Episode 62

Episode details · 217 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:09Melissa Erbacher: Episode 62 of the parkrun Adventurers podcast. I am coming to you feeling a little bit sore and sorry because there is a fetus that thinks it's Lord of the River Dance or something and it has been playing havoc on my sciatic nerve. I'm joined by Scotty. How are you doing this week, Scotty?

00:00:32Scott Trickett: I'm okay. My sciatic nerve is intact.

00:00:36Melissa Erbacher: Good to hear.

00:00:37Scott Trickett: I've got some knee issues. I don't think they can compare to yours, but they're still issues.

00:00:42Melissa Erbacher: And how did you get your knee issues?

00:00:44Scott Trickett: Well, I think I did a lot of running. After I talked about not running last week, I tried to make up for it by running every day since then. And now I've got a sore knee.

00:00:56Melissa Erbacher: It didn't work out quite like you planned.

00:00:59Scott Trickett: No. But I do have a theory. So it's a sore knee that could be... It doesn't hurt when I run. It hurts when I stop. Stop.

00:01:08Melissa Erbacher: So you just have to run all the time.

00:01:11Scott Trickett: That's one way.

00:01:12Melissa Erbacher: Well, you know, you get to the toilet quickly and you can get around the kitchen fast if you're just running. It's probably not a good idea with knives and such.

00:01:23Scott Trickett: I try to avoid running with knives. But I've got a theory about that it's got to do with my new desk setup. Because I'm now sitting in a new desk. So my new chair is at a different height. My monitor is at a different height. So I'm not blaming it on the running well i'm partially blaming on the running but i think it's more how i'm sitting down ah okay well that makes sense so you're you're ergonomically challenged in your office situation that's because i don't want to admit that it's a running injury because i'm guessing yours isn't a running injury

00:02:02Melissa Erbacher: Well, no, it's not. It's not me running that's causing the problem. There's another little one who I'm currently sharing my body with who thinks it's a great idea to run inside and dance and do all sorts of other kung fu that hasn't been invented yet.

00:02:21Scott Trickett: So he or she is going to be a runner. Let's put expectations on them before they even come out of the womb.

00:02:30Melissa Erbacher: He or she already owns a onesie that has a little pair of running shoes sewn onto the front of it.

00:02:37Scott Trickett: I don't stand a chance.

00:02:40Melissa Erbacher: No chance. It's all over for them. Fortunately, their mother can potentially get out of it by handing over the keys to the running pram to the husband. But yes, there will be a lot of parkruns for said small backer when the time comes. I would appreciate it though. You know, I've still got three months to go. I think that is a little bit too long to expect me to walk around looking like a crippled old woman. And potentially, I'm not going to get another event this weekend towards the Pirate Club because I might not be able to make the five kilometre distance on parkrun day.

00:03:22Scott Trickett: That must be devastating.

00:03:24Melissa Erbacher: Yes, I'm even contemplating stretching. You hear people say, oh, you just need to stretch. It's like, yeah, I'm sure that's fine. I don't need to stretch. But I'm pretty sure, you know, Adam said to me, oh. I think you need me to tell you what kinds of stretches to do. And I said, no, the yoga teachers told me what kinds of stretches to do. He said, well, they're obviously not working. I said, they're not working because I don't do them.

00:03:53Scott Trickett: It's a waste of time stretching.

00:03:55Melissa Erbacher: I'm pretty sure. Yeah, well, that's what I think too.

00:03:58Scott Trickett: It's very boring too.

00:04:00Melissa Erbacher: And it hurts. I don't know. At the moment, I've got a heat pack shoved down the back of my pants, which is alleviating the pressure a bit. And I find if I walk around on my heels really slowly and deliberately and pick everything up by squatting, it's not, you know, 100% unbearable.

00:04:24Scott Trickett: I tell you what, me trying to give you advice is pointless. So our listeners, preferably of the female persuasion, Well, let Mel know if she's got another three months of this, because I think you do.

00:04:40Melissa Erbacher: Oh, no, we don't want to hear that. We don't want to hear that.

00:04:44Scott Trickett: Yeah. Hey, but even if you could run on the weekend, lots of events were cancelled on Saturday. You escaped the crazy weather?

00:04:53Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, it was beautiful on the Sunshine Coast by the weekend. We... We were fortunate enough, it sort of hit midweek where we are and then there was plenty of time for council crews to clear up the debris and things like that before events happened on the weekend. There were a couple of event directors who had to get a bit creative with some, what will we call it, gardening equipment. Probably exceeding the expectations of their, I won't say risk assessments, but You know, they were out there doing some extracurricular activities on their courses to make sure it was already above and beyond the call of duty of the volunteer position that they hold. And thank God nobody chopped any arms off their chainsaws and whatnot, because that would have been an interesting story to have to try and explain to somebody.

00:05:50Scott Trickett: Yeah, just on that, you know... full credit to the eds around the country again because i saw a lot of them out on thursday and friday checking their courses making sure there was an event that people could come to and run so you know and or cancelling where it was appropriate which is just as valid and just as important you know go go above and beyond just not on the saturday morning but on the on the friday to make sure that everyone's got it event to run it on Saturday. We don't have that problem down here in Melbourne. We had our first sort of taste of cold weather. So I think we're going to come into PB season down here, you know.

00:06:33Tom: Yeah.

00:06:34Scott Trickett: When we lined up on Saturday, you know, it's just a bit that, when you go through six months of summer, you forget about the cold. So it's just a little bit uncomfortable on Saturday.

00:06:45Melissa Erbacher: I actually wore my cardigan, my parkrun hoodie. To parkrun for the first time on Saturday. So, yeah, it must have been a bit breezy.

00:06:55Scott Trickett: So when you head down, make sure you pack it.

00:06:57Melissa Erbacher: Oh, yeah, it will come with. So PB weather, hey? I'm heading to Victoria during PB weather and I'm probably going to do a PW or a DNF.

00:07:10Scott Trickett: Shock the world. Come down here and smash out a PB. Drug up. Ignore the pain.

00:07:18Melissa Erbacher: I'll swap my wristband with Adam's. And he can scan in as me. And then we won't tell anyone. That's the only way a PB is going to be happening for me this weekend. But that's all right. It's not all about the PBs.

00:07:32Scott Trickett: No.

00:07:33Melissa Erbacher: But there were a lot of cancellations because of Cyclone Debbie. And she wreaked some serious havoc. And there was a lot of mess. And there still is a lot of mess. Yes.

