Episode 95

Episode details · 331 speaker turns · sound cues from context

Channel 5 News Crew

00:00:04[music]

00:00:04Melissa Erbacher: Rushing round parkrun on a gorgeous summer's day Over the hills we go, huffing all the way Volunteers are great, they make our spirits bright

00:00:15Greta: What fun it is to run and sing a parkrun song tonight!

00:00:19Paul Kitching: Oh parkrun swell, parkrun swell, at parkrun we all yay!

00:00:24Lyndell Murray: Oh what fun it is to run a parkrun course today, hey!

00:00:28Scott Trickett: parkrun swell, parkrun swell, at parkrun we all yay! Oh what fun it is to run on a gorgeous summer's day! Ho, ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas, Mel.

00:00:53Melissa Erbacher: Merry Christmas, Santa. I mean, Scotty.

00:00:56Scott Trickett: I'm oftenly mistaken for Santa at this time of year. As you can tell by my authentic ho, ho, ho. To greet us to episode 95 of the parkrun Adventurers, the final one for this year.

00:01:14Melissa Erbacher: And it's going to be huge.

00:01:16Scott Trickett: It's massive. Longest episode ever. So if you're used to our usual 40 to 60 minute episodes, this one will get you through January because it goes a little bit longer. But hopefully you'll enjoy it all the same. You know one thing I've missed, Mel? I've missed the news. Remember when we used to do the news?

00:01:37Melissa Erbacher: Yes, the news was great. The news was also a lot of work, but it was great.

00:01:42Scott Trickett: Well, let's bring it back. It's time for the news. The parkrun Adventurers this week finished the year on a festive note, releasing their cracker 95th episode of the parkrun Adventurers podcast. The 45 episodes of the PA pod released in 2017 were listened by people in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, China, Indonesia, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Greece, France, Spain, the UK, Ireland, Switzerland, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Australia, Sweden, Canada and the US of A.

parkrun news bulletin

00:02:26Melissa Erbacher: 2,471 minutes of audio was released, not including the two bumper hours plus of episode 95.

00:02:34Scott Trickett: Interviews, conversations and general banter were had with 113 guests.

00:02:39Melissa Erbacher: 116 hours were spent googling animal photos to use for the episode release Facebook posts.

00:02:46Scott Trickett: And 57 roving reports were submitted by the dedicated Channel 5 news crew and as well as many roving adventurers. 2017 had many highlights. Globally, parkrun received its four millionth registration.

00:03:02Melissa Erbacher: And Finland, Norway and Germany joined the list of countries where people can seek a parkrun adventure. For the parkrun adventurers... Scotty strongly resisted his urge to change our logo every month and we've maintained the same logo all year. That will change for episode 96.

00:03:20Scott Trickett: Mel missed recording for episode 71 due to being in hospital after delivering the adventurous and early baby Wes.

00:03:28Melissa Erbacher: And even more excitingly, Scotty got a new parkrun PB.

00:03:31Scott Trickett: After Wes's birth, Mel averaged getting her boobs out on course at one in every three parkruns.

00:03:37Melissa Erbacher: Scotty relished his new working environment to record eight episodes tops off.

00:03:42Scott Trickett: Mel learned that she always does the introductions on even episodes, and it only took her 93 episodes to come to this realisation.

00:03:50Melissa Erbacher: And once again, countless adventures have been had. It's been a big year, Scotty. Lots of highlights.

00:04:00Scott Trickett: Wowzers. Lots of highlights. A couple of the sillier highlights in the news there. Give me some of your other highlights throughout the year, Mel. Obviously, Wes entering the world has taken a lot of your focus, but surely there must be a couple of other highlights interspersed.

00:04:18Melissa Erbacher: Well, from a podcast perspective, I need to say right now that The adventurers who are listening in would have noticed we had a slightly different intro music this week. It was all festive. And it was also a big highlight for me because that was our Channel 5 News crew wishing everybody, well, a Merry Christmas through song. And yeah, there was a highlight for me that we have these guys on board doing so many roving reports and being part of the team. We've got a big team now. It's not just you and me anymore.

00:04:55Scott Trickett: No, it is. I agree with you, Mel. I love them too. They're awesome. And the best thing is we don't know these people. We've never met them before doing the podcast. Well, not entirely true, but yeah. They weren't close friends or family that we've roped in that you might expect us to have done.

00:05:12Melissa Erbacher: No, we didn't directly solicit them. They just, you know, saw an opportunity to join the crew for having some fun. And we have come to love them and appreciate all their efforts every year. And I mean, seriously, what more can you ask of anyone than... requesting that they sing a christmas carol that's been made up with parkrun lyrics and they they all of them jump to it and say yep we'll do that and that's not the last you've heard of them for this episode our jokes are back our bonbon jokes are back

Christmas bonbon jokes

00:05:48Scott Trickett: And true to form, our news crew have delivered in spades on those. But last year, Mel, I cracked open a bonbon in our Christmas episode. This year, we're taking it a little bit of a different slant in the Trickett household. We're trying to be, well, we're ditching the bonbons. We're actually ditching wrapping paper and Christmas cards this year too.

00:06:16Melissa Erbacher: How do you ditch wrapping paper? Do you just like throw blankets over the presents or?

00:06:22Scott Trickett: That's been suggested. Wrap it up in some clothes. Pillowcases? Yeah, pillowcases, that sort of thing. Not sure how it'll go, but we're trying. We're trying. We care for the environment. We care for planet Earth. So we're just having a Christmas without them. But I've still brought my jugs.

00:06:38Melissa Erbacher: Okay, good. Well, I am also caring for the environment by recycling a bonbon that I made last year and never cracked. So while you will not be snapping a bonbon, I have a bonbon to snap. So do you want to go first?

00:06:54Scott Trickett: With my joke while you get your bonbon? Yes.

00:06:56Melissa Erbacher: Yeah.

00:06:56Scott Trickett: Okay. Did you hear about the dyslexic...

00:07:03Melissa Erbacher: I like this one already.

00:07:05Scott Trickett: Did you hear about the dyslexic devil worshipper?

00:07:09Melissa Erbacher: i did not he sold his soul to santa oh dear it has started the first terrible bonbon joke for the episode all right well i've got mine so i'm going to get the um i'm going to hold on to both ends myself it's this is actually more difficult than you imagine because you know you're they're quite big and your arms don't necessarily go out all that way All right, but are you ready? Yep. Oh, there we go. Did you win? I did win. Well done. Well, my right hand won and my left hand lost. And I've got a measuring tape is my little prize, which is always handy. Everybody needs a measuring tape. And I've got a little blue crown. And here we go. Here's the joke. 2017 from Mel. What do you call a man with a spade on his head?

00:08:06Scott Trickett: Doug. Doug.

00:08:09Melissa Erbacher: You've heard this one before. I have.

00:08:12Scott Trickett: But that's okay because last year you got my joke.

00:08:16Melissa Erbacher: I did. I guessed your joke last year.

00:08:17Scott Trickett: We're continuing the tradition every year.

00:08:21Melissa Erbacher: Although, what are we going to do next year if everybody's socially responsible and looks after the environment? No crackers? We'll just have to everybody Google jokes. Yeah, maybe.

00:08:31Scott Trickett: Maybe. Let's worry about that next year. Let's focus on Christmas 2017.

00:08:37Melissa Erbacher: Okay, but you did ask me what my highlights were and I didn't ask you what yours were for this year.

00:08:42Scott Trickett: Well, look, parkrun highlights for me, I got to visit, as everybody knows, I got to visit the UK in the middle of the year, which was very exciting. And I also got to start working for parkrun, which was also a kind of a highlight, if you will, to turn your hobby into your job. I couldn't, you know, it's a dream job. It really is. And it has been. I love the team that I work with here at parkrun Australia. I'm really looking forward to our team growing next year. Hopefully that will happen. But that's parkrun Highlight. Also, the podcast itself, you know. what we do and at times I think Mel you know it's been a challenge for me this year the podcast I love the recording side of it I love getting together with you and because of our flexibility this year we've done it during the day and That part of it's been great, but the time constraints to edit it have been challenging. But I've loved doing it. I've loved catching up with you and, as you alluded to, our roving reports this year. I love it when they come into our inbox because we never know when they're coming and they just come and we hear about, we hear from these parkruns and these new parkrunners every week a different perspective, so...

00:10:09Melissa Erbacher: And it's always a surprise and something for us to listen to that we don't already know about as well.

00:10:13Scott Trickett: Yeah. Yeah, that's what I was saying. Like, we never know what's coming. We just check the inbox on a Monday or a Tuesday and just sort of hope. And as we said in the news, we've had heaps this year and hope that will continue next year.

00:10:26Melissa Erbacher: Lots of little mini Christmases for us throughout the year when we receive those.

00:10:31Scott Trickett: The other highlight is, of course, my newfound love of Netflix, which I think we've got some good news.

00:10:41Melissa Erbacher: Did you get the phone number that we were looking for?

00:10:43Scott Trickett: Yes. Should we do that now?

00:10:46Melissa Erbacher: Yes. I'm excited. Let's do it.

00:10:49Scott Trickett: For those playing along at home and have listened and are up to date with all our episodes, you would be aware of our newfound love of Netflix. And you'd also be aware that Netflix haven't come back to us yet. with any sponsorship money. So we thought we'd rectify that. We're in a festive mood, so we're hoping Netflix will be in a festive mood. So we're just going to put in a call to the head office and find out exactly what's going on. So let me just dial them up.

00:11:17Melissa Erbacher: I reckon everyone feels generous at this time of year, Scotty. I think we're in with a good chance.

00:11:21Scott Trickett: I hope so, Mel. Okay, here we go. Dialing.

Netflix sponsorship call (running gag)

00:11:36Tim Oberg: Hello, Netflix.

00:11:37Scott Trickett: Yes, hello, Netflix. This is Scott Trickett from the parkrun Adventurers podcast. Obviously, you've heard of us. We just wanted to find out why you guys, you're obviously very busy over Christmas time, and we were just wondering why you haven't responded to any of our emails or messages so far.

00:11:58Tim Oberg: Sorry, let me stop you there. Scott who from what?

00:12:00Scott Trickett: Yep, yep, don't pretend. Scott Trickett, parkrun Adventurers podcast, number one parkrun podcast.

00:12:06Tim Oberg: Hang on, hang on, hang on. Is this, is that you, Kevin?

00:12:10Scott Trickett: Not Kevin Spacey, no.

00:12:12Tim Oberg: No? Okay. Do you act like Kevin Spacey?

00:12:18Scott Trickett: No, no.

00:12:20Tim Oberg: Are you calling about our smash hit, The Crown?

00:12:23Scott Trickett: No, no, haven't got onto The Crown yet.

00:12:26Melissa Erbacher: Let me just interrupt here, Scotty. Hi, Netflix. I'm Mel. I'm the co-host here on parkrun Adventurers. I'm sure you're aware that you guys are going to be bankrolling a Netflix original called The parkrun Adventurers very soon. So we're just a little bit confused why, you know, we haven't had any open communication with you yet.

00:12:47Tim Oberg: Right. Okay. Well, look, that could be a little bit above my department, but... Look, maybe what I can do is speak to someone in our marketing team and get them to call you back. Yes, call you back. Yeah. How about that?

00:13:03Scott Trickett: That would be great. That would be great. Thank you. Thanks for your time.

00:13:08Tim Oberg: All right. Merry Christmas.

00:13:09Scott Trickett: Good luck.

00:13:13Unidentified speaker: Okay.

00:13:15Scott Trickett: I think that went well, Mel.

00:13:18Melissa Erbacher: Well, I don't know. Scotty, were you – Did you pick up a hint of patronizing in that voice toward the end there?

00:13:26Scott Trickett: No, no. Very genuine. I felt it was very genuine. I think we're going to get a call from the marketing people. Their people are going to call our people.

00:13:33Melissa Erbacher: I'm excited. Maybe we should have given them our phone number again.

00:13:39Scott Trickett: Let's crack on. Let's crack on. Okay. We brought the boss back and our new Christmas tradition is to bring the boss back. So welcome back to the parkrun Adventurers, Mr. Tim Oberg.

