from their first to second weeks.

00:33:37Ian Hay: Fight on. Yes, Sirame is the other one. 11 up to 620. So I thought I'd do one as well just excluding launch to try and get rid of those numbers as well. Newy, their smallest was 129 up to 744, which is huge. Lake Mack was 71 and their biggest was 591. So I didn't actually check. They might be anniversaries as well.

00:34:01Melissa Erbacher: I bet they were anniversaries. I think the Newey one was.

00:34:05Ian Hay: That's huge, 744. And then Rocks, they had 37 and then up to 488. So I suspect that would be an anniversary as well. I thought I wouldn't leave our smaller events out because, to be honest, I love the small events. They're so much fun to run and they're just a small group of people that you can chat with and get to know. So I thought I'd pick our smaller events as well. Yeah. Our smallest number for the year was Atherton. They had one person. I'm guessing it was probably a rainy day that one.

00:34:32Melissa Erbacher: They had one?

00:34:33Ian Hay: They had one person. They had two volunteers that day.

00:34:35Melissa Erbacher: I was going to say, did you check the volunteers?

00:34:38Ian Hay: I did.

00:34:39Melissa Erbacher: That's brilliant.

00:34:41Ian Hay: Yep. So good on that one person for showing up. So that's awesome.

00:34:45Melissa Erbacher: And good on the volunteers for still running the show.

00:34:47Ian Hay: Yeah, that's cool. I really like this whole event. And Broadbeach actually had a week there with five as well, so. I'm guessing it was a rainy day.

00:34:56Melissa Erbacher: I wonder, I don't suppose you know off the top of your head how fast that runner was at Atherton?

00:35:00Ian Hay: I didn't look, no. He came first, no?

00:35:03Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, well, they did, and that's the kind of thing. I could get a top five finish on a week like that, you know?

00:35:10Ian Hay: Exactly, yep. You've got to pick your time there, and if you want to get a podium finish, then Atherton's the place to go.

00:35:16Melissa Erbacher: If you choose the right weekends.

00:35:19Scott Trickett: Isn't it this time of year you guys in Queensland have some wild weather weekends?

00:35:24Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, but that doesn't really dampen the numbers. We've got hardcore runners up here.

00:35:28Scott Trickett: You need to look at the forecast, say, you know, this week's going to be terrible. I'm getting myself to Atherton.

00:35:35Melissa Erbacher: Oh, I see what you mean.

00:35:36Ian Hay: Yep. See how many top 10 finishes you can get around Queensland.

00:35:41Melissa Erbacher: Just based on bad weather.

00:35:42Ian Hay: That's right. So I thought I'd also just look at the smallest average. So Clare Valley averages around 16 and Atherton averages around 17, so. Atherton and Pittsworth were both on 17, the smallest average. So like I said, I love those small events. They're great fun to go along to. So it's really cool to see the event directors putting that on and being committed to that community.

00:36:06Melissa Erbacher: Absolutely agree.

00:36:07Ian Hay: I thought I'd look at volunteers as well. I thought it was interesting to see. I wanted to look at the two different ranges in the number of volunteers. So I've already tipped off one of them. So Atherton and Hamilton Island have had the smallest number of volunteers at two. All the way up to Newey at 23. So it's a big range of different volunteer requirements at each event.

00:36:27Melissa Erbacher: I bet that 23 happened at their anniversary too. You need 23 people to deal with 700 plus runners.

00:36:34Ian Hay: Exactly. So even that I think would be a bit full on morning.

00:36:38Melissa Erbacher: Absolutely.