00:07:44Scott Trickett: going on especially in northern queensland and northern new south wales southeast queensland and a shout out to our friends from lismore last week we had them on to get them all excited about their party and then two days later they were flooded and had to cancel or at least postpone postpone yeah um but seriously flooded too not just a little bit no buildings underwater kind of flooded yeah This country's funny.

00:08:16Melissa Erbacher: It is. It's unpredictable.

Meet the ED

00:08:23Scott Trickett: Okay, it's time to chat to one of our EDs who didn't get to run on the weekend, but she's got a damn good excuse. We're joined on the podcast this week by Leanne Paul from Bowen parkrun. Welcome to the parkrun Adventurers, Leanne.

00:08:43Leanne Paul: Hi, guys. Thank you for having me.

00:08:46Scott Trickett: Now, we all know why you didn't run on the weekend. The course is not in running condition. It's not up to scratch at the moment.

00:08:56Leanne Paul: No, it's not in the greatest of condition, I'm afraid. We've just had Cyclone Debbie, Category 4, across the coast, a little bit south of us, between us and Airlie Beach. And... Because we're right on the coast and our parkrun course itself is beautiful and it's right on the coast beside the sea, yeah, it's not in any condition for anyone to be walking or running along it whatsoever. I went out there the other day and was feeling quite heartbroken from what I saw. But going back out there today, I can see that there's progress in getting it cleared. So I'll keep it run up to date as to when we'll be able to get our parkrun on again. out there.

00:09:41Melissa Erbacher: Leanne there are a lot of people who you know we have wet and woolly weekends and heaven forbid some branches fall out of the trees and stuff what kind of debris is left behind by a cyclone when you're on the coast?

00:09:56Leanne Paul: Well you're dealing with yeah the usual leaves across the course and massive branches from where we are the fig trees have fallen down but we're also we've got quite a bit of the section right beside the sea. So we've had storm surge, waves coming in and washing out a lot of that area, leaving it unstable. I did walk along there this afternoon, but it's not an area that I feel comfortable with in letting parkrunners or park walkers go across. It's looking quite bare out there. The trees are stripped down. It's brown. We're so used to seeing blue sky, beautiful blue water and green shady trees because our parkrun course is one of the shadiest around. But it is just so barren. It's just bare. We couldn't get through to one section, which is the trail section of our course, which is very close to the water. You can stand there or when you're running across the course, you know, If you're clever enough, you could be running or walking through that area and throw a line in. That's how close the water is to that section. So we found shells today and just evidence of where the water has come up and washed over because of that storm surge. We've actually got some sand beach area washed out further along as well. So the council will have to go in and refill that for us too. So it does make it quite tricky to get through because of all the debris and the branches, the palm fronds, the coconuts that were missiles. But because you've got the waves that have rolled in, they've washed out big areas as well. And that's something that I was aware of when I chose the course, really. But where we are situated, we're right on the coast. So we've We've really copped it hard, not just from the wind, but also the sea coming in and just engulfing a lot of the areas around town.

00:12:14Scott Trickett: Yep, I couldn't imagine. I'm from Melbourne. I have no concepts of cyclones and... It's sort of like, my daughter was saying, you know, when it was all happening, I hope cyclones never come to Melbourne, cyclones never come to Melbourne. And I reassured her, but then she came back and said, what about bushfires? Can you stop bushfires as well? It's like, if I had the power to stop natural disasters.

00:12:39Leanne Paul: Well, every area. Yeah. Each region has its own, you know, disasters, you know, weather-enforced disasters and that, but each community is tough and has their own way of dealing, you know, with what's thrown at them, whether it's up here in North Queensland and Cairns or the Whitsundays or down, you know, New South Wales or Victoria and Melbourne. Yeah, we all have to face something at some point and, yeah, you get through it. But, I mean, that's what I was interested in knowing and seeing what the rest of the nation were seeing. I've got family, a brother down in Melbourne and, They were panicking because I had lost everything, all network. So I've had no way of communicating with anyone locally or state or nationally. They're in Melbourne and he knows what it's like to be in a cyclone, especially a Category 4 cyclone. But, yeah, and I feel sorry for – You know, those people who are from the southern areas who have been up here on a holiday and expecting to be experiencing the beautiful Whitsundays, this tropical holiday that they've dreamed of, whether it was a honeymoon or just an escape, and then they're confronted with this situation and they just want to escape. Some of us wanted to as well and some did, but a lot of us stayed. We knew what we were in for and so all you could do was just get prepared for it. And that's what you do in the case of a bushfire or, you know, tsunami or whatever, you know, whatever the situation might be. What else could we get because we've had earthquakes as well in this region? So that crossed our minds too. The next thing is volcanoes. Actually, it's funny you mention that because we were down at the front beach yesterday, looked across the bay and there is what looks to be – like a crater, and my daughter was pointing it out and saying, is that volcano going to erupt as well? And that little comment made me or reminded me of, you know, she's been a little bit, I guess, traumatised by the whole experience. We went through Yasi in Townsville, but the two kids were much younger, so they slept through the whole thing. But now that they're older, she's 10 and my son is 14, they're very aware. of what's going on. And it was all hands on deck. But when she's been making little comments like that or taking our fingerprints the other day, which was Wednesday, when we still had a lot of wind and then we had the massive storm, electrical storms. Yeah, she was taking our fingerprints and it was just a game. But she made the comment to me a little bit later, just quietly, you know, said to me, you never know, mum, you just never know. So just little comments that she's been making. So it's really good that today I feel like it's the first normal day and you can no longer hear generators in the street and the kids are all out playing again and some more businesses are starting to open up. And, you know, we've been able to go out and just do the normal things, go out for a play in the parkland that we managed to find that wasn't still strewn with debris and whatever. It has a big impact on everyone, no matter what age they are.

00:16:22Scott Trickett: The other thing is Bowen's a small town. It's one of those clichés where you probably know most of the people in the town.

00:16:29Leanne Paul: Yeah, that's right.

00:16:31Scott Trickett: So how does that go? Are you worried about everyone else in the town? Are you comparing how much each family went through?