00:13:55Tim Oberg: Hello, Netflix. Oh, hey guys.

00:14:00Scott Trickett: Hang on, something's up.

00:14:01Tim Oberg: What's going on?

00:14:03Scott Trickett: G'day, Tim.

00:14:04Tim Oberg: Hey, Scotty. Hey, Mel. How are you?

00:14:06Melissa Erbacher: So weird, you're talking about Netflix, Tim. We were just talking to Netflix.

00:14:11Tim Oberg: Oh, yeah. It's been forever since we've spoken. So, yeah. Anyway, good luck with Netflix.

00:14:17Scott Trickett: Yeah, I'm hopeful. Really good signs. Hey, we spoke to you a couple of weeks ago, you and Eloise Wellings, and we kicked off Fast 5K for Christmas. All I want is a Fast 5K for Christmas. This Saturday is D-Day. Personally, are you on track?

00:14:36Tim Oberg: Yeah, I am, I think. So it's been a 10-week training block. I'm in my taper week this week, which is much needed because it's actually, yeah, it's worn me down, this 10 solid weeks of training when I hadn't really done anything like this for a while. So my legs are pretty tired and heavy. So this week is a much, much needed taper week. This morning was my interval session, which was six by 200 metres. So, you know, next to nothing really. I think I ran more in my warm up and warm down than I did in my actual, the actual core of the session. But that's the whole point of the taper week. So yeah, all the training's gone well. I've got all the sessions in. They've all been, you know, I felt good. I'm not injured, which is good. And we'll see what happens on Saturday.

00:15:28Scott Trickett: And the feedback in the group has been good too. There's a few people who have already achieved their goals. Some people achieved them really early. I couldn't join along with the program, mainly because I'm a bit soft, but plenty have. So there's going to be not just you, but a few more going for their PVs.

00:15:44Tim Oberg: Yeah, absolutely. And look, I'd say as much as I'm looking forward to my run, I'm really looking forward to seeing what our Facebook group, I think it's got about 800 members, 732 members actually. I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone else posts on Saturday after they have their parkrun. So there's been some great Great conversations, great banter that's gone on over the last 10 weeks. A lot of people being really supportive of each other and giving tips about, you know, how they think other people can improve and so on. So, yeah, it's been really positive to see all that. Probably more than I expected, if I'm honest. Probably didn't expect so many people and so much really supportive chat. So, yeah, really, really looking forward to seeing how many people you know, post on Saturday saying that they've had a good run, had a PB, et cetera, et cetera.

00:16:48Melissa Erbacher: As you say, Tim, you feel like you've already won and I'm sure many of the people in the group already feel that way too. If anything, at least, you know, it's got everybody running through this really hot time of year, which I know I personally struggle with a lot. So it's kept motivation high. So congratulations and well done to both you and Elsie for getting everybody to this point. Yeah, thanks.

00:17:12Tim Oberg: No, it's been really good. This might become an annual thing for me, I think, my 10 weeks before Christmas. Keep me on my toes.

00:17:22Melissa Erbacher: Now, speaking of an annual thing, last year we asked you what were the highlights for you of 2016 and so we'd like to know how 2017 went for you and what some of the highlights were.

00:17:37Tim Oberg: Yeah, sure, sure. Well, obviously we can talk about it from a parkrun level or a personal level, so I'll just rattle off a few things and, yeah, hopefully it all makes sense. But I think from a parkrun perspective, when we went down to Canberra and did some promotion of parkrun down there at Parliament House, that was a really successful couple of days, a lot of support from both sides of Parliament, and I think it was really... set us up well for starting to look to work with, with the federal government moving forward in 20, 2018. I mean, I know we're already in conversations with the department of health. So, so that sort of stuff's really exciting for, for, for parkrun. I've had a great year of watching my Jack in particular. So my, my five year old watching him starting to enjoy his parkrunning. So he's, He's gone from being a pram runner or me pushing him in the pram as a baby to then being in a double pram with his sister when she came along. And now he's running... running and run-walking the 5K parkrun, and Evie's now in double pram with Archie. So it's been really great watching the kids grow, I guess, and grow up around parkrun. I mean, they don't know any different than to be up on a Saturday morning going to parkrun, which I think is a great thing for them. I think our team has grown, our staff, our parkrun staff has grown this year, so... We've gone from, well, last year was myself and then myself plus Renee Gimbert. And then obviously Scotty, you've come on and Nikki Waterfall and now Carol Cunningham. Our team has grown and that's just made an incredible difference to me, both professionally and personally. So that's been a huge highlight. And that's probably something that most parkrunners wouldn't really be that aware of. But obviously for us, it's huge. And then I guess, you know, you can say this every year about parkrun, but just the continued growth of the organisation. You know, we've probably launched, you know, 50, maybe more than 50 events this year, I'd say. I'm not exactly sure on the numbers, but in this calendar year, I'd say it'd be over 50 events. And, you know, our registrations have gone up incredibly and as a number of people who are participating every single week. So it's sort of sitting around the high 20,000s now and also about 2,000 or 2,500 volunteers uh every week i think if i'm correct i hope i'm using the right numbers um so look i think uh you know there's some some real top line sort of highlights of the year for me but it's been certainly another fantastic year in parkrunning we launched 66 events this year 66 more than one a week yeah yeah wow well that's that's a big increase i think it was 48 the year before so that's a pretty significant increase and obviously we've got some great partnerships uh that i've facilitated that our partnership our long-term partnership with medibank and and also our short-term partnership we have with embracing 2018 the commonwealth games gold coast commonwealth games legacy program so um that's really given us uh not that we needed a any any more momentum but it's it's increased the momentum to help us continue to grow so it's been a fantastic year that's for sure and of course the parkrun adventures podcast uh which uh And, you know, it would be remiss of me once again to not say what a highlight this is every week and what a great job you guys do. So, you know, there's a very passionate following for what you guys put out every week. So well done, guys.

00:21:30Scott Trickett: Thanks. That's obviously your number one highlight. So you left it till last.

00:21:34Tim Oberg: Forget about my five-year-old running parkrun. It's all about the podcast. Yeah, good. moving on to next year so we're going to grow even more next year do you think i think we've got more launches planned i think we might crack through 66 next year yeah i think so as well um i mean you know we haven't had a year where the uh where we've decreased our output so to speak so i mean if we've launched 66 this year then i think it's a safe bet that we're going to launch more than 66 next year and Of course, Junior parkrun is on the horizon. We've already had an official announcement about our intention to launch Junior parkrun. So there's going to be some, I think, some big news on that in the new year in terms of actual locations and dates. So that will increase our activity as well. But yeah, just the sort of Saturday parkrun launches continue to go from strength to strength. And yeah, it's been such a thrill to see parkruns launching in such a lot of small towns have really taken on parkrun in the last 12 months and, you know, events where there's 20 and 30 and 40 people attending. And, you know, for me, I think this is, this is really wonderful because a lot of these smaller towns, there isn't much else going on. And so to have a parkrun come to small regional locations, I think is really, really valuable. So yeah, really hoping to see more of that next year.

00:23:02Scott Trickett: Can we just quickly touch on junior parkrun because I know so many of our parkrunners are keen to know what's going on and we've said it's been coming for a while now but we still haven't launched. So can we just put everybody's minds at ease and let them know what's happening there?

00:23:16Tim Oberg: Yep, absolutely. So basically what we are working on behind the scenes is a safeguarding document. So this is basically parkrun's policies on how we are going to look after children and when they come to Junior parkrun. Because it's a lot different to Saturday parkrun, because ultimately at a Saturday parkrun, the children are the responsibility of their parent or guardian. Whereas at Junior parkrun, because children are able to participate on their own, mum and dad don't have to run a walk with them. So we're assuming a lot more responsibility of children at Junior parkrun than we are at 5k parkrun and so we're working on these policy documents we have a part-time staff member linda who's working on that full-time she's a safeguarding expert now the the tricky part is that each state in australia has different legislation around child safeguarding so It's quite a long process to, I guess, sign off on this document. We're working with our parkrun global team as well to make sure that the policy is in line with the global policies. So basically, that's where it's at right now. I'd say we are three quarters of the way there in terms of the policy. But, you know, when I say three quarters, that's three quarters of a policy that we've been working on for probably over a year, I'd say. So it's still a few months away from being done. But as soon as that policy is done and is signed off by the team at parkrun Global, then that'll set us in motion. We'll be able to look at locking in launch locations and dates and so on. So, yeah, that's really what's keeping us. And the reason we're taking so long with it is that it's something that I guess just shows how seriously we take that responsibility of having children at parkrun. So it's not something we're going to rush due to public demand or anything like that. You know, we have to get the policy right. Once it's right, then we can go.

00:25:32Melissa Erbacher: And the runners will be ready and waiting, I've no doubt.

00:25:35Tim Oberg: Yeah, won't they? For sure.

00:25:39Melissa Erbacher: Now, Tim, If you could, it's the festive season, but if you could have one Christmas wish for parkrunners this year, what would it be?

00:25:48Tim Oberg: Oh, for parkrunners. Look, I think the one thing that I lose sleep over when it comes to parkrunners is around the health and safety of our parkrunners. And we've already... You know, we've seen that by our Defibs for parkrun campaign. We've invested a lot of time and a lot of money in making sure that almost all of our events now have access to a defibrillator. And so I guess my one Christmas wish for parkrunners is that when they're at parkrun, that their parkrunning experience in a healthy and a safe environment and that their own personal health is good so that we want to see people coming to parkrun and doing so in good health. So I think that's my one wish is for happy and healthy parkruns to continue.

00:26:50Scott Trickett: Once again, we're going to put you on the spot, Mr Oberg, and how about we finish off with a now traditional Christmas bonbon joke. Have you got one ready to go?

00:27:00Tim Oberg: Well, how about why did the birdie go to hospital?

00:27:08Melissa Erbacher: No idea.

00:27:10Tim Oberg: To get a tweetment. To get a tweetment.

00:27:17Scott Trickett: Get a tweet. Oh, we got it.

00:27:22Tim Oberg: That's not bad, eh? Actually, no, look, I'm going to be honest. I did just quickly Google that as soon as you brought it up. I've never heard that one before. So... What did the girl say to her grandfather when he fell in the river? Paddle pop?

00:27:41Melissa Erbacher: That wouldn't make sense in other countries. Do they have paddle pops overseas? Yeah, I'm not sure.

00:27:47Tim Oberg: Not too sure. But, yeah, no, there's some classics out there, aren't there? There are.

00:27:53Scott Trickett: I'd add the first one to your repertoire. Might leave the paddle pop.

00:27:57Tim Oberg: Yeah, quick tap tweet, man. No, it's not bad. No, no, there we go. The old bonbon jokes. They are crackers.

00:28:07Melissa Erbacher: They are crackers, pun intended. Yeah. Thanks for joining us for the last episode of 2017, Tim. Loved having you on the show again and look forward to having you back in 2018. All right.

00:28:24Tim Oberg: Thanks, Scott. Thanks, Mel. And Thanks to all your listeners for supporting the show and of course for supporting parkrun.

00:28:39Paul Kitching: Hey Mel Scott and Nortbello parkrun Adventurers, it's PK here, your On The Spot Channel 5 reporter checking in from South Australia with another roving... Nah, actually it's just to wish everyone a wonderful festive season and superb, safe new year. Thanks Mel and Scott for another stellar year of quality content, full of both education and entertainment, just the way we all love it, and of course all about running. It's been a pleasure to pop in here and there to add to the fun. And what an honour to be part of the now expanded Channel 5 News team. Superb to have all the other reporters on the road, all slaving away and loving it. Looking forward to plenty more of it in 2018. And thanks also, of course, to parkrun Australia for continuing to launch new events every week. So we have more reason to get out there and yabber away. So, yeah, have a brilliant Christmas, and if you miss out on a dodgy joke in your Christmas cracker, there's always this one. Hey, PK, what do you call an alligator in a vest? I don't know, PK, what do you call an alligator in a vest? An investigator! Ah, yes. Or maybe you prefer this gem. What did the gardener do when he got excited? He wet his plants. One more to bring it on home in case you already knew or had heard those. Why do basketballers always stay at home? Because they're not allowed to travel. All right, well, that's enough dodginess for one report. At least I'm laughing. Thanks again, Mel and Scott. It's been a treat being lucky enough and honoured to be a part of the podcast this year. And it was also superb to meet you both in Nooriutpa parkrun earlier this year as well. Hope to catch up with you sometime in 2018 at an event, face-to-face IRL. This is PK over and out. Until next time, see ya.

