Episode 108 - parkrun Malaysia

Episode details · 155 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:16Melissa Erbacher: it's episode 108 of the parkrun adventurous podcast i think that's an auspicious number and i'm feeling auspicious this week scotty how about you

00:00:25Scott Trickett: I'm feeling lucky, Mel, because eight is a lucky number in some cultures, traditions. I think it's the Chinese. They go mad for a bit of the eight, and we're on 108.

00:00:38Melissa Erbacher: How good is that? 108. Loving it. What's been going on in your world this week, Scotty?

00:00:45Scott Trickett: I'm back at home, back in Melbourne, back at work. I've pulled a muscle in my back breathing.

00:00:53Melissa Erbacher: Oh, no.

00:00:54Scott Trickett: Bit in the wars again, but just happy to be back to normal life.

00:01:01Melissa Erbacher: Always awkward when you pull a muscle from breathing.

00:01:04Scott Trickett: Yeah.

00:01:05Melissa Erbacher: Because it's kind of an integral part of life.

00:01:09Scott Trickett: I have a knack for hurting myself in places that makes it really painful and uncomfortable for all other aspects of my life. So as we famously and fondly recall of me falling over last year and doing some damage on my ribs, that stays with you for months. And now I've managed to do something with my back, which is going to stay with me for months.

00:01:36Melissa Erbacher: It's kind of like a paper cut. They're never in a convenient spot, are they?

00:01:40Scott Trickett: No, no.

00:01:41Melissa Erbacher: But I guess there's never really a convenient spot to be paper cut or injured for that matter. Well, I'm sorry to hear that you've got some niggles. How is that affecting your marathon training?

00:01:52Scott Trickett: Well, I hurt myself running. I think I breathe too hard. Is that a good sign? I'm not sure.

00:02:03Melissa Erbacher: So you're calling this a running injury? You breathed too hard? You bro-thed?

00:02:08Scott Trickett: Bro-thed too hard, yeah. But apart from that, marathon training's on fire. It's great.

00:02:15Melissa Erbacher: Excellent. You're not missing training runs now.

00:02:19Scott Trickett: No, not at all. I had a great two weeks up in Bright. And, hey, I got to run with Matt. Remember Matt from a couple of weeks ago? He came back to town and, my goodness, he tried a few excuses on, but he did. He did. He said, oh, my watch is flat. And luckily I brought two with me on holidays. I said, don't worry, I'll lend you one of mine.

00:02:44Melissa Erbacher: Does he not run without a watch?

00:02:45Scott Trickett: I don't think so. This is the other thing. So he has to have a watch, but everything on Strava is private, so you can't see it. I'm giving away too many secrets. But anyway, he went for a run with me and it was everything that I could have imagined.

00:03:09Melissa Erbacher: And more?

00:03:10Scott Trickett: But the other thing is I also fell over.

00:03:13Melissa Erbacher: Oh, far out, Scotty. We can't take you anywhere, can we?

00:03:16Scott Trickett: No, so Bright, I said to him, I just want to keep to the bike tracks and paths and keep it nice and tame. And about 2km in, he goes, oh, let's turn off here. And of course, let's turn off here is turn off into the pine plantations, onto the trails. And, you know, I'm not going to deny it. I actually prefer to run on them. Like, it's a nicer place to run. But within a couple of kilometers over I go.

00:03:47Melissa Erbacher: No, no. I want to use kilopita because that is the best word that you've come up with on the podcast. A couple of kilometers is a kilopita. That's going straight to the dictionary, that one.

00:04:02Scott Trickett: Okay. I'll leave that in just for you. But I'm getting better at falling over because I could have damaged myself, but I managed to fall and fall on the grass, on the soft grassy bit. But if I'd moved a few inches to the left, I probably would have broken another couple of ribs.

00:04:22Melissa Erbacher: Oh, far out. Well, at least you're, you know, aiming your falls a little bit better now. That's progress.

00:04:27Scott Trickett: So that was all good. And then we went to a new parkrun on Saturday. I ventured down to Lakes Entrance, which was lovely. Lovely run by the water, out and back, out and back. I ran and walked with Kasia. And yep, it's another event on my most events list that we've stopped keeping track of. But I think I'm catching you because... Where did you go?