00:16:39Leanne Paul: It's funny because in my street, like we – I've not long – come back here. This is my hometown. I've not long moved back. And so you're thinking about your family elsewhere in the town and in the rest of the region. You're not comparing. You just get in there and you just have a look. You analyse. You just take stock of what's happened and what needs to be done. So you just get in there and help each other. We were lucky. We didn't have any major damage or anything like that at all. So we were able to do our tidy up and then go out and help people in our street and then go out and help, yeah, other family and friends and whoever needed a hand, whether they were a stranger or someone that you knew, it really didn't matter. It just doesn't apply in this sort of situation. I have to admit, though, because in our street we were all organised by Thursday and we there was no, by that time we were lucky, like there was no evidence that anything had even happened in our street. But then as soon as you drive outside of our street, there's just mess everywhere and there's still generators going and there's still services not available or shops and open and so on. And I've been feeling guilty since then. I mentioned that to a neighbour in our street yesterday and she sort of shed a tear a bit, making me a bit emotional about it now. But I think that's because, well, I know that's because, you know, I feel that we're lucky, we're fortunate. I know there's other people out there that are fortunate, but there are others who lost a lot out of a lot. But luckily, you know, those things are material things that can be easily regained and no lives have been lost. So that's the main thing because it'd be heartbreaking if, This town got word that any of our mob, yeah, had perished as a result. But just as if anything had happened to, you know, someone down in Prossy or Airlie, those areas, it doesn't matter if you know them or not or if you're related to them or not, just the fact that they're part of your community, the broader community, and you share that common element of that and as well as the fact that we've all gone through the same thing. So, yeah, you just get in there and support. each other. You just get down to business.

00:19:10Scott Trickett: Has talk turned to recovery now? Is the town starting to talk about, we've got to get back on our feet, we've got to start rebuilding, opening businesses, or is it still too soon for that stuff?

00:19:22Leanne Paul: No, that's happening. That's why I say today it felt more normal. We're able to go and get a pie, sausage roll, just normal things like that. We're able to sit in a coffee shop this afternoon, get a smoothie and a coffee. play area there that Jali could play in. Looking around, yeah, there are more businesses opening their doors because their services are back on. People just want to get back into it. They just want to get back into getting on with life, getting on with the business of life.

00:19:54Scott Trickett: Understandable.

00:19:55Leanne Paul: And start planning holidays because this is actually the Easter holidays for the schools, for the kids. And people got to get on and go back to their own work as well. So, There are people who are offering childminding services because the schools and daycares aren't up. So the community are pitching in to help do the babysitting for those who need to go back to work. But yeah, there's definitely businesses around that have started opening up a lot more today. And as the week goes on, there'll be a lot more to see. And even just looking around the streets, you can see the council are out there I went out to parkrun today and the council are out there making a difference with our course. But, yeah, gosh, there's such a big clean-up around the place still. But amongst all of that rubbish that's lying around, all the debris, whether it's from houses or the trees and so on, the environment, people are just going about their daily lives.

00:20:59Scott Trickett: Has the council... given any indication about how long the cleanup's going to take, or is it too soon?

00:21:05Leanne Paul: No, they haven't contacted me, and I've not contacted them yet. Last week was really crazy. This week, it's only Monday. I thought I'll just go out there quietly and have a look around, knowing that I would see them out there. So I don't want to get in the way, and I don't want to be calling them and adding pressure to them. They've got enough on their plate to deal with. So I thought I'll just keep monitoring them daily and then probably about mid-week I'll give them a call and just just to see where things are at.

00:21:36Scott Trickett: So Leanne describe Bowen to us I've actually been there I spent a week there last year it's a quiet little town famous for their mangoes and what sort of town is it and what sort of parkrun have you got there?

00:21:49Leanne Paul: So Bowen is a beautiful place it's a coastal town It is quiet and we like it that way and I think a lot of tourists, holiday makers and a lot of grey, as we call them, grey nomads come here because it is so quiet. Bowen's not a party place. There's other places you can go for that sort of thing. We are known for the Bowen Mango. It's the best one around and this is the place for it. Close-knit community, tough people, a lot of farming industry here. There's a lot of fly-in, fly-out as well. Our parkrun community, I would describe it as more of a family-orientated parkrun. You have other parkruns where you have a lot of athletes or triathlon clubs that, you know, attend quite regularly, but for us, We've got a different group of people. They're just everyday heroes as far as I'm concerned. It's just mum, dad coming out with the kids. It's friends, it's mates coming out who want to be social and, you know, getting fit together as well. There's no competitiveness amongst people. There's no being, you know, show pony or anything like that. It's just coming out, having a good run or a good walk. having a chat, having a yarn with people who have the same interest as yourself. Yeah, so that's about it really. Very humble. I think very humble sort of parkrun. And we're only small. We've only got up to about 63 as being the maximum number and a lot of people come here for the fact that we are a small community. We are a small parkrun community and so you get to finish your with a great position rather than finishing 120th. You get to finish within the top 10. That's much easier. And we refer to each other as being part of the Bowen parkrun family. So when we're very supportive, we support each other. We've had a lot of people come out who've never ran or never got off the couch and just walked, but because we're supported by the local paper who put an article in every week, it gives people the indication that, It gives people the idea that we're very friendly, we're very open, we welcome people. No matter who you are, what experience or what history you have in terms of running or walking, you just come out and join and we have a good time together.

00:24:32Melissa Erbacher: You haven't been going for quite a year yet, Leanne. What is your parkrun story? What made you first hear of it and decide to bring it to Bowen?

00:24:42Leanne Paul: Yeah, it's a good question. I was living on Magnetic Island. and getting into my own, returning to my own running journey. Someone had mentioned at one of the race events that I had attended that there was a parkrun happening at Riverway. So I thought, well, I'll check this out, see what this parkrun bizzo is. Went over and absolutely loved it. At that time, we were just starting out ourselves, so we walk ran that particular course. And we ran a few times and then being back living on the island still, I was thinking this is something great that could be done in Bowen because it's such a beautiful place. There's beautiful parkland areas. There's a great walkway that goes through all the parkland areas overlooking all the major beaches. And I thought, why isn't it happening there? And we moved here and I thought, let's make this happen because at the time of moving here, Bonn was in a bit of a low, not much work going around for people. And I just felt like, well, what can I do for the community? I can't give people jobs. I can't create employment. I don't have a business or anything to do that. But I'm on my own journey that I've loved so far and people have supported me with my journey. And I thought, well, I'm going to support other people in some way. And I figured, well, why not running? Get people running, get people walking, and hence Bowen parkrun was was born i had made contact with tim a few times um and then i just thought let's do this we've got to do this now it's the perfect time to do it and to my surprise we had our launch massive number of people i was surprised to see how many people had come along and they're still with us and they're continuing to bring other new faces new people with um with them And it's growing and it's going really nicely. And it's just great to see people's spirits lift and spread that positivity throughout the community. And so we're getting new faces each week to join us. And like I said, it's been great to support other people with their journey, whether it's to weight loss or improve fitness or a bit of both or to get them started in terms of wanting to go off and do you know, racing events, parkrun is a starting point for them. If they can accomplish their initial goals at parkrun, it builds up their confidence where, hey, I can do this. Right, I'm going to go and join up for this 5K race in Townsville or down at Airlie Beach or maybe even Mackay. Hey, I'm going to go and do a 10K or a half marathon. There's people here who are just racing ahead. They've come a long way. And I'm feeling really privileged that I've been a part of that journey.

