Episode 82

Episode details · 367 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:10Melissa Erbacher: Episode 82 of the parkrun Adventurers is here and the competition is hotting up. What competition do you ask? Well, obviously the most important competition there is. The one between me and Scotty on who's got the most events on the most events list. Scotty, welcome to episode 82.

00:00:29Scott Trickett: Thanks, Mel. It's not a competition when we keep going to the same event.

00:00:35Melissa Erbacher: Well, it is.

00:00:36Scott Trickett: Well, it's hard to separate.

00:00:38Melissa Erbacher: Yes, but the last time we were at the same event, I volunteered and you were running, so you got one up on me. This time I managed to keep on an even keel.

00:00:50Scott Trickett: And what event are we talking about, Mel?

00:00:52Melissa Erbacher: Well, last weekend we went to Noori Utpa parkrun.

00:00:56Scott Trickett: We did. Formerly known as Barossa Bush Gardens, but for some reason they changed the name to Nuriootpa.

00:01:04Melissa Erbacher: They did indeed, and it's a gorgeous run, but we will hear more about that a little bit later.

00:01:09Scott Trickett: Yeah, but what did you think of the run, personally?

00:01:12Melissa Erbacher: Personally, I thought it was great. Any run that's got vines, as in wine vines, grape vines... In the centre of it is a winner in my books.

00:01:22Scott Trickett: It's a nice little touch. I think I would have been a little bit disappointed had I gone to the Barossa and done a parkrun and not run past some vines. So they've ticked that box. Well done, guys.

00:01:34Melissa Erbacher: They have indeed.

00:01:36Scott Trickett: But we've got roving report extravaganza this week. We had the honour, privilege of meeting PK in the flesh today.

00:01:48Melissa Erbacher: In the flesh, in the suit. Very impressive.

Channel 5 News Crew

00:01:50Scott Trickett: Channel 5 news crew. The flesh, the human being matches the voice that you all know and love. So that was good. But we've also got roving reports from the Redcliffe launch in Queensland from Lyndell, number two reporter. Guess how many they had at Redcliffe?

00:02:07Melissa Erbacher: I'm guessing a lot, because didn't I call it last week that it was going to be a lot?

00:02:11Scott Trickett: You were right. I should never doubt you, Mel. Not that I did doubt you on this occasion, but over 700 to the Redcliffe launch.

00:02:20Melissa Erbacher: That's got to be a new record.

00:02:22Scott Trickett: For launches?

00:02:23Melissa Erbacher: Yeah.

00:02:24Scott Trickett: Eight. Put that down for Ian. You still making notes for questions for Ian?

00:02:28Melissa Erbacher: Yep, yep, sure. I can do that.

00:02:29Scott Trickett: Good. Scribble that down. But the roving reports don't stop there. TOC. making a big play to get in the Channel 5 news crew. He reports in from Pakenham.

00:02:41Melissa Erbacher: Didn't we have double the reports from Nuriootpa?

00:02:45Scott Trickett: I haven't finished.

00:02:46Melissa Erbacher: Oh, okay.

00:02:47Scott Trickett: I'm getting to Greta. Greta also was with us in South Australia. And this is a returning report from Greta as well.

00:02:56Melissa Erbacher: Epic week of roving reports this week. Everyone is going to hear from all over the place. That's awesome.

00:03:03Scott Trickett: So we're going to get to that shortly.

00:03:05Melissa Erbacher: But before we get to that, Scotty, I'm working hard on, you know, squeezing as much as I can out of the calendar for adventures for the rest of the year. Because I do have a New Year's goal that I was flagging behind on. And I've made a good effort for September. I've got to two new events in September. I'm eyeing off some more adventures in October, November and December. What have you got planned? Because, you know, I reckon you might be getting to 50 before me.

00:03:36Scott Trickett: Speaking of epic, I have got some epic adventures coming up in the next month. I don't think I'm back home for a few weeks. I'm visiting your state this weekend and next. In Queensland. I'll be in Queensland. So I'm adventuring up to Brisbane and I still haven't decided where I'm going to run or walk.

00:03:58Melissa Erbacher: Maybe you should take offers. Yes. If anybody's got any recommendations or lurements of donuts for Scotty, let him know.

00:04:09Scott Trickett: We're going to be in Brisbane on Saturday morning. We're going to have a car, so we can travel, but I don't want to travel too far.

00:04:17Melissa Erbacher: Especially since you have to get up early as it is to get to parkrun.

00:04:21Scott Trickett: Exactly. I'm not sure how I'll cope with that.

00:04:22Melissa Erbacher: Earlier than you're used to.

00:04:25Scott Trickett: So I've got to adjust on the weekend. I go to Brisbane. So that's me. But do you have any definite plans? Or are you going to make some?

00:04:33Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I'm still locking down a few things. Somebody sent me a whisper of some new compass points that are coming up toward the end of this year and early next year. And I'm not a navigator yet. And I feel it is my duty as one of the co-creators of the Compass Club that I need to get in that club fairly shortly. So...

The Compass Club (new adventurer club)

00:04:55Scott Trickett: So what are these? Let's break some news. What are the new compass points?

00:05:01Melissa Erbacher: Well, the new compass points are currently Western Australia's easternmost point is Geographe Bay and it is going to shift to Margaret River. Correct. And then in January, we've got another event launching in Tasmania. The date's not confirmed yet, so I'm not going to say where that is or when that is. But also whispering is on the grapevine about that one. So we'll have a new southernmost point as well. And I have currently got the southernmost point and the northernmost point and the easternmost point. And this is actually something that I would like to clarify for everybody. So the easternmost point is Kingscliff parkrun. There is some contention about whether or not it should be Ballina Coast. However, as the co-creator, and I've discussed this with my other co-creator of the Compass Club, Christine Timms, we have decided that the points will be marked on the start slash finish pin, where that drops, because courses themselves can change. So the most reliable thing is the start finish area, which most often doesn't change even if there has to be a variation on the course so in that respect the latitude longitude markings still keep it as kingscliff even if ballina coast part of the course runs a little bit further east than that good let's put that conversation to bed well that debate is over mel has spoken and chris has spoken it is still kingscliff not that i don't want to get to ballina coast because that looks gorgeous So that's on my list as well, but I might have to save that for a summer weekend adventure, I think.

00:06:52Scott Trickett: Well, speaking of gorgeous, Nuriootpa. Was that right?

00:06:58Melissa Erbacher: No, the oot comes before the pa. Everyone always goes oop-ta, but it's oot-pa. Oot-pa, Noori Oot-pa.

00:07:06Scott Trickett: Was gorgeous. And there was a bit going on on Saturday, as well as us being there, which was the main feature. We were launching a new event. If you say so ourselves. We were launching a new event. Errol, one of our listeners, one of our adventurers, notched up his 50th different event. So that was exciting for everyone in tow. And PK caught up with Errol and a few others. Take it away, PK.

Roving Adventurers (roving reporter crossovers)

00:07:35Paul Kitching: G'day there, parkrun adventurers. It's underscore PK or PK checking in once again from sunny South Australia here this morning up in the Barossa Valley, up in the beautiful Barossa Valley this morning. We're up here with the birds chirping away. It's a beautiful morning. Got up at the crack of dawn to get up here, well, even before dawn. Started off, I think it was 5.15, the alarm went off, and headed off around 6, an hour or so out of Adelaide, an hour and 15 north, north-west, is it? No, north-east. I wasn't driving. We ended up at Noori Utpa. Noori Utpa. Make sure you get that T in there. It was a fantastic drive up and beautiful to be here now, all ready for the launch of the Noori... This is why, right? It was going to be called the Barossa Bush Gardens parkrun. Noori Utapur is so much easier once you know how to say it. all ready for the Nuriutpa parkrun launch. And we are here and I can see quite a few other crews, some people I recognise, quite a few adventurers here, quite a few people I reckon doing their streaky September runs. Yeah, we're going to go out there and do it and then chat to a few different crews, see who's up here from different parts of the world. I believe we may have some special visitors. Let's see who we can find after the run. Looking forward to the launch of yet another South Australian parkrun. Cheers. Alright then, that's the Noori Utpa parkrun done. Fantastic, beautiful morning and now I'm just chatting with some of the crew that have come up. Quite a few people have come from all different places. I've got Errol, Errol Poole with me. Errol, where have you come from mate?