00:30:09[laughter]

00:30:41Scott Trickett: For our final guest for 2017, you guys have told us you love the behind-the-scenes stuff. So we're hunted down an Aussie who has infiltrated the parkrun UK scene. We're going to chat to Glen Turner, who is the Press and Media Manager for parkrun UK. Welcome to the podcast, Glenn.

00:31:01Glen Turner: Thanks, Scott. Great to be here.

00:31:03Scott Trickett: So, Glenn, that title, what actually do you do? What does your job involve for parkrun UK?

00:31:09Glen Turner: Well, that's an excellent question, Scott. I'm not always sure myself. But to give you some idea, I'm the press and media manager, and I cover both parkrun UK and parkrun Ireland. My role has evolved quite a bit over the past two and a half years. When I first came on, about 50% of my time was taken up with Facebook and Twitter, as well as doing the weekly newsletters for the UK and for Ireland. And the rest of the time was spent basically talking to journalists. We were getting to the point in the UK where we were attracting quite a bit of interest from regional and national journalists who'd heard about parkrun, heard about this concept that was getting people running, getting them walking, volunteering, bringing communities together. And they were very, very intrigued by that but weren't quite sure how they could cover it because on our website they would see a list of times and results which to many looks like a race. But obviously our narrative is very, very different. We're talking about volunteering and social cohesion and bringing communities together. So they were looking at it and saying, well, in a two or three minute piece on telly or a two minute piece on radio or in a newspaper, how can I communicate this and make people understand what parkrun is all about? So by doing that, we generated quite a lot of press coverage and that snowballed over time. So over the past couple of years, I've now given up the social media stuff to a couple of other people who now do that. And I purely focus on the external communication. So the press and media side of things and also doing the newsletters for the UK and Ireland. So we've got to the point in the UK now where we have about 50 articles a week on parkrun, as well as TV and radio segments. So it is a very, very big part of my role now. And as time goes on, we're only going to attract more attention. So that's the way that my roles evolved over time. And apart from that, also various bits and bobs that come in around publicity. So Paul Sinton-Hewitt and I live and work quite closely together. And he's a very sought after person. I think I'm right in saying that this podcast last year, PSH was the guest. So no pressure on me to fill those big shoes this year. But Paul is a very popular guy in the UK. A lot of people want him to go and speak at university lectures at all kinds of different functions. So I work closely with Paul to look at all the offers that come in and try and work out the ones that he can attend and manage those appearances too. So it's a very, very, very varied role, but no day is the same. It keeps me entertained, shall I say.

00:33:57Melissa Erbacher: It sounds like it also keeps you very busy. Glenn, With the media who approach you and want to do articles, do you find there are a lot of challenges in that sometimes they're looking for, not shocking, shocking is not the thing, but, you know, like potentially a negative angle that or sensational. Sensational is the word I'm looking for. They're looking for something sensational to write. Do you find you get many approaches that are like that or are most people just looking for the good news stories?

00:34:31Glen Turner: It's a really, really good question. I think sensational is probably too strong a word, but I think we need to be realistic and say that any journalist needs to have a substantial hook, in inverted commas, before they can take a story forward. So before their editor will sign off on a story, it needs to be quite strong. It just depends what angle that's going to be. So we will always, I think the two things that journalists will always need, they'll need people and they'll need numbers. And we're really lucky in parkrun in that we have 4 million people and we have more stats than you can poke a stick at. So from my point of view, it's a way of finding those people who've got really, really strong parkrun stories to tell and then backing that up with a few statistics around that event or that region or that country or whatever it might be in terms of the coverage. So in general, I think journalists are looking for really good news, human interest stories. It just needs to be strong enough that they feel convinced that anybody either reading their newspaper or magazine or watching on television or listening on the radio is going to be captured by that story and feel compelled to either listen to it or to watch it. So I think we're really lucky in that because we have so many people who are willing to share their stories, we can generally find somebody who has a really strong story to tell and then we let them do that. So I can't think of too many times where there's been a real sensational approach. But I think in those instances, by turning it around and saying that we've got some really powerful real life stories here that you can use, then it kind of leads in more in a direction that we want to go in.

00:36:05Melissa Erbacher: That's good to hear. I know oftentimes they are literally just looking for that headline that's going to grab people and get them reading and whether or not it's damaging to us or Other people, in my experience, a lot of them don't really care. But it's good to see that you're sending them in the happy direction.

00:36:24Glen Turner: I think, sorry, one other point was that generally the journalist who writes the story, if it's in print, is not the person who writes the headline. So somebody is going to skim through that article and put a headline together, which more often than not has nothing to do with or doesn't really reflect accurately on parkrun, shall we say. So headlines are one thing. But once you actually get into the nitty gritty of the story, I think nine times out of 10, they definitely do us justice in the way that we're covered, which is really positive.

00:36:55Melissa Erbacher: Awesome. So I imagine you have a little bit of an overlap between the kind of things that you put out to media in that respect and the content that you use for the newsletters. Do you have any trouble finding content every week? Because yes, we have like a large population base in terms of participation, but How do you find the stories? Do the people come to you? Do you go searching for them?

00:37:19Glen Turner: It goes both ways. I think generally, probably about 80% of the time, the stories come to us. And I think one of the main challenges for me in the past couple of years has been really to reach out to event teams and say, look, we are always on the lookout for really strong human interest stories. And what's really important to us is that we get a really good, I guess, geographical and demographic spread on those stories. So at any one time, we might have 15 or 20 stories of people who've gone from being completely inactive in a really bad place in their life to starting to exercise, coming into parkrun either as a walker, a runner, a volunteer, and then a year or two later can really speak to people and say, look, I've been through this experience. parkrun has really helped me turn my life around. Maybe it can help you as well. And so we've got all of these banked up stories, but they do sound a little bit similar with all due respect to the people who have written them for us. So the challenge for us is not the amount of content. It's the diversity of that content. So it's trying to find different stories that are out there each week. So different age groups, different parts of the country, different experiences, different backgrounds, really trying to show the diversity of parkrun. And I think as we go forward with the new newsletter templates we use now, for example, we're getting to a point where we can segment the newsletter. So not everybody will receive the same newsletter each week. We can tailor it. So If somebody has got a really powerful story in one part of the UK, for example, say in Scotland, we could use that as the headline story in Scotland for the newsletter. So everybody registered in Scotland will receive a newsletter with a Scottish story at the top, for example. And so by using the functionality within the newsletter templates that we have now, we can tailor the content to people in different parts of the country. Whereas previously we might have had 15 stories of people who've been complete beginner parkruns and they're talking about their parkrun journey. We can match up and say we think this part of the parkrun population would really relate to this story. And so we can make sure they receive that. So as we go forward, we get into a point where we can never have too much content. Anything that we have come through, we can use. And on the flip side of that, to answer the other part of your question, we do look at the areas of the country and different demographics where we have stories or don't have stories from. And more and more, we reach out to those people, those areas, and say, look, we haven't really represented you in the newsletter or in any of our comms previously. It would be great to hear from you, whether it's to showcase your event, to... do a story about a case study up there or whatever it might be, something that we can put that area or that demographic on the parkrun map for 15 minutes, if you like. And what we normally find is once we break down that barrier between us and that area or whatever it might be, we then tend to find that leads start to come through in the future from that area. So once they've seen, yes, it's great that our parkrun has been in the spotlight in the newsletter, for example, they're then more acutely aware that we are always looking for that content and they start to send us dribs and drabs through. So it's sort of a perpetual thing, I guess. The more content we produce, the more leads we get back.

00:40:45Scott Trickett: Speaking of diverse stories, there's one area of the parkrun community or one section of the parkrun community that we don't hear a lot about, and it's growing here in Australia, and that's our refugee parkrunners. I understand you've got a great story brewing about a certain refugee getting involved in parkrun over there.

00:41:05Glen Turner: Yeah, that's right. So I met with a refugee, African refugee, last week. He was incarcerated in his home village a couple of years ago and escaped from prison under the background of gunfire, fled across Africa, across the Med, got through Europe and ended up in Calais in France at a refugee camp that's called The Jungle. He managed to get across to the UK and has been seeking asylum status ever since. Now, he ended up being billeted by a family in London And he was obviously extremely depressed and lonely because he couldn't work, had no permanent status. His family obviously didn't travel with him. So he was in a really, really bad place. And one of the biggest problems that he had was that he couldn't sleep. He said, I don't leave the house each day. I don't exercise. I miss my family. I've got a really uncertain future. I just can't get to sleep for days at a time. So the family that he is living with, they're not parkrunners, but they knew of parkrun. And they suggested that he go along purely on a Saturday to run 5K in the hope that he'd be able to sleep on Saturday night after having a blast out over 5K. So they signed him up. They took him down there and realized that he is actually an extremely good runner. So... He travels between two different parkruns in southeast London. And a couple of weeks ago, he broke the course record at one of them. So he's got an extreme talent. In the meantime, he's been picked up by one of the local running clubs. And they've been working closely with him. And he's been running in the cross-country league this year. So that's really, really helped him in terms of not just finding a focus in life, but also expanding his social circles. So he's making friends through parkruns. And even though it is still a very uncertain time, he does sound actually quite positive. And his story has been actually shown in part on the BBC as part of a wider show they were doing on refugees. And it was also picked up a while ago by the Guardian newspaper. So they were focusing mainly on his running ability and joining the athletics club and doing really well in local races. So I wanted to speak to him to find out more about how it all started from the parkrun angle, both in terms of his running and also in the contacts and the friends that he's made through that. So, yeah, really, really lovely young man, only in his early 20s and a really compelling story to share. So we're working together. His English isn't great. So we're working together to put something out there. So hopefully it'll be either in the last newsletter of this year or the first one of next year.

00:43:58Melissa Erbacher: I mean, obviously, this gentleman has got an amazing parkrun story in terms of how he came to know about parkrun, but we haven't actually heard yours. How did you get involved with parkrun in the first place?