00:27:48Melissa Erbacher: Leanne, you've talked about the wonderful community that you've got there and that you've built at your parkrun. How have they reacted now? You know, your course has been a bit washed out. Will it be ready in some form for you to run on again this coming week or will it take quite a few weeks before it's at that stage?

00:28:12Leanne Paul: They've been pretty quiet. I've seen on Facebook there's been, that's the only reaction on Facebook really, and that is, you know, through the likes. I know that people are looking to me for some sort of feedback on what's going on with the course. But you know what, to be honest, everyone's really busy and focused on their own homes and businesses. parkrun will always be there. I say to them, parkrun will be here forever, no matter what's going on. So I think that's a comforting thing for them, knowing that whatever's going on in each of our own lives in terms of what's been the outcome from this cyclone, at least we know that we can go back to parkrun, whether it's this coming Saturday, the following or a month's time. It doesn't really matter. We know it's there and it'll be ready for us and it'll be ready at the right time for us. Not prepared to go back if the conditions of it aren't perfect. We've been through enough and I don't want to put the parkrunners through anything unnecessary that might be a safety concern just because we want to rush into it and get our parkrun going. It's got to be right.

00:29:24Scott Trickett: We wish you all the best and we wish you luck getting the course up. I think the whole parkrun Australia community is behind you folk up there in far north Queensland. Thanks for coming on the podcast and chatting to us this week.

00:29:37Leanne Paul: Thank you so much for the opportunity. I really appreciate that. And we know that the bigger parkrun family across Australia have us in their thoughts and we really appreciate that.

00:29:59Melissa Erbacher: We always love to have this next person on the podcast because they bring with them adventures and actual relevant information about running events that, you know, we don't know about. It's Robbo, of course. Robbo, welcome to the podcast.

00:30:16Dave Robbo: G'day, guys. Thanks for having us back. Great to be back on another edition of the parkrun Adventurers.

00:30:22Melissa Erbacher: Now, I'm excited about your adventures, but let's start off with chatting about all these national championship thingies that have been going on lately.

00:30:33Dave Robbo: Yeah. Yeah, look, Mel, it's been a massive, actually about eight days for the first time Athletics Australia has combined both the junior and senior national championships in the one week. Well, they needed more than a week and in the one location. So down in Sydney, didn't get the best weather, unfortunately, for the competition this But the senior track and field championships culminated on the weekend and we saw some pretty interesting finals and people crowned national champs, got the medals, and also a few athletes also that have locked in their place for the world championships in athletics, which are going to be held in London in early August later in the year. So well done to everyone that took part, I guess from a running perspective, perspective interesting to to take note of some of the races the longer races on the track the um i'm always interested to see how the the men's and women's 1500 meters and the 800 meters go and there's a few i'm not sure how many of them have participated in parkrun but there's certainly some parkrun sympathizers within the athlete ranks and a few of them that have talked up giving it a crack at some point but uh yeah you know a few olympians in there as well ryan gregson he was too good in the men's 1500 meters and Heidi See won the women's 1500 metres. And she actually won the women's 5,000 meter national title a few weeks earlier that was held in Canberra. So the unofficial, I guess, parkrun national champs. So she's, she's done a 1500 meter and a, and a, and a 5,000 meter double, which was exciting, but yeah, a great finish in the men's 800 meters as well. Luke Mathews taking on Josh, Ralph, and it was an absolute slogfest at the end, and they both had to dip for the line, and it was Luke Matthews that got the win in that one, and Laura Storey winning the women's 800m. So pretty exciting stuff, but probably the big news, and if people have been following traditional media and social media, Sally Pearson, she's been out of action for a little while and rebuilding after a pretty horrific injury she sustained in Europe a couple of years ago. where she damaged her calf and then she fell over and she broke her wrist. But she's back to almost her best form. And she ran a great time. She won the national title. And she's looking good heading over to London on the track where she won the gold medal in 2012 at the Olympics. So that's pretty exciting. And I think, yeah, the wave of excitement around athletics in Australia just continues on the back of all the week's competition down in Sydney.

00:33:12Scott Trickett: That's a pretty good comeback from Sally. Were there any surprises during the week? Did anybody pop their head up and say, look at me?

00:33:20Dave Robbo: Yeah, look, interestingly, I know I spoke to you guys last time off the back of the Nitro Athletics meets down in Melbourne when Usain Bolt was in town. There was a young kid that actually, he's from Perth, and he was recruited in the Usain Bolt team, the Bolt All-Stars. His name's Matthew Ramsden. Those that have been following the sport, it's probably not as much of a surprise, but you won't have probably heard of him outside of athletic circles. But he pushed Ryan Gregson all the way. He kept him honest, let's say that, in the men's 1500 metre final. And I think he might end up pushing to become more of a 5000 metre specialist, but he's a very tall, stringy lad and he looks the goods at the moment. So, I'm not sure if you'd class it a surprise, Scotty, but certainly one to watch for the future as well. And if we get him to a parkrun, he could do some damage around some of the parkrun courses over there in the west, I reckon.

00:34:20Scott Trickett: And just remind us, who won in Canberra a couple of weeks ago, the National parkrun Championships?

00:34:25Dave Robbo: Yes, mate. Yeah, so David McNeill from the Dave's Running Club. Great to have a Dave as the national champion in the 5,000 metres. So I've got a couple of times here too, if you're interested in... And I'm sure your listeners will be interested to compare their parkrun PBs to these times. So Dave McNeil won that championships in 1347. And then it was Heidi C who's more of a middle distance runner. So 1500 meters is more her go, but she won the national champs over 5,000 in a time of 1551. And if I could Scotty at this point worth mentioning, and I'm sure you you've probably mentioned it in previous shows, but, um, the fall of the national parkrun, the official parkrun records in recent months. And so Liam Adams with his 14.22, pipping Scotty Westcott, and then Sinead Diver. That was the Nitro parkrun weekend with a 16:14 down at Albert Melbourne. So maybe they should merge the two and just officially call it the parkrun national champs. But anyway, we know it's not a race, so that might cloud it up a little bit.

00:35:32Scott Trickett: Yeah. Can I put you on the spot? Cross-country, did you follow that?

