Episode 96

Episode details · 280 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:00[music]

00:00:16Melissa Erbacher: It's episode 96 and episode 1 for 2018. Welcome to the parkrun Adventurers podcast. I'm joined by my co-host Scotty. My name is Mel. We've had a few weeks off, so I'm hoping you're feeling fresh, Scotty.

00:00:33Scott Trickett: Yep, super fresh. New year, new me, same old podcast.

00:00:39Melissa Erbacher: Big plans for 2018?

00:00:41Scott Trickett: Look, no, not really. No. Just having a positive outlook. And that's pretty much the same as for the past 10 or 15 years of my life. And it's working out okay. So I'm sticking with it.

00:00:55Melissa Erbacher: If it's not broke, don't fix it. Exactly. Exactly.

00:00:58Scott Trickett: Hey, how good were the B team?

00:01:00Melissa Erbacher: Oh, they did a great job.

00:01:02Scott Trickett: They were funny too, informative. Like some of the stuff got a bit serious, but really funny.

00:01:09Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I'm a little bit embarrassed. I think we need to up our hilarity game.

00:01:14Scott Trickett: Or be the difference. Be the difference in what the B team can offer and what we offer. Yeah. So let's keep, for 2018, let's keep doing what we're doing.

00:01:25Melissa Erbacher: All right. We'll see how that goes. Hopefully people don't stop listening now because they prefer the B team.

00:01:32Scott Trickett: I've shifted outdoors for 2018. Let's keep a track on how long that lasts because it's still pretty hot in Australia at the moment. And hopefully you can hear the wildlife. Yeah, very noisy. Buster will fire up soon. He'll start barking at the neighbours for no reason. Buster's got a relationship with the fence because he can't see anything beyond the fence, but he's very angry with the fence.

00:01:57Melissa Erbacher: Oh, okay.

00:01:58Scott Trickett: Yeah.

00:01:59Melissa Erbacher: We've been having good fun with our neighbours' dog over the last few weeks. Our dog Clover goes and argues with their dogs. through the fence and they've ended up pushing out a few palings and so I've woken up in the morning a couple of times to let the dogs out and there's been this little staffy asleep on my back deck a couple of times and you know what it is she hasn't got stairs we've only got five little stairs off the back deck down to the backyard but she doesn't know how to walk down them so when she comes over she runs up and gets stuck on our deck doesn't realize that she could fit in the doggy door where clover always comes inside to get away from her and so she ends up just sleeping on my porch yeah you could fix the fence that would solve your problem oh we're not very handy around here we don't like doing actual yard work or maintenance you know just ask the weeds in the front yard fair enough we've got a lot in common

00:02:58Scott Trickett: Hey, lots of adventures over the break?

00:03:01Melissa Erbacher: Oh, so many adventures. There's more adventures than I could possibly recount without boring everybody. So I won't go into that.

00:03:10Scott Trickett: Did you try any new events or was it just Kawana, Kawana, Kawana?

00:03:14Melissa Erbacher: There were new events. Yes, lots of new events. In fact, I am up to event number 53. How are you doing on the most events list?

00:03:23Scott Trickett: Yeah, pretty good. Pretty good. Thanks for asking. I spent Christmas in Sydney.

00:03:28Melissa Erbacher: Yeah.

00:03:31Scott Trickett: Got some new events going on in Sydney. Finally did St Peter's. Ticked that off the list. Got to run with the great Paul Wilcock at Campbelltown and Bobby Prentiss. So they were great adventures.

00:03:44Melissa Erbacher: Awesome.

00:03:46Scott Trickett: And got to run with you on Saturday at Zillmere. So we both ticked off. the Z for that massive launch.

00:03:54Melissa Erbacher: We did, which is not necessarily why we went there, but, you know, it's a by-product.

00:03:59Scott Trickett: And plenty more, plenty more planned for this year. Have you set a target? I think we talked about it last year. Was it one a month, new event?

00:04:06Melissa Erbacher: Last year, it was 15 new events. So a little bit more than one a month. And I thought I would try and maintain that this year because last year, it was down to the wire. I literally ran my 15th different one for the year on the 30th of December. So... This year I'm challenging myself a little bit more. I'm pushing it further and I'm going to try to get to 20 new events this year. That's a bit scary actually. I'm not sure how I'll quite manage it but I'm trying to keep on top of it. I've got three down for January so that's a good start.

00:04:40Scott Trickett: I've seen a bit more activity on Strava from you. We've got Travis Ireland from Rundown Under coming up. Is that what's been motivating you or are you just trying to get fit for 2018?

00:04:52Melissa Erbacher: It's a little bit of run down under and it's a little bit of new year, new unicorn. So that's that virtual run that I registered for with the fabulous unicorn medal that I'm going to earn by the end of the month, so yeah. Yeah, that and a little bit trying to shift the Christmas pudding before I have to buy some new pants. So it's a combination of factors all working together to get me moving.

00:05:19Scott Trickett: I was borderline new pants at the end of last year because, remember, I hurt my rib. I'm pretty sure I broke it in the end. It took a long time to come good. And in those three to four months of inactivity, my pants got tighter. Yeah, they do that. I don't think I was washing them in hot water either. I think I might have had something to do with it. I'm on fire this year, so it's all coming off.

00:05:48Melissa Erbacher: That's good, and so the rib's not troubling you anymore?

00:05:52Scott Trickett: No, it's not. It's good.

00:05:53Melissa Erbacher: You haven't had any stacks of late?

00:05:56Scott Trickett: No, no. Barney tried to get me on the trails last night, and I just thought that was cruel.

00:06:02Melissa Erbacher: Do they want you to be injured?

00:06:04Scott Trickett: I think Barney does, yeah. I think he still finds it hilarious. But that's my New Year's resolution, the only one I made. No trails for 2018.

00:06:13Melissa Erbacher: No trail races or no trail runs at all?

00:06:18Scott Trickett: Well, there's a couple of trail parkruns, aren't there? So no, no, just trail races. If you've had a keen eye at parkruns over the past couple of years, you would have seen all these people in Rundown Under tops, or you would have had a conversation with someone who is doing Rundown Under, because it seems once you join up, you become a bit fanatical about it. So we thought we'd get the man who came up with the idea on the podcast to start off 2018. It's a good place to start, Rundown Under. So welcome to the podcast, Travis Ireland.

00:07:01Travis Ireland: Fantastic. Glad to be here. I'm proud to be the first person to 2018.

00:07:05Scott Trickett: Travis, tell us all about what Run Down Under is. Explain to us, to the layman, what it actually involves.

00:07:13Travis Ireland: Okay. So quite simply, it's a motivational tool to keep you active and healthy through running and walking for a prolonged period of time. So it's a membership-based application with the main objective to run or walk your way around Australia. Now, that sounds daunting. The idea is that we set many, many towns along the way. There's 98 towns that you pass through on a journey around Australia. You start in Canberra, and the idea is to make your first town of Goulburn, which is 90 kilometres away. Then through, as you mentioned in the intro, it does become, to a certain extent, addictive, or I like to use the word motivational, in that there's another town, Bowral, that is your next town, And then Sydney is your next town and so on. So it's a tool that allows you to stay active and healthy for a prolonged period of time. And when I say prolonged, it's a 14,000-kilometre journey. So do the maths on how many kilometres you run each year, and that will tell you roughly how many years it will take you to get around the country. So that was my number one goal. I didn't want to just have a platform or a programme that got people fit and healthy for 12 weeks or 16 weeks. Don't get me wrong, they have a huge purpose in this society. But I wanted something different. I wanted something that kept you active and healthy for the rest of your life. And that's how Run Down Under was born.

00:08:46Melissa Erbacher: Love it. Adventurers, we're all collectors. essentially. So what you're doing is you're getting people who are collecting Ks. And I love that the first three places all have parkruns, or at least they very shortly will. Goulburn, Bowral and Sydney. parkrun stops all along the way. Travis, has anyone ever done the whole of Australia in one year? No.