00:09:11Errol Poole: I've come from Mount Barker.

00:09:13Paul Kitching: Fantastic, good on you. Errol's certainly a regular at Mount Barker and many other parkruns. How many parkruns in total have you done?

00:09:22Errol Poole: I think this is 171 now, so yeah.

00:09:25Paul Kitching: 171, closing in on the 200. Yeah. But it's not just 171, today's a special day for you?

00:09:34Errol Poole: Yep, it certainly is, yeah, this is my 50th different parkrun, so yeah.

00:09:38Paul Kitching: Fantastic, 50th different parkrun, that's pretty special, did you, when you were getting to that point I suppose, did you know where you were going to do it, or did you like see that Nuri was coming up or what was called Barossa Bush Gardens?

00:09:49Errol Poole: Well, I knew there was a couple coming up and my daughter wanted to be here when I did my fifth year. So, yeah, so we made sure this was the one when it happened.

00:10:00Paul Kitching: Excellent. What was your first, can you remember your first parkrun adventure, like the first not Mount Barker parkrun?

00:10:08Errol Poole: Yeah, I think the first one I ever did was Albert Park in Melbourne.

00:10:12Paul Kitching: Great.

00:10:12Errol Poole: Yeah, when I was over there.

00:10:14Paul Kitching: Brilliant. Yeah. And when did you then, I suppose, suddenly realise, hang on a minute, I'm doing it for you, and you got inspired to become an adventurer?

00:10:21Errol Poole: Well, I'm actually ex-Victorian, so every time I went back over home, I did a parkrun over there, so I was always looking to do one somewhere.

00:10:31Paul Kitching: Great. Yeah. And so do you have, like, the top three of the different parkruns that you've been to around Australia?

00:10:39Errol Poole: Oh, yeah.

00:10:40Paul Kitching: Or any favourites or anything or any that were, you know, maybe not favourites?

00:10:44Errol Poole: Probably Kawana was, yeah, one of my favourites. Yeah, really friendly and, yeah, they love their tourists there. So I was made to feel pretty special there. So, no, it was awesome.

00:10:54Paul Kitching: Brilliant. Nice one. Well done, mate. And what do you think of today here at Noori?

00:10:57Errol Poole: Yeah, no, excellent. Beautiful morning, lovely course.

00:11:00Paul Kitching: too so yeah no it's really good sure is isn't it and a great turnout and it's i think it's going to be really popular um right deep in the park here i'm not sure what park we're in but uh is it oh the brush of wood no i'm not sure mate it's not the brush of bush gardens it was going to be but it's all good we found our way here um And certainly just a heads up for people that are coming to the Borossa Bush Gardens, far out, no wonder they call it Nooriupa parkrun, to leave a bit of time to find the actual start because it is about a five-minute walk from any car park. That's a little tip from PK and Errol. But, Errol, thanks, mate.

00:11:34Errol Poole: Okay, thank you, PK.

00:11:35Paul Kitching: I hope you've enjoyed your parkrun journey. Look forward to celebrating your 200th and 250th, and let's go and find some other excellent parkrun adventures. Well done, bud.

00:11:45Errol Poole: Thank you.

00:11:46Paul Kitching: Okay, we're now at the Fleur Social, which is the, you know, some would say the best part of parkrun, the after party, flowers and coffee, Fleur Social, here on the main street of Noori, Noori Utpa. And I'm with some people who have, you know, some parkrun adventurers. It's great to have people that have come from here and there. We'll find out where these guys are from. I'm here with SK and MK. How are you guys? good thanks sk and uh mk how are you good to meet you guys i'm sk oh no you're sk and you're and that's mk sorry um so you guys uh tell us about your parkrun journey how long have you been doing parkrun for a while um it's it's i couldn't put a date on it when i started but how many parkruns have you done a few a few yeah i'm just getting into it nice one but um what about um adventures then have you you've um you've where have you come from uh to come today

00:12:36Scott Trickett: come up from melbourne so is it up or across i'm not sure up and over left i think you turn left at some point yeah yeah so i've come up from melbourne um i'm just trying to do as many as i can i want you know i think it's background's all about getting to as many events as you possibly can indeed it is comparing that to other people yeah so not competitive at all then no no just on saturday mornings uh and the attraction to come to the Barossa Valley um i've got friends who like to drink

00:13:04Paul Kitching: Excellent. You don't drink yourself, no.

00:13:07Scott Trickett: I like to run. So it was a great combination to combine running and drinking.

00:13:11Paul Kitching: Awesome.

00:13:12Scott Trickett: And eating. Excellent. I like to eat.

00:13:14Paul Kitching: Nice. And what did you think of the Noori, Noori Utpa parkrun?

00:13:19Scott Trickett: Can you say that word again? No, I can't.

00:13:21Paul Kitching: What is it?

00:13:21Scott Trickett: Where are we? Noori. What is it?

00:13:26Paul Kitching: Noori.

00:13:27Melissa Erbacher: Noori.

00:13:27Paul Kitching: Noori. Sorry, we do have MK here with us as well. Where do you reckon we are?

00:13:32Melissa Erbacher: We're at Noori Utpa.

00:13:33Paul Kitching: Nuryutpa.

00:13:34Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, Nuryutpa, that's what I said.

00:13:36Paul Kitching: Yeah, that's what you said. That's right.

00:13:38Melissa Erbacher: I can speak good.

00:13:39Paul Kitching: You can speak well. I can run. Well good, well good. How was it today for you?

00:13:43Scott Trickett: Yeah, no, the course was great. Beautiful. Awesome. It was out and back. I don't think I've ever done one where you go out and back twice. And I loved it. Got to see all you guys a few times instead of just once.

00:13:55Melissa Erbacher: Four times the bridge running.

00:13:57Paul Kitching: Oh, there was a bridge. Yeah, actually, there's someone that I know that likes... Oh, we'll come back. There's someone that always yabbers on about bridges. But anyway, what about you, young lady? How was it for you? Tell us about your parkrun journey.

00:14:09Melissa Erbacher: Oh, well, my parkrun journey started in October 2013.

00:14:14Paul Kitching: excellent yes see scotty see jazz okay sorry just some locals okay good on you um yeah i'm i'm like i'm like sk i do like to to get around to as many events as i possibly can and compete with other people in terms of how many you've done well one or two other people anyway yeah some randoms that you know um you uh you enjoyed today you had uh you you were um had someone else along for the ride

00:14:40Melissa Erbacher: Yes, it was gorgeous. I walked it with my little person in tow. I did try to get a pram so I could push him instead, but as it was, my back got a workout.

00:14:50Paul Kitching: Ah, well. That's all right. Still had fun. And South Australia, have you done any other South Australian parkruns?

00:14:56Melissa Erbacher: Yes, I've been down here a couple of times, but only since parkruns started. I've only been once, and that was Torrens parkrun we did last time.

00:15:05Paul Kitching: Now for regular listeners, we've given away a few clues here. We've got a man that loves bridges and we've got a lady that had a small human with them today who's only done torrents before. What is your real name? Scott, Scotty. Scotty, Scott Trickett, the legend. And what is your real name?

00:15:25Melissa Erbacher: I'm Mel.

00:15:25Paul Kitching: Mel, Mel Erbacher. Is that how I pronounce your surname?

00:15:28Melissa Erbacher: Yes. Oh, look at that. Or if you're Siri or a GPS, it's Urbisher.