00:35:36Dave Robbo: Look, this might be a bit of a segue into what we're about to talk about next. I was overseas myself, and I didn't follow it as closely as I would normally and as I would have liked. I was over in a place called Tahiti. The coverage over there wasn't quite as good, and the Wi-Fi at the hotel I was at wasn't as reliable as I would have liked. But I did have some close interest from a Newcastle runner, Bridie Delaney, and poor thing, she She did it tough. She started the race, but she was off the back of some pretty bad gastro and just being sick for a few days leading up to it. So she had a pretty rugged time Friday. She did finish and she was proud to wear the green and gold. But just a quick scan of the results, Scotty, I think the Aussies did well in both the junior and senior teams, but in particular, a fellow by the name of Patrick Tiernan Um, I think he wasn't quite top 10, but he was just outside, might've been 13th or 14th overall. And that probably doesn't make huge, uh, shockwaves around Australian sport, the Australian sporting landscape. But that's a, that's a significant result from a bloke that won the NCAA cross country title, um, uh, very recently as well. And he's booked his seat at the world champs in London in August and the hill in the 10,000 meters he'll run over there. So, um, Apart from that, mate, that was about the extent of it. I saw some pretty fast Kenyans doing very, very well. I think the fellow that won the previous World Cross Country Champs defended his title. But yeah, so it looked like they had a bit of fun over there in Uganda.

00:37:15Melissa Erbacher: So if Dave doesn't go to Tahiti for the Wi-Fi, why does he go?

00:37:21Dave Robbo: Look, it's a great question. Tahiti, it doesn't take much to... to generally to sell the place. You look at a few photos of some beaches and the beautiful blue water and it's very attractive straight away. And I managed to, I guess, land an opportunity to go over there and experience the country and experience a marathon that they have over there, which they hold each year. It's a fairly low-key affair, I've got to say, but it was the 29th running of what's called the Tahiti Moorea Marathon. held on the island of Maria, which is the next biggest island in, in the group of, of Tahiti and its islands. Um, only a, about a 40 minute ferry ride from the main island of Tahiti. And I was lucky enough to, um, yeah, through, through a local business here in Newcastle and a friend, um, Emma Williams, who has, yeah, this business called Tahiti mana and the, uh, Tahiti tourism board as well. Uh, we're able to organize to get me over there and, um, Yeah, mate, I had to do it pretty tough, checking out a few hotels and checking out the beaches over there and, yeah, trying the local food and a few of the local beers as well and then had to squeeze in the marathon and also spruik up a bit of parkrun while I was over there as well. Unfortunately, it might be a surprise to your listeners, there isn't a parkrun in Tahiti as yet, but its other name is French Polynesia and it's very much... I guess, aligned with the country of France, governed by France. And my thinking is that there's parkruns in France. I actually just had a look a moment ago. I think there's seven or eight parkruns in France now. It's booming. So it wouldn't be a huge leap to get one down there in French Polynesia as well. So I took a flag over there. We stuck it in the sand and hopefully had conversations with the locals, with the tourism board, and hopefully planted the seed for what we might see as being the first ever parkrun out there in the middle of the Pacific.

00:39:29Scott Trickett: Robbo, you ran a marathon. I've seen some photos. Somewhat disturbing. Did you run the entire marathon in your Speedos?

00:39:38Dave Robbo: That's correct, mate. Yeah, I studied the climate before going over there. This isn't a normal thing for me to run around in public in a pair of...

00:39:48Melissa Erbacher: They're budgie smugglers. Scotty got it wrong.

00:39:52Dave Robbo: In Melbourne we call them Speedos. You've got the gist of it, and yeah, I do apologise. I didn't mean to cause any offence, and apologies if you've been scarred, Scotty, but I did my homework. I did the homework on the climatic conditions, and I saw it was likely to be very hot and pretty humid and steamy on race day, and look, the organisers do their best to accommodate the The runner's comfort, it started at 5.30am and probably it was 26 degrees at that time. But yeah, already the humidity is pretty high. And so I just thought, look, any running clothes that I wear are just going to be completely wet within about the first kilometre or two. So I tried to minimise that and I guess take a bit of an approach a la the naked runners. So I did have my naked runners headband on. I did have shoes and socks on for the first 36 kilometres. And then, yeah, the green and gold budgie smugglers and the race bib and actually a few gels tucked away in another little belt that I had too. And that was more than enough. And the funny side of it, actually, I got asked by an official who was probably a little bit naughty of me. I didn't read this in the rules, but apparently there is a ruling where you need to wear a shirt, and I hadn't read that, and I was asked... fairly assertively by an official if I could please put my shirt on I said look sorry I don't have one and I scrambled across to some friends that I'd met to see if they had a spare shirt or something I could cover myself up with for a minute to keep this guy sweet but I wasn't able to find anything anyway I sort of huddled there with a minute to go sort of crouched down in the start chute and tried not to get seen and I didn't hear anything else about it so apologies to any of the people of Tahiti but that may have been offended. But yeah, to me, it was a very practical approach. And I was absolutely sweating the house down. It's a beautiful run, I've got to say. It's relatively flat. You're running right along the side of the beautiful water over there. On Maria, they have these fantastic and very stark mountain ranges as well, just in off the coast. So you're running around these beautiful bays and the amazing culture that you experience as well. The people will come out, they cheer you on, they're the most fantastic and elaborate aid stations with local fresh fruit, pineapple and mangoes and the sponges and the drinks and so it was fantastic. I can't say enough good things about the aid stations but certainly it was pretty sticky and I was happy with my approach with the race attire so even though Yeah, sorry, Scotty. As I said, you may have been a little scarred by it.

00:42:46Scott Trickett: No need to apologise. You've got to do what you've got to do. I've heard of tops off and you've gone pants off. You've just combined the two. It's great.

00:42:55Dave Robbo: And I like how the official, he didn't have a problem with me not wearing any pants. It was the shirt he was worried about. So that's kind of disturbing as well. But look, I just think relax the rule a little bit. Adapt it for local conditions. The the Polynesian fellow who's the, the makes up the logo of the event is basically wearing, you know, what I was wearing. Um, he just has longer hair and a few more tattoos on his leg. So I was trying to emulate him. And then the other thing was too, I mean, I did have a shirt. It was just waiting for me at the finish line when I crossed. So, um, it just took four hours to get it. So yeah, all up, I ended up the day, um, with clothes on with a shirt on and, um, and everyone was sweet. So yeah, great experience. And if you're, If you get a chance, next year will be the 30th edition of the marathon over there. You don't need many excuses to get over there, but that certainly would be a great way to experience a beautiful part of the world and tick off a run in the meantime. They have a half marathon as well. And I should mention, and a quick shout-out as well, for Lindy, the event director for Gundawindi parkrun. Lindy from Gundawindi. She ran the half marathon with her friend Karen Napier They were over there as well. And so she helped us put the flag in the beach a couple of days after the marathon. So, yeah, it's good to have a bit of an Aussie flavor and also a bit of a parkrun flavor over there as well. And hopefully there's a chance for some parkrun adventures in Tahiti in months and years to come.