00:09:12Travis Ireland: No. Our record is Stephen Wright, who did one year, 11 months. So That is an amazing feat, and I'll get some quick stats in a second, but not even close to a year. So just under two years. And recently, Charlie Boyle, who is an amazing athlete up here in Queensland, he did it in just under two years. So there's only two that have completed it in under two years, and only 14 that have completed it since we started in 2014. So it's not something... And the stats I mentioned, so Stephen, who finished in one year... 11 months and I spent a few days averaged 21 kilometres a day every day for one year 11 months which is an amazing achievement.

00:09:58Melissa Erbacher: Okay so these gentlemen are obviously you know they don't have jobs or they're severely obsessed with ultra running for the normal people for those amongst us who you know might just get out a few times a week there are different activities that you can and can't participate in, aren't there? So obviously running and walking, you can do those. But what are the kinds of things that aren't allowed to be included?

00:10:26Travis Ireland: Yeah, it is running and walking. We don't allow cycling. We don't allow swimming, skiing. Those are the obvious ones we don't allow. And the most important rule that we have is that it must be structured exercise. So we don't allow incidental walking activities. Again, it has an amazing place in the society and I encourage everyone to get out there and do incidental walking and running. But we don't allow it as our platform. So for example, you can't just put your watch on and walk around work, around the shops. Our platform is something where you make a conscious decision to get up off the couch, walk out the door, press your button and go for a walk or a run. And that can be anything where your mentality is on doing this for exercise purposes. So you might decide to get off the couch, And take the dog for a walk. You might decide to get off the couch and start training for a marathon. You might decide to get off the couch and think, I've been sitting on this couch too long. I'm not going to make the kids catch the bus to school. I'm going to make the effort to get out and walk them to school. And that's my exercise. If you have that mentality of structured exercise, then that's what we allow. But it must be walking, running, hiking, racing. So the run leg of a triathlon or an adventure race. If you go for a bushwalk hike that is structured exercise, that's all well and truly allowed. And then we do allow treadmills. We do allow elliptical runners as long as they are the running type, not the cycling type. And we even allow deep water running. So I had a lady that was in rehab last year and she did a lot of deep water running. You don't get very far, by the way, but still allowed.

00:12:04Scott Trickett: The mind is an amazing thing, isn't it, Travis? Because it's a real motivational tool. And I joined up this year. I said January 1st, what a great starting point. And I've only missed two days running or walking this year. And I think I put it down to run down under because it's always in the back of my mind that, geez, if I just go for a run today, I'm going to get a bit closer to Goulburn and now Bowral. So was that the main motivation for you to get other people motivated to move?

00:12:37Travis Ireland: Exactly what it was. So there's an incentive and motivation to get you out the door. I personally was on a journey where I wanted to run my first marathon. And I made that decision exactly one year out from the marathon. So no one does one-year training programs. No one really starts thinking about it. But I needed... for my own personal reasons, to start training for it one year out. So that's when the concept was born. I needed something that I was accountable, I had a goal, and I thought what better way than to break it down and run around Australia. When I first started, the towns were a lot further apart. There was only 50 towns. Through feedback and through needs, I also found that some towns were too far away, but by bringing them a bit closer, you're exactly right, there is a on the app, it tells you how far to your next town. And when you wake up in the morning or you finish a run and you see that, it is a motivational tool to think, well, I'm going to do that this week or this month. And it does get you out the door. And it also keeps you accountable to yourself. But our app allows you to follow friends and be part of a leaderboard and you become accountable to others as well.

00:13:56Melissa Erbacher: So it obviously works for you, Travis, and obviously it works for a whole bunch of other people. Have you got any kind of numbers about how many kilometres have been covered by your participants since 2014?

00:14:07Travis Ireland: No, I don't, but that would be an amazing stat to have. I know that I did a stat in my second year and we'd made it to the moon and back twice. So that was in 2015. One of my amazing running clubs ran around Australia 49 times themselves last year. So there are some amazing stats. The numbers would be astronomical, the amount of members. And then I have those people at the pointy end of the leaderboard that do so many kilometres that obviously boost those numbers. I mean, the gentleman that finished last year ran 9,000 kilometres by himself in one year, which is... Amazing. And if you add all those up, we're running a long way.

00:15:00Scott Trickett: You are. And you've got some great ambassadors out there. I went for a run last Friday along South Bank and we ran past a girl with a rundown undertop on and we had a wave. We had a moment. And now you're looking for ambassadors for 2018. What's involved there?

00:15:20Travis Ireland: My biggest marketing tool is word of mouth. to put an ad or a pamphlet in somewhere and explain what run down under is, is a bit daunting. It's not the easiest event to explain. So I rely heavily on members that are active and engaged to spread the word. Now that happens informally, that happens a lot. It's my biggest marketing tool. But I'd like to take it the next step and offer people the opportunity to, number one, and this is important for so many people, to feel a part of the event and take some ownership of it and feel like they have a special place with Rundown Under by being an ambassador. I don't restrict who does it. I don't restrict, you don't have to be fast, you don't have to be fit. You can be a member since 2014, you can be brand new. I'm not concerned. And all I'm asking is that you spread the word through Rundown Under, through various platforms. And the ambassador program, which I've just sent the email about for yesterday, to the 212 people that applied, it's mainly just spreading the word through structured promotion of Rundown Under to a target market that maybe I don't have the opportunity to get to. And that target market is parkruns that I haven't been to. It's businesses that I haven't walked into the door of that may have employees that want to get involved. It's running clubs that are yet to hear about it. And then it's family and friends and people that haven't heard about Rundown Under. So that's my goal with the ambassador program is to get the word spread.

00:17:05Melissa Erbacher: So there's Rundown Under, but you can also run the world. Where else if people, and is this open to people in Australia? Are we allowed to run overseas if we choose to opt for those countries?

00:17:17Travis Ireland: At the click of a button, Mel, you can change what maps you you were doing so last year um i built run around europe and run around usa just very quickly run around usa um similar to australia in terms of it's a exactly same direction very similar distance um similar that we do tasmania so we catch a ferry across um to run a lap of tasmania so the ferry across a county distance uh Runaround USA has Alaska. You catch a plane, you do a lap of Alaska. Ours is 14,000 kilometres. Theirs is 16,000, so it's quite similar. And then Europe starts in the UK. You do a lap of England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, before you get the ferry across to France, and then you do a complete lap of Europe, and that is 21,000 kilometres, so a lot larger. So the idea was, and it was born when Stephen Wright finished so quickly, and he wanted to keep going. I thought, what can I do? How can I get people engaged? And I mentioned at the start of my podcast, my goal is to have people engaged, active, healthy for the rest of their life. So if some people get run and underdone in maybe five or six, seven, eight, ten years, I want them to keep going. So at the click of a button, you just change your maps. If, for example, you decide that, you're in the middle of WA and you've had enough, you're moving to the UK or you've got family and friends or you just want to change, you just go to our app or website, press the button and change to run around Europe or USA. And then you begin that journey from the start. If you ever decide to come back, you pick up Australia where you left off. And that happens also if you let your membership lapse for whatever reason, injury, pregnancy, you had a break from running, whatever, you always come back. to where you left off. But yeah, plenty of options, plenty of opportunities. And once you finish, you haven't finished.

00:19:23Melissa Erbacher: So can people run more than one country at one time? Like if I went and did a 5K run on Saturday, a parkrun, can that count towards two different countries if I've registered for two different runs? Or can I only choose those kilometers to run around one of the countries?

00:19:39Travis Ireland: Yeah, you can only choose one. The only way around that, and I don't know why you do this, is to set up two separate accounts. But no, your five kilometre run at a parkrun can only be used for that five kilometres. So effectively, you can't use it for two countries and move 10 kilometres. You can only move five kilometres in the country that you're doing at that stage.

00:20:03Scott Trickett: Now what about parkrun, Travis? I see lots of run-down underers at parkrun. What's your local parkrun?

00:20:11Travis Ireland: My local parkrun is Main Beach, the number one parkrun. That's where my local is, although I do live close to Paradise Point and a lot of stories I can tell about there, so I do head out to Paradise Point. It's a bit flatter and a bit faster for when I want to try and do a quick time, but Main Beach is definitely my number one. I actually love the different terrain and I know the race directors. I've got a lot of friends that go there. So my son starts to go there as well, which is home parkrun as well. So that's us.

00:20:44Scott Trickett: What impact has parkrun made on the whole run down under?

