Episode 77

Episode details · 207 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:09Scott Trickett: It's time again for the parkrun Adventurers. And joining me, as always, is Mel Erbacher on the Sunshine Coast.

00:00:17Melissa Erbacher: Just for something different. Hey Scotty, how you doing?

00:00:20Scott Trickett: Well, there was that one week.

00:00:22Melissa Erbacher: There was that one week, yes.

00:00:24Monique Brennan: Who was that?

00:00:25Melissa Erbacher: Do you remember?

00:00:27Scott Trickett: Renee. Renee. She won't leave me alone, you know, every time. Can I come back on? Can I come back on?

00:00:34Melissa Erbacher: Well, she did do a very good job. She did. Maybe I need to have a holiday again. Only last time wasn't quite a holiday.

00:00:42Scott Trickett: Anything planned?

00:00:45Melissa Erbacher: No, nothing in particular planned.

00:00:47Scott Trickett: Actually, that's not true.

00:00:49Melissa Erbacher: No, no holidays from the podcast planned is what I'm talking about.

00:00:53Scott Trickett: Oh, okay. Got you there. Busy time. Lots happening in the parkrun world. Very exciting news that we're going to get even more parkruns coming.

00:01:06Melissa Erbacher: It is exciting news.

00:01:08Scott Trickett: Do you want me to share with you and the rest of our listeners what's happening?

00:01:11Melissa Erbacher: Please do.

00:01:13Scott Trickett: This may sound a little bit corporate, but hear me out and listen to why I'm excited about this. Our major partner at parkrun, Medibank, you've heard of them?

00:01:22Melissa Erbacher: I have.

00:01:24Scott Trickett: As far as major partners go, they're pretty good. They're pretty good to work with. And they've recently, well, recently as in this week, announced a new program called Free and Active. Now, why this is important for parkrun... is because part of Free and Active is that they're going to help us launch 40 new events.

00:01:43Melissa Erbacher: Are you serious? 40?

00:01:45Scott Trickett: 4-0? I'm serious. 40 new events. 40 new parkruns that wouldn't happen without the help of Medibank.

00:01:54Melissa Erbacher: That is amazing.

00:01:55Scott Trickett: Yeah. And it's all going to kick off this Saturday. We're launching down here in Melbourne at Brimbank Park. Going crazy. Big launch. Not really parkrun's style to go massive on launches like this, but I think this is something worth celebrating.

00:02:09Melissa Erbacher: And so we are. As the flagship for free and active. Yeah. Okay. So what's going to be so special about Brimbank then? What are they doing down there that's different?

00:02:19Scott Trickett: So we're going to have TV. We're going to have some sunrise. They're going to be crossing throughout the day. So that's going to be exciting. parkrun's going to be on your TVs. But hopefully... Here's the little twist. All the parkrunners are going to be at parkrun. So we're actually going to be the people watching parkrun on TV are the people that aren't at parkrun. So they're going to go the next week.

00:02:42Melissa Erbacher: Ah, okay. Yep, I got you.

00:02:44Scott Trickett: Got me? Following along?

00:02:45Melissa Erbacher: Yes, I do. So it's going to be live on Saturday morning?

00:02:49Scott Trickett: Yeah.

00:02:49Melissa Erbacher: Wow.

00:02:50Scott Trickett: So get on down. If you want to be on TV, now's your chance.

00:02:54Melissa Erbacher: So people can jump around in the background. Yeah. Nice. I hope we give some people some fair warning so they can make some little signs.

00:03:04Scott Trickett: Yeah. Well, this is it. This is the warning.

00:03:05Melissa Erbacher: This is the warning. Okay, guys. You've got a couple of days.

00:03:07Scott Trickett: It's a shame if you listened after Saturday's podcast and it serves you right, really.

00:03:12Melissa Erbacher: Yes. You need to get on to this.

00:03:14Scott Trickett: So that's happening. We had a conference, more shop talk. We had a parkrun Australia, the first ever parkrun conference here on the Gold Coast that you attended. So we spent the weekend together. Yep. Which was awesome.

00:03:29Melissa Erbacher: Absolutely. You were giving out information and I was consuming it.

00:03:32Scott Trickett: Yes. Did you have a good time?

00:03:35Melissa Erbacher: I did have a good time. I think it was possibly a slightly different conference experience than I may have had a year ago as I took my little 10-week-old along with me and babysitter his grandma in tow. There was lots of little trips in between sessions to make sure that he was well fed and things like that. But yeah, no, it was a good weekend. Really good. I look forward to participating in future ones.

00:04:04Scott Trickett: Good to hear. Yeah, so lots of information was distilled to our key volunteers and some exciting things happening. There's that word again. Exciting. Did you enjoy Varsity Lakes parkrun? We've got Renee, the event director, coming up shortly to tell us more about it. But how was your experience? Because you didn't run, which I was very happy about.

00:04:23Melissa Erbacher: I volunteered, which gave somebody an opportunity to sneak ahead of me on the most events list just this one time. But it was a good morning. I had to explain. It was funny because obviously every event has a slightly different list of volunteers that they require to operate each week. And so I did a role called Finish Token Support, which doesn't happen at all parkruns. And so I had the pleasure of explaining to some other territory directors exactly what is involved in that role because they don't have it at their home parkruns and things like that. So that was interesting.

00:05:03Scott Trickett: So, because I'm not familiar with how you did Finnish Token Support. We use the Finnish Token Support as, it's usually a role that children, the juniors will take up.