00:36:39Ian Hay: But the average across the country is about nine each week. It seems to average around that. So for the years, I thought I'd do some big numbers. So for the entire year, now I didn't mention at the start, all these stats exclude this week. I haven't had a chance to load my database. So it doesn't include this week, just gone. But to date this year, we've had 81,000 volunteers across the entire year. Now compare that to last year, we had 60,000 for the entire year of 2015. So it's a big jump up as you'd expect with our growth. And we had a big milestone on the 26th of the 11th, which we missed. We hit 1 million runners for the year for 2015. Ah, 2016. 2015, we never made it over. So we didn't make it over 770,000. So this year we've already hit over a million. This is just in Australia. So not individual runners, but the number of runs that we've had over the year, all of 2016. That's 5 million kilometres. Yes. How cool is that?

00:37:37Melissa Erbacher: It's insane.

00:37:39Ian Hay: Yep, that's a lot of running.

00:37:41Melissa Erbacher: It is. That's got to be to the moon and back and then some, surely.

00:37:45Ian Hay: Yep. I was going to try and compare it, coming up to Christmas time, try and compare it to something like how many kilometres Santa does, but no, we're not even close to where he does. We've got a little bit more to go to get there.

00:37:58Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I reckon his garment's all over the shop, in and out of houses, zigzagging all over the place.

00:38:05Ian Hay: Give a couple more years, we'll catch him. So now we're going to look at the Peel Club. So yes, we've got 15 in the Peel Club at the moment and we've had nine people added to it this year.

00:38:16Melissa Erbacher: Wow, that's a lot of dedicated adventurers.

00:38:19Ian Hay: Yep, so this year they've been very busy. There's actually been no one added to the Peel Club in Queensland or New South Wales this year. It's all been in other states.

00:38:28Melissa Erbacher: So they've started in those states now?

00:38:31Ian Hay: Yeah, so they'd already done everything in Queensland and New South Wales and added the other states this year. And we've actually got 17 people with one event left to go.

00:38:39Melissa Erbacher: They're all on the precipice.

00:38:41Ian Hay: Yes, exactly. And the Compass Club, so we've got two people on that at the moment. So we've got Brendan Peel and Neil Barnett. We've actually got 18 with one event left. Most people have got Geographe Bay left to go.

00:38:55Melissa Erbacher: Yes, and I did get the inside word about whether or not a Margaret River was going to launch anytime soon. Just to see, you know, if somebody did decide to take a trip to WA to do Geograph Bay, how long would they remain in the Compass Club before they got pushed out by another launch? And I believe the answer to that question is at least six months.

00:39:19Ian Hay: Pretty safe.

00:39:20Scott Trickett: Can we just get a quick update on the events that you needed to have run at in order to be part of the Compass Club?

00:39:27Melissa Erbacher: Darwin, Hobart, Kingscliff and Geograph Bay.

00:39:30Ian Hay: Yes, good memory. It's interesting, Darwin's got, so those 18 people, all of them have done Darwin.

00:39:35Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, they would have done that on their quest to join the Peel Club. There's probably a bunch in that 18 who have done an event in WA as well, but now they have to go back. So you're welcome, Geograph Bay. We are sending more people to you.

00:39:52Ian Hay: So that is it for the year in review. But to finish up, I hear that we're on podcast number 49, so we're going to do some 49 stats for the year overall. So I looked in the database to see what we've got around the magic number 49. The number of parkrunners that are on 49 at the moment. Now, like I said, that excludes this week, so my apologies. Um, we've got 288 people sitting on 49 parkruns at the moment.

00:40:22Melissa Erbacher: Wow. There's a lot of people going to join us on our milestone 50.

00:40:27Ian Hay: Exactly. So we've all got to go running next week.

00:40:29Scott Trickett: Can I just say, you know what that highlights for me? That highlights for me, that's a lot of t-shirts and what a massive contribution Tribe Sports are giving to parkrun. You know, that's every week.

00:40:42Ian Hay: 288.

00:40:43Scott Trickett: And that's just the 50 shirts.

00:40:45Ian Hay: It's amazing, isn't it? Yep.

00:40:47Melissa Erbacher: And that's just the people that are on the precipice for next week. You know, that doesn't count all the people the week after that and the week after that and the week after that. And the fact that, you know, they're so dedicated as well to the quality of the shirts that they're sending out and that, yes, we've had a couple of delays this year with some milestone shirts because of the quality control. But I agree. It's such an amazing commitment from them.