00:44:30Melissa Erbacher: What kind of numbers do they get for the marathon over there, Robbo?

00:44:34Dave Robbo: Yeah, Mel, they're not huge. So I was race bib 96. I entered pretty late. So I don't think they quite got 100 runners in the marathon. The half marathon had about 300 runners. And then they also have a 5K, which is also held as a version of the color run as well. And I think they had another few hundred people take part in that. So yeah, in terms of international marathons, you know, it's not the big, big numbers, but it's, you know, it, it still has lots of character and, um, and still has plenty to offer. And it's, it's, so in a way it's, it's so relaxed. They're not actually needing to close any roads. You're running on the side of the road and there's, um, there's people on motorbikes and cars to keep you secure and keep you safe. But, uh, there's just one road that goes around the entire Island and it's all pretty straightforward, the logistic side of things. So, But as I say, yeah, you know, I think the numbers and those numbers were up a fair bit from previous years also. So it's got plenty of room to grow, it would seem.

00:45:42Melissa Erbacher: Sounds like my kind of event. I like to pick the events where I could possibly get a top 100 finish.

00:45:48Dave Robbo: Yeah, well, you would have been guaranteed. As long as you didn't get disqualified for not wearing a shirt, you would have been fine.

00:45:56Melissa Erbacher: And I imagine for the Color Run version of the 5K as well, that it sticks much better if you're sweaty in that kind of humidity.

00:46:03Dave Robbo: I got to see it up close. Yeah, they were finishing soon after I finished. My marathon on the beach, which is a fantastic, it's a big part of the, a feature of the event too, you're finishing on what's called Temae Beach, looking back across to Tahiti, and the last probably couple hundred metres is on, it's not super soft sand, but you're running on the sand, and a great experience, but yeah, the colour runners were all coming through, and I think you're right, it really does help the colour stick to the skin when you're a little bit sweaty anyway.

00:46:35Scott Trickett: Okay Robbo, you've made us all very jealous. we might have to have the parkrun Adventurers Contiki Tour visit Tahiti next year, and you'll have to be our travel advisor. So you might have to go back. Is that okay?

00:46:48Dave Robbo: Perfect. I'll be happily. Well, that was the proviso, and I should mention, and a big thanks to my wife. She's having her birthday tomorrow. My wife, Gabby, and our two girls, who are five and two. I didn't bring them this time. It was a tough move. I went over there. It was my birthday, the first part of the trip. So it was a birthday present for me this time. But the proviso was that I'd take them all with me next year. So I'd love to take not only them but as many of the listeners listening at the moment and certainly both of you over there next year and hopefully we can take our barcodes too and get them scanned. It'd be fantastic. Yeah, that'd be good.

00:47:28Melissa Erbacher: We just won't put you in charge of being the fashion.

00:47:31Dave Robbo: police no i've been in touch with budgie smuggler they've customized uh apparel running wear for next year's 30th edition so it includes a shirt uh yeah yeah we're actually gonna just get um some of the local tattoo artists and it won't be permanent tattoos but they'll just draw a shirt on

00:47:55Scott Trickett: week so it'll um it'll look like you're wearing a shirt but you don't have the warmth of the shirt so that might be the way around that it all sounds like fun thanks again robo for coming on telling us all pleasure guys happy happy parkrunning we'll see you soon now do you all remember Lyndell from last week she wanted to do a pop-up parkrun in new plymouth new zealand

Roving Adventurers (roving reporter crossovers)

00:48:25Lyndell Murray: let's find out how that went mel and scotty it's roving reporter Lyndell here in New Plymouth in new zealand and it's just before 7 30 i'm standing here underneath the wind wand or as the locals like to call it the wand wand and i'm on the lookout for some fellow runners now on my run down here from the hotel I did spot one runner but she was a bit fast for me she just ran past me so I didn't get a chance to quiz her about parkrun and why New Plymouth doesn't have one but anyway let's see how we go I'm standing here under the wind wand I've got my parkrun shirt on I don't know we'll see I'll see if I can find some fellow runners guys All right, so I've found local walker Peter. How are you going this morning, Peter? Good, thank you. Good. And you walk along the coastal walkway sometimes in New Plymouth?

00:49:23Peter: Yeah, yes, we do, yes.

00:49:26Lyndell Murray: Do you ever see any runners?

00:49:27Peter: Yes. Yeah, there's a few runners here too, yes.

00:49:31Lyndell Murray: Have you ever heard of parkrun?

00:49:32Peter: No, I'm sorry, I haven't.

00:49:36Lyndell Murray: All right, well, I'll keep looking. Thanks. Okay. Okay, here's a runner coming now. Excuse me. Excuse me. Are you a local here? Oh, she's just run past me. I don't know. I don't know what's going on here, Scotty and Mel. All right, well, I'm going to start my run and see if I find anyone as I go. There's a runner coming towards me now. I'm just going to see if I can grab her. Hey, excuse me. Excuse me. Do you have just time for a quick chat? Oh, why? Do you live here in New Plymouth? No.

00:50:09Unidentified speaker: No, you don't? No, visitor, no. Oh, hey, have you ever heard of parkrun? Yep, we've got one in Whangarei.

00:50:16Lyndell Murray: Oh, yes, so I found a parkrunner. I'm doing a pop-up parkrun and nobody joined me. I'm feeling a bit lonely, so.

00:50:22Unidentified speaker: Yeah, no, there's a 5K one around the Town Basin loop.

00:50:27Lyndell Murray: Okay, and how far away is that from New Plymouth?

00:50:30Melissa Erbacher: Seven hours drive.

00:50:33Lyndell Murray: Well, that's why I'm not there. Thanks for your time and enjoy your run. Okay, so what's your name?

00:50:42Tom: Tom.

00:50:43Lyndell Murray: And Tom, are you a local here from New Plymouth?

00:50:44Tom: No, I'm not.

00:50:46Lyndell Murray: Are you as disappointed as I am that there's no parkrun here?

00:50:49Tom: You can go up to Pukekura Park and run around there.

00:50:53Lyndell Murray: Is that a parkrun, like this parkrun on my shirt here?