00:05:15Melissa Erbacher: Yep. Well, traditionally, or I should say historically, that's how it started for us at Kawana. But it sort of has evolved into just, you know, It's always good to have somebody there around and if an adult's willing to do it, we're happy for them to do it. But there are a couple of ways that you can actually do the role. So everybody would be aware that token support people do hand out the tokens in order. So the way we have finished token support is somebody who ensures that the token support finish token person has all the tokens when they need them but also if you've got these fast runners who just bolt through the finish line and don't take their token and then they run another 20 or 30 meters to prevent that original token person from losing sight of you know another possible five or ten runners all coming through the finish line and what order they were in the token support person chases that person down and gives them the token and that way the original finished token person can concentrate on their role.

00:06:25Scott Trickett: They're so annoying, those people. Bloody nuff-nuffs. Did you have any of them on Saturday?

00:06:31Melissa Erbacher: Well, it's amazing how many people you actually see. I do recall chasing you down, Scotty, because you didn't take a token. I mean, how many parkruns have you done? And you weren't looking for the finished token person holding out their arm with a token, you know? Where did you think the token was going to get given to you?

00:06:49Scott Trickett: I'm not sure. I think you hit it on the head earlier that I think I was just running too fast.

00:06:54Melissa Erbacher: You were, but you were a man on a mission, I understand.

00:06:59Scott Trickett: My segue.

00:07:00Melissa Erbacher: Your segue, yes. Breaking your PB again. You're on fire.

00:07:04Scott Trickett: Look, I think I'm running all right, but yeah, I've got another parkrun PB, and this is an all-time parkrun PB at Varsity Lakes. But where I want to take this conversation is the art of pacing and how not to pace and

00:07:18Melissa Erbacher: Because you sort of had some help to get you a PB, sort of?

00:07:23Scott Trickett: I thought I did when I started. Yeah, let's put it that way.

00:07:27Melissa Erbacher: Please explain.

00:07:29Scott Trickett: Good mate of mine said, well, I actually approached him. I said, this looks pretty flat. Why don't we have a crack? I want to have a crack at going sub-21. And he was all over it. And he was joined by another colleague who was attending the conference. And so I kind of had two paces.

00:07:47Melissa Erbacher: Okay.

00:07:48Scott Trickett: Everything was going well. I thought I was just hanging off them. Oh, the other thing is that I forgot my watch, which was a stroke of genius. So I had no idea what pace we were going.

00:07:57Melissa Erbacher: Okay.

00:07:58Scott Trickett: But I thought I'd just stick to these two gentlemen and we'd be fine. Anyway, about three and a half K in, I was losing touch. And I kind of thought, oh, this is a bit too hard. Let's just enjoy the rest of the run. So I switched off. As my two paces sailed off into the distance thinking, I've missed 21, let's just finish and enjoy the morning. Cross the finish line and sure enough, 21.05. Didn't break 21, but 21.05. And I thought my pacer was joking.

00:08:29Melissa Erbacher: What do you mean, joking?

00:08:31Scott Trickett: Well, I thought he was joking that that was the time because he went up and asked the timekeeper what time I crossed in and it was 21.05.

00:08:39Melissa Erbacher: Oh, okay.

00:08:41Scott Trickett: I thought, well, he's a joker, this bloke. And I thought he just wanted to continue the joke. But then I asked a couple of people behind me who came in at 21.20 and 21.30 and it all started to make sense. And I was even more annoyed in the moment.

00:09:00Melissa Erbacher: Because you just, you know, slacked off?

00:09:02Scott Trickett: Yeah, because I'd completely switched off. Well, not completely, but I wasn't pushing hard for my PB in the last kilometre at least.

00:09:08Melissa Erbacher: This is the important thing. How much did you beat your PB by?

00:09:13Scott Trickett: One second.

00:09:14Melissa Erbacher: See, now that's perfect. It's lucky that you slackened off because now you've got more PB potential.

00:09:22Scott Trickett: And I know I can be done. Easy.

00:09:24Melissa Erbacher: But explain to me the how not to pace thing, because it sounds like these guys did a pretty good job of getting you where you needed to go.

00:09:30Scott Trickett: Well, they did, but I understand the art of pacing is that you sort of stick with the person at the pace you're going. But they decided at about three and a half K that let's go for it. So we were actually running sub four minute Ks. or four-minute Ks for the first couple. That's why I was so far ahead. And then they said, oh, let's go for it. So both of these two did sub-20 runs, and they forgot about me.

00:09:54Melissa Erbacher: So they, oh, okay. That's a bit not cool. You agree. Well, if you establish before a run that you're going to pace with someone and help them achieve a goal and then you just leave them for dead on the parkrun course.

00:10:10Scott Trickett: No, we won't. Should we name names? I can't be too mad at them because I did. They did pace me to a PB. So they did exactly what I wanted them to do, sort of.

00:10:24Melissa Erbacher: Well, no, you wanted to get sub 21. So there's five whole seconds there that you can blame them for.

00:10:30Scott Trickett: But things look good for future weeks.

00:10:33Melissa Erbacher: Well, I hope you're not going to injure yourself going so fast all the time. Are you going to be one of those runners now that goes fast every week?

00:10:40Scott Trickett: No, definitely not. Maybe once a month.

00:10:42Melissa Erbacher: Okay.

00:10:44Scott Trickett: That's a sensible approach. The World Championships wrapped up over the weekend. We said we'd have Robbo back to tell us what happened, and we did. Welcome back to the podcast, Robbo.

World Athletics Championships wrap-up (Robbo)

00:11:01Dave Robbo: Hey, Scotty, Mel, and all the listeners. Great to be back.

00:11:05Scott Trickett: I said we'd do a quick wrap-up last week, but I don't think we can do that because a lot's happened since we've last spoken to you. It was a massive weekend of athletics. Should we start at the obvious point with Sally Pearson?