00:04:53Melissa Erbacher: Well, you're catching up to me on the Aussie most events list because I was a little bit overseas on the weekends getting my first international parkrun in. Super exciting.

00:05:06Scott Trickett: So you finally do what I tell you to do. I said look up flights, get to Malaysia and you did it.

00:05:14Melissa Erbacher: Made it happen. Yes, it was a whirlwind trip and we're back in Australia now. It was great fun.

00:05:21Scott Trickett: I don't want to hear about the trip. I don't want to hear about the parkrun. How do you say the parkrun name? That was your only task.

00:05:28Melissa Erbacher: Tamanpuduulu. That's how you say the name. But I want to go back to this whole watch thing, this watch scenario, because while I was away, I... I had a bit of an experience. So you know I'm a bit backwards with this whole Strava situation and things like that. And I didn't take a GPS watch with me to Malaysia because it just didn't even occur to me. I haven't run with one for a while. But I was determined to Strava my... my run, my walk, I sort of, yeah, I walked mostly at Malaysia. And it didn't occur to me that international roaming, data, GPS, et cetera, et cetera, possibly not the smartest decision when you're going to take about 50 minutes to do a parkrun. And so I strived it on my phone, as you do, which had been on airplane mode the rest of the trip because Telstra had sent me this text about how extortionate the prices for data usage on international roaming were. And I thought, no, I'm not going to have a bar at that. And at the end, the Strava thing came up with the finish. Like it was perfectly 5K. I was happy with all that. But of course, I hadn't taken any photos yet. And this is where I come undone all the time, it seems. So I didn't save the activity. Yet, I took some photos to attach to said saved activity or suspended. Let's call it suspended until you click that magic finish button. And I was going to do it later. And then when I remembered, I went back to Strava to do it. And the activity was gone. Completely disappeared. And I just had visions of Shellharbour. all over again when we were at North Wollongong and did that run and it wasn't there and only this was worse because I had also received a text from Telstra telling me that I had used a good $100 worth approximately of data. And I thought, no, this was the most expensive Strava run I'd ever done. And it wasn't even saved. I don't have the map of my only international parkrun.

00:08:02Scott Trickett: Did you have the bill to prove it?

00:08:08Melissa Erbacher: But the bill doesn't look the same. It just goes up. It doesn't go around. Oh, Scotty. I couldn't believe it. But by some miracle, and see, this is the thing. I had Adam looking at my phone and going through all of my Strava stuff looking for this activity. Couldn't find it. I had Harry, who is the co-event director at Tamanpuru Ulu, He's very tech savvy. We're going to be chatting to him a little bit later. He looked at it. He couldn't find it for me. And, you know, I was just devastated. But when I got back to Australia and so I put my phone in desolation back on airplane mode and just didn't even look at it again for the rest of the trip. But when I got back to Australia and I took it off airplane mode, I don't know what I was doing, but I noticed that there was a little notification up in the corner of my Strava. So I clicked on it to see what it was, whether or not it was a friend that I needed to give kudos. And my activity was there and it was just waiting with the little finish button. I was like, no way. So I think it was either, no, it must have been, we didn't get home till like four o'clock in the morning on Monday. After I woke up, having had a very big sleep later and I discovered it, I was just like froze solid and showed Adam and he came over and I wouldn't let him touch my phone and I was able to save my activity. So it was there. I don't know where it disappeared to all that time. Possibly because of the international roaming. It was in the space-time continuum of the date line, international date line or something. I don't know.

00:09:54Scott Trickett: Well, I'm relieved for you, Mel. There was a great story up until the point where you didn't have it. But I did recall seeing it on Strava. So now the mystery is solved there.

00:10:06Melissa Erbacher: Yes, yes. I was surprised actually because I thought if you uploaded Strava activities a couple of days after you'd done them, I didn't think they showed up in people's feeds as like new because everything else gets superseded.

00:10:21Scott Trickett: Strava's a mystery too. But this is your task for this week.

00:10:26Melissa Erbacher: Oh, God.

00:10:27Scott Trickett: Yeah, go on. Well, we're going to be together again on the weekend. I want you to bring a watch that was given to you, and I'm going to show you how to sync it to your mobile phone so you won't have to worry about the Strava app and getting $100 phone bills when you're overseas because you're going overseas again. And I don't want you to have this happen when you're running around a U.S. parkrun. We want to see it.