00:44:14Glen Turner: Well, rewinding quite a bit, I suppose. It was early 2010. The previous year, I've been living in the UK since the same week parkrun started, actually, in October 2004. But by 2010, parkrun had come to the town that I was living in, which is called Bromley in southeast London. I'd been away for a year in 2009. I took a belated gap year and travelled around the world. And when I came back, I was not in great shape. as you might expect, having had 12 months traveling around the world. So I promptly signed up to my first marathon, which was to be in September. And I needed to find a way to get fit and to get running. So I went back to a running club that I belonged to a few years previously when I first started running. And the first night when I was down there, the club president stood up and said, there's this great new concept called parkrun. which has started, and I'd encourage all of you to go along, get involved, wear your club singlets, speak to people about joining the club and just be really, really good ambassadors because we think this is an absolutely transformational concept because there are people there of all ages, of all abilities, and we think it's great for you guys as club runners but also a great way to advertise the club. And given this was one of the most established clubs running clubs anywhere in the world, Blackheath and Bromley Harriers, which has been around since the 1800s, that was a real vote of confidence. Because I know a lot of old clubs are sort of steeped in tradition and say, well, we're more concerned with the pointy end runners. So for a big established club like that to suggest that we go down there was a real vote of confidence. So I went along there and did my first parkrun in April of 2010. Absolutely loved it. I'd never seen anything like it. I thought it was just absolutely brilliant. But 5K was certainly not the distance I wanted to be running at that time. I just thought it was too short and too hard. So from then on, I ran every month or so. But other than that, I was volunteering down there. And I really, really enjoyed that. So I did that for a couple of years. And then when I moved to North London, I was working for the European Union at that time. I was working in the area of sustainable travel, which is basically encouraging people to get to work any way apart from using their car, basically. And I knew that the area that I'd moved to was quite disadvantaged, that came out the bottom of London on a lot of the different scales they use. And I thought this would be a really impactful area to establish a parkrun. I know it'll be a really, really hard sell in this community, but I think it would be a really good thing to do. So having previously been a run director, I had some idea of what I was doing. So we met with the local council, with the park owners there. They were really keen to have a parkrun there. So very, very quickly, we managed to get that established. To give an idea of the park, it's a really beautiful park, but it wasn't in the most beautiful area. The start line had council housing around it on three sides. I was often shifting homeless people off the course when I was doing course setup. There had been a murder in the park a couple of weeks before we started. So, you know, it wasn't a brilliant area in that respect. And when we started it, we got really low numbers. I think we had seven or eight at our fifth event and then steadily increased after that, but only by two or three people each week. But that was five years ago. And when you go in the park now, you wouldn't recognize it. It's got what's called green flag status in the UK, which means it ticks all the boxes in terms of being a well-renowned area of open space. The whole thing has been regenerated. a beautiful path through it now. There's two lovely cafes there. Yeah, it's just a really, really lovely place to be all year round. And even though I've since moved away from there, I go back there all the time to say hi to all the people I made friends with over that first couple of years at parkrun there. And that was pretty much the way that I really got started. From there, I went on to be an ambassador and started, was lucky enough to be involved with starting lots of different events all around North London and the areas just north of London. And then in 2015, I came on staff. But I don't think if it wasn't without Gladstone parkrun, which is the park I'm talking about, if it wasn't for Gladstone parkrun, then I don't think my involvement would be what it is today. So just seeing the way that the community, the way that it was, really embraced the parkrun and the way that the community and the park has transformed in that time is really quite special.

00:49:00Scott Trickett: Now, you've moved away from there. And have you started up any more parkruns yourself or just involved as an ambassador helping events get up?

00:49:08Glen Turner: So I was an ambassador from early 2013 until 2016. And I was involved with starting around 20 new events across the patch that I covered. I think it was 17 5K events and three junior parkruns memory. And that was an incredibly rewarding thing to do. There weren't many parkruns in that area when I moved there. And there weren't really any event teams coming to me saying we'd like a parkrun in this area. So I went out and spoke to a few councils and a few landowners and started to plant the seeds to try and get some support. And that seemed to be there in most cases. So after that, it was just reaching out to a few people in those communities and finding event teams or potential event teams who were keen to get involved. And once we got the first, I guess, four or five started across my patch, then that started to really foster a lot of interest from people. So it became a more traditional way of starting events when they would come to me and I would support them through the process as an ambassador does. But I absolutely loved starting those new events. It gave me a really much broader insight. into the way that parkruns has started and the way that teams relate to each other, dynamics in different events and whatnot. And it also gave me a wonderful network of contacts. So I can't do my job in the UK without the people that I know and the stories that come to me. And so having that network of contacts across that area has just been absolutely priceless for me in terms of doing what I do. So it was a real shame to step down as an ambassador. Last year it was, but such is the growth in that area. There are now five or six ambassadors covering that patch that I took on back in 2013. So they started a lot more events and there are many more prospects in the diary at the moment.

00:51:09Scott Trickett: When I was over in the UK, I was lucky enough to go for a run with you and we ran an amazing bit of freedom run at your local parkrun. What are some of your top three parkruns that you've run over this journey? I imagine there's a few.

00:51:26Glen Turner: That's a really hard question. So the event that you mentioned is Rushmere parkrun, which is in Buckinghamshire, which is where I've been living for the past few years. And I was the event director there until recently. And it's, as you know, in a beautiful country park. It's an ancient woodland, actually. It's about 1,000 years old. So it's a beautiful place to run. But I'm quite biased, so I won't put Rushmere in my top three, I suppose. One of my all-time favourites is up in the Lake District in Cumbria, which is in the northwest of England. There's an event there called Fell Foot, which runs along the shoreline of Lake Windermere, which is the largest lake in England. And it sits underneath the highest mountains in England as well. So it's a really dramatic setting. And the first time that I was there, I was lucky enough to be there on a very rare cloudless morning. And the run goes along the shore of the lake. It's a trail course. So it's certainly not flat. But by the Lake District standards, it is pretty flat because they are some pretty hefty mountains up there. And, yeah, it's on a National Trust property. Absolutely stunning to look at. Really great community feel. I remember speaking to the run director that morning who was doing it for the very first time. And to this day, there's no doubt, did the funniest pre-run briefing I've ever heard in my life. So I'd love to see where they are now because they certainly started with a bang. But one thing I'll always remember about the first time I was there was I was running pretty well in those days and I ran one of my fastest times. And just after I'd finished and got scanned, I turned around and there was a young woman, maybe 20 or 21, came flying through the finish funnel. Barely broke stride getting her barcode out of her shorts, getting scanned, and then running along the shoreline into the National Trust Cafe and Visitor Center. And I thought, oh, that's strange. Never mind. I had my camera with me. So I went back out on the course and got some lovely photos because it was a beautiful morning. And then after the run had finished, went into the cafe with the core team. And I looked up and the woman who was about to serve me, make the coffees, was a woman who'd been behind me in the finishing funnel. I said, I recognize you. You were out on the run. And she said, yeah, my shift starts at 9.30 and bearing in mind England parkrun start at 9am. She said, oh, my shift starts at 9.30. So as long as I run in about 20 minutes, I can get in here, get changed and be on time for my shift. So I got a photo of her pouring coffees with her barcode pinned to her shirt. So that's one thing that I'll never forget.

00:54:03Melissa Erbacher: She's got some good time management skills, obviously.

00:54:06Glen Turner: She does and obviously motivates her to run as fast as she can as well.

00:54:13Melissa Erbacher: I love that she's not using work as an excuse not to run on a Saturday morning.

00:54:17Glen Turner: Exactly, exactly.

00:54:19Melissa Erbacher: Okay, Glenn, so we've had a few of your highlights. Now, if money were no object, time was no object, you could go anywhere in the world, where would you parkrun?

00:54:33Glen Turner: Oh, God. Probably a bit of a cliche, this one, but it is true. There's an island off Ireland called Bere Island, and it's a community of about 160 people, and they have a parkrun there. And it's a real bucket list destination for a lot of people, particularly in the UK. Pretty much everybody on the island is involved in parkrun in some capacity, whether it be running, walking, volunteering or in the local cafe or driving the ferry from the mainland across to the island. So most people take the early ferry across, do the parkrun, which is on the roads on the island, have a coffee and then come back across to the mainland. They also have a running festival out there every August. So a pipe dream of mine is to go out and do the parkrun and the running festival over a weekend. But it's right off the south southwest coast of Ireland. So it's quite a difficult place to get to. So it's on the list, but if money was no object, then I'd certainly go next August.

00:55:39Scott Trickett: Well, you're back in Australia now, currently for Christmas and New Year. I imagine you've got some Aussie parkruns lined up. Are you looking forward to sampling some of what we've got to offer?

00:55:49Glen Turner: I absolutely am. The last time I was home was almost five years ago. So back then I ran St. Peter's, Parramatta, and Jinandera parkrun in Canberra, which starts on the steps of my old dorm from university. So that was a nice event to run. Since then, obviously, there's been exponential growth in Australia. So there are green dots all over the map. I don't really get a say where I parkrun. My parents are two of the most fanatical parkrunners you could meet. So mum's had a Google spreadsheet together for months now. And as the Christmas compendium is filled up, she's filled out the options that we have for festive parkrun. So we're based in Shellharbour, a couple of hours south of Sydney. So we'll definitely be at Shell Harbour this Saturday. And then after that, mum has got the spreadsheet together for the rest of the trip. So I think it'll be a Christmas Day parkrun in North Wollongong. Then we're visiting family down in Victoria for a week. So we'll probably do two or three down in Gippsland. So not too far from you, Scott. And then the last ones will be back in New South Wales. So I think we're looking at doing the launch of Huskisson just before I fly back and one other to be confirmed. So yeah, lots on the agenda. It's nice coming home over Christmas because obviously you get the extra Christmas day and the New Year's day double. So yeah. I'm hoping to maximise my parkrunning whilst I'm home.

00:57:19Scott Trickett: It's a good time to be visiting, no doubt. Before we let you go, Glenn, there's one story that's piqued my interest over in the UK, how it came about and how it's going, and that's the parkrun that started up in the prison. And I understand there's another one on the cards. You were involved in that, I imagine. How is that going and how did it come about? Can you tell us that story?

00:57:44Glen Turner: Yeah, so it was the brainchild of a guy called Shane Spencer. Shane's a PE supervising officer in a prison called Haverigg, which is up in Cumbria in the northwest of England. And he was looking for ways to engaged prisoners who weren't involved in the gym program in his prison. And so he did a survey of them and said, look, we really want you to be taking part in physical activity because we know that there are obvious benefits there. That's no secret in the prison estate that there are significant advantages to taking part in physical activity. He said, what do you guys want to do? And overwhelmingly, those guys who were surveyed came back and said, we'd like to run and And we'd like to do it outside. So he was aware that right near the prison is a parkrun called Millen, which hadn't been going for very long. So he went down there and volunteered for a while just to find out more about what parkrun was. And he decided that that would be a wonderful initiative to introduce to a prison environment. So he got in touch with us. and said, look, we'd love to have a parkrun here. These are the reasons why. Obviously, we'd be the first and there are going to be operational challenges there from both sides. But, you know, if you're keen to help us make it work, then we think it can. So over the next few months, probably three or four months, we had a lot of internal discussions about whether or not we could do it from an operational point of view, how it would be perceived, what the impact would be, what the potential problems or issues might crop up. So all of those things were discussed. We also spoke to a lot of external bodies who are involved in the prison estate, whether it be promoting physical activity or volunteering or anything to do with reintegration of prisoners, so educational programs, for example. And after all those discussions had taken place, it was decided that, yes, this was something not just we could do, something that we really believed in doing and something that could have a really significant impact, not just in that prison, but if that was successful, then scaling it around the UK and perhaps around the world one day. So, yeah, having put all that together, the last thing to do was put together a really strong communication strategy around how we were going to do it and what would happen if we started to get some negative publicity. I guess we never really knew how the parkrun population, general population, how the press and media would react to this announcement. And we were conscious, I guess, that there could be, you know, a big newspaper headline in one of the tabloids the next day about how prisoners should be, you know, staring at a wall for 23 hours and not be allowed to go out and take part in fun things like parkrun, for example. So we prepared really diligently for that and worked closely with the government ministry that looks after prisons, which is the Ministry of Justice. um and a few days before the first event we publicly announced it and i think it's fair to say that 99.9 percent of the feedback that we received and the comments that were made were really really positive which was you know great for us and really showed what we were doing was not just the right thing to do but it'd been really well received by by the general public um and i think we're six or seven weeks in now and having had discussions with a couple of people involved in that parkrun. It's obviously proving to be a real success, so much so that we've just booked in the start date of our second prison parkrun, which will be in Northern Ireland in early January. And there are an awful lot more prisons that have expressed an interest. So they've obviously seen the model and realised it's something they could implement in their prisons. And we've also had a lot of support from high up in the government, in the ministry, politicians and decision makers who've looked at this and said, yes, this is definitely something that we should be supporting. So overwhelmingly, so far, it has been a real success. But I think until some of these prisoners who are taking part in this parkrun are actually reintroduced into society, we won't really know what the full impact is. But I think we're all pretty confident that there are going to be some great examples of how physical activity and the volunteering opportunities that these prisoners have is going to help them when they are reintroduced to society. So I think the most important thing to say is that, you know, this idea of physical activity and education and volunteering is not a new thing in a prison environment. But what we bring to the table really, just like in the general population, is that it's a really sustainable concept. And so there's no doubt in my mind that in the future we're going to have, all things going well, a number of other prison parkruns. And if they all prove to be as successful as what Black Combe has been so far, then that's a great thing.