00:11:20Dave Robbo: Yes. We should. It's made headlines, newspaper front pages, TV news. It's been the massive talking point. And yeah, Sally Pearson, she's come back from an injury which almost ended her career. She's overcome huge amounts of physical and mental adversity. And seriously, it was shaping up to be one of the all-time greatest sporting comebacks, not only in Australian sporting history, but world sport. And she's pulled it off. So... I can't remember if we penciled her in for gold last week or not on the podcast, but she certainly looked great. She came out in her heat. She won that, won her semifinal. She was the fastest qualifier into the final. And then when the final came, there was a girl on the inside of her who had a quicker time, the current world record holder, Kendra Harrison, but she was only good enough for fourth in the end. And Sally Pearson... It wasn't as convincing, maybe not as easy a win for her as the semi and the heat win, but she got her nose in front and I think that you could read her lips as she came through the line. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my bleep God was how it went. And, yeah, just to see her afterwards. The only thing was she was looking for someone to give a big hug to, but she wasn't able to get close to the crowd. So I felt for her not being able to – not having someone – Hug her. I think she hugged the lady that came third in the end. But yeah, fantastic achievement for Sally. And yeah, great to see Australia got on the board in terms of the medals at those champs. But she's back to her best. And, you know, she's not ruling out getting to another Olympic Games up in Tokyo. And definitely she'll be fired up now for her home Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast next year. Look, great comeback.

00:13:09Scott Trickett: But on the point, why is she always so surprised?

00:13:13Dave Robbo: Isn't it funny? She's been in that position before.

00:13:16Scott Trickett: She's won.

00:13:16Dave Robbo: Yeah, yeah. You can be the best in the world. She's won at a world championships before in 2011. She's won a gold medal in the Olympic Games in 2012. She's won everything you can win, basically. You could forgive her for being a little bit cocky, I guess. But yeah, she said even afterwards in the early rounds and in the final, she still had these doubts in her head. What if I fail? What if I don't do it? What if I'm not good enough? So even at that level, she still had these little negative voices in her head which she had to try and just, you know, shut down and go out and do what she... was able to do. And she knew she could do it. And yeah, she just had to convince herself by doing it. But the other interesting part of her story, Scotty, with her comeback is that she's decided in recent times to coach herself. So she's done away with having a coach, which is pretty unusual in that sport. And she obviously feels like she knows her body and knows what she needs to do. And she's backed herself. And yeah, she's only 30 years old. So plenty of time to add a few more medals to her ever-growing collection, I reckon. So, yeah, great story.

00:14:26Melissa Erbacher: If she had a coach, would that person have been allowed in somewhere within huggable distance?

00:14:32Dave Robbo: Possibly. I'm not sure. It's interesting to see the track there. I've not been to the Queen Elizabeth track there in East London, but it looks like it's a bit of a barrier between the crowd and the actual track, so it's almost like a moat. that goes the whole way around the track. So I'm not sure that the coaches could even get access to the athletes, unless they run over straight after you finish on the home straight. There's a little section where it looks like you can get into an area there to hug your fans. But no, a little bit more challenging than, say, other tracks like Glasgow. I'll be interested to see what the setup is on the Gold Coast. I've got my tickets. I checked, actually, not long after she won that gold medal to see if I had my ticket for the 100-metre women's final the hurdles on the Gold Coast, and, yeah, luckily I was able to get a ticket. So hope to be there. We hopefully can recreate the magic from the Glasgow Comm Games.

00:15:22Melissa Erbacher: With your inflatable kangaroo.

00:15:24Dave Robbo: That's right, Jumpy. That's all anyone really remembers. Jumpy the kangaroo. And, look, interesting, speaking of, I guess, mascots, Mel, and we'll get on to some more highlights for the Aussie team soon, but All the talk of the World Championships, I don't know how much you guys have seen of it, but Hero the Hedgehog, the official mascot for the IAAF World Champs this year in London, and he was just up to all sorts of antics. And it finished off on the final day where he was flown in to the stadium, basically. He was on a... on a rope and they flew him across the entire stadium. But he was swimming in the stable chase barrier. He was doing somersaults down the steps of the grandstand. He was pinching the bum of the Beefeaters as they came out to play the trumpets. Up to all sorts of antics. So yeah, go and have a look, folks. If you haven't seen yet, just look up Hero the Hedgehog and you'll see a whole bunch of videos. Adding a lot of color and fun to the championships this time.

00:16:23Scott Trickett: Look, we're already in deep talks with Hero to become an official mascot for the pod. He was our Facebook post last week.

00:16:32Dave Robbo: Oh, awesome. Negotiation's going well. Stay tuned. We'd be great at parkrun. Get him in as the tail runner or, you know, on the funnel. So it could be a lot of fun.

00:16:42Scott Trickett: I'll tell you who else was a lot of fun. He was one of my highlights. Is it Bosse, the Frenchman? Oh, yes. Pulled off the 800 metres. And he was out here for Nitro earlier in the year. He was. He was. But another surprise winner. There were lots of surprise winners over the whole championships.