00:10:57Melissa Erbacher: That does sound like a good plan. However, I suppose you're going to expect me to like charge it and things like that too.

00:11:04Scott Trickett: Small, small things. Baby steps. Baby steps. If you could charge it, that's a start. I'll take care of the rest.

00:11:13Melissa Erbacher: All right. I will see if I can remember to do all of those things. We have a very exciting guest to speak to next. He comes from across the way, across the waters and across the islands. His name is Harneshpal Karamjit Singh and he is co-ED at Taman Pudu Ulu parkrun in Malaysia, the newest parkrun country to join the global family. He goes by the name, very commonly, Harry, so we're going to call him Harry. Harry, welcome to the parkrun Adventurers podcast.

00:11:58Harneshpal Karamjit Singh ("Harry"): Yes, thank you, thank you. I'm delighted to be here.

00:12:01Melissa Erbacher: You launched the first parkrun event in Malaysia last week. Can you tell us what that felt like?

00:12:08Harneshpal Karamjit Singh ("Harry"): Well, it was like I've been saying to many of the others on Slack, that we always had a dream that, you know, the Malaysian flag to be associated with parkrun and the parkrun flag to be associated with Malaysia. It was very nice that we brought the Malaysian flag together with us at the launch at Taman Puduhulu AFL. I felt very proud that finally, finally that parkrun agreed to let parkrun operate in Malaysia. It is a lot of pride for me being Malaysian, running for a few years in the UK. I've done 101 parkruns.

00:12:47Scott Trickett: across six countries but never in my own and to be a co-run director on that day and flagging off the parkrun it was a big sense of pride for me Harry can you take us back because you've been working on it for a while and your team has been working on it for a while you've got some help can you take us back to the very start of the idea of bringing parkrun to Malaysia and how it came about well

00:13:15Harneshpal Karamjit Singh ("Harry"): At the beginning it was Amer, Amer Ben and Kala Butterfield. Amer has been living in Malaysia for the past 15 years and Kala moved from the UK to Malaysia I think a little over three years ago and well they both were introduced respectively they were introduced to Pakran respectively I don't know on their own and they got to know and they just contacted Pakran at the same time I almost two two and a half years ago and and you know tom williams got in touch with tim oberg and discussions were going on and so on at this time i was still in the uk i was pursuing my master's in law at the university of manchester so i i was foreign to this part of the of the development so as uh emma and kala unfortunately could not be with us here today i i can't speak on that uh on that development and the infancy of Pakran Malaysia. But when I came back in June 2017, I wrote a message to both of them that I would like to be involved. And I attended the first meeting on the 30th of August 2017. And that's how I became involved. So just over nine months ago, I would say, or less than nine months ago. Respectively, we started liaising with the local council, which is Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, and we moved on from there. It was like that.

00:14:52Melissa Erbacher: Amer and Kala have done a lot of great work to get it to where you got involved, Harry. How has it developed, basically, since you got on board in August last year?

00:15:05Harneshpal Karamjit Singh ("Harry"): Well, the developments were... Perhaps it was good for both parkrun and... and the local council that, you know, Malaysians are involved. Because as what I understand, only Amar and Kala used to attend the meetings. Then when I got on board, then I started attending meetings. We had others also joining us. So perhaps the idea became much more welcoming to the local council. Well, of course, I do not know, you know, perhaps this is how they looked at it. But we had a lot of obstacles. The local council needed to understand the concept of parkrun and we did our best to bring it across them. And finally, sometime in March or February, March this year, they really got off. They really understood the concept. They were very happy because initially they gave us Taman Pudu Ulu because Taman Pudu Ulu is a new park. For those of you that would be listening, Taman Puduhulu is actually a very new park. There was an old park there, yes, Taman Puduhulu, but in 2017, Malaysia hosted what is called the Southeast Asian Games, where 11 countries participated for glory. And the Malaysian government refurbished Taman Pudu Hulu and installed the National Pétanque Arena. Pétanque is very famous in Britain and France, I think more in France. And that's how, you know, Taman Pudu Hulu got a new look. But it was still an underutilized park. Not many people use the park. They every biannually host an orchid and bonsai festival. But yeah, it was still classified by the local council as underutilized. And they saw an opportunity for parkrun to use the park and make it a utilised park. And I feel that we've had some Facebook conversations with the officers from DBKL and I think it's very positive. It's very positive. They really like the idea and it will not be surprising to see most of the officers joining us in the distant future.