00:41:11Ian Hay: Yeah. Yeah. And I, I think everyone knows that there's a lot that they put out, but I don't think you really know just how many they're putting out. It's a lot. That's one week on 49. Yeah, that's amazing. Very cool. I thought I'd also pull out which events have had exactly 49 parkrunners each week or over a week. So we've had 141 events have 49 parkrunners, and we've had 61 this year. And I think I have to also mention out there, Castlemaine is dedicated to this podcast because they've done it five times. So they're really dedicated to them in 49.

00:41:52Melissa Erbacher: All in preparation for this episode, I'm sure.

00:41:54Ian Hay: Exactly. Absolutely. So they've worked for that. 49 volunteers. So who's done 49 volunteer stints? I've got 15 people.

00:42:02Melissa Erbacher: How awesome are they?

00:42:04Ian Hay: That's cool, isn't it? That's really cool.

00:42:06Melissa Erbacher: That's very cool. That's double the aubergine. Practically.

00:42:10Ian Hay: And I thought I'd look at those parkrunners that are dedicated to the 49-minute mark down to the second, and there's 10 of those people who have done exactly 49 minutes.

00:42:21Melissa Erbacher: Awesome. Good on them. I'd be around that mark quite a few times, but I'm not sure I've ever hit it bang on the head.

00:42:28Ian Hay: It's pretty hard to get dead on that number. So that's it for the stats.

00:42:34Scott Trickett: Ian, thanks very much. I'm statsed out for the year. You've ticked all my boxes for stats.

00:42:40Melissa Erbacher: Are you 100% statsed out, Scotty? I am. Are you sure you don't have another one sneaking in there, Ian?

00:42:48Ian Hay: I'm hoping I didn't miss one there. Did you ask me for another one that I missed out? He's setting you up for something.

00:42:52Melissa Erbacher: There was another one that I did ask you for.

00:42:55Ian Hay: Did I forget it? Did I?

00:42:57Melissa Erbacher: You possibly have if it's not even occurring. What have I missed?

00:43:02Scott Trickett: She was trying to find a stat that she could beat me on, but I got to him first, Mel.

00:43:08[crosstalk]

00:43:08Melissa Erbacher: do that one oh no i was excited to do that one too you got to him first scotty what do you mean you got to him first i did forget that one mel we we might get you to um come and record that for the 50th episode i'll definitely be in for that because that's a good number a good one to be in for no need did it who won did i win oh kemi Yes, and I don't think he can divulge until he gets on the show. I think that's only fair. I'm willing to take the risk. Scotty's not so sure. I'm judging by his silence.

00:43:53Scott Trickett: Goodbye to Ian, but it looks like we're going to speak to you again next week, Ian.

00:43:57Ian Hay: That works for me. I've got to get that last one in there.

00:44:01Scott Trickett: Thanks for this week. See you next week. Thanks, guys.

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

00:44:18Melissa Erbacher: Well, if you're looking for cake this weekend, it's going to be slim pickings because there are no anniversaries. However, this time next year, there will be two anniversaries because we have two launches, one of which we've already spoken about. Actually, both of them we really spoke about. There's Mullum Mullum in Victoria. And where's the other one, Scotty?

00:44:39Scott Trickett: Underwood Park in Queensland. So it's Underwood Park parkrun. It's a bit controversial.

00:44:46Melissa Erbacher: Isn't that interesting? That if Mullum Mullum had been called Ringwood, we would have had Underwood and Ringwood in the same week.

00:44:54Scott Trickett: Lots of woods. And I was thinking, you know.

00:44:57Melissa Erbacher: Lots of woods.

00:44:58Scott Trickett: In our interview with Scotty Hawkins, we said Ringwood would be the R. What about Rocks Riverside and Rooty Hill? Yeah, we've got lots of R's. Rockhampton. Heaps. Heaps. You know, on Club Corner this week, We've timed it beautifully because our club, they've got two R's in their name. They do. Let's hear all about them.