00:50:55Tom: I'm not really sure. I haven't heard a parkrun before.

00:50:57Lyndell Murray: Hey, where are you from?

00:51:00Tom: Christchurch. And there's no parkrun there? Yeah, there's heaps of parkruns in Christchurch.

00:51:04Lyndell Murray: Like this parkrun?

00:51:05Tom: Oh, I don't know. I've never heard of parkruns, so I don't... All right.

00:51:10Lyndell Murray: Well, thanks, Tom. Thanks for talking to me. Enjoy the rest of your run, mate. OK, I've found a walker. I'm just going to see if she'll have a quick chat with me. Hey, excuse me. Hi. What's your name? Dawn. Dawn, do you have time for a quick chat with me on my podcast? Yes. Look, do you know you're a local here in New Plymouth?

00:51:29Unidentified speaker: Yes.

00:51:30Lyndell Murray: And do you walk along the coastal walkway pretty frequently?

00:51:33Unidentified speaker: Yes.

00:51:34Lyndell Murray: Do you ever see any runners?

00:51:37Unidentified speaker: Sometimes.

00:51:39Lyndell Murray: Oh, okay. I haven't seen very many. So I'm over here for the triathlon from Australia. Yeah, yeah. Not to do the triathlon. I'm not that good. But I was really surprised that there's no parkrun here. Do you know about parkrun?

00:51:53Unidentified speaker: No, I don't.

00:51:54Lyndell Murray: Okay. And you don't see any runners along here very often?

00:51:58Unidentified speaker: No, not very often.

00:52:01Lyndell Murray: Well, that's very strange. I don't know whether I'm going to solve the mystery of why New Plymouth doesn't have a parkrun, but I'm going to keep trying. Thanks very much, Dawn.

00:52:10Unidentified speaker: You're welcome.

00:52:11Lyndell Murray: All right, so that's it. I've done my somewhat ill-fated pop-up parkrun in New Plymouth. I did it all by myself. And I didn't get to the bottom of what's happening with parkrun in New Zealand. It seems like they're a little bit confused about parkrun and just running in a park. Anyway, that's okay. It was still an adventure. I'm happy I did it. New Plymouth is a beautiful place to run. And look, that's about it for me this time, guys. Well, my goodness, Lyndell, that was a colossal effort.

00:52:49Melissa Erbacher: What do you think, Scotty?

00:52:50[crosstalk]

00:52:50Scott Trickett: Yeah, I think she was fantastic. I liked how she persevered and despite no one actually...

00:52:57Melissa Erbacher: In the face of people not having any clue.

00:53:01Scott Trickett: Well, there was the one guy who said, I've never heard of parkrun. I've never heard of it, but yeah, I've heard of parkrun.

00:53:07Melissa Erbacher: But yeah, there's a parkrun there. You can run around that park.

00:53:10Scott Trickett: Yeah, he was completely confused. But good on you, Lyndell. That was fantastic. I think she's made a strong case to be the second member of our Channel 4 news crew that I want to rename the Channel 5 news crew because we're just that one better than the other one.

Channel 4 News Crew — Lyndell Murray

00:53:29Melissa Erbacher: So from here on in, we shall be known as the Channel 5 news crew. Yes. She did a great job, I think, yes. I don't think she needs to earn any more stars. I think that got her over the line. Love your work, Lyndell. I can't wait to hear. I think she's probably going to start a trend, actually, with people going, travelling and having adventures, trying to do pop-up parkruns and then just asking random people if they've heard of parkrun when nobody else shows up.

00:54:00Scott Trickett: Yeah, no, that's good. More of it.

00:54:02Melissa Erbacher: It works. I am impressed by how many people actually wanted to speak to her. Or will it just like, they've come across this random person at the early time on a Saturday morning, and sure, I'll just talk to you into your phone. I've got no idea what's going on, but yeah, why not? I think that says a lot about the Kiwi people.

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

00:54:22Scott Trickett: After a few weeks of us bemoaning there's no launches, we finally have a launch. George Town in Tasmania.

00:54:30Melissa Erbacher: Yay, Georgetown!

00:54:32Scott Trickett: Yay, Tasmania. We're taking the total of Tasmania events to four.

00:54:36Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, increasing the parkruns exponentially. Those guys, I'm telling you, they are my hot tip for just becoming massive this year.

00:54:48Scott Trickett: Who's that? Georgetown or Tasmania?

00:54:50Melissa Erbacher: Tasmania. That's the state to watch. And they're starting with Georgetown.

00:54:54Scott Trickett: And anniversaries-wise, unfortunately, Lismore missed out last week, and they're going to miss out again if cancelled for one more week. But Main Beach, who also had to cancel last week, they are going to celebrate their anniversary this week. And Fingal Bay are celebrating their fourth.

00:55:13Melissa Erbacher: And Warragul in Victoria are celebrating their second.

Strava Club update

00:55:17Scott Trickett: Now, on Strava, we asked the question... For your dream parkrun location. Where do we need a new parkrun? No one has commented Tasmania yet, Mel. That's because people are selfish. Well, hopefully our listeners aren't. But thanks for the feedback so far. Lots of Victorians representing. That's great.

00:55:43Melissa Erbacher: We're going to share some of the feedback? We should share some of the feedback.

00:55:46Scott Trickett: Yeah, our mate TOC, he wants to see one on the surf coast in Victoria, which I'd agree with as well, TOC. We've got this great surf coast, you might have heard of it, the Great Ocean Road down here. Very popular tourist attraction.

00:56:01Melissa Erbacher: That would be very windy.

00:56:03Scott Trickett: No parkruns. It's crazy. Victoria's exploded. We've got parkruns everywhere, except for in the biggest tourist spot in the state.

00:56:12Melissa Erbacher: Okay. I was more impressed with Melissa Ellis' suggestion, Bonny Doon parkrun. How awesome, running over the lake. Is it Eildon or Eildon?

00:56:26Scott Trickett: No, it's Eildon.

00:56:26Melissa Erbacher: On that rail bridge. Eildon? Eildon. Okay, cool. But basically, we just need to have a Bonny Doon parkrun so everyone who ever goes there can sing on the way in the car, we're going to Bonny Doon. That's what it's all about.

00:56:42Scott Trickett: Yeah.

00:56:43Melissa Erbacher: These are the kind of adventures we need to have.

00:56:46Scott Trickett: It would have to be serene as well.

00:56:50Melissa Erbacher: It would.

00:56:51Scott Trickett: And we also had a nomination for the Flinders Ranges because we don't have a parkrun there. Now, that's in South Australia, if I'm not mistaken, I think.