00:17:34Scott Trickett: That sounds fantastic and that sounds like what parkrun should be doing. You had a few trials leading up to your launch. That would have helped build a bit of community spirit and get the word out amongst the locals?

00:17:48Harneshpal Karamjit Singh ("Harry"): Yes, we conducted I think seven trials for Tamanpuduhulu, averaging around 17 to 20 participants with sometimes six to ten volunteers. People were already asking us before What are you guys doing in this park? Oh, it's every weekly. That's great. There's no commitment. We can come one weekend in April and another weekend in June. There's no commitment to come again and again. parkrun is inclusive to all as well. So the community build, we had the same people coming week in, week out. There were same people saying, no, we want to volunteer. And it's really good. As far as I've seen communication on social media, people are getting very excited because you come here, you just need to sign up on parkrun for a barcode and you can run and get a time. There's not many runs in the world that you run and then you get classified on a website with results and so on. Of course, it's very early days for parkrun Malaysia, but I I'm very confident that this is going to get kicked off because visitors from Singapore also said that at our very first run, there were many locals and I did a bit of, I don't know, what would you say, a bit of statistic search and there was actually 91 Malaysians involved out of the 129 that attended and 74 people ran for the first time. So that really looks good for the community. and Mel went on to show me how to see how many people have been registered with Taman Pudu Ulu as their as their home run and so far I've seen earlier today it was 325 with almost 150 people from either the Cheras area where Taman Pudu Ulu is located or within Greater KL and that is really very positive I think for us.

00:20:01Melissa Erbacher: You mentioned at your trials you had between 15 to 20 people on average, Harry. Obviously, you got quite a few more runners than that at the launch. What were you expecting prior to the launch and what did you think when you had that many people show up?

00:20:17Harneshpal Karamjit Singh ("Harry"): Well, of course, as a novice volunteer team, we are always nervous, you know, whether we've only managed 20 people and now suddenly on the day you have 120 people, six times more. You always have some nerves, whether you could pull it off or not. And I'm very proud. I'm very proud of every of the 14 volunteers that day that we did a superb job, that the signs were good, the course was good, and the reception after that, everybody saying positive things. Even reviews on Facebook say we had a five-star event. So it's really good. Leading up to it, Yes, there was a lot of conversation between me and Kala and Amar, whether we could do it or not, even having dinner that night before. But I think we did a decent job. And it's great that we now, I think, have four to five new volunteers wanting to volunteer in the next two weeks. And we will also have the Murrays coming back from their Easter break in the UK to join us. So that will be really good. And I think In a way, having runners to run a parkrun is a good way to build community, but similarly, having the volunteers to join parkrun is another way to build friendships and build a community in that area.

00:21:43Scott Trickett: We've got through the launch now, so the nerves should have settled down. What are you expecting for event number two this weekend?

00:21:52Harneshpal Karamjit Singh ("Harry"): Yeah, me and MR, we had a We had a post-mortem between us here today on Monday. We spoke a lot. And perhaps my prediction, we would have less than 60 people. But you can never know. You can never know. You know, it might rain on the day and only 20 people want to show up. And it might have kicked off over the next two, three days. And we might have again 120 people. But I think we would be well equipped. There was, of course, some feedback from the runners on what could be improved. Feedback from even Mel, who is our parkrun ambassador to Taman Pudu Ulu parkrun. And we have taken that into consideration and I think we would be better equipped for event two, three and moving on.

00:22:47Melissa Erbacher: You did get a lot of positive feedback from participants, especially, well, I didn't speak to too many locals, but I do know that a lot of the adventurers who were there and have had experience at a lot of other parkruns around the world, they all were completely glowing in their praise of your event and your volunteers and the vibe, the atmosphere that you built on the day. Can you share with us some of the countries and some of the stories of the people that came to visit from other places?