01:02:49Melissa Erbacher: Well, we certainly think it's another fabulous thing that parkrun is doing. Glenn, thank you for joining us for the final episode of the parkrun Adventurers podcast for 2017. We have loved having you on the show and sharing all your experiences and stories with us. But before we let you go to enjoy some more holiday jet lag in Australia, can you give us... A Christmas bonbon joke. Everybody else has been giving us bonbon jokes and we've been getting the best ones from everyone. So if you've got one handy.

01:03:24Glen Turner: I do. Only because I was down at the beach yesterday with a couple of friends of mine who are both golfers and they hit me with one. So I think it goes, what do you call a crazy golfer?

01:03:37Melissa Erbacher: A crazy golfer. No, I'm drawing a blank. What do you call a crazy golfer?

01:03:46Glen Turner: A crack putt. It made me laugh anyway, so I'm not sure what that says about me, but there you go.

01:03:54Melissa Erbacher: They're so bad, they're good. That's the key, I think.

01:03:58Glen Turner: Indeed.

01:04:09Lyndell Murray: G'day parkrun Adventurers, it's Lyndell here from the Channel 5 News crew checking in for the last time in 2017 and that means it's Christmas time. And Christmas time means crackers, means terrible hats and excellent jokes. So here's one of my favourites. How does Santa like his pizza? Deep pan, crisp and even. So if you don't get that, let me just sing it to you in the spirit of the parkrun Adventurers Choir. Santa likes his pizza deep and crisp and even. If you still don't get that, here's a backup joke. What do you call a kid that doesn't believe in Santa? A rebel without a clause, of course. Alrighty. Well, thanks for a great 2017, everybody. Have a wonderful Christmas and a fantastic new year. And if you are adventuring around to different parkruns, please travel safely and we'll see you in the new year.

01:04:38[music]

State of the Nation

01:05:12Melissa Erbacher: Earlier in the year, we did a little bit of a segment called State of the Nation, which went down a treat with all our listeners. And because we decided that it should be a big, super fun episode for the end of the year, we're bringing it back. And to kick us off all the way from sunny Victoria, we have the delightful Ashni Millis. Ashni, welcome to the parkrun Adventurers. Hi, Mel. How are you? I'm super great and thank you for joining us. Now, are you ready to give us the state of the nation for Victoria?

01:05:47Ashni Millis: I am. Awesome. Take it away. So, Victoria has had a big year launching 16 new events and that's two more than last year. We now have 58 events for tourists to choose from. Recently, we have launched Marriott Waters, Sunbury, Coonwara and Bannockburn Bush. We also already have four events booked in for next year, those being Gardiners Creek, Bright, Lakes Entrance and Neil. Also, keep an eye out for Ocean Grove, Rosebud, Warrandyte and Birdsland, where event directors and ambassadors are busily trying to set up new events. Also, on the 20th of Jan, we have the small seaside town of Port Fairy's first anniversary.

01:06:31Scott Trickett: Great stuff, Ashnee, for the greater state. Now, you mentioned a couple of events there that Bird's Land, I'm not 100% sure of, but where is Bird's Land, for example?

01:06:43Ashni Millis: So I believe Bird's Land is in Belgrave Heights, so probably about 50km from Melbourne, say like the end of the train line.

01:06:53Scott Trickett: I also want to mention over January, our friends down at Torquay are going to have to shut their parkrun down. I think some people might have adventured down to Torquay, but all they have to do is go up the road a bit to Portarlington or Balyang Sanctuary and they'll still get a parkrun in. Apart from that, it's all systems go over Christmas and New Year's. Thanks for joining us and telling us all about the great estate, Victoria.

01:07:19Ashni Millis: No worries. Thank you so much.

01:07:21Scott Trickett: And now we're heading down to our island state, our smaller state, but one state that's been kicking goals this year. Welcome back to the podcast for the third time, almost a regular, Christine Timms.

01:07:34Christine Timms: Thanks, Scotty. Thanks, Mel. How are we?

01:07:37Scott Trickett: We're great. We're great. I know Tasmania is great too. Tell us all about what's been happening in the past year and what you've got planned coming up.

01:07:46Christine Timms: Well, it's been a really busy year down here in Tassie. We started the year with three events at Launceston, Hobart and Devonport. We've launched another three since then. So we launched George Town in April, Railton at the end of October. And just on the 9th of December, we launched Windsor Precinct in Launceston. And that actually happened on the very same day as our first event in Tassie, Launceston celebrated their 250th event. So that was a really nice synergy there. As a result of all the activity down here, life's got a little bit busy for me as the only event ambassador. So I'm very pleased that we've been able to welcome Ben Brockman as a new event ambassador. He came on board in November. And Ben is actually the event director at Devonport parkrun in the northwest. So welcome to Ben. Just before we launched Windsor Precinct, we were very fortunate to have won the Physical Activity Award at the Tasmanian Community Achievement Awards just at the beginning of December, which came with a lovely trophy and also a $1,000 check, which will help pay for half a defib down here. So very happy with that and very proud of all the volunteers who've made parkrun happen. And then just last week, we were awarded a Healthy Tasmania Community Innovations Grant, and that will enable us to fund another two new events in Tasmania in 2018. So really pleased with the engagement with council and government levels down here, all the different levels of government. So the awards and the grants really just give us some recognition that all levels of government down here actually really recognise the value of parkrun in Tasmania. And we've been very fortunate that the local councils have also been in a position to fund all or part of some of our events. So Railton was partially funded by the Kentish Council and Windsor Precinct was funded by the West Tamar Council with a great deal of support there. And big news is Burnie City Council have actually put up the funding to fund a new Burnie parkrun and they're making some significant infrastructure changes which will actually allow that to happen sometime next year. Moving on, we're also launching Queen's Domain parkrun in Hobart on the 20th of January. Now, this one's a little bit exciting for the adventurers because it will be a new compass point. So it'll take over from Hobart parkrun as the southern point of the parkrun compass. And, of course, for the alphabet tourists, it's a queue, which is not that easy to come by either. So that's very exciting for us. Another exciting event that we had at Launceston in, I think it was November, was that we had a gentleman by the name of Andrew Lane come and visit us. Just out of the blue. And Andrew came up to me as the run director and handed me his gold parkrun barcode. Now, the people who have a gold parkrun barcode are actually the parkrun pioneers. So he was one of the original 13 parkrunners way back in 2004. So we're very excited to meet Andrew and even more excited. I think he was more excited than we were because he was actually doing his very first parkrun outside of England. So he hadn't even done one outside of England in Scotland or Ireland. We were the very first. That was very exciting. Moving further into next year, so we doubled our events in 2017 and with the funding opportunities that we've got coming up and the several events in the pipeline, we actually look set to double again in 2018, which means that the event ambassadors are going to be extraordinarily busy along with the event teams who are organising those new events. And we would love another event ambassador in the south because just between you and me, quite a bit of that activity will be down south. So that's it. Not that much happening in Tassie, really.

01:11:49Melissa Erbacher: Wow. We barely got two words out of you, Chris. That's amazing. And you're, as Scotty mentioned, you're hitting goals down there. I mean, you are messing with... compass points and the alphabet and you're making it more difficult for people to become statesmen in Tassie. But love it. It's so incredible that you doubled this year and you're going to hopefully double again next year.

01:12:16Christine Timms: We're very, very excited.

01:12:19Scott Trickett: And now it's not all about states in the state of the nation. We're going to talk to the territories too. And we're going to visit the Northern Territory now. And welcome back to the pod, Mark Connolly.

01:12:29Mark Connolly: Thanks for having me, Scott. Thanks, Mel.

01:12:31Scott Trickett: Last time we talked... We talked about Palmerston. Have we got more exciting things happening in the Northern Territory this time around?

01:12:39Mark Connolly: Yes, we've got a few things coming up. We turned one not recently with Palmerston and turned four for Darwin. And coming February, we'll have a new event in the Territory and a new Northern Compass Point, actually.

01:12:53Scott Trickett: Well, this is a revelation. Yes. So tell us about it. What's this new event that's going to cause havoc?

01:13:00Mark Connolly: The new event's called Nightcliff. So it's on the Nightcliff foreshore. It's a suburb up here in Darwin. It's a lovely run right along the beachfront there. Cliffs, water, stuff like that. Nice park. Yeah, and it looks like it's going to go ahead at the end of February.

01:13:14Scott Trickett: Pretty cool name too. Is Nightcliff the name of the suburb or the park?

01:13:19Mark Connolly: Yeah, the suburb that it's in. That's correct. Also known as the nightlife.

01:13:23Scott Trickett: Okay, and what about for next year? What have we got coming up? Have we got any prospects yet?

01:13:29Mark Connolly: There's always a few prospects going around. We keep hearing about Katherine and keep hearing from Alice Springs, but just not enough to pull through. I do expect either one of those two in the next year or so. Just got to find the right person to keep following up on that.

01:13:43Melissa Erbacher: So if the right person is listening to the podcast or if somebody is listening to the podcast who knows the right person, please send them to parkrun's way so they can talk to Mark Connolly. I concur with Scotty. Nightcliff is a kick-ass name for a parkrun. It's, I think, worthy of coming back to, you know, the Northern Territory. So grabbing another compass point. Far out. All you guys everywhere. The compass points are shifting this year. It's going to get very expensive with flights.

01:14:13Mark Connolly: Yeah, there's already been two in the last couple of months. This will be a third one.

01:14:17Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, well, Tassie's going down too. So that's a completely new compass by the middle of next year. Exciting, though. Exciting. Exciting. as well as challenging.

01:14:31Scott Trickett: Time to turn our attention to our national capital and surrounding areas, and we welcome back Denise Clark, who a little birdie told me completed her 200th parkrun on the weekend. So welcome back, Denise.

01:14:44Denise Clark: Thanks so much for having me on the podcast this morning, and happy Christmas to all your parkrun adventurers who are likely packing their barcodes and checking the compendium to map out their holiday runs. I was a bit excited to run my 200th on Saturday, so that was a bit exciting to start the weekend. I hope a few of them come along to Canberra over the Christmas New Year period. We have two events on the opposite sides of town that are putting on Christmas Day and New Year's Day events this year. Tuggeranong and Gungahlin are the events. Christmas Day parkrun will run at the usual 8am, but they have worked together for New Year's Day so that parkrunners can go to both. Tuggeranong will be at 7.30am start and then Gungahlin will kick off at 9.30am, so plenty of time to get across to both events. We have a bit happening here in and around Canberra with two new events coming in the new year. Firstly, on the 10th of February, we will help launch Goulburn parkrun. We have a super enthusiastic event director there named Anged She has a lovely course mapped out along the Wollondilly River starting at Marsden Weir Park. This is a great out and back course and perfect for high fives. The community is very excited about getting a parkrun and we're lucky enough to have secured the support of Medibank through their free and active program. We have another event launching within the ACT. We're very excited to have our first off-road trail parkrun in the ACT. Coombs parkrun is out on the western side of Canberra and it's a real growth area at the moment so it will be interesting to see how this event grows. Their run starts on the banks of a couple of beautiful ponds and runs along the edge of the suburb on the fire trail. It's also an out and back course and has a really wide open gravel track. Plenty of room for lots of enthusiastic and high-fiving parkrunners. Coombs parkrun will launch on the 17th of March. I think those who have run all of the ACT parkruns are now capitalists. So they will all need to get along to Coombs sometime in the new year to regain their capitalist status. So growth in Canberra. parkrun has continued to grow here around the ACT with over 20,000 parkrunners now registered across our five parkruns, including Queanbeyan, which is just across the border. I remember only a few years back when we were talking to the ACT government that we were thrilled about having 10,000 parkrunners registered. The event teams here are doing such an awesome job each and every week. They put on super friendly events that just attract more and more people. In 2016, we averaged around 650 parkrunners across the events each week. It looks like we're actually going to top 900 per week in 2017. Not a bad effort across five events when you consider we also have minus six degrees to start our winter.

01:17:43Melissa Erbacher: Well, that's exciting, Denise. You guys are going gangbusters too. It's great to see the growth across Australia as we stop into each state and territory. So thank you for joining us. That's been awesome.