00:17:00Dave Robbo: That race, the men's 800, Scotty, was pretty wide open. I think it was something like six of the top nine fastest times from that year. The athletes that had run those times weren't there, including David Rudisha. the defending world champion and two-time Olympic champion and current world record holder. So it was an opening there for someone like Bosse from France. And I don't think his rivals, the East Africans, gave him enough credit when he went to the lead with about 250 to go. And they kind of let him go. And then he just kept going and they couldn't catch him. And he came across the line with a pretty, I guess, a bit of an unexpected performance. uh win even for him but he said in the interview afterwards that he he felt like he was playing roulette and he put everything on red and um and it came off today and he's a really colorful character it's a it's a great interview actually i'm not sure if he swears in it but um full of full of color and he's a colorful guy i actually just met up with him at nitro just for a just for a very brief moment. And yeah, he was pretty fired up that night as well. So great to see a spread, I guess, of winners across the championships. There was another really colourful winner in the men's 400 metre hurdles. I can't remember his name, but young fella from Norway in his 20s. And he had a look of disbelief when he crossed the line in first place as well. So yeah, it's good to see a lot of countries getting involved their share of success across the champs All right, Robbo, so what everyone's going to want to know about is the parkrun championship race is what what happened there yeah well they were interesting so um yeah we were setting the scene on the show last week but the women's uh event well i can tell you there we we weren't able to get any of our three girls into the final unfortunately but Maddie Hills, she ended up finishing 19th overall. Eloise Wellings, 27th overall. And Heidi See, 29th overall. So they finished lower down in their heats, which meant they didn't progress. But they still each of them ran 15.13, 15.25, 15.38. So it's a pretty handy parkrun time, just to put that into perspective. For the men, we had, I guess, a little bit more success there Patrick Tiernan, who I've been talking up for basically all this year and many, many months now. He looks to be the goods. You know, people will have heard the name Craig Mottram. He looks to be a guy that can, you know, rival what Mottram was able to do. And he actually won a medal in the parkrun distance world champs. A few additions ago. But yeah, Pat Tiernan made it through in his heat. He was fourth in his heat, which got him an automatic qualifier for the final. Unfortunately, Morgan McDonald narrowly missed out on getting to the final. And Sam McEntee was the other Aussie there. He also missed out. But yeah, Pat Tiernan, he made it through to the final. And this was the big one where Mo Farah was looking to complete the triple double of the 10,000 and 5,000 gold medals in three rounds. consecutive world champs and Mo was out kicked at the end and had to settle for silver, but Interesting to see Pat Tiernan the Aussie was out in front from about the third K And he held on till till about 600 meters to go and then the field sort of gobbled him up a little bit But he pushed the pace and at one point looked like he might be in in with a shake So maybe even jag a medal, but yeah great run from him nonetheless and he ended up finishing in 11th place and in that 5,000-metre final and was on the track for Mo's last race. So, yeah, great result for him after the disappointment of his 10,000 metres where he doesn't know what happened there. He fatigued massively and reckoned he was getting delusional in the final few k's of that race, but he turned it around. 11th in the world, not too bad at all, and I reckon... Yeah, if you remember one name from these champs, Patrick Tiernan's definitely one to remember. I'm not sure if he's done a parkrun yet, but I'd love to see what he could do maybe at Toowoomba parkrun. That's where he's from.

00:21:19Melissa Erbacher: Oh, look, I feel for Pat it's the last 600 metres that gets me every time too.

00:21:23Dave Robbo: That's right. We can all relate to that.

00:21:26Scott Trickett: And Mo hadn't been beaten for eight years.

00:21:28Dave Robbo: Yeah. Yeah, isn't that an amazing start? The Ethiopian that came across, I don't know if you saw it or not, but he came across the line and he did the Mo bot straight away. I don't know if it was kind of an insult to Mo or if it was flattery to Mo or what that was. But I think it was done with respect because he was playing around with it again on the medal dais later on. So, yeah, look, it's interesting. Not, I guess, quite the fairytale finish that Mo wanted. His first ever medal at the World Champs was silver. And then the others were all gold. And then the final one with silver. So it kind of bookends his world champs career quite nicely. And he's got plenty of good days ahead of him, I'm sure, on the roads now. He's already had a bit of a dabble there. But, yeah, wait to see what he might be able to do on a marathon when he gets a good day. It's going to be pretty interesting. But, yeah, you know, like Usain Bolt, we farewell these legends of the sport. Maybe not in the way they would have hoped, but it was interesting to still see, even though they didn't get maybe the result they wanted right at the end, they were still given a fitting send-off, and it was certainly an emotional time for everyone in the stadium by the look of it.

00:22:36Scott Trickett: Now, Robbo, I was getting up. at silly hours to watch these races. I saw Bolt Farewell the World, but I also saw the Women's Steeplechase Final. Another little mishap happened. Did you see that one?

00:22:51Dave Robbo: I did.

00:22:52Scott Trickett: How does that happen? Let's set it up. So in the Women's Steeplechase Final, one of the favorites, this is one of the events where they deviate off the course, the traditional 400-meter track course, to jump over the water hurdle. And she missed the first deviation. How does that happen?

00:23:13Dave Robbo: Yeah.

00:23:14Scott Trickett: At such a level.

00:23:16Dave Robbo: So in my work around commentating athletics in the last few years, I've had to get my head around this sport a bit more myself. All in all, there's 35 barriers you have to jump. And one of which of them each time you go around is the water jump. Now, different tracks will have the steeplechase water barrier in different places. You can either have it on the outside of the regular track or on the inside of the regular track. Depending on where you've got your water jump will depend on where you start a 3,000 metre steeplechase race. So you're either on the home straight or you're on the back straight. And it can get confusing because in your first lap, sometimes you don't jump the water jump. And sometimes you do, depending on where you've started. This lady obviously had it in her head that she didn't need to jump it on the first one, or she just was daydreaming. You did need to jump it, and she was in the lead. Got about, what do you reckon, 30 meters, 40 meters past the jump until she realized, hang on, I better get back and jump this thing. And so the rest of the field leaped over the water barrier, and she was left doing a big U-turn to come back and get herself over it as well. I've never, ever seen that happen before, Scott. I threw a still photo of it up on my Instagram, which got a few wry smiles as well. But yeah, it looks something new for everyone. I'm sure she'll never do it again.

00:24:46Scott Trickett: Bringing the women's steeplechase into sharp focus is what she was doing, I think.