00:23:19Harneshpal Karamjit Singh ("Harry"): Yes, of course, we had people from Australia, from Poland, from the UK, US and so on. Of course, I've been talking with the Mannings and with the Curtains for a long time. I think Paul Curtain has been speaking with us since the back end of November last year on when we would launch and so on. And we had some obstacles that I do not want to promulgate here today. But we were going to launch at one point and then we could not due to some things that I just don't want to bring back in my mind. But it was really good to see that the people that we were speaking with so long ago actually made plans to come. So there was the curtains from Berwick Springs parkrun. There was the Mannings from Bowral, Mannings even were one of the two buggy runners, the other being you Mel, to push their child in a buggy around Taman Puduhulu. And then we had Paulina and her boyfriend Andriac from all the way from Poland. And Paulina had already said, you know, she wanted to do a video saying hello Poland, hello Tehir, Tehir Pakran is where she's from in Poland. And then there was also Uh, some talk with other people from the US from Roosevelt Island, uh, some from, uh, Camsworth central in the UK from Coventry parkrun in the UK. And, uh, uh, and then Hannah came, I think Hannah is, uh, I've even, uh, written about her in the run report. Hannah is from Pegasus parkrun, but she's from Yorkshire and she knows Tom Williams, who is our global COO. And she chose Taman Puduhulu parkrun as her 300th parkrun. So she was the most senior parkrunner there in terms of runs. And it was also a 150th different parkrun. Well, I don't know whether I'll ever do it in my lifetime, but it was really good that she chose Taman Puduhulu parkrun. And she had a very good time there. So it was great to see people from six, seven different countries coming to Taman Pudu Ulu just for our launch. And I really appreciate that. I also appreciate our local Malaysians and expats who did join us. I thank every one of the 129 people there last Saturday, as well as the 14 volunteers.

00:25:57Scott Trickett: I think that's massive. That's a massive turnout from adventurers and tourists from around the world. I think it's going to be a popular tourist destination. But I noticed, Harry, you're wearing a purple shirt, and you mentioned that you've done a bit of parkrunning in the UK. So what's your background in parkrun? Because you've obviously run a lot, but you've also volunteered a lot over there.

00:26:20Harneshpal Karamjit Singh ("Harry"): Yes, I started parkrun in October 2013 in Cardiff. And I went on to do my first 30 odd just in Cardiff. And then I ventured out and I think at one point I had done all of South Wales, but of course new parkruns have popped up in South Wales. So I can't hold that bragging rights anymore, but I have ran in England and in Wales, in Ireland, in Sweden, in Denmark and Singapore. And hopefully by the grace of God, one day in Malaysia, and australia when i would be down there for the parkrun conference so that's good so i've done 101 that's the runs and i put it aside then while i was involved with cardiff parkrun whenever i got injured i sometimes volunteered at cardiff parkrun but the but the one that really put me to volunteer was cardiff junior parkrun actually And I was actually involved in the trial runs. There was only one trial run for the Junior parkrun. And I think out of the first 17 Junior parkruns in Cardiff, I think I volunteered at 13 of them. So that's how I got to learn a lot about volunteering. I did timing. I did barcode scanning. I did marshalling at the cowbells. I did marshalling at the turnings. And that's how I really thought that You know, when you run parkrun, you applaud the volunteers and you say, yes, it's good to volunteer. But when you volunteer yourself, then you know the importance, the real importance of volunteering. And there's some people in Cardiff parkrun, and I think parkrun has done a story, like Desmond Davies, I think if I'm pronouncing it properly, he's tail walked 325 times in Cardiff. And there's some in Cardiff. who I think have been there from the very beginning, way back 10 years ago in 2008 and have never run Cardiff parkrun. But it's always there. There's one lady near the cottage who is always there. And I think she's done in excess of 300 volunteerings in Cardiff. And she doesn't have the dream to run. She feels so happy waking up on a Saturday morning and coming and cheering five, six hundred runners in Cardiff. For their 10th anniversary, they had close to 1,200 people. So really, it's not just about the running, it's also about the volunteering and it's also about the community. So it's really great to see how parkrun has really brought running from a competitive arena because, you know, people, normal people like you and me and even the guys, who are sitting at the couch would have never said, yeah, you know, I don't think I can do 5k, but parkrun has really brought it down to the roots and say, anybody can do it. You know, anybody can run, anybody can walk, anybody can volunteer and see what running is all about. And that's, that's really, I think the core, the reason why I am in parkrun because I feel so involved with my community when I was in the UK. when I'm now back here in Malaysia, and it is really, really fulfilling. You know, it gives a purpose of my life, of doing something in my life, like, wow, I'm part of a community. And everybody's so respectful in Cardiff, and I think already in Malaysia, you can see the community building here.