00:20:47Travis Ireland: I have admiration and respect for parkrun that you can't believe. And that comes about through the community that I see and that I hear. Being involved in the running community, I don't think I have one friend that doesn't go to parkrun. and to hear about them having breakfast afterwards, to see the camaraderie throughout the entire process, I have the greatest admiration. And I'm not going to lie, I model my business off that same interaction, camaraderie, sense of community, except mine is different in that I encompass the entire country. So I want people to see each other in a singlet. When you're a tourist, I want you to communicate on Facebook. I want you to like someone's picture, no matter where they are in the country, and have that sense of belonging to an amazing community, which parkrun is. So I'm a huge fan.

00:21:50Melissa Erbacher: Well, we're huge fans too, Travis. So we have a question that we ask everybody, and it is if money was no object, time, distance, no object, and you could do any parkrun that currently exists... Or even if it doesn't exist, they'll create one up. Where would it be?

00:22:07Travis Ireland: Easy answer. It would be Merimbula. That's where I was born and bred. Spent the first 20 years of my life in Maroombula. It's my home. Even though I've lived up in Queensland for 25 years, Maroombula is still my home. And that would be without a doubt number one.

00:22:26Scott Trickett: Well, that's easy. You just need to go back home. Easy. Because we've got a parkrun at Maroombula. It's a beauty too.

00:22:32Travis Ireland: I know. And the course runs right along. I was back home only for a couple of days. I wasn't on a Saturday, so I couldn't do the parkrun. In September, I went back home and caught up with some mates and had some things to do. And I ran along the boardwalk. Now, when I was a kid, that boardwalk wasn't there. But it runs right along the house where I grew up. And... A story, I had a family dog. We buried it down at the lake, which is the street down from where I live. The boardwalk now goes right over there. Brought back some memories. And I also have one of my bigger clubs, the Sapphire Coast Runners, that run there and run out of that. So I see them all the time. A young lady by the name of Stephanie Austin, who was our first female in Rundown Under. She had the most kilometres for a female last year. She's part of that. And I notice she does Maroondah parkrun every weekend, so easy answer.

00:23:29Scott Trickett: Good-o. You just need to get your timing right next time and make sure you return home on Saturday.

00:23:36Travis Ireland: Correct. It will happen. It will happen this year because I know that Steph is going to finish run down under this year, so I will be down there and I know she'll choose parkrun as her finishing venue.

00:23:46Scott Trickett: Good. Travis, thanks so much for coming on. Mel and I have joined up this year. I'm not going to finish this year. I think it predicts I think I'm going to finish in 2020, which is a bit daunting. No, not 2023, I should say. So I'm going to be sticking around for a few more years. But thanks for coming on the podcast and telling us all about Rundown Under.

00:24:09Travis Ireland: My pleasure. And don't be daunted by that figure. It's going to take the average person a lot longer than that. So you're well above average. And use it as a goal. I use mine as a goal. Mine's still a couple of years away. I use it as an ovation. But it's my pleasure. Thanks for your time. Really appreciate it.

00:24:41Melissa Erbacher: You'll know the voice of our next guest. He's had a bit of a pretty awesome milestone recently, so we thought we'd have him back on the show. He's also the guy who keeps us in the know on everything athletics and professional sport. Welcome back to the parkrun Adventurers for the first time in 2018, Dave Robbo.

00:24:59Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Hi, G'day Mel and Scott and G'day Adventurers and yeah, Happy New Year to everyone.

00:25:08Melissa Erbacher: Happy New Year to you. Now, Robbo, on Saturday, you became the 60th person in Australia to earn a very pretty green shirt with your 250th parkrun. How does it feel to be that person?

00:25:23Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: I didn't realise it was 60. I was thinking about what number that was, and someone said however many there were in the world, 2,000 and something. 60 in Australia, that's... That's, yeah, it's pretty special. So I thought it was great to kick it off at my home event here in Newcastle at Newey parkrun. And I've got to say, there's quite a bit of fans there. A friend of mine, Andrew Dodd, he brought up his 350 a few weeks earlier. And he's our master of ceremonies when it comes to the milestone clubs and shirt presentations. And he was in his element reading out every stat you could think of. But it was a very humbling series, but very touching as well. And I was lucky enough to have my immediate family all there, but I had my dad down from here on the Gold Coast, and my nephew and niece who also live up that way, and my father-in-law, sister-in-law and her family, and it was a great morning to share with close family, many, many friends, and obviously the entire parkrun community and family that we have here in Newcastle, and a lot of nice comments and stuff from other people as well as well. I don't know if it's anything to be too congratulated on. It's pitching up for whatever it's taken, six and a bit years of your life to get it done. Yeah, but it's a nice milestone to reach. I think I might just, yeah, I'll see what happens. I don't know if I can ever get a celebration bigger or better than that. I might just have to retire I'm 250.

00:26:52Scott Trickett: Robbo, I know you're not going to do that, but I tell you what, we'll bring you back down to earth. I saw the fanfare, and that was lovely. But did it give you an opportunity to reflect on particularly the comments that you would have received, reflect on the impact that you have had on the region of runners? I mean, it's a massive part of parkrunning in this country now, and it's all because of you, largely, the early days. Was that a nice reflective moment on Saturday afternoon?

00:27:21Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, certainly it's nice to reflect on that. But I mean, it's interesting to think it would have, given the success of parkrun and the spread of it around Australia, it would have happened and it would have started at some point if I wasn't around. But we were lucky. We were, I think, the seventh event when we launched. And I've got to be honest, it came from a bit of a selfish point of view. I had heard so much about parkrun having lived in the UK. I still kick myself to this day. I put a tweet out. The other day, I live only a few train stops from Bushy Park in Teddington for a whole year in 2005. The parkrun was only just starting over there.

00:28:02Travis Ireland: I had in my mind that where it was was in a completely different spot, not near where I live. So I missed an opportunity there, not getting a two-digit or maybe three-digit barcode.

00:28:13Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: That would have been pretty harsh if you were getting in early. But, you know, it was certainly nice. Yeah, I'd heard of it. I'd followed closely when it was going to launch in Australia and then on that year, the end of that year, 2011, went up and did my first one-up, which was up at the home of parkrun in Australia, at Main Beach, and met Tim Oberg that day with a view to asking him, sitting him down and asking him what it would take to get one started in Newcastle. And I wanted one near where I lived and that's basically what ended up happening. Where we live here in Newcastle, we're on the course. And so, you know, I could see it was going to be a fantastic thing. to be involved in, to, I guess, be able to, you know, continue running for my own benefit, but also, yeah, bringing a few other people along the way. And it's been really nice to see that. As many, as all parkruns, I'm sure, around Australia and the world, have so many of those great stories of people that never would have considered themselves to be a runner, to be someone that would complete five kilometres, whether walking it or running it, and who now have had their lives changed by, by being involved in such a simple event every week. Yeah, so there were some really lovely comments there, but I can't take all the credit for it. I think Newcastle was primed for this sort of thing to kick off, just in terms of our geography, the climate here, the mix of people around, the layout of the city, which feels more like a big country town, and people just really took it and ran with it. Pun intended. And, yeah, and the rest is kind of history. But these days, that team there at Newey that have taken on from me a few years back now, they've really smashed it and all the other local teams around the place. So it is nice. It's certainly satisfying to see. I set up a bit of an idea with a mate of mine, Mossy, in the Naked Runners, and our idea was to get more people running in Newcastle than weren't. And I guess through parkrun we've been able to go a little way to achieving that. I think we've probably still got a few people to convert over yet, but the job's not done. But, yeah, certainly with parkrun we're helping to achieve that.

00:30:27Scott Trickett: And PSH sent you a congratulatory tweet. I don't think he does that to everyone.

00:30:35Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yes, no, that was very nice of him. Very nice of him. I have memories of when I hounded him on social media for weeks when he was out here in Australia. That was a number of years ago and he had his trip planned out to visit all these different parkruns around the country and Newcastle wasn't on there and we'd only just started and I said I'd pay for his train to come up on a Wednesday and he could come and do a freedom run with it. So that was really special. Our event wasn't even a year old at that point and to have the guy that created the whole thing and we did a little interview with him and he got to run around our course and has some very fond memories of Newcastle, I think. I don't know if he says that to everyone, but he probably does. But, you know, he said his dream is to get back out of here, back to Australia and running in the sunshine on some of our Aussie runs here. So we can't forget he does have an Australian passport. So we can claim the founder of parkrun as being an Aussie, I think, along with being in South Africa and a POM as well. But, yeah, so that was nice to get a message from him. from PSH and I think it was my seventh ever parkrun. Was it Bushy? I finally did get there in 2012 and met PSH and had a run there.