00:15:33Paul Kitching: Urbisher? Yeah. Urbisher. So, yep, SKMK and PK, it's really Paul Kitching, Scott Trickett and Mel Erbacher. And it's fantastic that you guys have come over. I know you've been talking about coming to the Barossa, but I thought I'd better have a chat to you. Great to meet you. Oh, great to meet you.

00:15:50Melissa Erbacher: In person.

00:15:51Paul Kitching: I know, right? Scary.

00:15:52Melissa Erbacher: The best member of the Channel 5 news crew.

00:15:54Paul Kitching: Actually, I did contemplate wearing a safari suit and actually getting a microphone with a big fluffy number five and then it all got too hard. Next time. Next time. A suit, a safari suit. I do have a powder blue safari suit that I could have worn. No, he doesn't. Doesn't everyone have one of those in their wardrobe? Yes, I know. Well, we do. At least we were wearing our Derek T-shirts, yeah? Yes. So there's some Zoolanders out there today. Good to have some Zoolanders. No, it's fantastic to meet both of you as well. Thank you for everything. I know I keep saying it, but you guys do for parkrun. You're very unassuming, and it's great that you have, you know, blended into today there was lots of lots of visitors but um a great great day you and clearly uh doing great things for parkrun aren't you well we do a little bit yes we are it's all good fun we love it yeah yes we love the adventures and more to come to be here More to come. But you guys are competing clearly at the moment, but you're on exactly the same number of pucks. We are. So what's the plan here?

00:16:54Melissa Erbacher: Well, I can't talk to you about my strategy while he's here.

00:16:57Paul Kitching: Okay, all right then.

00:16:59Melissa Erbacher: We can talk about that later.

00:17:01Paul Kitching: So is it true that you kicked Scott in the ankle today because he's got an injury? Is that what happened?

00:17:06Melissa Erbacher: I can neither confirm nor deny that action.

00:17:09Paul Kitching: And Scott, you managed to actually survive it after... joining Stack Club last week.

00:17:13Scott Trickett: I did. And I was a bit worried. We did the bridge. We did the bridge four times. Yeah. I'm not sure bridges are supposed to bounce.

00:17:19Melissa Erbacher: It was a springy bridge. It was, wasn't it?

00:17:22Scott Trickett: So the first time across it was a bit... Okay, this is fun. Excellent.

00:17:26Paul Kitching: But, yeah, we survived four bridge crossings. Well done. And streaky September's going well for you then?

00:17:32Melissa Erbacher: Yes, day 16, struck. Well done.

00:17:35Paul Kitching: Yeah, actually. And have you been streaking?

00:17:38Scott Trickett: Yeah, I'm still on track. Awesome. It has been a struggle with the ribs, but we're still there.

00:17:45Melissa Erbacher: With the ribs? Yeah.

00:17:46Scott Trickett: And I ran today, which was really chuffed.

00:17:48Paul Kitching: I noticed, mate. You beat me. Well, that's not hard, but well done. You were powering along with Adam. Adam in his costume. No, he wasn't wearing a costume.

00:17:57Melissa Erbacher: He's such a showman.

00:18:00Paul Kitching: And Wes, how did he go?

00:18:01Melissa Erbacher: He slept all the way through it once again.

00:18:02Paul Kitching: Awesome, awesome. So he won't remember Nuri?

00:18:06Melissa Erbacher: Well, he will because I'll share the pictures with him.

00:18:07Paul Kitching: Oh, okay. Good, good. All right, Legends. Well, let's get back to enjoying our coffee and breakfast. Have a great time in South Australia. There goes Errol. Thanks, Errol. Legend. Well done. Good work. Yeah, there you go. Errol saying goodbye to us. We're just going to sign off now. Say goodbye to some Legends and look forward to continuing this awesome adventure that is the parkrun Adventure.

00:18:29Greta: G'day Scott and Mel, it's Greta here and I'm at the launch of the Noori Utpa parkrun and I'm going to see if I can find some people to talk to. Okay, and I'm now here with... Deb Poole. Ah, and we're at the Noori Utpa parkrun launch and Deb, what did you think of the parkrun today?

00:18:48Deb Poole: Amazing. What isn't good about sunshine and Sunday morning and groups of people, you know, going for it? And have you done any parkruns before? No, this is my very first one. Fantastic. So I had a friend who was doing the trials, who we do some walking together in the morning, and she's been doing that. She's in Melbourne today, but yeah, she encouraged me to come out and do it, which has been awesome. Fantastic. And are you a local? I am a local. I live at Light Pass, which is just three kilometres north of Nuri. So, yeah, very much a local. And do you think you'll do the parkrun as a regular thing? Absolutely. I'm recruiting family, children. They're all coming. Fantastic. Well, thank you for speaking to me today and thanks for coming to the Newry parkrun. My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

00:19:39Greta: All right. And now I'm here with... Bev Crabb. Hi, Bev. How are you going? I'm well, thank you. Well, very well.

00:19:46Bev Crabb: Now, did you enjoy parkrun this morning? It was fabulous. The weather was gorgeous and early in the morning. It's just lovely. Just lovely.

00:19:54Greta: And are you a local to Noori? Yes. I live in Tanunda.

00:19:58Bev Crabb: And I've been, Corinne, the organiser of this parkrun, she's a physio at where I work. And so she asked me to come along, you know, the first few weeks, you know, didn't do much, but anyway, I showed up. And so I've put my name down now for a volunteer.

00:20:15Greta: So I think it's fabulous. Yes, fabulous. And do you think you'll come every week?

00:20:20Bev Crabb: Probably, yes, yes. I mean, it's only an hour, you know. And so, yeah. Pencil it in.

00:20:30Greta: Lovely. Could we pen it in? Yeah.

00:20:36Bev Crabb: I know. And are there lots of locals here today? I don't know. See, lots of faces I don't know. But I don't know how many locals there are here today. But hopefully, you know, it gets out and about. Yes. Yes, exactly. And I'm at Kate's Physio Clinic. And so... Everyone that comes in, I tell them about it, you see. So that's the way to get it out and about. And little posters and stuff out and about, you know. Set it in the bakers the other day. I know. I know.

00:21:13Greta: Well, lovely. So this was your very first official parkrun. Yes. Because I know you've done the trials. Yes.

00:21:19Bev Crabb: So congratulations on your first parkrun. Thank you. Well, I was walking with Marilyn and she probably walks a bit slower than I do. But... Just a stroll in the park.

00:21:29Greta: It's about getting out there and doing it.

00:21:31Bev Crabb: It's there doing it. That's exactly right. Absolutely.

00:21:34Greta: Lovely.

00:21:35Bev Crabb: Thank you.

00:21:35Greta: Thank you very much. Okay, so I'm now here with Corinne, who is the event director for Nooriutpa parkrun. How are you going, Corinne?

00:21:45Corinne: I'm exhausted, thank you. Congratulations on a fabulous launch. It's been a bit of a journey for you. It has, it has. But, yeah, it's good. It's a good journey. It was my first baby before my second baby came to fruition. So it made the journey a little bit longer, but it's all good. It's all worth it.

00:22:07Greta: And how old is your actual baby now? My human baby is five months old. Congratulations.

00:22:13Corinne: Yeah, thank you. He's pretty cute.

00:22:16Greta: So tell me about your journey to get Neary parkrun off the ground.

00:22:21Corinne: Well, I moved to the Barossa three years ago and I was just flabbergasted that there wasn't a parkrun in the Barossa. But it did actually take a while to find a route. And then once I sort of spoke to some of the... sort of local stakeholders in where the course was and they were keen. I approached John and it kind of went from there really.

00:22:45Greta: Fantastic and so tell us a little bit about the course and where that's running.