00:24:51Dave Robbo: Yes, exactly. It's worth mentioning the Aussie in that final, Genevieve Lacaze, who was able to negotiate all the steeple barriers in the right order at the right moments. She had a great race as well. She ended up finishing 12th, improving on the season's best she got in the heat. She ran 9.26. So that's a 9.26 for three Ks, and then you jump over all those things on the way around as well. So she didn't think she was even going to be a starter at the World Champs a couple of months ago. She's come back from a foot injury, and there she is finding herself top 12 in the world. And she fully fit. will, I'm confident, mix it with the absolute very best at that level in years to come. And so, yeah, that top 12 would become a top six or top five and maybe even get her into the medals. I'd be putting my money on her for a gold medal at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games right now. So, yeah, she'll do well in that one, I reckon.

00:25:54Scott Trickett: Not long to wait now until that happens. Robbo, thanks for coming on, giving us an update. Pleasure.

00:25:59Dave Robbo: Happy parkrunning. Thank you very much.

00:26:01Scott Trickett: Are you still running faster parkrun?

00:26:03Dave Robbo: I'm trying to every now and then, pushing the pram at times. And my wife, Gabby, has been getting a few PBs of late too. But, yeah, it's all about the Sydney Marathon for me at the moment. So five weeks, a bit under five weeks training for that. So I'll have a couple of quicker blasts around the Newey parkrun course in the next few weeks. But, yeah, and then a little bit of travelling as well, heading out to Dubbo and up to Foster. So I'll do the parkruns out there. in the next few weeks too. So a bit of parkrun adventuring, which is always welcome.

Meet the ED

00:26:44Melissa Erbacher: We're heading now to one of the events that runs by Body of Water. We had the pleasure of being there on the weekend and now we have the pleasure of talking to the event director. Renee, welcome to the parkrun Adventurers podcast.

00:26:58Renee Russell: Thank you, Mel.

00:26:59Melissa Erbacher: Now, for those who haven't been there, let's jump right in and give a course description so they can figure out the lay of the land.

00:27:08Renee Russell: Okay. So, yes, as Mel mentioned, we do have a lovely lake that we run around. We've been hit by a bit of construction lately that's made us change our course twice. But a few years, about a fortnight ago, we moved back to our semi-original course. So, most of the run now is along the lake.

00:27:44Scott Trickett: It's a very pretty run. We forgot to mention that you're on the Gold Coast where there's lots of parkrun events popped up. How do you go for numbers? How many numbers do you get each week at Varsity Lakes?

00:27:56Renee Russell: Anywhere from about 80 to 120 on a normal week. We've got a lot of kids now that are doing a bit of trail running as well. So when those runs are on out in the hinterland, we won't see them or if they've got soccer or other sporting events, we might go a couple of weeks and not see them. But general numbers are anywhere from 80 to 120.

00:28:16Scott Trickett: But numbers swelled a little bit on the weekend.

00:28:20Renee Russell: They did.

00:28:21Adrian: You had a few extra visitors.

00:28:23Scott Trickett: Mel and I were in town. As we had the annual parkrun conference, as Mel and I have already chatted about, and we ran at Varsity Lakes, and one of the things that also happened is that all the visiting TDs from around Australia took over your event and took over all the volunteer roles, which allowed you to have a run, which is something that you don't get to do very often.

00:28:44Renee Russell: That's right. So I actually got the heads up from Gavin, my TD, probably about four weeks before your conference where he kindly offered for you guys to take over all the volunteer roles. So, yeah, it was pretty exciting because I don't get to run at Varsity very often. I've been attending Varsity Lake since January 14 and I've only done 17 runs there. So, yeah. It was exciting and my sister and her hubby and kids were there as well. So I ran with my nephew, which was also quite exciting as well.

00:29:15Melissa Erbacher: You started running at Varsity Lakes in 2014, but it launched a bit earlier than that, didn't it, Renee?

00:29:21Renee Russell: Yes, it did. It launched about May 2013, no, May 2012, I think. It's four years old.

00:29:29Melissa Erbacher: And so how did you hear about it? How did you get involved with parkrun?

00:29:33Renee Russell: It was actually in just a local Gold Coast mail drop newsletter. I think it's a Friday flyer. And there was a tiny little paragraph in there. I'd started running probably only six months before that on my own. And I saw it in there and thought, why not? It might, you know, make me run a little faster maybe. And so, yeah, I think it was the January, maybe it wouldn't have been New Year's Day. It was probably like the second week of January in 14 that I headed down there.

00:30:02Scott Trickett: And how long before you became the run director? Because it's my understanding this was sort of thrust upon you.

00:30:08Renee Russell: It was. So it was November of 14 that I actually took over as event director. So I did do quite a few volunteer roles sort of between that January and November and then in November took over as ED simply because, yeah, the other ED left and, you know, at that stage we had probably around 100 runners a week and I just – you know, couldn't let it not happen, I guess.

00:30:34Scott Trickett: Yeah, so take us through that. So the event director leaves, you've started parkrunning at this parkrun, you kind of like it, but all of a sudden you're in charge of it. Why did you do it and what were the challenges that you faced with that?

00:30:47Renee Russell: Yeah, well, I was very lucky that Tim Oberg was still on the Gold Coast at that time, so he was actually situated there at the sports house. So I guess I was very lucky in the fact that the boss of parkrun was there and able to be contacted. I've made a few friends, just, you know, Saturday morning friends at parkrun and just the joy that it brings to people and the families. It's not much out of my week, a couple of hours on a Saturday morning. That includes a poster on coffee, of course. I just wouldn't not let it continue and let 100-odd runners, you know, not turn up at Varsity Lakes on a Saturday morning.

00:31:26Melissa Erbacher: Any regrets?

00:31:28Renee Russell: Not at all. No, not one. Every week we have new people come to parkrun. Couldn't tell you the last time we had a week where there wasn't any new runners. And I know Scott actually asked the group if there were any first-time runners at Varsity Lakes. I don't recall seeing any hands go up, but we did in fact have three first-timers, which is something we have, I would say, every week at Varsity. I can't remember the last time there was a week where we didn't actually have any new parkrunners at Varsity.