00:31:49Travis Ireland: I think I had to work pretty hard to stay in front of him that day.

00:31:53Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: I mean, I only beat him by about 20 seconds or so. So he still is pretty fit and he was very fit then. But yeah, so nice to have that little connection.

00:32:02Melissa Erbacher: Now, Robbo, I did have to have a look at what your finish time was just to figure out if you were going to be the 59th or the 60th. person to join the 250 Club in Australia. You took it a bit easy. Did you do it with friends or family, like actually out on the course as well, or it just wasn't your fastest time, let's say?

00:32:22Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Uh-huh. Yeah, no, it was always going to be a bit more relaxed. I think I wanted to soak it up. I was running with my nephew, or trying to keep up with him. Patrick, he's a pretty speedy little runner in the JM10 race. And I think, yeah, he set a lifetime PB that day, just a little bit over 27 minutes. So we had a nice little family group going along and did an interview along the way and looked for photos and high fives and things. So it was a pretty relaxed morning, which was nice. And yeah, that was about it, Mel. So I'm assuming that made me number 60 then.

00:33:02Melissa Erbacher: It did. You were pipped at the post by Adrian Royce who completed his 250th up in Cloncurry. A little bit quicker than that.

00:33:09Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, very good. And was that earlier in the day as well?

00:33:13Melissa Erbacher: No, it would have been the same time of the day even because you guys are on at 8am, right?

00:33:18Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yep, that's right.

00:33:19Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, so it's still the same time even when you're on Daylight Savings. Yeah.

00:33:24Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, that's right. That's right. Mind you, given the fanfare at the start, that probably went for 10 minutes, so we wouldn't have started until... 10 past or quarter past eight anyway. So, well, congratulations to Adrian. I'm glad we could share it on the same day. That's fantastic.

00:33:39Scott Trickett: Okay. Now, Robbo, I'm starting to get first signs of Commonwealth Games fever. The first round of selections for the team was announced last week. Can you update us on that? Because there were a few parkrunners in amongst that list. Who's going to the Commonwealth Games? Yeah.

00:33:57Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, this was very exciting, that's right. We've had a few other sports starting to name their line-ups for the Australian team for the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, but the athletics team kicked off their team selections with 14 athletes named. The exciting news coming through is that they're looking to fill the team quota, which is up to 111 athletes. At one point it was going to be maybe as low as 73, which is I was going to be pretty disappointed by, but yeah, they've got a big team there and it includes a lot of their para-athletes as well in that team. But yeah, from a parkrun perspective, very, very exciting. And I reckon the selectors, when they sat down, they thought, right, let's look at our top parkrunners in the country. They will be the first two people on the team. They have to be. And that's exactly what they've gone and done. So in the women's, Celia Sullohern has been picked as So not in the parkrun distance. She's actually in the 10,000 metres. And she basically secured her ticket, winning the 10,000 metre national champs in Melbourne last year.

00:35:01Travis Ireland: And she did that with a qualifying time.

00:35:03Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: So she was in there. She was very, very close to being picked in the marathon as well. So Celia's in there, a current Australian parkrun record holder. And then the women's marathon with the girls. We'll parkrunners across the board. I think there as well. I definitely know Jess Trengove, who hails from Adelaide. She ran at Collins parkrun just on the weekend gone. She's picked in the team in the marathon. Lisa Waitman, who I know has run at least a couple of parkruns as well down in Melbourne, where she is. And then Virginia Moloney from Victoria. She was also picked in the marathon. I'm not sure if she's done a parkrun yet. I'm going to guess that she has. But I can't confirm that. So that was really exciting for the women's distance runners picked in there. And then with the men, the marathoners, Liam Adams, who's our current Australian men's parkrun record holder, I think with his run at Maribyrnong parkrun last year, he's been picked. Michael Shelley is in the mix there as well, and Chris Hamer. I'm not sure if Michael Shelley and Chris Hamer have done their parkrun, made their parkrun debuts yet. They might have to now they're on the team. and they get that pressure from their teammates. But, yeah, that's pretty exciting to see all those names finally officially selected. Stewart McSweyn and another guy, Pat Tiernan, were selected in the men's 10,000-metre team as well. So there will be additional selections made at the end of the national championships, which are held on the Gold Coast in the middle of February, so about the 18th of February. We should know what the make-up of the rest of the teams is So we'll see how many other past runners there will be in there. So, yeah, it's pretty exciting for the running community to see those athletes announced, and we'll see many more in the next couple of months.

00:36:55Scott Trickett: Exciting times ahead, no doubt. Now, quickly before we go, you had the Hunter Track Classic also on the weekend. Can you give us a quick wrap-up of some performances from that event?

00:37:06Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, Ken, Scotty, yes, it was an exciting day, being a Saturday, being the Saturday of the 250 celebrations in the morning. Well, it was quite fitting that we rounded out that day with a parkrun distance event on the track at Glendale, who is outside of Newcastle. So the women's 5,000 metres finished things off, and that was pretty much the run of the night. Linden Hall, again, I can't confirm if Linden's done a parkrun before. She's usually a 1,500-metre runner, probably the best, that we have in the country at the moment, and that should probably get picked for Australia to run in that event at the Gold Coast Comm Games. But she ran a little bit longer. She ran 5,000 metres, and she did it in, listen to this, 15 minutes and 18 seconds, which was a 33-second PB. Also served at the Commonwealth Games A qualifier. I asked her if she was going to maybe think about running at the Commonwealth Games in 5,000 metres. She said no. She's looking to stick with the 1,500 metres. So, at some point, she'll move up to that 5,000. She's going to be a pretty devastating prospect over that distance. And if she ever does a parkrun full-blooded, she'll do some damage there as well. In the men's, we also had a 5,000-metre race there. It was taken out by a couple of Sydney fighters.

00:38:20Travis Ireland: Ed Goddard got the win there, 14.07. And Brad Milosevic, 14.08.

00:38:25Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: He was represented Australia at the marathon as well. So... A couple of exciting 1,500-metre runs in there as well and some 3,000-metre steeplechase races, men and women, and some other Commonwealth Games B qualifiers in those events. So we might see some of those other athletes getting a start at the Gold Coast Comm Games as well. But it really is exciting across athletics at the moment all around the country with different meets on each weekend. And Canberra have a big meet on coming up this weekend. And then we have some state championships in different states as well coming up. So lots to follow if you're into your athletics. And it'll be interesting to see what form they can all get themselves into, get themselves on the team and then hopefully make some great performances and some medals and some finals positions when we get to the Games in early April.

00:39:19Melissa Erbacher: Certainly lots to look forward to. And personally, I'm looking forward to seeing Jumpy getting back out there and doing some work at the Comm Games in April. I've got my money that you have some tickets already, Robbo, and or other means of being there.

00:39:36Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, well, luckily enough, my dad, who was down here, and my sister, they live at Cromden. We booked our spot there to stay with them for those couple of weeks. And Jumpy's looking a bit sad, actually. The original Jumpy we had at the Glasgow POM game, he's sustained about eight different puncture wounds, and he's been patched up and patched up. He might be beyond repair, that one. But we've had a few other versions of Jumpy over the years. I've given a few away. There was a few in Rio a couple of years ago for the Olympic Games. But the place that I sourced my Jumpy's from in Melbourne, and Scott, you'll remember, and maybe you as well, Mel, you might remember where I just where I used to buy my jumpies, down there at Flinders Street. And I went in there on a trip in December last year and they were all out. Couldn't believe it. So no jumpers. They had a bit of a weird coloured alternate jumpy. I couldn't bring myself to buying that one. So I'm going to have to keep looking a bit further afield because that place, they must have sold out, I guess, the excitement around the Commonwealth Games. People probably did tell me they want to get their own jumpy. So... I do need to source that. I've got a few months to go to get my hands on a jumpy that can be a bit more reliable and get through the game. As we know, you get to turn around a fair bit. You like to get involved. Men's night at the Athlete's Village every now and then. So you'll need to get into it with peak fitness. So we've got to get a pretty robust jumpy before the game.