01:17:56Denise Clark: Thank you very much for inviting me so we can share what's happening in Canberra.

01:18:00Melissa Erbacher: And now we're headed to my home state to find out all that has happened and will happen in Queensland in the general vicinity of time that we're in. And to do that, to give us the lowdown, we have Fiona Edmonds joining us. Fi, welcome to the parkrun Adventurers podcast. Hi, Mel. Hi, Scott. How are you? Good, thanks. I should say welcome back because you've been here before. But I digress. Tell us what's going on in Queensland.

01:18:30Fiona Edmonds: Well, there's always heaps going on in Queensland. It's a wonderful state to parkrun in because we have so many wonderful events and so many wonderful people setting up events around the place. I've taken a lot of time out this year from running in my local events and been ticking off a few more around the state and getting to quite a few launches. So back in about September I went to Redcliffe launch and was very surprised with over 700 people just turn up on the beachfront for a run that day as I expect a lot of the locals were a bit surprised what was going on that day too. Followed that along to about two weeks later off to Oakey where I was out there on the Friday afternoon helping Zoe with marking out the course and swatting insects and all that sort of gear and that was a lovely little run out there a little three looper and they've come a long a long way and that's going to be a gorgeous run out there if anybody wants to tick off the o off their alphabet tourism um cloncurry's been happening as well which is way way out west everybody thinks queensland's a small state but um If you get onto a map and start looking at the distances it takes to Cloncurry, I think Michael Schultz could probably validate how far it is to get out there. It's out near Mount Isa. Then we've had another couple of around the place in Brisbane. We've had Lota where I went out to the beachfront there again and did another lovely run along the beach. It was a cooler day that day, but there was still over 200 people that made it out to that launch. Where else have we gone? We've gone out. Well, we had a bit of a clash the following week and it was a bit hard for the tourist people to decide where to plant themselves that week and some of us went out to Miles and the other bunch of us went out to North Harbour. So that was a bit of a split for the week, which was wonderful. Miles is a lovely country run. Look, if you want to get out in the country of Queensland, I recommend going out to Miles and having a bit of an explore out there And that's a great little out and back run along the riverfront there, which is a nice concrete path, you know, lots of trees around the place. You even run past a cemetery out there. And St George has just come up as well. So another Western Queensland one. So West Queensland is doing really, really well this year. So in the southern part here. So that's where we're at with the launches. We've got some new launches coming up into the new year, and I'm sure the park-run tourists are after their alphabet and are already fully aware that on the 20th of January, Zilmere, will be launching. So I expect that will be a huge day. So if you don't like crowds, I don't think that would be the day to go there. But otherwise, if you want to join in all the fun with all the people, along with having the first Z parkrun in Australia, that'll be Zilmere, which is just in the northern suburbs of Brisbane, for those that don't know. And the week after, there's a long weekend for Australia Day. I know where I'm planning to be, and that's going to Bargara. which is up near Bundaberg where the turtles are, once again on the beach. And I'm hoping to do that parkrun on the 27th of January and join them up there for their launch. So we've got a bit of activity going on around the place. And coming up in the future, we've got a whole bunch of events in Queensland that look like they're ready to rock and roll, but various stages of readiness. We've got Places like Forest Lake with a course mat out at Graceville Riverside. Oxley Creek Common are all in the Brisbane vicinity. We've got Victory Heights going up on the Sunshine Coast, which is going to be a trail run, purpose built, and looks like it's going to be absolutely awesome. Can't wait to get onto that when it's ready. And there's a few other places that are – we've got some – People out there showing some interest, trying to get some parkruns up and running in places like Lake Wivenhoe, at Woodford, at Cardwell, Doomadgee, up at the Burdick Canyon in northern Queensland, out into Roma, all sorts of places like that that are just absolutely wonderful to go travelling to.

01:23:09Scott Trickett: Queensland is taking off. I mean, you've got the Commonwealth Games funding kicking in, but there's a whole heap of names there. I think you've excited a few people.

01:23:19Fiona Edmonds: adventurers there fiona have you you mentioned bagara you're going up to that looking at the pictures that looks like a beauty you must be excited about that one oh absolutely and it's still turtle season right smack bang in it so um yeah i'm really looking forward to making a long weekend of it with some friends up in taking their their camping gear up there i'm not a camper but i'll um i'll just that for the sake of a parkrun And go and stay up there and we hope to go out and do some turtle spotting too.

01:23:49Melissa Erbacher: It's always great. I actually caught the other end of the turtle season when the hatchlings were heading out. So I know we've got turtle watchers happening all along the Sunshine Coast at the moment too, having them come in to lay their eggs. So that's another... beautiful aspect of parkrun tourism and going on adventures is being able to take part in the things that happen in the locations around the parkrun events so sounds like we're in for a very fun year in Queensland 2018 going to be another one to top 2017 thanks for joining us to tell us all about it Fi

01:24:28Fiona Edmonds: Thanks, guys. Catch you soon.

01:24:30Melissa Erbacher: Now we're headed off to South Australia to find out all the goss in this ever-growing parkrun state. And to help us with the virtual tour, we have John Lang. John, welcome to the parkrun Adventurers podcast.

01:24:46John Lang: Thanks, Mel. Good to be here.

01:24:49Melissa Erbacher: Let's jump right in. Tell us what's going on in South Australia.

01:24:53John Lang: Alrighty, so it's been a big year for us here in SA. We've doubled our number of events this year. So we've launched 10 new events, with the latest one being Reynella East just the weekend past, which has obviously made a huge impact on what's going on over here. So lots more tourism options, both for SA parkrunners and for those of you coming from interstate. And we were pretty lucky, really, with that in that... We got a state government grant earlier in the year, and that's really helped to push along and get a lot of these parkruns that were ready to go just over the line. So big thanks to the Office of Rec and Sport at the SA government there for that one. And as I say, yeah, lots of these are going to be great ones for tourists. We've got quite a few good regional parkruns up and running this year. We know about Nooriupar that regular listeners will be aware you guys came along and visited at the launch, so... up in the Barossa Valley there. We've also got the likes of Kangaroo Island, Port Lincoln over on what we term as the West Coast here in SA. So lots more to kind of get around and get amongst. But yeah, we're not stopping there. We've already got two launches planned for early next year here in SA. So we're heading over to the Yorke Peninsula and we've got Edithburgh, which is right down the bottom end. And that's part of the Walk the Yorke trail along the coast there. And then we head up to the north of the York Peninsula there just a couple of weeks later and we launch Port Broughton. And that's going to be a good one for SA and for tourism in general. With about 4.5km of that, it's actually going to be on the sand on the beach. So that's going to be one of those ones with a tide table and depending on what the tide's doing and what the tide brings as to how hard or how straightforward it is, I guess. So along with those launches, we've got seven other prospects bubbling away and a fair handful of other whispers and early, early discussions going on as well. So it looks like we're going to still be in for some good growth and a few more to be getting up and running here as well throughout next year. So yeah, keep an eye out and I'm sure you'll hear the likes of PK and Greta getting around and amongst it here throughout the next year with some further reporting on the pod as we keep going forward. I guess the next thing for most listeners will be interested in is Christmas and New Year's. So we've got two Xmas events running. We've got Mawson Lakes and Mount Barker. And then on New Year's Day, we've got quite a few, and we're jumping up from one double option last year, which is Mount Barker Strath, and that's going to be going again. But also Mawson Lakes and Carisbrook are going to be joining in on that, along with Torrens and Lochiel. And alongside all of those, Victor Harbor will be running and Mount Gambier will be running just individually. So that'll be pretty cool. Some good options there to get out and get your fix and start the new year. And if you are an adventurer, then we have a bit of a thing that's starting to build over here in SA, which is a run between the doubles as well. So yeah, Mount Barker to Strath. It started off last year, and that's about 20Ks. That's one for the fast folk to get in amongst. But I'm going to be heading from Mawson Lakes up to Carisbrook, and that's about 10K in between. So anyone wants to join in there, jump on the Facebook and find out some of the extra bits and pieces that we've got going on. I guess the other thing that's kind of excited is we started having our first kind of ponderings as well about joining you guys all in the longest run into next year as we filled in some of our gaps and increased our number of events. So, yeah, keep an eye out, I guess, in the middle of the year as we move towards some of that stuff happening as well. So, yeah, exciting times here in SA. Still got lots to do. Still got lots of stuff that we can do. look forward to for next year in 2018 and we hope to see some of you guys out and about.

01:29:00Scott Trickett: Great work John. What I like about SA is it sounds like you've got some great diversity in your courses there and you're going to introduce Port Broughton on the sand so that's great for the guys, you guys over there.

01:29:14John Lang: Yeah and we kicked off our first sort of trail based one this year at Cleland which is my home event and that's got A nice big hill in it, Scotty, so I reckon you'll like that. So, yeah, we are. We've kind of got, as we've expanded in this number now, we can kind of dabble into some of those different kind of surfaces and terrains and, yeah, that diversity, as you say.

01:29:40Scott Trickett: Well, you touched on it there as well. This is your first time on the pod, so we're going to let you go a bit longer. Tell us about Cleland. You've become an event director for the first time, and how have you enjoyed that experience?

01:29:52John Lang: Yeah, it's been really good. Thanks, mate. Yeah, look, I was part of the Mount Barker crew that we hear quite a bit from with PK and Greta and many of those guys. And there's always been a bit of a thing about getting out and doing something different from within the Mount Barker group. And yeah, I guess we've seen it a little bit more here. I mean, the guys that started up Strathalbyn, which is not too far in the opposite direction to Cleland, they originally were at Mount Barker and We've got, I don't know, they've got a good half a dozen at least, if not more now, that are statesmen over there as well that run out of the Mount Barker crew. So it's always been on the cards. And, yeah, we're starting to develop that a little bit at Cleland as well. We've got people getting out and about and amongst it and visiting different parkruns around the state and interstate as well. So, yeah, it's been really good fun.

01:30:44Melissa Erbacher: Just quietly, outside of my home state, I think South Australia is my favourite, favourite one. um for you know not only for the vineyards but also for the parkruns so um if if I had to choose another one where I'd want to be a statesman it's that one and I plan to come back and maybe next year I'll manage it over the new year period so I can get three in but longest run oh gosh there's so much so much going on you guys are having a great time down there thank you very much for joining us today John we really appreciate all your input and and giving us the sneaky inside word on what's going on. Another beach run too. Oh, there's just... Sorry, I'm beside myself. There's so much to be excited about. Thanks again.

01:31:31John Lang: Not a problem, Mel. Thank you, Scott. Thank you, Mel.

01:31:34Scott Trickett: Last but definitely not least, we're heading over to WA, but we're actually not because poor old Maddy Trent has come down with a bit of a man flu or maybe even bordering on pneumonia. So... That's okay. That's okay because we're just going to bring in our intern that you were all introduced to last week to fill the void created by Manny Trent's illness. So take it away, parkrun Adventurer intern number one.

parkrun Adventurers intern

01:32:06guest: Here is a bit of a snapshot from the West. 2017 saw WA get to 26 events with six launches throughout the year. Included in this was Australia's most isolated parkrun Port Hedland that got underway at the start of November. Port Headland parkrun is 1,427 kilometres from it nearest neighbour south, Kalgoorlie Boulder, and 2,412 kilometres from Darwin, the next parkrun around the coast. We will hit 27 events in the west on the first Saturday of 2018 when we get a new westernmost parkrun with the launch of Margaret River parkrun on January 6. This is a trail event that finishes right under the decking of the Harry Maron Café so the timekeeper can settle into a table with a muffin and flat white. On Christmas Day we've got nine events in WA including three in the country which is great to see. New Year's Day is very popular with 14 of 26 events running, and quite a few doubles available in Perth with start times from 7.30 through to 9.30. Thanks for my opportunity Matty. Hope you're better soon.

01:33:28Glen Turner: Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a sweaty New Year and a bonbon joke. What happened to the man who stole the advent calendar? He got 25 days.

01:33:42Tony O'Connell: Merry Christmas parkrunners, it's TOC for the Channel 5 News crew. What do you get if you cross a duck with a Christmas bonbon? The answer, a Christmas quacker. Have a great Christmas and a happy New Year everyone. Cheers.