00:30:02Melissa Erbacher: Well, Harry, you've got one event under the belt now in Malaysia. What are the plans for the country for the future?

00:30:10Harneshpal Karamjit Singh ("Harry"): Well, of course, I think among me, Amer and Kala, I think I'm the most keen to expand as fast as possible, I think. But sometimes the speed is not the best thing. But we are in talks with two other parties, one in Putrajaya, which is the administrative capital of the country, and one more is in Kuantan. which is another capital of another state or province or region if you want the equivalent in other countries. So we've already engaged the local councils and we've already had two people spearheading each of the areas and in Putrajaya I think there's already a group formed and it's really positive. But of course, Malaysia is now heading towards its 14th general election, which is on the 9th of May. So perhaps the discussions with the local council will be a little slow until the conclusion of their elections. But after that, it looks positive. And perhaps at the end of the year, or maybe at the end of the middle of next year, we might have another two events so it's it's a future future thing and and it's really exciting but of course at this moment we have to put all our focus in tamil and make it a great a great example for others to to to launch later on in the country

00:31:59Scott Trickett: One thing I'm curious about, I've never been to KL, but I think it's pretty hot there. And I know that hot doesn't always work really well with running. How are you going to cope with the heat or is everyone or all the locals just used to it?

00:32:17Harneshpal Karamjit Singh ("Harry"): I think as what we saw at the launch, most of the locals were okay coping with the heat. Well, basically because we do start a bit earlier when it's not so hot and humid. So we started at half seven. But I did see that some of the faster runners did struggle a bit. But I think generally it would be individual to individual and see how. Like, for example, I myself also do the runs in the evenings. I think I recorded the first ever Freedom parkrun in Malaysia yesterday. And it was fine for me. I finished it. Yes, of course, you do have that, you know, oh, it's too much for me. But then gradually, you know, when you keep on walking and then you do your stretches and so on, it would be fine. But it would, yeah, that's a thing that me and Amer will have to sit down and also think, you know, for those visitors that we would have as well as some locals that would, you know, really push themselves and then they would struggle at the end. You know, how... what we would do and so on. So we haven't come to a consensus yet, but definitely that's something to think about moving forward.

00:33:34Scott Trickett: Well, I think you've got a few things to think about moving forward. One of them is how much fun you're going to have and how much friendships and change you're going to see in people's lives. You're at the start of a beautiful journey, Harry, and I wish you all the luck and your team over in Malaysia. And thanks for joining us on the parkrun Adventurers podcast.

00:33:54Harneshpal Karamjit Singh ("Harry"): No worries. Thank you for having me.

Roving Adventurers (roving reporter crossovers)

00:34:09Emma Nicholson: So I'm here at Karawa Surf Club where I've tracked down Madrabah parkrunner and now the sergeant in charge of Doomadgee PCYC, Sergeant Mel Gilbert. Hey Mel, how are you? Good thanks, how are you? So we're down here with a stack of shoes. Why are we here? Tell us all about it.

00:34:27Mel Gilbert (Sergeant, Doomadgee PCYC): So at the beginning of the year, people come along to the Deadly Runners we've got about 30 that have earned their singlet and to do that they have to come six weeks not just they can't just come six times they've got to come for six weeks even if they come twice in one week that just counts as a week so we've got over over 30 kids that have actually come along six weeks and they've earned their singlet the issue we were having though is that some of these kids really wanted to come but because they were running bare feet barefoot they were getting injuries and then they weren't able to come for a couple weeks because their feet were sore and so i just put a call out to all my running mates and the parkrun family and um asked if anyone had any pre-lab shoes that they could give away as a runner or I should say shuffler myself. I have far too many pairs of shoes when a new one comes out that I like the look of and I knew that everyone else was pretty much the same so I knew there'd be some shoes out there that were going to waste and you guys have come through and it's amazing.

00:35:37Emma Nicholson: So you've come down for the weekend. There was a bit of a controversy where you've taken the runners to your home parkrun.