00:41:05Melissa Erbacher: Sounds like a task for our adventurers. If we've got anyone out there who knows of a robust jumpy, get in touch with Robbo.

00:41:13Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, much appreciated. We'd love to know. I can give you the specifications or you can find the photo. He's got his own Twitter account, if you want to go have a look. I think he's on Instagram as well, the same handle. So, yeah, we need some help sourcing a jumpy anywhere around the country. That would be much appreciated.

00:41:30Melissa Erbacher: Social media savvy kangaroos want it.

00:41:33Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: That's exactly right.

00:41:36Melissa Erbacher: Awesome. Thanks for joining us for the first episode of 2018, Robbo. We look forward to having you back as we get closer to the Comm Games to hear all the updates about what's going on.

00:41:46Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Awesome. Thanks, Mel. Thanks, Scotty. And thanks, everyone, for listening. And again, Happy New Year. And I hope you've all started the right way with getting that smart code scan at a few different places around the country. I know I'm certainly looking forward to doing that myself this year. So, yeah, look forward to that.

Channel 5 News Crew

00:42:11Lyndell Murray: Alrighty, parkrun adventurers, it's Lyndell here, reporting in from the day we've all been waiting for. The big Z, Zillmere, is launching today in the northern suburbs of Brisbane, and I'm here. I've heard that there are people that have come from all over, even overseas, to get a Z on their alphabet list. But I've also heard some really nice stories about how the community has really gotten behind this parkrun. So... The speeches are about to start and the launch is officially about to happen, so I better be quiet and I'll talk to you later. All righty, mission accomplished, parkrun adventurers. I've found NECA. Now, [name], you're not a local here at Zillmere.

00:42:48Unidentified speaker: Oh, nearly local, only from New Zealand. You can hear from my accent, I'm from England originally, but New Zealand is now my home, Hawke's Bay, love it.

00:42:56Lyndell Murray: Hawke's Bay, beautiful part of the world. Now, you've got a bit of a story as to why you're here. You are here for your Zed, I understand, but that's not the full story.

00:43:07Unidentified speaker: So I did parkrun Żary in Poland, which is like a Zed, but it's got a little dot over it. Apologies to the linguists, don't know what that means. But this is my first true, true proper Zed, and I'm so excited.

00:43:19Lyndell Murray: Yes, because the one in Poland is not pronounced with a z sound. It's a ch or something like that. We don't know. We're not Polish language experts. But you've come here to get a proper Z. Absolutely right. I'm so excited. So how are you going with your alphabet then? If you've got a Z, what other letters are you missing?

00:43:37Unidentified speaker: I'm just missing an X. So if anyone's listening in a place that starts with an X, pop up parkrun near you, please. Let's go there.

00:43:45Lyndell Murray: and you'll have a guaranteed visa in NECA. So just tell me a little bit more about yourself and what's your parkrun journey, how did you get into parkrun and how are you involved now?

00:43:55Unidentified speaker: Oh my gosh, so I started running with Datchet Dashes, it was a little club in the UK and believe it or not I went as a trial, well as a time trial actually when I used to try and run fast and then I didn't do parkruns for a couple of years and then I got back into it, got sent to New Zealand and there was no parkrun Within four hours drive, so I had to go down to Lower Hutt, as you do if you're crazy like me. And then I just started collecting various things, countries, alphabets, and volunteers, because I love the purple parkrun t-shirt too. So I have one of those, and I just love everything about parkrun.

00:44:30Lyndell Murray: Excellent. So look, you are the epitome of the parkrun adventure. It's such a pleasure to have you on the show. Can I just say, so New Zealand... Really avid fans of the parkrun Adventurers podcast may recall that I got inducted to the Channel 5 News crew as a result of a trip to New Zealand. I had a similar experience. I was in New Plymouth, no parkrun, did my very own pop-up parkrun all by myself in New Plymouth and interviewed just random runners on the street. Any chance you could be in New Plymouth and we could do a parkrun together maybe. I don't know. Next time I'm there.

00:45:08Unidentified speaker: Absolutely. So in March, anyone listening in New Plymouth, let's go there.

00:45:13Lyndell Murray: Excellent. I think we've got it sorted. We're doing a pop-up parkrun in New Plymouth in March. I'll be there. Nick will be there. Absolutely. We'll see who else we can rope in. It's a deal. All right. Well, thank you so much for talking to me on the podcast and I'll see you in a couple of months. Thank you. See you there. Alright, now I've tracked down Carolyn and Greg. Carolyn and Greg are Logan River parkrunners and they have knocked off a very special milestone today. G'day guys and welcome to the podcast. What have you achieved today?

00:45:47Carolyn: Hi everybody, we have achieved every letter in the alphabet in Australia except for the X. Yeah, well that's not going to happen any time soon I don't think but we're working on it.

00:46:00Lyndell Murray: Well, we've got a Z. Who knows? It could only be a matter of time before there's an X. And so you are, and I heard you're already scoping out where some choices are might be for the X. Yeah, well, there's a little town in Western Australia called Xantippe.

00:46:16Greg: And there's another one. Option is Xavier College in Brisbane or there's a Xavier Herbert Park in Cairns.

00:46:23Carolyn: There's a challenge. Yeah. There's a challenge out there. Somebody just start an X.

00:46:29Lyndell Murray: All right, you EDs and RDs, get on it. The challenge is set for you. And so... Obviously you've done at least 26. How many different parkruns have you done? How many parkruns have you done?

00:46:42Carolyn: Oh, I think we're up to just under 80 different parkruns and nearly 150. Yeah, 140, 150. 50, yeah. We're kind of more excited about alphabet touring than actually keeping track of how many we've done. That's going to change now though because our aim this year is to get 100 different parkruns, get lots of volunteering in and give back because we've been a bit slack last year.

00:47:09Lyndell Murray: It sounds like a really great goal and you're well on your way obviously. Maybe you could volunteer in Cairns potentially and start up the, which park it was, the X Park?

00:47:21Greg: Sounds good.

00:47:21Lyndell Murray: What's the one in Cairns?

00:47:23Greg: Xavier Herbert Park.

00:47:26Lyndell Murray: All right. Well, congratulations. Well done. Thank you. That takes a lot of commitment. Is there any places that you've been to that were really out of the way or places that you wouldn't normally have gone to that are particularly memorable? No.

00:47:41Carolyn: All our holidays, they surround parkrun, which is really sad, but that's what we do. We always combine a race if we can, if it's a long weekend. In Queanbeyan, we did Canberra Fun Run down there.

00:47:54Greg: They're all special in their own different way.

00:47:57Carolyn: They are, yeah. One of the best things is just meeting so many different people and meeting the same people over and over at different ones. And launches are great because, you know, it's a big party atmosphere. Yeah, we love parkrun. Totally addicted.

00:48:12Lyndell Murray: Excellent. And how did you get involved in parkrun in the first place? She dragged me into it. And I can tell that that's been terrible for you. You look really unhappy today.

00:48:23Greg: I haven't slept in on a Saturday morning for a very long time.

00:48:29Carolyn: Hey Bart, we went from our first 5Ks to we've done a marathon now in Honolulu. So, you know, that's what parkrun's done for us as we've increased and increased. Yeah, we did a pop-up parkrun in Waikiki because there's no parkrun over there. So a whole group of us took a flag over, a parkrun flag, and did a pop-up parkrun all along the coast. Yeah, it's beautiful.

00:48:52Lyndell Murray: Excellent. Seaside's bringing you lots of adventures and lots of wonderful memories. Good on you. That's the spirit of parkrun right there.

00:48:59Carolyn: Thanks for being on the podcast and have a really great day. And we're just claiming first and second in Australia until we've got all the alphabets. So if anybody else is here today, let us know who you are and we'll get working on that X.

00:49:11Greg: And it could come down to personal times.

00:49:15Lyndell Murray: Look, I reckon let's just call it. You're the only Australians that I've interviewed on the parkrun Adventurers podcast who can say that. So how about we just say let's call it official. You guys are the first. All right. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, so I've found one of the local runners here at Zillmere. Sarge, how are you going today?