00:22:49Corinne: So the course is in Coulthard Reserve which a lot of locals don't actually even know where Coulthard Reserve is but it's the area between the Barossa Tourist Park and and the Barossa Bush Gardens. It's a beautiful park, lots of trees and birds. So the Barossa Tourist Park have been quite important in supporting us to use their area and the council and the Barossa Bush Gardens, it sort of overlaps with a lot of their stuff as well. But everyone's been very supportive. and now we just need the volunteers to keep it going.

00:23:28Greta: Yes, and I saw you had quite a few people putting their names down today, which is fantastic.

00:23:32Corinne: Yes, so next week we do have enough people, but then the weeks after that are still looking pretty blank, but as long as we get people trickling through, then that's good.

00:23:42Greta: And this is a lovely coffee shop, so we're at the Fleur Social now, having our post-run coffee. Yes. And they've been very supportive of parkrun.

00:23:49Corinne: Yes, Ryan has been great and has agreed to provide vouchers, coffee vouchers, for anyone who volunteers at the parkrun.

00:23:59Greta: Congratulations. Well done on the journey to get Noori Utfa parkrun up and running. Thank you very much.

00:24:05Corinne: And congratulations on a fabulous launch. Thank you, and thank you for coming.

00:24:12Tony O'Connell: Howdy parkrunners, it's Toc here. I'm at the Pakenham Anniversary today where we've had glorious sunshine and after the week Victoria's had it's a pleasant change to see the blue sky. I'm with Michael and Anthony, these two guys have helped set up the Pakenham Roadrunners and they're a really integral part of Pakenham parkrun. Today we've had 165 finishers at Pakenham and I'd say more than half of that field easily are Pakenham Roadrunners. So, howdy guys.

00:24:44Michael: Howdy Toc. Hi Toc.

00:24:47Tony O'Connell: Firstly, how did Pakenham Roadrunners come about, Michael?

00:24:50Michael: Yeah, I was pretty much just looking for motivation myself to get out and run in the mornings before work and too often I'd kind of press the snooze button and not want to get out of bed. thought why not just look out for some friends around the area and see if I can find anyone and before I knew it it was it was pretty pretty quiet to start off there were a few a lot of cold mornings where I'd be standing out I'd put up a post to see there was a few people in the group but no one was really showing up but then Christmas New Year's in 2015 that's when it really took off we started a beginner group It wasn't long before parkrun really was taking off as well and parkrun and Roadrunners has really helped work off each other and really build up together. So it's been great for our group and we've been great for parkrun too, I think, so it's been really good.

00:25:46Tony O'Connell: Anthony, I know the Facebook page has a massive following, but how many really active runners do you have regularly?

00:25:54Anthony: Yeah, so we have over 900 in our group.

00:25:57Melissa Erbacher: Hey, come here.

00:26:00Anthony: just some runners passing by. We have over 900 in our group but we actually only have about 160 active runners and that's spread out over, we have an event practically every day and we include parkrunners in our run schedule so we would see on a Monday night maybe 30 to 35 people come on a Monday night and how many on a Wednesday Michael?

00:26:25Michael: Wednesdays I do like a speed session, quality interval running Anywhere from 10 to 25 can come along to that on a Wednesday night. Tuesday nights we have a hills run and that's growing as well. So that's always around that 15 to 25 occasion as well. And then Anthony has the Thursday.

00:26:49Anthony: Thursday somewhere between 8 and 12. Friday we probably have about 10 to 15. and parkrun and the long runs based on the roster. So the long runs are very popular. You would see on the Mikey run, for example, up to 50, 55 runners run their way to Melbourne. Yep. And then our traditional aqueduct runs, which are on the... Probably the 20 range.

00:27:15Michael: Yeah, about 20 on a regular Sunday. Yep.

00:27:18Tony O'Connell: I think one of the amazing things I find about the Pakenham Roadrunners is the support for parkrun. You look every week at Pakenham and at least half the volunteer roster is made up of members of Pakenham Roadrunners. But today for the anniversary I found it really special. Out along the course there was about 50 colour photos all the way along the course with different shots over the last year of people doing different stuff over the year at parkrun. I found that really amazing. Who was the brains behind that?

00:27:48Michael: Anthony's the man when it comes to any of that kind of stuff Anthony's great with the photos the tech the stats and he put in a lot of work getting that all done and it really came up really well and I think everyone really appreciated seeing photos of themselves and their friends and the support that we show each other here which is a really big part of what we do so we like every parkrun we're out to get our good times and work on PBs and stuff but it's also We do have that really good support network where we'll pace each other quite regularly and work together, lots of jump shots, lots of friendly faces. It's not hard to get friendly photos down at Pakenham, everyone's always smiling.

00:28:29Anthony: I know most people would say that parkruns are a very community-based group and we feel very strongly, just like all the other parkruns, that it's not only about The people that we know, we try to be inclusive and try to get other people who aren't familiar with each other. We try to introduce ourselves to the newcomers. Definitely. We just try to bring everyone together here at Pakenham, just like most other parkruns would.

00:28:55Michael: That's exactly right.

00:28:57Anthony: Yeah, for sure.

00:28:58Tony O'Connell: Michael Anthony, thanks very much, and I love what you're doing with the community down here. Well done.

00:29:03Michael: Thanks, Scott. Thank you.

00:29:06Lyndell Murray: Hello again parkrun Adventurers. Scotty, your wish is my command. I've loaded up the Channel 5 bus and headed out to the launch of Redcliffe parkrun. Now Mel, I think you're 100% correct. There are hundreds and hundreds of people here. Just looking around the parkrun shirts, there's people from all over the place. I've spotted a few people from my home parkrun in Bunyaville. There's a few from the neighbouring parkrun of Sandgate. So Sandgate looks like they're happy to have a neighbour. There's also a person here from Weipa, so I'm going to try and catch up with some of those people after the run. I better go now. The speeches are just about to start, so I'll talk to you soon. Okay, we've just headed back in from the Redcliffe Park one. I'm here with Linda, who is all the way from Warwick.

00:29:53Linda: Yep. Hi, how are you? Great. It was a great course, wasn't it? Really beautiful.

00:29:58Lyndell Murray: Yeah, what did you like about it? It's by the water, by the ocean, so that's always really nice.

00:30:03Linda: A bit different from Warwick? Yeah, well, we're by the water, but it's a river, so, yeah. But it's always nice by the water.

00:30:10Lyndell Murray: It really is. And have you come down just to do parkrun today, or did you manage to tie it in with something else?

00:30:17Linda: I had a work conference on Thursday, Friday, and then a school reunion today, so it tied in perfectly.

00:30:23Lyndell Murray: What better excuse to come to a parkrun launch? Now, I have to ask you just one more question. Are you a streaky September streaker?

00:30:31Linda: I am. I've been doing at least 5Ks every day of September because I've also been doing the Run Against Violence, so 130Ks, which finishes tomorrow.

00:30:42Lyndell Murray: Oh, wow. So you've done your 130Ks in 30 days? Yeah, it's in 18 days.

00:30:47Linda: So, and I finished my 130 yesterday at 16 days. So, yeah.

00:30:52Deb Poole: Awesome. And is that a fundraiser for something?

00:30:55Linda: It's for domestic violence. And there's a lady named Kiralee who was running from Broken Hill to Sydney and she finishes tomorrow. So she was running the whole 1300 and I was part of a team of 10.

00:31:08Lyndell Murray: Wow, well done. What a great cause. I'm glad you've had a great time here at Redcliffe and hopefully I'll get out to Warwick to your parkrun one day. That would be fantastic.

00:31:17Linda: Lovely to speak to you.

00:31:19Lyndell Murray: Now I managed to track down Will and Will is proudly wearing his Sandgate parkrun t-shirt. So Mel, I'm going to ask him what you said last week in the podcast. You said that you thought Sandgate might be happy to have a near neighbour and is that true?