Club Corner

00:45:32Melissa Erbacher: Joining us now on Club Corner is a returning guest named Rachel. She's from New South Wales and she has a super awesome club called Rachel's Runners. Welcome back to the podcast, Rachel.

00:45:44Rachel Allworth: Hi, thank you. Thanks for having me back.

00:45:46Melissa Erbacher: So tell us a little bit about your club.

00:45:48Rachel Allworth: Rachel's Runners started up in 2013 as a result of myself having got into running the year before. And a lot of my friends had wondered how I did it and how I stayed on track. And I decided, well, maybe they needed some help if they were interested in learning to run. I could do it. So I just set up. I said, anyone want to come for a run? I'll show you how to run. you know, how to start and how to keep going. We'll learn 5K. I'll take you through the motions. And, yeah, that's how it started. We just went to a 12-week process and people learnt to run five kilometres. And then we just kept doing it, repeating, and we got more and more people along for the ride. And I think we've had maybe over 300 people now come along and join our club. And we have all different things now. We go away on trips together for running. We meet up and go to fun runs, of course, and obviously we've got parkrun on Saturdays.

00:46:52Scott Trickett: Do you have structured training sessions? Are you a qualified coach or is it more of a casual?

00:46:59Rachel Allworth: Yes, I am. At first, when I was first doing it, when it was just friends, we just did our own thing. And then as I've become heavily involved in running, I went and got – for my run coach accreditation. So I went and did the level one, then I went and did level two, recreational running. I've done the kids' athletics coaching as well now because I'm also a schoolteacher, so that's handy as well. And now I do six out of seven days I run running coaching classes as well.

00:47:34Scott Trickett: That's a lot of running.

00:47:35Rachel Allworth: Tell me about it. And we also just started a free run club on a Tuesday night as well. You know, just to fit something in while we haven't got parkrun on a Saturday.

00:47:46Scott Trickett: And it's open to everyone, because I was under the perception that it might just be a female-only running club, but you've corrected me.

00:47:54Rachel Allworth: Yeah, so mainly, I guess, because it started out with my friends, which are mostly girls, it was women to start with, and then they started bringing kids along, and then they started bringing their husbands along, or their partners, and We welcome everyone, just whether or not the guys are confident enough to join us because it is the majority women most days. We've had some come through.

00:48:21Scott Trickett: Have you got one success story out of the club that you want to share with us?

00:48:26Rachel Allworth: There's so many. I think there's so many. You can definitely tell from the first few weeks who's going to commit. Obviously, when I was first doing it, going through the process of teaching others to run, you know, I was still learning myself. But now I've also learnt the psychology of it too and you definitely know the pattern of when people, if they can make it through weeks three, four, five, they're generally going to be okay. So let me think. There's so many. There is one girl I can think of from the very first round that I started back in 2013. She died. been on a bit of a fitness journey she had never run before she was quite a big girl and she just started the learn to run program with me and that was in February we started and she said I really really want to do this 10k run and it was in May and I was like okay and I was a bit nervous and I didn't know you know if I could provide enough support to get her there because as I said I was only a new runner myself and she was I was only a new runner and she was even newer than me but she was very good and she committed from the start and I always give homework to people to do in between sessions and she did the homework and she made herself accountable to me or we have also a closed Facebook group that you know you can post up in any questions and whatever she did it she got there she did the 10k in May and And it was just an amazing time, an amazing event to see and how happy she was and she did it. And then that, you know, that just sort of showed me that with determination, anyone can do it. And I'd already proved that to myself because, you know, as I said before, I wasn't a runner. And, yeah, that was probably one of the biggest successes moments i can remember where can they find rachel's runners where are you located oh we've recently just spread our wings a little bit but we started in Milperra and Panania, so we now run groups in Panania, Revesby, Menai, Cronulla and Sans Souci so all around the sort of south and west hoxton which is liverpool so sort of southwest sydney and south sydney Just spreading our wings a bit.