00:49:38"Sarge": Yeah, I'm really good. This has been an amazing start to the Zillmere parkrun. So many people.

00:49:43Lyndell Murray: And you didn't run today. You're out volunteering. Have you run the course?

00:49:47"Sarge": We did the trial run a couple of times, and so I know what the course is like. But today, yeah, I volunteered right out at the far point. So I call it High Five Corner.

00:49:56Lyndell Murray: That's a great name, and you did a great job of dishing out those high fives, I've got to say. Hats off to you. High five. So you'll be a local here and you'll also be a run director?

00:50:06"Sarge": Yep, absolutely. I'm really looking forward to putting Zilmere on the map. I think it speaks for itself being the only, well what, only one of two Zed parkruns in the world. So is that right?

00:50:15Lyndell Murray: That's what I understand. And it's a nice sort of cross-country style course in the middle of suburban Brisbane and that's nice as well. There's not too many like that around.

00:50:26"Sarge": No, I love it because it's a full grass course. It's not one here for breaking personal best records, but it's just about enjoying your Saturday morning every now and then.

00:50:36Lyndell Murray: Excellent. And Sarge, how did you come to be involved in parkrun? You're a runner. How did you get involved and what's your parkrun story?

00:50:43"Sarge": So I'm a personal trainer and I used to run boot camps right next to New Farm Park, parkrun. And then I moved to Victoria and there wasn't a parkrun nearby. So I actually helped start Traralgon parkrun. And then moved back to Brisbane and then helped start Kedron parkrun. And now I've had the opportunity and the privilege to help start Zilmere parkrun. So yeah, bring them on. I love starting these things. They're awesome.

00:51:05Lyndell Murray: Well, hopefully you can keep this one going as well because everybody needs a Z and everybody needs a lovely cross-country course in the heart of the city. Thanks so much, Sarge, for everything that you've done and what you'll keep doing for Zilmere parkrun.

00:51:16"Sarge": All right, Zilmere, thank you very much and I look forward to seeing you back here running Zilmere again too.

00:51:21Lyndell Murray: I'll be back.

00:51:21"Sarge": Thank you.

00:51:22Lyndell Murray: All right, I've found some more local parkrunners here with the Nisbet family. They're from Sandgate. So who have we got today?

00:51:30Gary Nisbet: Ha, Gary.

00:51:33Lyndell Murray: Mitchell. Sienna.

00:51:35David Nisbet: David.

00:51:36Lyndell Murray: And you run, normally at Sandgate is your home parkrun, that's right?

00:51:40David Nisbet: That's correct, and then we've been touring ever since.

00:51:45Lyndell Murray: And whereabouts have you toured, all over the place?

00:51:48David Nisbet: Yeah, all over Australia really. Lots of, the kids have done a lot in South East Queensland, so yeah.

00:51:56Gary Nisbet: Yeah, not last year, the year before we went to Melbourne for the five over my birthday, that was my 60th birthday present and I had the honour of running with my grandkids and my son and my daughter-in-law. That was great.

00:52:13Lyndell Murray: What a great way to celebrate your 60th birthday. That's a fantastic story.

00:52:17Gary Nisbet: They grounded us this year because she's got a new house so we couldn't go anywhere.

00:52:24Lyndell Murray: Alright, now Sandgate isn't too far away. Are you staying loyal to Sandgate or are you going to switch to Zillmere as your home parkrun?

00:52:31David Nisbet: Oh, look, we're definitely Sandgate home parkrunners, but we'll definitely return to this wonderful course and do it again in 2018.

00:52:42Lyndell Murray: And how did you find the course?

00:52:45David Nisbet: Yeah, look, love the fact that it's a different surface and different terrain. And yeah, definitely we'll be back.

00:52:54Lyndell Murray: Excellent. Now, guys, the junior parkrunners here, what do you like most about running at all the different parkruns? Mitchell? I like getting fit and meeting new people. And what about you, Sienna? I like it because you can train for cross-country and meet new people. And how do you go at cross-country? I usually come first place. First place? And do you like it? Yes. Excellent. Well, that's the most important thing, isn't it, that you love it?

00:53:22Gary Nisbet: Yeah, I agree.

00:53:24Lyndell Murray: Excellent. Well, thank you for talking to me today, Nisbet family. Thanks for coming to Zilmere and getting your Z. It sounds like you're really seasoned adventurers, and if you're not already there, you won't be far away from getting your alphabet. Thanks, guys.

00:53:37David Nisbet: Thank you.

00:53:38Lyndell Murray: Thank you. Thank you.

00:53:39David Nisbet: Thanks.

00:53:40Lyndell Murray: All righty, now I've tracked down Mark, the hardworking event director here at Zilmere. How are you going today, and how did the launch go for you?

00:53:49Mark: It went all right. I was a bit nervous at the start, shaking the hands, but it seemed to go off all right.

00:53:54Lyndell Murray: take it from me it definitely went off all right i've spoken to a lot of people they say that they love the grass course and it's a nice vibe the launch was really great so well done um and just in terms of the process of getting this up and running um can you talk to me a little bit about that and how you got involved and and um and how Zillmere parkrun was born yep uh well it actually started as just talking as a like a zed for a zed run but

00:54:22Mark: i come down and measured it measured the course out and uh spoke to the league the soccer club down here and they told me how much the community would would need something like this so i just said right off we'll go with it and then we marked out the course and got all the permissions and then started and the soccer club's been really good they they asked us to start and finish at their clubhouse so they could use the canteens and all the toilets and stuff. And we went from there.

00:54:44Lyndell Murray: Excellent. So that's a shout out to the North Star Football Club, Soccer Club, here in Zillmere. Look, what a great community connection that is. We come here in parkrun and they can, you know, help boost their community funds as well by us all buying coffee. Sounds like a match made in heaven.

00:55:02Mark: It is. Yeah, that's right.

00:55:03Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:55:05Lyndell Murray: Excellent. And there were a few alphabeteers here today getting their Zed?

00:55:09Mark: Yeah, there was. There was quite a few. I saw a few hands went up after their Zeds.

00:55:14Lyndell Murray: I spoke to one lady from New Zealand and I know that you said that you'd had interest from all over the place. Was there any other places that you heard about that really knocked you away?

00:55:23Mark: Not that I know of, no. It's only the New Zealand one, but I have seen that there are a few people from other places wanting to head over this way. We'll see what happens later on.

00:55:32Lyndell Murray: It'll be fun to be here when you say, do we have any visitors and where are you from?

00:55:37Mark: It will be. It will be. Yeah.

00:55:40Lyndell Murray: All right. Well, thank you very much for starting Zillmere parkrun. I think we can say it's been a fabulous success this morning. Lots of hard work on your part, so well done. And thanks for all the great work that you do, not only for Zillmere but for parkrun in general.

00:55:54Mark: Thank you. Thanks a lot.

00:55:56Lyndell Murray: Alrighty, Scotty, Mel, that's it. That's a wrap from me from Zillmere parkrun launch on behalf of the Channel 5 News crew. So what a great morning we've had here. Zillmere is a fantastic little place. It's unique not only because it starts with a Z and everybody came here for the Z. It's entirely on grass around soccer fields, sporting fields in Brisbane City. So that makes it really unique, I think, is being a totally off-path course in the middle of the city. Really well supported here by the community, the Brisbane City Council grounds. They've been fantastic in the setup. And the North Star Soccer Club here in Zilmere, also really supportive of the parkrun with their coffee shop open for coffees afterwards. So head along. If you need another reason apart from your Z, come along to a really nice community parkrun in Brisbane City. That's it. Bye for now. And I'll see you next time on the podcast.

Channel 5 News Crew

00:56:56Tony O'Connell: Howdy parkrunners, it's TOC reporting in for the Channel 5 News crew. We're at the launch of Gardiners Creek today. The numbers are really starting to swell. It's a sea of purple tutus down here at Gardiners today for another Victorian launch. And we're celebrating Brendan Peel is going to run his 150th different event. So we'll get out and have a run. Briefing's about to start. We'll have our run and we'll report back in later. Cheers, parkrunners. I'm with Wendy Glenn. Wendy's the event director at the new Gardeners Creek parkrun that launched today. It's a sensational little course, a granitic sand sort of trail running alongside a little creek. Some really nice scenery, some great shade for the warmer days and a sensational turnout. Welcome to the podcast, Wendy.