01:33:57Greta: Hey parkrun adventurers, it's Greta here checking in to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Have fun at this time of year, look after each other. The best time of year around this time because you get to do more parkruns than usual. Enjoy all of those Christmas Day runs and New Year's doubles for those who are lucky enough to get to them. And I'm going to leave you with my favourite Christmas cracker joke to give you a bit of a laugh. which is, how do snowmen get around? By icicle. Have a good one, everyone. See you next year.

01:34:36Tim Oberg: Merry Christmas to Mel and Scott and all the parkrun adventurers, volunteers and event teams around the country. Hope you have a fantastic Christmas and looking forward to an awesome new year in 2018. What lies in a pram and wobbles? A jelly baby. Merry Christmas.

01:34:59Lyndell Murray: Good morning, parkrun Adventurers. It's Lyndell. I'm adventuring again today out at Lota, which is out again, a lovely Moreton Bay course in the eastern suburbs of Brisbane. Now, I was listening to the parkrun Adventurers podcast this morning on my way to parkrun, and Mel was talking about her NENDY, which I've never heard that term before, but I'm presuming it's Something to do with the nearest parkrun you haven't done yet. I could be making a complete idiot of myself in talking about this, but I think Lota might be my Nendi. So there you go. I'm at my NENDY out at Lota, Moreton Bay. Let's get into it and we'll have a chat afterwards. Okay, so here we are by Morton Bay with Kurt and Victoria and their park dog Trooper. How are you going today?

01:35:45Kurt: Fantastic. A very hot one today.

01:35:46Victoria: Yeah, very good. Thank you. Yes, Trooper's a bit hot though. He needed a lot of water at the end.

01:35:52Lyndell Murray: I bet he did. He's still sniffing around for some now. So event number five. So you started up not too long ago. How's it been going? And how's the community here at Loda parkrun?

01:36:05Kurt: So we found around about, from launch we had 334 at launch, we've settled down to an average of about 70 per week. We've had probably 50 new participants to parkrun itself, and obviously first participants to the event, so there's plenty of parkrun PBs, which everyone was happy about. The local community's wrapped with it so far.

01:36:29Lyndell Murray: Excellent. And how about you, Victoria?

01:36:31Victoria: Yeah, I've volunteered a few times. This is only my second or third run in the parkrun, but I love the course. A bit of grass, a bit of gravel, a bit of sand, a bit of different terrain there for us, which is a little bit different to the Wynnum parkrun. And so it's a good swap between the two and it's sort of breaking the numbers up between the two. So it's great.

01:36:52Lyndell Murray: Yeah, so to clarify, Wynnum is just up the road, what, 5km, 10km up the road? 3km. 3km up the road. And Wynnum's a long established parkrun here in Brisbane. It's a really popular parkrun along the boardwalk at Wynnum. And so how did you guys get into parkrun then?

01:37:09Kurt: So we were involved with Wynnum, just volunteering and running and participating across the last probably three years. We worked out that it was starting to get a little bit too big and we should provide another event down this way to allow for incremental growth of parkrun itself across Australia.

01:37:28Lyndell Murray: Excellent, and you've probably been a bit creative here with the course, I have to say, because it's not just all on bike path, as you were saying, Victoria. There's a bit of long grass, a bit of sand track, and look, I'm a fan of that, being from Bunyaville, I love a bit of a mixed terrain course, so well done. And so 70 a week, you get a lot of the same regulars, and it seems like a nice little community, you know, however long after the parkrun, there's still 20 or 30 people sitting around having a chat.

01:37:53Victoria: And that's what we've found, we've found that it's a really low-key community event, so... And we've had a lot of new people in the area, so that's really helped, and they seem to be all joining in. So it's made a huge difference, and we've found that we haven't had as many women people transferring and alternating between the two. It's been more newcomers to the area, which is a real big positive.

01:38:14Lyndell Murray: It sure is. Excellent. Well, so that's probably a wrap, really. Thanks for your time today. Well done. And well done for making such a great community event here at LOTA and for your contribution to parkrun.

01:38:28Victoria: Thank you.

01:38:29Kurt: Thanks for joining us.

01:38:31Lyndell Murray: Okay, so now at the finish line, I've found three of the ladies here from Caltex. Just introduce yourself. Hi, I'm Toni.

01:38:40Unidentified speaker: Nirvana.

01:38:40Lyndell Murray: I'm Kat. Now, you did your first parkrun today? I did. Well, walk. Walk. Very important. That's okay. That's the spirit of parkrun. You can walk.

01:38:50Toni: You can do whatever you like. And how was it? It was great. Lovely breeze. Beautiful spot. Very friendly. Everyone was very friendly as they passed. Excellent. So will you come back? Possibly.

01:39:03Lyndell Murray: How about you? You're a regular parkrunner?

01:39:05Unidentified speaker: A regular parkrunner at Wynnum and Minnippi and Kalaba.

01:39:08Lyndell Murray: So a bit of a local tourista?

01:39:10Unidentified speaker: Yeah. First time doing the Loda one, other than the trial, but it was a really good course.

01:39:16Lyndell Murray: Excellent. And your story? Yeah, so this is my first one as well. I've just joined with Caltex and thought I'd put down with Tony for the morning and it's been beautiful. Thank you. Lovely. Excellent. And the connection for you guys with this parkrun is that the local Caltex has donated a defibrillator. I told you I wouldn't be able to say it. You're going to have to say it, Tony.

01:39:34Toni: So the Caltex Manufacturing has a community relationship and Kurt approached us and asked us if we would buy a defibrillator for parkrun Lota. And we're very happy to do so. So we handed that over today. And luckily no one needed it, including me.

01:39:51Lyndell Murray: Yeah, it's a great day here today. Well, it's a great story. And that's what parkrun's all about, is getting the community involved. All the parkruns around Australia all run on sponsorship. So this is a great example of local grassroots sponsorship. So good on you. Well done. And I hope I see all of you at a parkrun again. Yeah, thank you.

01:40:09Unidentified speaker: Thank you very much.

01:40:10Lyndell Murray: Thanks very much. Alrighty, Scotty and Mel, that is a wrap from me, from Lota parkrun, eastern suburbs of Brisbane, the neighbour of Wynnum parkrun, which is known to many parkrun adventurers around the Traps. So the course, as we've said, mixed terrain course along Moreton Bay, a few lovely glimpses of the water. And lots of water on course as well, plenty of water taps. So it's a good one to hit up during the summer if you're looking for somewhere to adventure in Brisbane. All right, I'll see you next time from the Channel 5 News crew. Bye for now.

01:40:49Greta: Good morning, parkrun Adventurers. It's Greta here and I'm at the Rinella East parkrun. and Ronella East is launching today, and it's an absolutely beautiful day here in Adelaide. It's going to be about 28 degrees, and we're in for a hot one tomorrow, so I think we've picked the best day for the launch. So Ronella East launch is the last launch in South Australia in what's been a really busy year for South Australia, and this is a lovely parkrun sort of down south of Adelaide in a kind of wetlands area. So we'll go and do the run and see what we think. So I'm now here at the Ronella East parkrun and I'm with Errol. How are you going, Errol?

01:41:30Errol: Yeah, good, thank you, Greta. Yep, excellent.

01:41:32Greta: How did you like the run this morning?

01:41:34Errol: Yeah, no, it was a good course. Yeah, interesting. Yeah, a bit of a mix of gravel and concrete path. Yeah, it was nice around a wetland. Really good.

01:41:45Greta: And I hear that you're a South Australian statesman, so doing this one today, have you retained your statesmanship?

01:41:52Errol: Yes, yep. It's getting pretty hard to keep the statesman going, but, yeah, it's been really good. So, yeah, there's a few of us from Mount Barker that... that keep their statesmanship too, so yeah, which is really good. Yeah, great.

01:42:07Greta: Okay, so I'm now here with Sam and we're at the Ronella East Parkway and Launch. How are you going, Sam?

01:42:13Sam: Yeah, not too bad. Thanks, how are you?

01:42:14Greta: Yeah, I'm good, I'm good. And now you were the tail walker today.

01:42:17Sam: Yes, yes I was. I've done it a few times before and I thought it'd be a great chance to come out for a opening event and volunteer and get out there. So it was perfect weather as well.

01:42:27Greta: Oh, beautiful day today. Thank you so much for volunteering your time.

01:42:31Sam: No worries. I enjoy doing it. It's something I've missed. I used to do a lot of in the past and I've missed a bit. So I'm bringing that back to parkrun and supporting the community. So yeah, it's very good. I love it.

01:42:41Greta: That's awesome. So whereabouts have you volunteered before?

01:42:44Sam: I've volunteered all the way from Mawson Lakes, Carisbrook, Victor Harbour. That's where I started doing parkrun. I used to live in Strathalbyn and I haven't done Strathalbyn parkrun. But yeah, no, all around. So yeah, so I enjoy it. Victor Harbour is probably my favourite parkrun. It's nice and scenic.

01:43:02Greta: It is a beautiful one, isn't it?

01:43:03Sam: It is. And the Porteous family are a great family.

01:43:06Greta: Legends.

01:43:07Sam: That's exactly right.

01:43:10Greta: And what are your favourite volunteer roles?

01:43:12Sam: I enjoy tail walking, but I also enjoy photography as well, so bringing photography into it and helping out, and that's often a role that is hard to fill at a lot of parkruns. Mawson and Carisbrook, they've generally got a photographer that sort of does them most weeks, but yeah, a lot of them, they struggle with photographers, so yeah, I enjoy that role.

01:43:31Greta: Fantastic. Well, thank you for stepping up, and thank you for coming along to Ronella East today, and I hope to see you at another parkrun soon.

01:43:37Sam: No worries. Thank you very much. Thanks, Sam. Enjoy.

01:43:40Greta: Okay, and I'm now here with Rebecca and Christy, and you guys have just done the Ronella East parkrun. How did you find it?

01:43:47Rebecca: It was lovely. The moving course was really good for the mind and helped keep you distracted.

01:43:53Christy: Good fun, lovely scenery.

01:43:55Rebecca: Lovely, and what about you? How did you like it?

01:43:57Christy: It was a beautiful course, yeah, around the wetlands, really beautiful.

01:44:02Rebecca: And are you guys regular parkrunners, or is this your first parkrun? We do go now every Saturday. I used to be a regular and had a bit of a holiday and now I'm trying to get back in the routine of coming and Christy drags me out every week and I love it.

01:44:17Greta: And I hear that, Christy, you do a Friday night call to make sure everyone's ready to go to parkrun the next day, is that right?

01:44:24Christy: That's correct. I check with them and make sure they're ready to come out on Saturday and where we're going to go. Yep.

01:44:30Greta: Yes. And you do a fair bit of visiting around to different parkruns?

01:44:32Christy: We do, yes. Where have you been? Mount Barker, Murray Bridge, Cleland, Christies Beach, Mawson Lakes, Lochiel.

01:44:44Scott Trickett: Where haven't you been?

01:44:47Christy: Pretty much most of them, yeah. Haven't been to Port Lincoln yet. Right. Yeah, well, that's a fair trek, isn't it? It is, and same as KI. And what do you like about parkrun? What's your favourite thing about parkrun? I'll do it. Definitely the community and the social feel, I think. It's such a community feel. Everyone's so supportive, whether you're walking or you're running. It's amazing, yeah.

01:45:08Rebecca: How about you, Rebecca? What's your favourite thing about parkrun? Yeah, definitely the social aspect. I just like getting to know the same sort of people wherever you go. You know people, and not just about the running and the actual exercising, but it's about just having a good time. And I... Just knowing that there's people that you know, it just helps with accountability. And you just get out and you get some Ks done and then you get to have fun and have a coffee. What could be better? Nothing. Coffee is amazing. And running.

01:45:40Greta: Join them together and you've got your perfect day out.

01:45:41Rebecca: Oh, lovely.

01:45:42Greta: Well, thank you so much for coming along to Ronella East parkrun launch today. And I hope to see you at a parkrun in the future. Not a problem. We'll see you then.