00:31:33Will: Yeah, I think so, definitely. I mean, obviously it would take a bit of the pressure off the numbers of Sandgate. Sandgate's quite a, you know, it's got room, but it can get a bit crowded on course. And I think it's nice for us to have somewhere else to go as well, somewhere else easy to get to and scenic and picturesque.

00:31:51Lyndell Murray: It is beautiful. It's so lovely here. The water is blue. The sky is blue. It's a nice flat course. And hopefully over time, maybe it will be a little bit less congested than today.

00:32:01Will: Yeah, I think so. I think so. With this being its first one, there's going to be a lot of people coming to see what it's like. Numbers will probably settle down, but there'll be plenty of people that have been going to the other parkruns nearby. They'll now find Redcliffe as their new home.

00:32:14Lyndell Murray: And what about you? Is Redcliffe your new home or will you stick with Sandgate?

00:32:18Will: Sandgate parkrun is 500 metres from my front door so I can get out of bed five minutes later and I'm at parkrun so I think I'll stick with that as my home for now.

00:32:27Lyndell Murray: Oh look, you're living the dream right there. Thanks for your time. Now I've managed to track down someone from my own home, parkrun of Bunyaville. I'm here with Grant. How are you today Grant?

00:32:38Grant: Great, thanks.

00:32:39Lyndell Murray: And how was your run today?

00:32:41Grant: Flat compared to Bunyaville, that's for sure. It's a great location.

00:32:45Lyndell Murray: It's a lot flatter and a bit less dirty.

00:32:48Grant: Yes, and I've got a good time of the day too compared to the hills of Bunya. So, yeah, it's great to have a flat run and it's a fantastic location.

00:32:55Lyndell Murray: Excellent. And do you venture out much from other parkruns?

00:32:59Grant: I think this might be my 13th parkrun, so not too much. Just around Brisbane and I have done Nambour. I think it was the furthest one I've been to, which is quite hilly as well.

00:33:08Lyndell Murray: It is a bit hilly. What's your verdict? Nambour or Bunyaville? Which is the hardest?

00:33:12Grant: Nambour, yeah. By a bit, yeah. Just.

00:33:16Lyndell Murray: Only just though, right?

00:33:17Grant: Yes.

00:33:18Lyndell Murray: Alright, thanks for your time today, Grant.

00:33:20Grant: Thank you.

00:33:21Lyndell Murray: Now I've managed to track down milestone runner Sharon. Sharon, you're looking fantastic today. You've got your friends here all dressed in pink with your tutus and a wonderful sparkly 50th parkrun balloon.

00:33:34Sharon: Thank you so much. I know, this is amazing. I actually didn't know I was ever going to do this because I had knee surgery about six months ago so I had some time off and I've just gradually came back to it and I'm so chuffed and I'm really chuffed that it's in the inaugural Redcliffe parkrun. So what a way to celebrate.

00:33:51Lyndell Murray: Absolutely, nothing like a launch and a milestone. So your home parkrun, are you a local here or do you parkrun somewhere else normally?

00:33:59Sharon: I normally go to Petrie, yay Petrie girls and boys, thank you for volunteering there too. Absolutely amazing place and it's awesome, it's a lovely country run but At the same time, I love coming to something like Redcliffe and Sandgate because you've got the ocean, which is just amazing. But I love every parkrun because it's just fantastic. The people are awesome. Like today, I want to thank absolutely everybody who have said thank you and happy 50th to me because I don't know these people. And they're all saying it. And we're such a great family here. That's how I see it. Beautiful community. I think most of us really love that about parkrun.

00:34:33Lyndell Murray: It's just wonderful. I mean, I was one of those people going, hey, 50 parkruns. And I didn't feel silly because it's just what you do at parkrun, right?

00:34:40Sharon: Absolutely. It doesn't matter where you are from, what you look like, what you do, what you don't do. Everyone who comes on a parkrun, runs, walks, jogs, skips, who cares? We're all here together and we're all here because we want to be and, you know, just have some fresh air, try and get a little bit fit maybe. But at the end of the day, we're all here because we've all got the same thing in common. We don't want to sit on our bums at home at 7 o'clock in the morning on a Saturday. And why would you when you can look at this beautiful view here? Isn't it gorgeous and what a fantastic look at how many people are here I mean hundreds and hundreds which just shows how much parkrun is amazing and I was saying earlier that I was actually born in Teddington which is in England and it was never there when I was living there I've been out here for about 15 years now And I could not believe that where I used to have to practice to run was actually where parkrun started. So it's like, wow, should have had that idea. Awesome.

00:35:40Lyndell Murray: Well, thanks for your time. Well done on your 50th. And hopefully I'll see you at another parkrun sometime soon.

00:35:45Sharon: Thank you so much, thank you parkrun, thank you to the company, thank you to the people and we will see you around, thank you.

00:35:51Lyndell Murray: So Troy, you are the event director for Redcliffe and firstly let me just say, just from talking to people around, they've loved the event and had a wonderful time and love the location that you have here, how has it gone from your perspective?

00:36:04Troy: It's gone particularly well given the size of the run. It was hard to say how many people we'd get for a first run, but some other recent launches gave us an indication. Wollongong had 646. So that's part of the Medibank free and active program, and they helped to get this parkrun off the ground. So we were expecting similar numbers today, and it's gone surprisingly well. So, yeah, pretty good.

00:36:42Lyndell Murray: Excellent. Yeah, well, I was number 366 across the line. I'm usually towards the back end of the field, but there are a lot of people still behind me.

00:36:49Troy: There are. I think at the moment we're in the 700s and still people coming across the line. So we'll probably sneak up closer to 900 today, maybe. We'll see how it's going. As you can see, there's still quite a few people to come.

00:37:04Lyndell Murray: Awesome. And so what's it like being getting the parkrun set up? Did you get it set up? I know that Medibank was behind the launch today, so how's that process been?

00:37:14Troy: It's been a pretty easy process for the most part actually. We came up with the idea for a parkrun over here obviously because we love parkrun and our surrounding parkruns were starting to see quite large numbers. And a lot of talk in the community about why Redcliffe didn't have one, so we just decided to take the initiative and, you know, start Redcliffe. So, you know, going through that process, it's find a course, contact parkrun, contact the council and get approvals. But everyone we've dealt with along the way have been very easy to deal with and they've made the process easy. very easy to get us to this point. So big thanks to Moreton Bay Regional Council for helping us out with that and obviously parkrun and Medibank.

00:38:10Lyndell Murray: Excellent and thank you to you because you're obviously volunteering your time and parkrun doesn't run without volunteers.

00:38:17Troy: Correct, yes.

00:38:19Lyndell Murray: And so I guess how did you originally get involved in parkrun? You were running yourself I guess?

00:38:24Troy: Yes, I am a runner. I'm actually a running coach as well. So I have a group of runners that also love parkrun. I originally started parkrun at Coomera. So I was invited along by a friend and as they say, the rest is history. Once you go to a parkrun, I think most people get hooked. So it was great fun, great community and from there I've been, like everyone else, touristing around, visiting different parkruns and just being a part of the big parkrun community and family. So I guess now three years down the track of parkrunning, I suppose I took that next step to move into volunteering as an event and run director.

00:39:11Lyndell Murray: Awesome. Well, that's great. Again, thanks very much. And on behalf of the community here as well, I'm sure they're really appreciative of the work that you've done. And a fantastic day today as a result. So thanks, Troy.

00:39:21Troy: Thank you very much. Glad you enjoyed it.

00:39:24Lyndell Murray: Now, I've tracked down Neil, who is here guiding Paul, who is a visually impaired runner. How are you guys going today?

00:39:33Neil: Good. We're going pretty good, aren't we, mate?

00:39:37Lyndell Murray: Yeah. And have you done parkrun before?

00:39:41Neil: No, this is our very first parkrun ever.

00:39:44Lyndell Murray: Is that right?

00:39:45Neil: Yep, we've never done one before.

00:39:46Lyndell Murray: Do you think you'll come back?