00:57:43Wendy Glenn: Thanks so much for having me today, guys.

00:57:46Tony O'Connell: It was an incredible turnout. I think, what was your final numbers on the day?

00:57:50Wendy Glenn: We ended up with 466, which is probably about 120 more than I had ever imagined in my wildest dreams.

00:57:59Tony O'Connell: And I think it beats the Victorian launch record by about 80 people, so it's huge.

00:58:05Wendy Glenn: It was bigger than Ben Hur, and I absolutely didn't expect that today. I had really, in my imaginings, I'd got as far as 350, but I certainly hadn't, in my imaginings, gone beyond that.

00:58:17Tony O'Connell: So what did you think when you were doing the briefing and you looked out? When I turned around at one stage, I thought, oh, yeah, there's about 300 people here, maybe a couple more. What did you think when you stood up on the... the table and were doing your briefing, looking out at the numbers.

00:58:32Wendy Glenn: Look, I was looking around and trying desperately to come up with a number, and I was thinking like you, something around 300. But the whole time that I was talking, people were adding to the back of the crowd. And from where you stood in the crowd talk, you probably couldn't see. But the entire time I was briefing, all I could see was more and more people joining this crowd. So I was starting to just cross my fingers and toes and go with the knowledge that parkrun really succeeds or fails on people being nice to each other. And I knew we had enough parkrunners there who were seasoned parkrunners to say welcome and look after anybody new.

00:59:11Tony O'Connell: And I think one of the great things about your course, Wendy, is the track's really wide. It handled that number without a problem. You've got a lot of width. There's no real choke points in it. And so the track handled that number without a problem.

00:59:23Wendy Glenn: Yeah, and I guess I always knew that was going to be a chance. And the only thing I ever really wanted to remind people about is it's effectively a trail course, not bitumen. So for those people who are used to running on concrete or bitumen, you really do have to watch your feet a little bit, don't you, Toc?

00:59:40Tony O'Connell: Yeah, apparently someone joined the stack club today and I wouldn't have thought Gardiners Creek was going to be a course that would have people in the stack club.

00:59:47Wendy Glenn: No, especially not seasoned trail runners like you.

00:59:50Tony O'Connell: Yeah, yeah, I may have ended up on my butt somewhere around the turnaround point.

00:59:55Wendy Glenn: Yeah.

00:59:56Tony O'Connell: Yeah, that won't probably happen again with anyone on your course.

00:59:59Wendy Glenn: Let's hope not. Let's go with that.

01:00:01Tony O'Connell: And your welcoming speech, Wendy, I thought it was one of the best ones I've heard at a launch. It's really nice to have that personal effect about, you know, the family living really close to the course and your own home. You walked from the... the launch, you walked home and it was only a couple of hundred metres up the trail. So it was a really great speech.

01:00:23Wendy Glenn: Yeah, look, it's a really special place for me. My dad's family moved out here sometime well before World War Two. So dad grew up in this area. when it was a chicken farm and a cow farm around here and then he married mum and they moved back here to raise their family and because I must not be very adventurous I bought a house about 500 metres as the crows flies from where I grew up and here I am now and today a couple of my great-nephews were out on course marshalling so I had my brother and me and my husband, my kids, my niece Eleanor and her husband and her kids. So we had a couple of generations there today and by the time little Leo and Jakey were walking on the course today, that was the fifth generation of Jacob's family to have played down at Gardiners Creek.

01:01:08Tony O'Connell: That's really cool and your daughter ran her first parkrun today and I probably surprised her with a bit of a high five out of the crowd as I went past her. I don't know if she was expecting that or not but it was really good. Isn't it great when you get your family along? I love it.

01:01:21Wendy Glenn: I was really excited. My brother Tony and his wife Shel did their first ever parkrun. My daughter did her first ever parkrun and for me one of the greatest joys of parkrun is just seeing people out there having a good time. I don't think I saw a single person out there today that didn't have a big smile on their face. So whatever efforts we'd gone to to make this parkrun happen were all completely worth it today as I saw the smiles on people's faces.

01:01:46Tony O'Connell: No, it was awesome. It was a really great day and it was just really well run and it was just friendly and relaxed even for that number. The finish line here, it was just relaxed. Everyone's sitting around talking and chatting and that's great to see that you've got a community. One week in, you've already got a community starting to develop.

01:02:02Wendy Glenn: Yeah we're very fortunate in that we are in the middle of a number of established parkruns and so there are people that live very close to me who have wanted something like this and who have already as the event team formed the backbone of our community and people surrounding us for whom this is home but are seasoned parkrunners and make that welcoming parkrun here at Gardiners Creek.

01:02:25Tony O'Connell: Oh, thanks, Wendy, and welcome to the parkrun family. I know you've been a parkrunner for a long time, but welcome to the family as an event director, and it was just a brilliant event. Well done.

01:02:34Wendy Glenn: Thanks so much, Toc, and thanks, guys, for having me on today.

01:02:37Scott Trickett: Cheers. Well, the Channel 5 news crew were busy over the break. They didn't take any time off. Multiple reports from the crew there, and we are accepting applications for this year. New crew members. Yeah, yeah. We love our crew. We love hearing from them. But we always like new recruits. So you know what to do, people.

01:03:01Melissa Erbacher: And we do have a couple of, we've got a couple of states that aren't represented yet too. So it'll be good to get some people from those states. Shall we jump on to where the cake and or launches might be this weekend?

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

01:03:15Scott Trickett: Yeah, let me do launches. You do anniversaries. All right. Bargara up in Queensland. Bright in Victoria. And San Remo in New South Wales. I'll tell you what. They're three exciting new events. Bagara looks awesome up on the beach there. Bright is eagerly awaited. Good holiday destination in Victoria. And San Remo's got a fantastic story. around a community, trying to build a community or a parkrun community in that community. How many times can you say community in one sentence?

01:03:51Melissa Erbacher: I reckon you're going for the record.

01:03:53Scott Trickett: I nailed it there. So that's three exciting launches. Can you top it with anniversaries?

01:03:59Melissa Erbacher: We have got anniversaries like everywhere this weekend. Everywhere except like the ACT in Northern Territory. Let's start in WA. So we've got Bibra Lake and then we've got Churchill in Victoria, Cooks River in New South Wales, Mudgee in New South Wales, Port Fairy in Victoria, Sirromet in Queensland, Tamborine Mountain in Queensland and the Terrace in New South Wales. How is that for a bumper weekend?

01:04:28Scott Trickett: That's party weekend again. And we're adding three more to it next week. No, we're adding three more to it next year.

01:04:36Melissa Erbacher: We are indeed. We are also adding three more next week, but we'll talk about that in next week's podcast.

01:04:42Scott Trickett: Don't give too much away, Mel. Where do you get all your information?

01:04:45Melissa Erbacher: From the calendar.

01:04:46Scott Trickett: Where do you see the calendar?

01:04:48Melissa Erbacher: Calendar is on the parkrun Australia blog, but it's also linked every week in the newsletter.

01:04:54Scott Trickett: Yeah, it's a good newsletter, isn't it?

01:04:56Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, it goes all right.

01:04:57Scott Trickett: It goes all right. If any of our listeners aren't getting it, they should sign up to it, because do you know only 50% of our parkrunners get the newsletter?

01:05:06Melissa Erbacher: Oh, well, they're missing now, aren't they? I don't get that.

01:05:10Scott Trickett: You know who we've got? Speaking of figures, you know who we've got on the parkrun Show podcast? What are we called? parkrun Adventurers Next Week?

01:05:20Melissa Erbacher: Wait a minute.

01:05:21Scott Trickett: Hey, should we change our name?

01:05:24Melissa Erbacher: Change our name to what?

01:05:26Scott Trickett: What did I just come up with then? parkrun Show.

01:05:28Melissa Erbacher: The parkrun Show. I'm pretty sure there was already a podcast called that.