00:31:55Scott Trickett: How do you feel, so you had the president, it was the other Scott, not me, who was the run director on the day. Sorry. The president of the board took over your event. A real outsider coming in. Were there any nerves about handing your event over to someone who's never been there before?

00:32:12Renee Russell: Not at all. He contacted me through the week just to make sure that there, you know, if there was anything we specifically needed to mention. I probably would have been more nervous if I was run director with 40-odd territory directors there. He actually did a great job and I even commented to someone standing next to me that we'd have him back any time because the pre-run brief was brilliant. So, yeah, absolutely no complaints.

00:32:36Melissa Erbacher: Territory directors aren't that scary. No.

00:32:38Renee Russell: No, they're not. And I'm, I guess, very lucky. Gavin is my territory director. If ever I've got a question, easy enough to contact him. Yeah, absolutely brilliant support. And Renee, I was lucky enough to have Renee Gimbert prior to that. So, yeah, no complaints anywhere that anyone's, you know, anything less than supportive of me as an RD at Varsity Lakes.

00:33:03Melissa Erbacher: That's what we like to hear. Now, Renee, what kind of people are attracted to Varsity Lakes? I find as you go from event to event, There are different demographics that seem to come along. What kind of crowd do you guys get there?

00:33:17Renee Russell: We tend to observe or think that we actually have a lot of families at Varsity Lakes. In particular, we have a lot of dads that just come down with the little ones in the stroller and we've seen them grow up from, you know, newborn babies or when they're old enough to be in a pram up to we've got one in particular now where dad will stop a couple of metres out from the finish line and actually lift him out. He's two now, little Harry, and let him run to the finish line. So families we do seem to attract. We've got a lot of young school kids as well who are also quite competitive in their school, cross countries, et cetera. We've got a few interstate at the moment competing. So when they're there, we've got the really fast runners. We had one miss our course record by six seconds a fortnight ago. And then we've got people in their 70s as well. So quite a range, but the thing that sticks out most is a lot of families at Varsity Lakes.

00:34:10Scott Trickett: And what about, do you get around adventuring, touristing to other parkruns yourself, Renee?

00:34:15Renee Russell: Not so much. I do like travelling as well. I work in the travel industry, so I do travel quite a bit. So I've only done 25 parkruns, believe it or not. 17 at Varsity, so the rest have been at different locations. Overseas, I've done Singapore and I will be doing it again in October this year. And then the others I've done are Northern Territory, so I've done Darwin, volunteered at Darwin and Palmerston, Stockton in Newcastle, and this weekend I hope to do St Peter's in Sydney for the second time as well. And I've done Albert Park, of course, as well.

00:34:50Scott Trickett: Well, you do get around. Any highlights in amongst any of those events?

00:34:54Renee Russell: I actually love Stockton, and I hadn't been running much leading up to that, but when, you know, you're in another place and there's a parkrun event basically across the water. You can catch a ferry to that one. There's no excuse not to get out of bed and do it on a Sunday morning.

00:35:08Melissa Erbacher: Awesome. Well, we love to hear about adventures and that's the first time I think we've had Stockton used as a highlight. Thanks very much for joining us this week, Renee. It's been lovely having you and it was lovely. Well, I volunteered at your course on the weekend, but of course, as we mentioned, Scotty ran, but it was lovely participating anyway at Varsity Lakes. You do a great job there.

Channel 5 News Crew

00:35:44Lyndell Murray: Hello again parkrun Adventurers, G'day Scott, G'day Mel, it's Lyndell reporting once again for the Channel 5 News crew from the anniversary, the third anniversary of Wishart parkrun. Now on the podcast we talk a lot about cake at anniversaries and we say you go searching for cake. I've rocked up at Wishart this morning and been informed there is no cake. However there is free coffee. Now, interestingly enough, I wasn't all that disappointed about the No Free Cake because the reason I came was actually because of the theme. So there's a theme for the anniversary this year. They've been inspired by their third anniversary, gone back three decades. and picked a theme of the 80s jogger. And I just couldn't resist, to be honest. So I'm decked out in my lovely fluoro shoes. I've got my pink lounge socks, purple tights, fluoro pink shorts and shirt. I've even managed to find myself a lovely pink bum bag. And all topped up with a fantastic terry-toweling headband. So I'm looking quite the... Quite the piece this morning and loving it. It's really fun. So this is my thing. I'm wondering whether anybody else was also significantly inspired to come along to Wishart because of the costumes. Now, this might be topical to you, Mel, in your current quest to get Adam to dress up for his upcoming half marathon. So I'm going to test this out for you, Mel. What's the drawcard at a parkrun anniversary? Is it costumes or is it cake and coffee? I'll take a temperature on the parkrun field and we'll see how we go. Okay, post-run now, and I'm here with Bronwyn. Bronwyn is looking fantastic in her 80s gear. From bottom to top, she's got fluoro blue shoes, fluoro yellow socks and tutu, and then a lovely pink top number, and then a headband and matching sunglasses in a lovely shade of green, and sweatbands on her wrist. So she's really played the part this morning. Bronwyn, what's your regular parkrun?

00:37:55Bronwyn: Is it Wishart? My regular parkrun is Wishart, and I love it. It kills me every single week, but I love it. I keep coming back to conquer it, so it's fantastic. That's awesome. That's what parkrun's about, right? Absolutely. I've been running for five years, and parkrun has kept me going. And if I miss a parkrun, I actually get really, really sad. Really, really sad. And I've done nine marathons. Since the parkrun, I've done Chicago, Boston, Tokyo. And in six weeks, we go to Berlin. So I'm doing the Berlin Marathon. And it's all because I cannot miss a parkrun on a Saturday. So it's fantastic.