00:39:48Neil: Absolutely.

00:39:49Lyndell Murray: And why is that?

00:39:50Neil: It's just a lot of fun. Get you out there, and he enjoyed it. That was the main thing. Yep, definitely be back.

00:39:56Lyndell Murray: Have you done other runs before, or is this your first time in a running event?

00:40:00Neil: It's the first time in running. He does the Disabled Noosa Triathlon every year, but this is the first time we've done a run together, yep.

00:40:07Lyndell Murray: That's excellent. Well, you can't find a better place than parkrun. Everyone is welcome at parkrun.

00:40:11Neil: Absolutely, yep, and we've found that's been fantastic.

00:40:14Lyndell Murray: Excellent. Thanks, guys. Have a great day.

00:40:16Matt Whitaker: Say bye.

00:40:19Lyndell Murray: See you.

00:40:20Neil: Thank you bye.

00:40:24Lyndell Murray: Okay, I've been stalking Tim Oberg all morning. He streaked past me today on the run course as I was bringing up the rear of the field. So I've been following around ever since. Here he is. Hello, Tim.

00:40:37Tim Oberg: Hey, Lyndell. How are you?

00:40:38Lyndell Murray: I'm really great. So I did talk about you streaking past me. Are you, in fact, streaking this September?

00:40:44Tim Oberg: Oh, yes. This is the daily running. I wish I was, you know. Does it count if I go to the gym? Does that count as part of my streak or do I have to run? Run and walk.

00:40:54Lyndell Murray: I don't know, Scotty and Mel, you can decide whether you want to kick out Tim from the Streaky September Challenge.

00:40:59Tim Oberg: I don't think they'll accept gym and yoga as part of the Streaking Challenge. Maybe if you do it in your PJs. I know, I should, I should. But look, it's great to be here. What a fantastic morning.

00:41:12Lyndell Murray: Wonderful. Great event. So do you have some stats, Tim? Do you know what number parkrun this is for Queensland?

00:41:17Tim Oberg: Well, I know it's number 241 in Australia. I remember event number one like it was yesterday, so it's still incredible to be here. And there's so many familiar faces. This is what I love about coming to particularly a launch event in Brisbane is that it's like a reunion for so many parkrun people. There's so many current and former event directors and ambassadors here. So for me, it's just wonderful to come along. And the reason I streaked past you is because i didn't start at the front i ran into the girl i took to my semi-formal back in 1994 i ran into her she came up to me before the launch and so we were having a big fat catch up uh on her kids and my kids and her life and my life so i haven't seen her for 20 or 22 years or something like that so tell you me it's probably more about 10 yeah yeah of course uh but uh yeah i mean that's the beauty of parkrun it's just bringing people together so it's lovely

00:42:11Lyndell Murray: I think that's what a lot of people really love about parkrun, apart from the running, is that it's such a community.

00:42:17Tim Oberg: Well, I would argue people love that more than the running. And the cake. They do the running just so they can do the rest of the stuff. So, yeah, no, but it's been sensational. And, you know, credit to the team here, Troy, the event director, his team, Rhonda, our ambassador, and, of course, the huge support we've had from Medibank to be here. So, amazing morning.

00:42:39Lyndell Murray: Yeah, it's amazing. Troy was telling me about that. It's one of the 40 parkruns that they're launching nationally as part of the free and active program. What a fantastic launch and what a great injection for parkrun in Australia.

00:42:53Tim Oberg: It's unbelievable. If the listeners can see now, the Medibank team from Chermside Medibank are actually behind us giving out towels, wristbands, coffee vouchers. They've completely embraced our ethos and our community and it honestly couldn't be a better partnership. So it's great to see them here today and of course all the 700-odd parkrunners. We've cracked 700 apparently, so it's massive.

00:43:19Lyndell Murray: All right, and a great course here, nice sunny day. Lovely to have you here, Tim. Nice to meet you and hopefully we'll catch up again at another parkrun.

00:43:26Tim Oberg: Thanks, Lyndell.

00:43:28Lyndell Murray: Well, that's it. That's a wrap from me from the launch of Redcliffe parkrun here in lovely southeast Queensland. Another nice, beautiful, coastal, flat, fast course. A new neighbour for the Sandgate parkrun and yet another one to put on your list, guys. See you next time.

00:43:58Melissa Erbacher: We like the wild, the weird, the wonderful. And last weekend, our next guest took part in a marathon attempt, a Guinness World Record marathon attempt. And to tell us all about it, we have Matt Whitaker. Matt, welcome to the parkrun Adventurers podcast.

00:44:17Matt Whitaker: Thanks, Sarah. Thanks for having me on.

00:44:19Melissa Erbacher: Now, let's jump right in. What exactly was the world record attempt you were trying to break last weekend and where did you do it?

00:44:27Matt Whitaker: So it was the Guinness World Record for the fastest marathon in a suit. And I did it at the Blackmores Running Festival on Sunday.

00:44:36Scott Trickett: And you did it really quickly too because you broke the world record. What time did you do it in, Matt?

00:44:43Matt Whitaker: I did it in 2.44.28 or 2.44.29. And the previous record was 2.58.3 seconds. Okay.

00:44:53Scott Trickett: So you smashed that record. Is this a record for you? Because that's pretty fast.

00:44:58Matt Whitaker: No, that's about eight minutes off my PB, which I did earlier in the year. But I think I probably relatively ran this one better than that one.

00:45:09Scott Trickett: But you had the problem of wearing a three-piece suit. Why did you decide to run in a three-piece suit?

00:45:17Matt Whitaker: I saw last year at Blackmore, there were a couple of people trying to break world records, and there was one guy who was wearing a jester costume that I thought looked quite cool. And so I sort of, I had a bit of a Google of different records that people have been trying to break and saw that the world record for the half marathon was quite popular. But the guy who held that ran a ridiculously fast time. So I thought the full one maybe was a bit more attainable.

00:45:45Melissa Erbacher: Can you talk us through, so the record is for in a three-piece suit. Can you explain exactly what you were wearing and what the rules are around what Guinness expect of you to be able to sort of meet the criteria for breaking the world record?

00:46:01Matt Whitaker: Yep. So when I signed up, they sent quite an extensive list of rules, which was good because there was no ambiguity. So it had to be a three-piece suit, which meant pants, suit jacket, vest, business shirt and tie. And the tie and top collar had to be all the way had to be done all the way up to the race. But the one concession that they did give us was that we were allowed to wear running shoes, which was lucky.

00:46:32Scott Trickett: Now, I've seen the photos, Matt. You got a bit of a sweater, let's be honest. I can't imagine it was very comfortable.

00:46:40Matt Whitaker: I actually think it was uncomfortable. I actually think a lot of those photos were showing water, which I'd splashed on myself or had build on myself while I was trying to drink as much water as possible at the drink session rather than actual sweat. But yeah, by the last 10, 15K, I had this realization as I was coming back into Sydney at about the 25K mark that I may have made a huge mistake and that the last hour was going to hurt.

00:47:14Scott Trickett: So Mel and I like a bit of dress-up. I've run in a Santa suit, a bunny suit, various other suits. It's not easy. I haven't done it for 42K. So tell us, was there chafing? Did you get really, really hot? Because I'd imagine you're going to get hot. Was it a hot day?

00:47:33Matt Whitaker: It actually wasn't that – the day itself wasn't that hot. I remember earlier in the week on Tuesday or Wednesday it hit 30 degrees. in the middle of the day and I was sort of watching the weather forecast hoping it wouldn't do that on Sunday and it didn't and luckily with the Sydney marathon course there's not that many sections which are completely in the sun for long stretches so I kind of just hugged the shady areas as much as I could but yeah the last 10-15 k's I was starting to overheat quite a bit so I I would have been taking three or four cups of water at each water session, whereas normally at that stage I would take one or possibly not take any.