01:05:31Scott Trickett: Okay. Now, we've changed our logo and our intro music. That's enough change for one week. But next week, we've got Facts in a Haystack coming back. It's been a while since we've had Ian on, and he's going to update us on our record-breaking start to the year.

01:05:48Melissa Erbacher: And it's been a big one, hasn't it?

01:05:50Scott Trickett: Yeah, if you've been paying attention, I'm not sure if you have, Mel, but we're breaking our attendance record every week this year.

01:05:57Melissa Erbacher: Every week? Are you sure we broke it the first week? Oh, we may have because of New Year's Day. Yeah.

01:06:02Scott Trickett: We did. It's gone crazy.

01:06:04Unidentified speaker: Okay.

01:06:05Melissa Erbacher: Well done, parkrun.

01:06:06Scott Trickett: Yes, and Ian's going to tell us all about it, amongst other things. So I'm already looking forward to that.

01:06:14Melissa Erbacher: Awesome. Well, we'll have to make sure we have some good questions for him.

01:06:19Scott Trickett: If any listeners have got some questions, send them in. Email, Facebook, Twitter.

01:06:26Melissa Erbacher: Yep, and it pretty much doesn't have to be necessarily about record attendance or anything like that, even if you've just got some random stat that you would like to know. Ian is our man, and if we get him enough notice, he can find out most things.

01:06:40Scott Trickett: We'd also love to hear some listener questions this year. It doesn't have to be for Ian. It can be for us. Would we?

01:06:48Melissa Erbacher: We want questions now. Absolutely.

01:06:51Scott Trickett: I'm curious to find out what our listeners want to know about us or about parkrun. I reckon we can answer, between the two of us, between our two parkrun minds, I reckon we can answer almost any question.

01:07:04Melissa Erbacher: Oh, look, we could answer any question. Whether or not the answer is accurate is another thing. But that's okay. We could have a stab.

01:07:11Scott Trickett: No, I'm going for we can give you the right answer.

01:07:14Melissa Erbacher: Oh, that's a big call.

01:07:16Scott Trickett: I'm setting the bar high this year, Mel.

01:07:19Melissa Erbacher: Oh, God. Sounds like we're going to have to be professional and everything.

01:07:23Scott Trickett: We're going to try.

01:07:24Melissa Erbacher: We are. Hey, speaking of this year and what we're going to try to do, I want to know what you're looking forward to. You didn't have any big plans, but there are still some, you know, things on the horizon to look forward to adventure-wise. What are you looking forward to this year, Scotty?

01:07:41Scott Trickett: I'm looking forward to, this may sound familiar, but I'm looking forward to meeting a few more people. Here's the thing, I'm looking forward to meeting new people because I think I've got in a trap when I'm visiting new events of going to the people that I know. And on Saturday, I ended up having a chat to, because I was in Brisbane and meeting a lot of people that I didn't know, I got to hear some new stories, meet some new people, and I walked away from the morning happier and healthier. So I think I'm going to set that as my goal when I'm adventuring this year. Be more proactive than I usually am. So some people will go, oh God, who's this guy? Go away. But maybe one in 10 will be a keeper. So I'm banking on that 10%. Hoping it's higher, but aiming for 10%.

01:08:36Melissa Erbacher: Okay. Well, you know where's a good place to meet some new people. Not just any parkrun, any given week, but at the end of March or close to the end of March is the first parkrun Adventurers Listener Meetup. Shellharbour. There's going to be a whole bunch of new people to meet.

01:08:55Scott Trickett: There are. It's going to be exciting too. What plans have we got? Have we started planning for that?

01:09:01Melissa Erbacher: I believe Gary has asked us to start planning and I did mention it to you and you were like, I'm on holidays, don't talk to me about it.

01:09:09Scott Trickett: That's not what I said. That's a lie, Mel. Don't peel back the curtain and give away all my dirty secrets. I think it might have been words to the effect of, that's months away. Let's worry about it later.

01:09:24Melissa Erbacher: We've started talking about, potentially talking about it. So maybe we should do that after we finish recording.

01:09:34Scott Trickett: No, well, you and I are going to be there. That's locked in. The boss is coming. Oh. Yeah, we're dragging Tim along.

01:09:40Melissa Erbacher: That's a bit of excitement.

01:09:42Scott Trickett: Yep. So if we can't answer any of your questions, you know Tim can.

01:09:48Melissa Erbacher: Well, he'll definitely draw the crowds.

01:09:51Scott Trickett: So it's going to be good. It's going to be a great weekend. We should look at accommodation and venues and share that with our listeners.

01:09:58Melissa Erbacher: Well, if you've been on the Facebook page, the Palm18 Facebook page, Brendan Scholarly has done this incredible... amount of research of all the good things to do in and around Shell Harbour and he has provided links to different tourism type things but also accommodation and restaurants and it's seriously a treasure trove of information about all things in the local area so head on over to the Facebook page and have a look because it's amazing and he's done all this work for us he's saved everybody so much time so check it out

01:10:38Scott Trickett: He's a good bloke, Brendan. I got to run with him at Bowral on New Year's Day. Got a high five and a little bit of a chat with him and his crew. Just got me more excited.

01:10:48Melissa Erbacher: It's a small parkrun world, isn't it? Yeah.

01:10:51Scott Trickett: But let's wrap it up. Are you adventuring this week? I want to know where you're going.

01:10:57Melissa Erbacher: What is this week? What is this? I am adventuring. I'm adventuring to Kawana because we have our first two... homegrown Kiwana parkrunners reaching the 250 club this weekend and so that's a very big deal for us and we're going to go and support and encourage and congratulate those two gentlemen for making it there very exciting

01:11:22Scott Trickett: Yeah, we didn't mention it with Robbo, but it's five years of parkrun. We are seeing more and more of them, but it's five years of parkrun.

01:11:30Melissa Erbacher: It's actually more than five years because you'll find that the majority of people that get to 250 have done a fair amount of volunteering, you know, along the way. So it is like five calendar years in terms of the number, but it tends to take a little bit longer to get there when they have a few weeks off running to volunteer, so... It's a very impressive achievement. I can't wait till I get there. How long do you reckon it'll be before you're hitting the 250 mark, Scotty?

01:11:57Scott Trickett: It's not going to be this year, unfortunately. I haven't even got to 200 yet. So, yeah, not too much longer and there'll be no fanfare. Whatsoever.

01:12:10Melissa Erbacher: Yes, I don't blame you. Did I mention it in the interview that I think I might just sneak off overseas and do it someplace quietly?

01:12:20Scott Trickett: You did. Yeah. It's interesting. For the two milestones that I've run, zero fanfare whatsoever. I wasn't even aware, to be honest. That's probably not true, but I was... mildly aware that I was running my 100th, and it happened on a New Year's Day, and I can't even remember doing my 50th.

01:12:41Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I had to, I was trying to figure out when I hit those milestones, and I literally had to go through, I had a rough idea of when they happened, because you know when you look at your event history, it doesn't tell you what number each of the events was as you run, so I was manually trying to figure out when I did my 50 and my 100 recently, and I had to go through the facebook photos to see if i could see anything that sort of marked oh yeah that's the day that i did that so you know when you did it and where um yeah well i did both of them at kawana and i did them both on anniversaries um so that's a good time to do it because everybody's so distracted with wanting to eat the cake and celebrate all the other things that they don't really notice. You can get it in without much fanfare, as it were. Anyway, we'll get there eventually.

01:13:43Scott Trickett: When are you on track for it? 2000 and when?

01:13:47Melissa Erbacher: I think there's another four years at the rate I go with running and volunteer. What's it called? What's it called when there's a percentage of volunteers to runs? Oh, that's... There you go. There's my word of the week that I don't know what the hell I'm thinking of.

Word of the week

01:14:05Scott Trickett: Quota?

01:14:08Unidentified speaker: No.

01:14:08Melissa Erbacher: I don't think that's the word. It's... It's when you measure... No, it's not when you measure one against the other. It's just the... It's not percentage. I don't know. Anyway. I'll figure it out during the week.

01:14:24Scott Trickett: Hey, something's... change some things stay the same i still don't know what you're talking about and we've got a word of the week for our listeners to guess we do there's something to be going on with people thanks mel thanks good to be back it is i'll chat to you next week