01:45:51Christy: Excellent. Thank you. Thank you.

01:45:53Greta: Alright, so I'm now here with Jane and Jane we've just done the Ronella East Parkway launch. How did you find it?

01:45:59Jane: I found it really good. I like the two laps and I like the fact that you got to see everyone several times so it's really friendly and you get to see all the fast people and the slower people at the back and everyone's really friendly and supportive and it's a nice beautiful location. Lots of opportunities for high fives. Absolutely, yeah, I got a few high fives. I'm not sure exactly who the person was that was high-fiving me, but that's the thing I love about parkrun, everyone's friends there. It doesn't matter, does it? No, not at all.

01:46:26Greta: And is this your first parkrun or have you done a few?

01:46:29Jane: I've done a few. It was 190-something for me today. I'm working up towards... Oh, yeah, so that is a few. Just a few, yeah. I'm working up towards my big 200, so, yeah. Okay. And have you got any plans for your 200? Well, I did my very first one at Torrens, which happened to also be the very first Torrens parkrun and the first parkrun in South Australia. So I'd like to do it there. That's a nice claim to fame. Yeah. So there's a couple of launches coming up in the country in the next few months. So I'm trying to work my 200 so it sort of falls on a week when I can go to Torrens and be back where it all began. Ah. And so how are you going with your plan? Are you on track? I am on track as long as I get Christmas and the double on New Year's Day. So I've got a bit of work to do. But yes, by the end of January, I should hit my 200th. Awesome. Right. And so can you miss one or you've got absolutely no room? Not really. I'm already missing a couple in January when I'm away. So I can't miss any more.

01:47:35Unidentified speaker: Great.

01:47:36Greta: Well, that's awesome. So thank you so much for talking to me. Thanks for coming to Ronella East parkrun and good luck with getting your 200th at Torrens.

01:47:45Jane: Thank you very much. It's a beautiful event. Everyone should come down and run it. It is gorgeous. Thanks, Jane. No worries.

01:47:53Greta: So I'm now here with the event director for the Ronella East parkrun, Rachel. How are you going, Rachel?

01:47:58Rachel: I'm good, thanks. How are you?

01:47:59Greta: Congratulations on a successful launch. It went really well today.

01:48:03Rachel: Yeah, it was really exciting. It's been a long time coming. So yeah, everyone was really excited just to get it off the ground. Yeah, that's awesome. So I've run the course, but for the listeners at home, can you tell us a little bit about the course? Yeah, so it's a two-loop course around wetlands at Ronella East. So it's part paved, part gravel, a little bit out and back at one section. But yeah, it's a varied terrain and over some bridges over the wetlands. So it's a really beautiful course, nice and shady as well.

01:48:33Greta: Yes, the bridges were very popular today. There was lots of mention about the bridges. Yes.

01:48:37Rachel: Yeah, everyone loves them and especially, you know, first thing in the morning the sun reflects off the water and it's just, you know, amazing and nice and fresh to be out there too.

01:48:47Greta: No, it was gorgeous. And so what was your journey in terms of getting to this point with Ronella East parkrun?

01:48:53Rachel: So probably we started talking about finding a new location in about May this year. Just thinking about that, you know, the local parkruns were starting, you know, to get to capacity. So we thought that, you know, getting something... um you know close ish but you know um and we found this area was well close to my house but you know and i've been a regular parkrunner for a long time so it was kind of just a natural progression that you know i would you know eventually i guess start you know to take yeah yeah so where did where was your home parkrun where did you start parkrunning Well, when I first started parkrunning, where I lived was about a 50-minute drive from either Torrens, Victor Harbour or Mount Barker. So I would just rotate between the three. So it was a long drive for a 5K. It's dedication. Yeah, well, I mean, the parkrun community is amazing. So we just, you know, it was easy, you know, just to do it in the morning. So I think Torrens was probably the one that I went to mostly because it was... You know, could go to work straight afterwards and stuff like that when I was working on Saturday mornings.

01:50:03Greta: And now I think you're about 500 metres from the start.

01:50:06Rachel: Oh, yeah, just about. So, yeah, I just walk here, you know, when we were doing all the planning and everything. So it is just around the corner for me.

01:50:14Greta: And the council here have been very supportive, I hear.

01:50:17Rachel: Yeah, the council have really been supportive and the Halo, which is their, you know, active part or, you know, where they sponsor active type of things in the community, obviously to them it's a no-brainer just to, you know, support these kind of things because for a one-off, you know, donation basically that they get an ongoing, you know, ongoing active you know part of their community so why wouldn't they yeah exactly so that's great and we're now sort of at the gooby goose here in um in the shopping center having our coffee and they've been really supportive as well yeah they've been great i think that they're a bit overwhelmed this morning for the launch that when i said you know we'll have like lots of people come after and they thought oh yeah yeah and then this morning when you know like you know we had 150 people turn up Yeah, I think they were a bit overwhelmed, but they were really good and they got through everyone really quickly. And so, yeah, it's... And awesome coffee. Oh, it was really good coffee. So apparently they won an award for the best iced latte in South Australia as well.

01:51:17Greta: That's what I had and it was very nice.

01:51:19Rachel: Yeah, excellent.

01:51:21Greta: Well, look, congratulations on such a successful launch. It was a beautiful day, gorgeous course, such positive feedback.

01:51:27Rachel: Well done, congratulations. Thank you so much, Greta. I appreciate all your help too. Thank you. Thank you.

01:51:33Scott Trickett: stellar work to round out the year from our Channel 5 news crew. Female contingent. Well done, Lyndell and Greta. No more launches for the year. That was the last one, Ronella East. But as we're going to have a little bit of a break, do you think it's appropriate, Mel, that we tell our listeners what's coming up in the new year? Because there are more events coming in early January.

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

01:51:57Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, let's cross off the first three weeks of January just to be comfy.

01:52:03Scott Trickett: Now, bear in mind, a bit of a caveat here, these might change because things change, as evidenced by Margaret River, which was ready to launch earlier this year, but some things happened.

01:52:15Melissa Erbacher: Originally planned for the beginning of December and now, when is it, Scotty?

01:52:18Scott Trickett: It's now scheduled for the 6th of January.

01:52:22Melissa Erbacher: So on the 13th, we've got Huskisson in New South Wales.

01:52:28Scott Trickett: On the 20th, we've got Edith Berg in South Australia and Gardner's Creek in Victoria.

01:52:34Melissa Erbacher: as well as Queen's Domain in Tassie and Zilmere in Queensland. So all events for people to take note of. That's four different states launching new events on the 20th. One of them's got a queue, which we all know the queue are very sought after, and Zilmere will be the first Z or Zed, as you like to say. In Australia. So that one's definitely going to be very popular. And I think we mentioned a little bit earlier that we'll both be there.

01:53:04Scott Trickett: Yes, we will. So we're going to come back in 2018, the week after Zilmere.

01:53:09Melissa Erbacher: But let's jump over to the anniversaries. So we do have one anniversary this week, sneaking it in on the Christmas-themed weekend, which is Underwood Park in Queensland.

01:53:19Scott Trickett: Do you think they're going to have a Christmas-themed anniversary?

01:53:23Melissa Erbacher: I believe they are, yes.

01:53:25Scott Trickett: Okay, and in the new year on the 6th of January, we've got Lawson, Queen's Rocks, Rocks Riverside and Tannum Sands celebrating their anniversaries on the 6th.

01:53:36Melissa Erbacher: We've got on the 13th, Pioneer in WA, Shepparton in Victoria and Wondai in Queensland all celebrating anniversaries also.

01:53:44Scott Trickett: And on the 20th, Lithgow in New South Wales, Point Cook down in Victoria and St Peter's in New South Wales. That's what's happening around the country in the next few weeks. I'm interested to find out what you're doing, Mel, over the next week or so as we both sit on 48 different events.

01:54:04Melissa Erbacher: We do. It's the pointy end of getting to that 50 different event milestone. Well, this weekend I am heading to Lota. So, which is where Lyndell just was. Because that's the closest parkrun to my Brisbane family where I will be spending an early Christmas. And Christmas Day parkrun I will be volunteering at Nambour. I'm not going to mention whether or not I'm going somewhere new or not new on the 30th. I'm just going to be mysterious. How about you Scotty? You're headed away for Christmas? You got some adventures planned?

01:54:45Scott Trickett: We're heading up to Sydney, so I haven't done any of – well, no, I have. That's a lie. I've run Parramatta, but haven't visited Sydney parkruns extensively, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to add a new one over the new year period. Excellent.

01:55:03Melissa Erbacher: Well, that's at least one.

01:55:06Scott Trickett: Yeah.

01:55:07Melissa Erbacher: But we all know New Year's Day doubles is for adventuring, so the – The 50th is going to fall somewhere for either or both of us.

01:55:18Scott Trickett: Something to look forward to when we come back next year.

01:55:21Melissa Erbacher: It is. It is. Does that just about wrap it up for 2017?

01:55:26Scott Trickett: It does. I think so.

01:55:28Melissa Erbacher: I would like to thank you for another awesome year of podcasting. It has been very fun. Many highlights. Many... Many squeezy weeks of trying to get episodes out to all our adventurers out there. And I really do appreciate, I know you do a lot more work than I do. And everybody else should know that too. So thank you for giving us all the amount of time that you have, Scotty. You're awesome.

01:55:58Scott Trickett: Yeah, I appreciate it. And that's not entirely true because you equally do a lot of work for the podcast, which I do appreciate. And together as a team, I think we pull off something that I enjoy, you enjoy, we know some people enjoy, and we'll continue doing it for the foreseeable future. I'd like to do this again next year. I enjoy our Christmas episodes. So originally we had a goal of getting to 50. Our next goal is going to be 100. So let's just keep on that path and see where we go.

01:56:34Melissa Erbacher: And have a safe and merry festive season.

01:56:37Scott Trickett: Before you go, before you go, you know how I was speaking to one of my mates today and he suggested, are we going to have any – you know the breakfast radio? They bring in the second team, the B team, over summer.

01:56:50Melissa Erbacher: Oh, yeah, they bring – yeah, okay.

01:56:54Scott Trickett: So do you reckon we should bring in the B team? Like if anybody else – we don't have a B team, but I'm open to the idea if someone wants to –

01:57:04Melissa Erbacher: To do the podcast while we're on hiatus.

01:57:08Scott Trickett: We're back in January the 23rd or 4th.

01:57:13Melissa Erbacher: Yep.

01:57:13Scott Trickett: So there's an opening there if anybody wants to get in touch.

01:57:17Melissa Erbacher: If anybody's keen, there's a couple of weeks.

01:57:20Scott Trickett: Challenge is out there. Let's see if it's accepted. Now we can wrap it up.

01:57:24Melissa Erbacher: Okay, we should also just mention quickly, the parkrun Adventurers Listener Meetup is in the voting stages of location. So if you haven't yet joined the Facebook group and you're interested in attending that in 2018, get along over and like the page and vote for where you want the location to be. We're not saying that that's where the location will be. But by all means, have a say. Have your say.

01:57:56Scott Trickett: But it will ultimately come down to us. And Gary.

01:58:02Melissa Erbacher: Oh, and you know what? We put the challenge out there. So Gary Murphy has been auditioning the last couple of roving reports that he did for the Channel 5 News crew. And we told him that if he was willing to sing our Christmas carol for the introduction this week, that that would be his initiation into the Channel 5 News crew. So is that where we should end, Scotty?

01:58:26Scott Trickett: Hmm. Should we make him work a bit harder? A promise is a promise. A promise is a promise. Gary, you're in.

01:58:35Melissa Erbacher: You're a hard taskmaster.

01:58:37Scott Trickett: Gary's awesome. He's in. The crew rounds out for the year. We're accepting applications for 2018. All you have to do is take your phone, turn it upside down and press record.

01:58:50Melissa Erbacher: Be hilarious.

01:58:51Scott Trickett: Be hilarious is a key requirement. But just meet new people. And we want to hear those stories from different parkruns. But on that note, Mel, see you next year.

01:59:11Unidentified speaker: Thank you.