00:48:16Melissa Erbacher: So it's not your first marathon and presumably you did some training. I know there's the old rule that never try anything new on marathon day. So did you train in the suit?

00:48:27Matt Whitaker: Yes, I did. I did four runs in the suit leading up to it, which was good because it helped me iron out a couple of kinks that would have been problems on race day if I hadn't have known that they were going to be problems. Like the first one I did, my shirt kept coming untucked and then I started chafing massively and then my tie kept coming down. So I had to find ways to fix all of those problems.

00:48:55Melissa Erbacher: And how did you fix those problems? Did you use safety pins, sew things down, elastic?

00:49:01Matt Whitaker: So I wore short compression tights under and basically tucked the shirt into that. And then I made good use of Vaseline, the chafing issue. which is the first time I've ever done that. But in hindsight, I'm quite glad that I learned that lesson before race day and not on the day.

00:49:26Scott Trickett: The other thing I'm guessing you might have done, I mean, it didn't look like a fitted suit, Matt. Did you purposely go for a bigger suit to give you a bit more breathing room?

00:49:35Matt Whitaker: Yeah, so I think this is actually where me and the other guy who tried this record, Mike Tozer, had slightly different approaches. Because my option was to go for, I deliberately bought a suit that was one size too large so that it wouldn't be too restrictive in the legs. And he seemed to go for a bit of a smaller one so that it wouldn't weigh him down as much. But I think in hindsight, I should have gotten larger pants but then kept a smaller jacket because the larger jacket really started to weigh me down by the end of it. And it would have looked better if I'd had a smaller jacket as well.

00:50:14Scott Trickett: And so tell us about, so there were two of you guys doing this. So was it a bit of a race between the two of you? Michael was raising some money for charity.

00:50:23Matt Whitaker: We both did the Canberra Marathon earlier in the year and we actually ran the first half of that together with one other guy. And then we sort of found each other on Strava after and completely coincidentally found out that we were both doing this same record attempt so we did know each other and I mean I had a fairly extensive look at the training that he'd been doing on Strava and I think he had a fairly extensive look at the training I'd been doing so I think we were both pretty aware of each other's attempt in the end but he's he was doing it to raise money for the Fragile X Association of Australia and I think by Sunday afternoon he'd raised He's managed to raise $13,000, and his aim is $20,000, so I'm sure he could use more support.

00:51:19Grant: Absolutely. Fantastic effort.

00:51:23Scott Trickett: What's next? Have you got anything planned to try and top the three-piece suit marathon record?

00:51:29Matt Whitaker: Not another record attempt for a while. Me and Mike, after the race, were talking about next year going for the record for the fastest marathon in a two-person costume. But that would be 12 months from now. So I think a long way down the track.

00:51:49Melissa Erbacher: So when you say two-person costume, do you mean like one of those donkeys where one of you is the head and the other one's the tail?

00:51:57Matt Whitaker: I think so. It was my cue suggested it and I was all in. But I think that's what it entails. And he said that the current record is around four hours. So I think we could have a pretty decent crack at that.

00:52:12Melissa Erbacher: You just have to decide who gets to be the arse's head and who gets to be the arse's arse.

00:52:18Matt Whitaker: Exactly, yeah.

00:52:20Melissa Erbacher: Oh, well, we'll have to keep an eye out for that one. Thank you very much for joining us this week. I'm sure all our adventurers out there will be keen to have a crack themselves now at a bit of a run in a suit, maybe just a parkrun, five kilometres. We should make a big thing out of it.

00:52:38Matt Whitaker: I mean, when you do it, basically you're drenched in sweat after about two kilometres. So I think even a 5K would also be a good one to do, but it would still be quite rough.

00:52:50Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I imagine it will be. Awesome. Well, thanks very much, Matt. We will keep an eye out for the two-person in a suit situation happening next year. And good luck with that.

00:53:14Scott Trickett: Mel, do you see Matt as an inspirational figure in your life?

00:53:18Melissa Erbacher: Anyone who can run a marathon in fancy dress or a suit and get a Guinness World Record is definitely an inspiration in my books.

00:53:27Scott Trickett: Do you think, how would you go in a three-piece suit? Because I was surprised with how much rules there were. Like, he had to have a tie.

00:53:37Melissa Erbacher: Buttons had to be all the way done up around the neck.

00:53:39Scott Trickett: Yeah, I mean, they let him have the running shoes, but the other parts...

00:53:44Melissa Erbacher: pretty strict on and how would you go with with that well i have done um a 2k run in the top half being in a suit and the bottom half being in a tutu and it wasn't easy 2k was a lot and i didn't have to wear a vest over the business shirt that was shirt that was underneath my jacket but i did have a bow tie on and that was all the way done up and yeah it's not comfortable so big kudos to matt

00:54:13Scott Trickett: Indeed. I did try it earlier in the year running in a suit. I had a tie, but I didn't do it in a shirt and a vest.

00:54:20Melissa Erbacher: Was it intentional or you were late for something?

00:54:23Scott Trickett: No, no, it was a milestone celebration for one of the Westerfoldians and formal wear was the occasion. Gotcha. Yeah, but I only did 5k, not 42.2. And I think there's a big difference. Matt mentioned he was sweaty by 2k. Yeah, you would be. But anything beyond 5k would be a stretch for me. In a suit. But, will there be any occasions to dress up and run in a suit this weekend?

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

00:54:53Melissa Erbacher: Well, possibly. It depends on if you're headed to an anniversary or not.

00:54:58Scott Trickett: Are there any anniversaries in Brisbane that I could go to?

00:55:02Melissa Erbacher: There is, actually. If you wanted to sneak over to Ashgrove, they're having their anniversary in Queensland. And so are New Farm, for that matter. But you've already done New Farm, haven't you?

00:55:12Scott Trickett: I have. So I'm not going to go there. Great little run, but no.

00:55:15Melissa Erbacher: You could skip out to Toowoomba. They're actually also having the City of Flowers botanical gardening thing that they do every year, which looks pretty damn amazing.

00:55:26Scott Trickett: Right. That's a bit of a drive, though, isn't it? That one is amazing.

00:55:30Melissa Erbacher: A little bit of a drive from Brisbane. A few hours in the car.

00:55:33Scott Trickett: Yeah. It would seem a bit silly. I mean, I'd love to get to Toowoomba and I'm mad for flowers.

00:55:38Melissa Erbacher: You're mad for flowers?

00:55:39Scott Trickett: I'm mad for flowers. Anybody who knows me goes, you know.

00:55:43Melissa Erbacher: Scotty, flowers, it makes sense.

00:55:45Scott Trickett: Get Scott talking about flowers and he'll never leave. He'll never stop. But, yeah, it just seems silly that if I'm in Brisbane and there's so many events that I should do a Brisbane event. But I will get to Toowoomba one day. as I will also get to Barrel one day very soon. They're celebrating their anniversary on Saturday, as are Merimbula and Tamworth, all in New South Wales, those three.

00:56:09Melissa Erbacher: Lots of anniversaries in New South Wales.

00:56:11Scott Trickett: Save the best till last, the great state, You Yangs. There is an anniversary down here on Saturday as well. Well done to all those events. It's a big week. No launches this week, but plenty of anniversaries to celebrate, so happy days.

00:56:26Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, it's been a while since I've been to an anniversary. Weeks and weeks. I might have to get to another one very shortly. But I've been busy and I think you've been busy too, Scotty, with Streaky September. Is it keeping you on your toes?

Streaky September

00:56:41Scott Trickett: It certainly is. Look, I've got to say, Mel, it's been transformative. For me, so we all heard that I fell over last week. So I haven't been running, haven't been able to run. I did go for a run at parkrun on Saturday because it's called parkrun after all. You don't go there to walk. So I ran there.

00:57:02Melissa Erbacher: Well, you don't go there to walk. Lots of other people do.