00:35:46Mel Gilbert (Sergeant, Doomadgee PCYC): Did they have a good time? They did. They had an amazing time. We all finished off the run. There was a bit of a challenge on amongst them all about who would come in first. One of our supervisors came in first. The two of the supervisors battled it out for first and second place. But the one that is going to the Uluruv Championships in June was the winner. And he keeps telling us all that, every chance he gets. Look, you know, everyone knows Kira Parker on this beautiful... I'm not going to deny it. It's a nice out and back course. Maybe if you guys didn't make you run past the finish line and turn back around, then I would have taken them there. But it's a bit disheartening doing that. Oh, Madura Bar's a good parkrun as well. Yes. Have any of your runners done a parkrun before? No, that was the first time they even have done a parkrun. So that's probably the first time all of them have ever done five kilometres. So at Deadly Runners, because we've just started and running's a bit of a new concept to them, we've just been starting off with short distances. So yeah, that's the first time some of those guys have done 5k at all.

00:36:51Emma Nicholson: And are we likely to go and see a parkrun ever established at Doomadgee?

00:36:55Mel Gilbert (Sergeant, Doomadgee PCYC): Well, I can't say for sure, but I am in talks with parkrun Australia, so we'll leave it at that.

00:37:00Emma Nicholson: That sounds like a great tourist destination in the near future. So keep your... It's on the National 1 motorway.

00:37:08Mel Gilbert (Sergeant, Doomadgee PCYC): If you're tripping around Australia, that's the highway you follow. So it's a perfect place to stay for a night if we do start up a parkrun out there.

00:37:15Emma Nicholson: Thanks very much for your time, Mel.

00:37:17Mel Gilbert (Sergeant, Doomadgee PCYC): Thank you.

00:37:18Scott Trickett: Great to hear from Emma Nicholson with her contribution to the pod this week. A bit windy, but some important information or some interesting information about Doomadgee and the deadly runners there. Exciting times for that part of Australia.

00:37:36Melissa Erbacher: It is. It'll be great to have an event in Doomadgee. Definitely.

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

00:37:39Scott Trickett: Equally, it will be great to have an event at Pimpama on the Gold Coast. And coincidence would have it, we're launching at Gainsborough Greens on the weekend, which is at Pimpermar.

00:37:50Melissa Erbacher: Okay. Not a random segue whatsoever. Nice one.

00:37:55Scott Trickett: Don't you like how I'm talking about Pimpermar like I know where Pimpermar is?

00:37:59Melissa Erbacher: Well, I'm glad you're educating me because I had no clue.

00:38:03Scott Trickett: I've learnt a lot about Pimpamar leading up to this launch, which is our final launch for the Embracing 2018. So the Commonwealth Games wrapped up and we're wrapping up the… Our legacy program. Yeah, 20 events. It's a fantastic investment.

00:38:19Melissa Erbacher: It is, isn't it? And, you know, one that's just going to keep on giving for a very long time.

00:38:23Scott Trickett: Yep. As the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games, we'll just keep on giving and giving. For a very long time. I'm going to sidetrack. What's the word? Segway a little bit, Mel.

00:38:33Melissa Erbacher: Mm-hmm.

00:38:35Scott Trickett: Did you watch the closing ceremony?

00:38:37Melissa Erbacher: No, I was a little bit on a plane home from Malaysia.

00:38:42Scott Trickett: Oh, it was hilarious.

00:38:45Melissa Erbacher: Oh, hilarious. That's the words you're using. Okay. Give me the play-by-play.

00:38:50Scott Trickett: Well, it was just so bad. And I was watching it with Yvonne, and I just couldn't help myself. I was being really bitchy. And I felt bad because everything that came on, I was very critical of it. But it was just so obvious. And then at one point, they started singing Xanadu, a song that I love, I might add. Great song. But God knows what relevance it's got to the Commonwealth Games and Queensland and Australia. Well, I guess it's got a...

00:39:19Melissa Erbacher: It was sung by an Aussie. Yes, but... And perhaps they'd heard about our quest for an ex-parkrun.

00:39:26Scott Trickett: Maybe.

00:39:27Melissa Erbacher: Some people are hoping to call it Xanadu.

00:39:30Scott Trickett: Look, they're all very tenuous links, but it was good to hear it again. But oh my goodness, it was universally critiqued as a very poor closing ceremony. But don't let that tarnish the legacy of Embracing 2018.