00:38:34Lyndell Murray: Fantastic. Wonderful. What a fantastic story. All because of parkrun.

00:38:38Bronwyn: All because of parkrun.

00:38:39Lyndell Murray: Now I've come here for the anniversary today and we've already talked about your costume. There's no cake today but there is coffee so what's the best thing about the anniversary for you Bronwyn? Is it the costumes or the coffee?

00:38:50Bronwyn: Costumes and a run and the coffee is very important but mainly the run. I love the run.

00:38:58Lyndell Murray: So Monique now when I was driving here with the 80s theme in mind I just thought I need to find at least somebody who's inspired by Jane Fonda or Olivia Newton-John in the leotards and I found you so could you describe your costume for me?

00:39:12Monique Brennan: So I have a very special all-in-one leotard it has pink legs and then it's got a shiny blue leotard over the top that says let's get physical.

00:39:19Lyndell Murray: So definitely inspired by Olivia Newton-John and i feel like my um fingerless gloves that are pink add to the outfit i've got scrunchie but i'm just missing a headband so i did let myself down a little bit that's okay look i'm giving you a good nine and a half out of ten for your costume in it good job now anniversaries usually cake often costumes today there's coffee and costumes so what do you think is the best thing about anniversaries costumes or coffee

00:39:48Monique Brennan: Probably costumes, but I also like the chance to thank all our volunteers from during the year. It makes a big difference, I think, to have a great community of volunteers like we do at Wishart.

00:39:57Lyndell Murray: And you won an award today for volunteering.

00:40:00Monique Brennan: Yeah, my husband Jeff and I are run directors and we won volunteer of the year. I think that's because we've recruited a lot of new run directors with the bribe of a great breakfast. So we say, you know, free, limited time only, special offer, run director training and amazing breakfast. So we've had quite a few buyers this year, enough to set up Mansfield parkrun as well.

00:40:22Lyndell Murray: That's excellent. I've done both those courses and they're both terrific events. So thanks a lot and thanks for being on the podcast.

00:40:30Unidentified speaker: Naho, so you're also a regular here at Wishart parkrun? Yes, I am. So I started coming in February. I haven't been running for a long time. I only started in November, so less than a year. And so your first parkrun anniversary? Yes, it is. So I just found out only a couple of days ago that they're doing the anniversary and dress up. So I just went everywhere. And then I went to the op shop and got a costume, which my daughter is wearing. So she's got the purple laotard. I mean purple leotard and then she's got the fishnets I had in my wardrobe and then she decided to wear it so I had to go into the kids wardrobe to get my outfit which I'm wearing the kids rainbow colored border shorts. I've got the kids exercise top which I managed to fit. I've got the fishnets and I borrowed the leg warmer socks from my youngest one so I'm glad I fit into them.

00:41:29Lyndell Murray: You're looking fantastic and very 80s, I must say. It's wonderful. Thank you so much. So I've got to ask you the question I've been asking everyone this morning. What's the best thing about a parkrun anniversary? Is it the costumes or the coffee?

00:41:44Unidentified speaker: I reckon it's the costume and also it's like a community, like, you know, big friends, like a party feeling, I think.

00:41:51Lyndell Murray: parkrun's always a community, but especially on anniversaries, right? Yes, it is, yes. It's fantastic. Excellent. Thanks a lot.

00:41:58Unidentified speaker: Thank you.

00:42:00Lyndell Murray: Okay, now Jeff is here. Jeff, you're a Park One Wishart regular.

00:42:06Jeff: I am indeed.

00:42:07Lyndell Murray: And you're looking stunning today. Could I get you to just describe how wonderful you look in your 80s gear?

00:42:14Jeff: Yes, I can. So from the bottom, I've got my black Velcros on, a pair of Dad's 80s knitted socks, short black ruggers. I do have a fluoro singlet and a bit of a retro Adidas jacket on, and of course topped off with a beautiful blonde mullet that I've grown myself.

00:42:37Lyndell Murray: Not to mention those fabulous retro Bollés and your wonderful terry towelling headband.

00:42:45Jeff: Yes. Well, these boles are actually 80s boles. They are the real deal.

00:42:51Lyndell Murray: Oh, don't worry. I can tell. Now, before I leave you, I've got to ask you the question, what's the best thing about the anniversary today? Is it the costumes or the coffee?

00:43:02Jeff: Definitely the costumes. The coffee is good. It is free this morning, which is great. But it's always nice to spend some time dressing up for a special occasion. And third anniversary this morning has been good. We've had a good turnout. And there's plenty of great retro gear going on. So, yeah, definitely the costumes.

00:43:24Lyndell Murray: Awesome. Thanks a lot. Okay, so I've tracked down the event director, Adrian. Adrian, how are you going today? Oh, terrific. It's been a great day, our third anniversary of Wishart parkrun. And you are into the swing of things with your 80s theme. Can you describe what you're wearing today?

00:43:41Adrian: Yeah, I've got your typical yellow, sort of bright fluoro tracky-dacks, okay, that they used to wear in the 70s. And I've got the flowing hair with the headbands and some funky glasses as well.

00:43:58Lyndell Murray: These glasses are something to behold. You know those ones that have got the slits and the different colours that the rock stars used to wear in the 80s. He's looking like a rock star, cross between a rock star and a jogger. Fabulous work. Now Adrian, three years on, how is Wishart parkrun faring and what are your numbers like each week?

00:44:21Adrian: Yeah, well, we've grown over the three years. I mean, at one stage, we're always there, you know, hoping for 100 people. Okay, and I think we used to dodge up the results a bit. There's some statistical thing going on. If you have a look at our event history, we had so many weeks where it was exactly 100 people. I think we might have counted a couple of magpies and and puppy dogs that ran the course. Well, as long as they bought their barcode, that's all right, right? That's right, that's right. But, yeah, we grew. We were averaging well over 200 for quite a while, and we were bulging at the seams, and that's when we decided to start Mansfield parkrun, yeah.