00:57:07Scott Trickett: So I ran there, suffered for the next couple of days because of that. But it's allowed me to walk. And I'm really glad that we set the challenge at 2K so that a 2K walk is very attainable to anybody. And the reason why I say it's been transformative is that I have not done a solo streak yet. All my streaks have been with my girls. And we have loved it. everybody's excited like it's got to the point now you know they say 21 days to form a habit well we're there now and hopefully this habit has been formed but i think secretly we're all looking forward to the streak we're going at night after school and after work having some quality family time it's just been great 20 to 30 minutes to walk out in the air. It's getting a little bit warmer, but that doesn't matter. It's just being outdoors and having a chat and having a walk. It's been awesome.

00:58:06Melissa Erbacher: Well, that's great. I'm glad you're having a transformative experience with Streaky September.

00:58:12Scott Trickett: Can you report the same?

00:58:15Melissa Erbacher: I can report that it's definitely got me out the door every day. Lots of my days have been struggles, to be honest, just like life. life getting in the way and yeah there's been quite a few streaks after dark continuing but it I wouldn't say it's been transformative however this is going to be my biggest month for mileage in a very long time and you know I might I might be able to get over 80 kilometers this month which I yeah I cannot remember the last time that I did that so that's a bit exciting for me um individually you know I've been sort of charting my progress on a weekly basis so the first week I did 21.3k and my fastest effort was 9 minute 31 per kilometer and then last uh yeah last week I did 22.4k so I did an extra kilometer effectively and But I wasn't as fast. My fastest was 9.46 that week. This week, so far, I'm tracking with 15k. So I've got a little bit of making up to make sure that before I get to the end of the third week that it's definitely over the kilometers that I did in previous weeks. But I did my fastest time. And I actually, on Tuesday this week... which was where my fastest time was happening, which was 9.15 per kilometre, I ran a full kilometre without stopping. And I cannot tell you the last time I did that.

00:59:53Scott Trickett: Well, that is awesome too. That is great news because it's been a while. For you.

00:59:57Melissa Erbacher: It's been a while. Yeah. And it's, didn't even wet myself once. You'll be happy to know in that whole kilometre. That's the goal.

01:00:11Scott Trickett: That's good because you've had little Wes. We caught up with Wes over the weekend and he's a little delight. But he's thrown some challenges at you.

01:00:20Melissa Erbacher: He has.

01:00:21Scott Trickett: Yeah. And he's broken his streak, but has he maintained it this week?

01:00:25Melissa Erbacher: No, he broke it again yesterday. So he's all hot and cold with his streaking these days. So I'm not putting that pressure on him. He is only three months old. So, you know, I'm going to cut him a bit of slack this time. Streaking September next year, though. It's all on.

01:00:41Scott Trickett: So this is going to be an annual thing?

01:00:43Melissa Erbacher: I think so. Not unlike our perlustration.

01:00:46Scott Trickett: Yes, which is coming up. Lots happening with the perlustration. We're very excited.

01:00:52Melissa Erbacher: Yeah. But I just want to give a shout out to everybody who's been joining us in Streaky September. Because it's not been easy for everyone. And I know a lot of other people have been struggling and things like that as well. So, shall we go to the social media and give the shout out to the people who've hashtagged us and, you know, shared pictures and whatnot?

Social Adventurers

01:01:14Scott Trickett: We should. Yep. You start on Instagram. Who's been streaking on Instagram?

01:01:19Melissa Erbacher: Well, we've had Ezra Runs. Ready Debbie Run, Moon Unit Ultra, Athletic Powerhouse, Miss Spelt, underscore PK, Enjo Smith, Be Like Mel. That's not me. It's a different Mel. And on Twitter, we've had Ross Pine as well.

01:01:37Scott Trickett: I was going to do Twitter, my favorite social media platform. Let me do it. On Twitter, we've had Ross Pine. Streaking. But on Facebook, Jane Luke wrote a whole blog about us. You should go check that out. Well, not about us. Not just about us. Well, I just read the bit about us. No, no. She wrote a whole bit about streaking. Chris Fraser, a streak is a streak and life comes second, was his quote that he signed off with the other day. We like that, don't we, Mel?

01:02:04Melissa Erbacher: We do. We really do.

01:02:06Scott Trickett: We agree 100% with that. Andy's running a poll, so make sure you check out the poll. Melissa Ellis, she called bingo first, we think.

The bingo level up challenge — Melissa Ellis

01:02:17Melissa Erbacher: She did. Well, she's the only confirmed bingo completer at this stage. And you know what? We said that we would do this. We're going to give her a level up challenge. Because she's already finished bingo and there's still a good solid week and a bit more to go of Streaky September. So we need to give some more challenges out for those who want a little bit more than just the original five with the six bonus points.

01:02:43Scott Trickett: She's a high achiever, isn't she?

01:02:45Melissa Erbacher: She is a high achiever.

01:02:46Scott Trickett: She's our August Madness champion and now our bingo champion.

01:02:49Melissa Erbacher: Our inaugural winner. Yep. All right. And so what are we going to get her to do? Well, what three challenges are we going to throw down the gauntlet for her?

01:02:57Scott Trickett: Well, I think it's interesting that you and I are both streaking at night. So I want to set these challenges for us as well. So I kind of like the idea of let's streak before the sun rises. That's a good one. Can we add that one? Yeah.

01:03:11Melissa Erbacher: Yep. I like in particular that I've been getting my best times at Toes Day, which is a barefoot run. So I'm going to throw down the gauntlet that she should streak barefoot for at least one run. Okay.

01:03:26Scott Trickett: I think that's enough.

01:03:28Melissa Erbacher: You think that's enough?

01:03:29Scott Trickett: There's only a few days left. I want more people to challenge Melissa. And if we give too many, it will seem too far out of reach and not enough days to get there.

01:03:40Melissa Erbacher: Well, we still have two parkrun days. So I think as adventurers, it is our duty to challenge people to streak at a parkrun you haven't done yet.

01:03:48Scott Trickett: Okay. Let's add that one because I can do that this weekend.

01:03:54Melissa Erbacher: So that's what it's about. Okay.

01:03:58Scott Trickett: So extra challenges for bingo. Make up your own letters.

01:04:02Melissa Erbacher: The bingo level up challenge.

01:04:05Scott Trickett: But heading back to Facebook, who's also joining us on Facebook? Rachel Broughton. TOC. Tok is with us. Adrian Royce is still with us, we hope. Peter Pohlman. Amanda O'Reilly.

01:04:18Melissa Erbacher: Felicity Castellan, Skye Smith, Oliver Spake, Sarah Pixley, Mel Alderton, Neil Stralia, Jay Schultz and Lou Bray. I hope we've caught you all, all the ones that have shared pictures and things like that, because there's quite a lot of you these days.

01:04:36Scott Trickett: And I want you all to hang on. We haven't got long to go. We're in habit mode, so this should be easy for all of us now to get through the last week and a bit. And we'll have a big celebration.

01:04:47Melissa Erbacher: We'll get there together. But we shouldn't also forget that we want to shout out to the Streaky September participants who joined us on Strava.

01:04:57Scott Trickett: There's more on Strava.

01:04:58Melissa Erbacher: There's more on Strava. Commenting and sharing and giving kudos and encouraging each other, which is just amazing to see. Loving it. Loving the group camaraderie and encouragement.

01:05:10Scott Trickett: Do you know the last day of September is a parkrun day? So the last day of our streak should be easy, unless you're going to volunteer.

01:05:18Melissa Erbacher: It should be pretty triumphant, I think.

01:05:21Scott Trickett: We need to go out with a bang. Let's plan that for next week.

01:05:25Melissa Erbacher: Good idea.

01:05:27Scott Trickett: As always, Mel, another great episode, even if I do say so myself. Thanks for joining me once more.

01:05:33Melissa Erbacher: You're welcome. And I think I might get out and streak while the sun still shines.