00:51:08Scott Trickett: Great. A sign of a successful club. Thanks for coming on Club Corner this week, Rachel.

00:51:13Rachel Allworth: No worries. Thanks for having me.

00:51:20Scott Trickett: Well, do you know, I feel all my Christmases have already come.

00:51:24Melissa Erbacher: Why?

00:51:25Scott Trickett: Because a couple of weeks ago, we asked for iTunes reviews. We got them, but I read them. They're really nice. People say really nice things, and it's all five stars.

00:51:36Melissa Erbacher: Oh, that's great news.

00:51:38Scott Trickett: So keep that coming.

00:51:39Melissa Erbacher: You don't need to ask again. No. Well, all the Christmases haven't come at once because obviously there's still more Christmases to be had, according to Scotty.

00:51:49Scott Trickett: You can never have enough positive feedback. We haven't had enough of it during the year. So it's really good to finish the year off on a high. And we've got one more episode next week to go.

00:52:02Melissa Erbacher: I'm excited. We're going to wrap up the year. Not that we're ending for the year, but, you know, episode 50, that's kind of a big deal.

00:52:11Scott Trickett: Now, we've already established that you're not wearing pants tonight. I'm not wearing top. Next week.

00:52:16Melissa Erbacher: Oh, we didn't establish that.

00:52:18Scott Trickett: Oh, that was off air. Sorry. But next week, I want you all in red. Pants, please. Just for our 50th.

00:52:30Melissa Erbacher: It is at this point that I should establish that there is no visual contact. It's all audio. Okay, so I often podcast in my pajamas.

00:52:41Scott Trickett: But I said I've got my top on.

00:52:42Melissa Erbacher: All sorts of attire. I've podcasted in onesies through the winter. You've got to do what's comfortable.

00:52:49Scott Trickett: Exactly. It comes through.

00:52:50Melissa Erbacher: Now you've given all sorts of terrible images to all sorts of people. Thanks, Scotty.

00:52:56Scott Trickett: Nobody listens to the end. I've been looking at our stats. Ian's been looking at parkrun stats. I've been looking at our stats. No one listens to this bit at the end. Say whatever you want.

00:53:08Melissa Erbacher: How can you tell?

00:53:09Scott Trickett: Well, stats, computers, they do amazing things these days.

00:53:13Melissa Erbacher: Oh, okay. Cool.

00:53:15Scott Trickett: So, anyone you want a bag?

00:53:19Melissa Erbacher: No.

00:53:19Scott Trickett: Tell us which parkrun is the worst.

00:53:22Melissa Erbacher: Which parkrun is the worst?

00:53:24Scott Trickett: Don't tell me a top three. Give me a bottom three.

00:53:30Melissa Erbacher: There is no bottom three.

00:53:33Scott Trickett: Mel, no one's listening.

00:53:36Melissa Erbacher: Which are your bottom three? If you've got one or two or three?

00:53:40Scott Trickett: I'd have to think about it. Maybe next week. All right.

00:53:47Melissa Erbacher: I'm a little bit disappointed I didn't hear you and Scott doing any karaoke.

00:53:52Scott Trickett: Is he still on the line? If he's still on the line, we'll fire something up. I'll just check. Oh, he's gone.

00:54:00Melissa Erbacher: Oh, yeah, likely still.

00:54:01Scott Trickett: Otherwise I would have. Maybe next week as well.

00:54:07Melissa Erbacher: Are you looking forward to next week? Yes. It's going to be great.

00:54:12Scott Trickett: I hope it is anyway.

00:54:13Melissa Erbacher: Have we got some surprises in store for anyone? Should we make some up? We should.

00:54:19Scott Trickett: We've got a whole week to plan it.

00:54:23Melissa Erbacher: Because we're so good with the planning.