00:57:04Melissa Erbacher: Are you looking to me for verification because you're asking the wrong co-host?

00:57:09Scott Trickett: Yes. No, I think it's in South Australia.

00:57:12Melissa Erbacher: Well, Flinders, there's lots of Flinders stuff down there.

00:57:15Scott Trickett: Yeah.

00:57:16Melissa Erbacher: But I'm pretty sure Flinders was, yeah, no, don't even get me started. I'm just going to put my foot in my mouth and make an embarrassment of myself.

00:57:25Scott Trickett: And we had Robbo talking about Tahiti. That's a nice one. And we've also got Ross going international. He wants to see one in Central Park in New York. That ain't ever going to happen, Ross.

00:57:37Melissa Erbacher: But didn't he say that Tiergarten in Berlin would be a good one as well?

00:57:41Scott Trickett: Yeah, that might happen. Central Park, never going to happen.

00:57:46Melissa Erbacher: You're such a naysayer sometimes, Scotty. You don't know. We could wear them down.

00:57:51Scott Trickett: Yeah, maybe. Maybe. Maybe not.

00:57:54Melissa Erbacher: It could happen. We just need to stay positive.

00:57:57Scott Trickett: So let's get a few more comments on there. Let's find out some more parkrun locations. But to coincide with this. Yes. Medibank, our partners at Medibank are hosting an awesome competition where they're going to fly. They're going to fly you to your parkrun destination of your choice to be a real adventurer.

00:58:19Lyndell Murray: On them.

00:58:21Scott Trickett: Now it has to be an existing parkrun. You can't just. You know, you can't say Central Park.

00:58:26Melissa Erbacher: And do a pop-up parkrun in New York.

00:58:28Scott Trickett: No.

00:58:28Melissa Erbacher: Also, I need to clarify, is this going to be internationally or is it, excuse me, just going to be in Australia?

00:58:36Scott Trickett: Just in Australia. Which is still pretty good. In fact, it's better than pretty good. It's awesome.

00:58:42Melissa Erbacher: Any event. Where would you go if you could do any event in Australia, Scotty? Any existing event?

00:58:48Scott Trickett: Well, see, I immediately thought Hamilton Island would jump out.

00:58:52Melissa Erbacher: For you? Yeah. You've already been there.

00:58:54Scott Trickett: I've already been there.

00:58:54Melissa Erbacher: I'm asking you.

00:58:55Scott Trickett: I know, I've been there a couple of times. But I reckon Weipa, just because of where it is. I like the idea. And how difficult it is to get there.

00:59:06Melissa Erbacher: You may as well get somebody else to pay knocking that one off.

00:59:08Scott Trickett: Exactly. I'd like to visit Darwin and Kalgoorlie.

00:59:14Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, Kalgoorlie Boulder would definitely be up there for me.

00:59:17Scott Trickett: Yeah, these places that are... Well, Darwin's not hard to get to, but I don't know. Kalgoorlie just seems really hard to get to. Weeper, I know, is really hard to get to. Yeah, yours?

00:59:29Melissa Erbacher: I haven't thought about it. You knew about this competition. I did not. Come on, you're an adventurer.

00:59:38Scott Trickett: You should always be thinking about this.

00:59:40Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, but I'm also one of those people who has, like, a top ten list. You can't just ask me to give you the number one, boom, because that's a little bit too like playing favorites. But I mean, okay, no, I do know I would get them to send me to WA so I could become a navigator and I would go to Geographe Bay. That is where I would go.

01:00:06Scott Trickett: The beaches is my number one, but I'm going to get there. So I don't need Medibank to help me get there. G-Graph Bray is another good nomination.

01:00:17Melissa Erbacher: See, it's kind of like the borderline with that whole Nendi thing. When something feels a little bit closer and more attainable, then even if you might want to do that more than something else, you would still do something else that seemed less likely to ever happen. But what a great competition. I reckon that's going to start some really interesting conversations, possibly in the parkrun Tourism AU group as well.

01:00:42Scott Trickett: Yeah. Our numbers have nearly hit 2,000 in that group.

01:00:46Melissa Erbacher: Not too shabby. It's a big group.

01:00:48Scott Trickett: Yep.

01:00:49Melissa Erbacher: It is.

01:00:49Scott Trickett: Now, if we can convert some of those people in the group to be listeners, and if we can convert some of those listeners to be iTunes reviewers, we'd have a few more.

01:01:00Melissa Erbacher: Then we might get some more reviews. Yes.

01:01:02Scott Trickett: Like this one from Jalavra. Jalavra, Scotty and Mel are entertaining and informative, correct? And I love the general banter.

01:01:11[crosstalk]

01:01:11Unidentified speaker: Five stars.

01:01:14Melissa Erbacher: Did you mention already that, yes, five stars. You have to mention the amount of stars. Because I believe it is not possible to get more than five, is it?

01:01:22Scott Trickett: No, and if you're in a part-run Adventurers podcast, it doesn't seem like it's possible to get anything but five stars.

01:01:30Melissa Erbacher: You are just going to put the mockers on it now. Somebody who listens and thinks they're a smartass is going to go onto iTunes and just give us a four just because they want to prove you wrong.

01:01:45Scott Trickett: Maybe. There's also this one. Love the midweek fix from my favourite parkrun adventurers. Especially love the banter. Five stars. Mm-hmm. Should I continue?

01:01:58Melissa Erbacher: It's always nice to get some, yeah, well, look, this is all good for me. This is all very complimentary so far.

01:02:05Scott Trickett: Shez80 said, look forward to this podcast every week. Entertaining, interesting, and learn something new about parkrun every time I listen. Love the interviews and the random banter is fun too. Great work, Mel and Scott. The banter, people love the banter.

01:02:21Melissa Erbacher: Well.

01:02:22Scott Trickett: So if you hate the banter, get on iTunes, give us a review.

01:02:30Melissa Erbacher: You just love to throw the gauntlets out there, don't you? Can't be satisfied with just the handful of people that like us enough to give us a good review. You've got to goad the other ones out.

01:02:44Scott Trickett: Yes, and they're out there. Come at us.

01:02:49Melissa Erbacher: I think that's all we have time for this week, Scotty. It is.

01:02:53Scott Trickett: Looking forward to next week, Mel.

01:02:55Melissa Erbacher: Oh, I need to survive this week first. But yes, there should be some adventures to have a chat about next week. They may be DNF adventures or some last-minute volunteering adventures, but we'll see.

01:03:10Scott Trickett: G'day. I literally will see you next week.

01:03:14Melissa Erbacher: You will. Have fun in the meantime.