00:45:09Lyndell Murray: Yeah, Monique was saying that you managed to get up a few extra run directors and farm them out to Mansfield.

00:45:15Adrian: Yeah, we kept advertising, marketing how great it is to be a run director at parkrun, how much value and confidence you get out of it and we trained people for quite a while and we were able to share the love to our sister parkrun.

00:45:34Lyndell Murray: Excellent. Now, one final question. I did ask you earlier in the morning, is there cake? And you said, no, there's no cake, but there's free coffee. That's great. What an awesome addition to a parkrun anniversary. I have to ask you, what's the best thing about the anniversary today? Is it the costumes or the coffee?

00:45:53Adrian: I'd have to say the costumes, people have really embraced the vintage jogger theme that we had today and some people have got the tight singlets and tight shorts going, others have the leggings and everyone's got headbands so it's been a fantastic morning.

00:46:12Lyndell Murray: Excellent. I have to concur. It's been plenty of fun. I've had an awesome time dressing up, and it's always great out here at Wishart. It's a lovely, friendly community, as most parkruns are, but Wishart's lovely, so thanks for having me. Yeah, thank you for coming. So there you have it, parkrunners. Pretty decisive victory this morning to costumes over coffee today at Wishart parkrun. Though I have to say that there is still a line-up for the coffee. It is a very, very popular option. So I will leave it with you. Until next time, Scotty and Mel, it's over and out from Lyndell.

00:46:47Melissa Erbacher: Well, thank you, Lyndell, for another stellar roving report from Wishart parkrun. Loved the angle you took there between the coffees and costumes. Not surprised at all that costumes won out in the end, but it's always great to hear the support from parkrun adventurers out in the world.

00:47:07Scott Trickett: Mel, you got costumed up on Saturday.

00:47:08Melissa Erbacher: I did.

00:47:10Scott Trickett: You pulled out an old favourite. I didn't recognise you when I first saw you.

00:47:15Melissa Erbacher: Yes, Mugatu is a good costume for going incognito, that's for sure. And who doesn't love a random costume from time to time?

00:47:27Scott Trickett: Couldn't tell you. There'll be costumes at, well, we're thinking there's going to be costumes at Callaghan and Hobart this weekend because they're both celebrating their anniversaries.

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

00:47:39Melissa Erbacher: They are indeed. We haven't actually checked to see whether or not they've got themes going on, but chances are good. And you know what? Even if they're not celebrating with a theme, people could still show up with costumes anyway. Absolutely.

00:47:51Scott Trickett: Didn't stop you.

00:47:52Melissa Erbacher: Did not.

00:47:53Scott Trickett: And we've already talked about launches at Brimbank, but there's one more in South Australia.

00:47:58Melissa Erbacher: South Australia's bringing it home strong with Aldinga Beach this week, getting their launch. That one's been in development for quite a while, so it's going to be a good one.

00:48:09Scott Trickett: What do you know about it? I saw some photos, and it looks like a pretty part of the world.

00:48:14Melissa Erbacher: I know that the event directors originally started at Christie's Beach in South Australia, and now they're moving across. So their run directors have stepped up to take on the event director roles at Christie's Beach. And then, yeah, now they're starting a new one at Aldinga Beach, which isn't too far from Christie's Beach. It's all on the same coastline, obviously. They really like beaches. They really do. And they've got, they really have the runners to run them too.

00:48:41Scott Trickett: Okay. That's another episode down. You were mentioning that, no, what were you mentioning? Nothing. Nothing to talk about. We're not going to mention anything more. That's all we're going to say. We're not going to mention anything more because we don't deliver on anything we mention in this little part of the program where we talk about nonsense.

00:49:01Melissa Erbacher: However, I can tell everyone that I have registered Adam for the 2K event next weekend. This is when the costume party is going to happen. So I haven't told him yet that I'm making him a costume in secret, but we'll see whether or not he... He bows down to the encouragement. I'm calling it encouragement that everyone has been giving him so far on social media. But keep it up.

Streaky September

00:49:29Scott Trickett: We've seen some people jump on Streaky September already.

00:49:33Melissa Erbacher: It's a thing now. We've also already been challenged to do some freedom runs during Streaky September at different parkruns. And I think that's a great way to do Streaky September, getting in freedom runs at different events that you haven't done. We should incorporate a couple of those into the challenge as well.

00:49:52Scott Trickett: I like the commitment a long way out too. So I've still got two weeks to get ready for it and so have you, Mel. Because we've talked about it. I love running, but running every day is going to be tough.

00:50:05Melissa Erbacher: It does take commitment. Some days life gets in the way and you just have to push life back out of the way and get it done.

00:50:14Scott Trickett: Streaky September.

00:50:16Melissa Erbacher: Are we back next week, Scotty? Is that going to happen?

00:50:19Scott Trickett: What do you think? I am enjoying it. We're in a groove again. Scotty's got his groove back.

00:50:24Melissa Erbacher: Okay.

00:50:24Scott Trickett: Yeah. Let's go with it next week too.

00:50:26Melissa Erbacher: All right, cool. We'll see you all next week then.

00:50:29Scott Trickett: Maybe we'll have May, March, August Madness next week. Can we do that? I really want to do it.

00:50:35Melissa Erbacher: I don't know. Can we do that? I will leave it up to you. We'll see how that goes.

00:50:39Unidentified speaker: Okay.

00:50:40Scott Trickett: Let's look forward to August Madness next week.

00:50:44Melissa Erbacher: Maybe. See you later, parkrun adventurers.