00:39:49Melissa Erbacher: Well, I won't because I didn't watch it, so... I'm one of those oblivious people. Just as I would have to say I'm probably happy to have missed the live footage of the marathon and how that ended up for certain athletes because that seems to have got a lot of exposure as well. And I don't know whether or not I would have been able to handle it watching it live. And I have purposely avoided looking at any replays of the footage as well. Because I don't think it would be something that is going to add happiness to my life.

00:40:23Scott Trickett: No, it was pretty hard to watch. But let's leave discussion and dissecting of that to serious running podcasts. Shall we?

00:40:30Melissa Erbacher: That sounds like a really good plan.

00:40:31Scott Trickett: Yeah. I think we're better off discussing the values and virtues of the song Xanadu.

00:40:38Melissa Erbacher: And going back to happier things such as launches. parkrun launches. Yes. There's two more. Yeah, we've got a couple in states that don't. get them as many, as often I should say, as other states. Moana is launching in South Australia.

00:40:56Scott Trickett: And Wanneroo is launching in WA. So three launch weekend this weekend. Talk to me about anniversaries. There's got to be a couple of them on this weekend if people want to go and have a party.

00:41:09Melissa Erbacher: There are. There's quite a few, more than a couple, two times a couple. We've got Augustine Heights in Queensland, Cottesloe in WA, and I'll let you read the last two, Scotty.

00:41:20Scott Trickett: Don't you just recall them from your memory? Do you read them from a list?

00:41:27Melissa Erbacher: I do, in fact.

00:41:28Scott Trickett: Okay, well, I think it's, from my memory, it's Mackay in Queensland and Sale in Victoria.

00:41:36Melissa Erbacher: You have got an excellent memory.

00:41:37Scott Trickett: I do. It's one of my many features. It's what I'm complimented on often.

00:41:43Melissa Erbacher: Is it photographic memory if the photo's in front of your eyes right now?

00:41:49Scott Trickett: You know what I've discovered, Mel?

00:41:51Melissa Erbacher: Are you remembering the present? What have you discovered, Scotty?

00:41:57Scott Trickett: Have you seen in supermarkets? Have we wrapped up for the week?

00:42:03Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I think so. Have we entered the time zone where it's only the hardcore that listen to our blathering? Okay, good.

00:42:10Scott Trickett: I've discovered, have you ever seen in the supermarket aisle the boom in breakfast bars?

00:42:17Melissa Erbacher: I actually skipped that aisle, I think, because it is half the aisle full of breakfast bars and whatnot.

00:42:26Scott Trickett: Bit of a humble brag, but I'll give you a hot tip. Venture down the breakfast bar aisle next time you're in your supermarket.

00:42:35Melissa Erbacher: Okay.

00:42:36Scott Trickett: Because they're delicious.

00:42:39Melissa Erbacher: Okay. And what specifically should I find there that is so delectable?

00:42:45Scott Trickett: Because they're marketing them as, maybe it's just me, I'm starting to think. Maybe they're marketing them as healthy alternatives to breakfast, but they're just cookies.

00:42:56Melissa Erbacher: Oh, okay. An alternative to breakfast because you shouldn't be eating breakfast?

00:43:01Scott Trickett: I think cereals are getting a bad rap. They're too full of sugar and blah, blah, blah. Cereals are bad for you.

00:43:07Melissa Erbacher: So here, have them in cookie form instead.

00:43:09Scott Trickett: Yes, exactly. So they've turned them into cookie form and called them breakfast bars, and I'm sold.

00:43:17Melissa Erbacher: Well, because you can eat them on the go, see? They encourage exercise.

00:43:20Scott Trickett: Yeah, exactly. So it's that whole on-the-go liquid breakfast thing. Now they're just turning them into solids.

00:43:26Melissa Erbacher: It's going to revolutionize the way we do breakfast.

00:43:31Scott Trickett: And with you going to America, this is another task for you. I hope you're taking notes.

00:43:37Melissa Erbacher: I always take notes.

00:43:39Scott Trickett: I want you to discover some breakfast bars. I want you to bring me back some new, the next hot thing in breakfast coming out of America. Because I'm sure they had breakfast bars before we did.

00:43:52Melissa Erbacher: You think they're ahead of the curve on breakfast bars?

00:43:54Scott Trickett: I think so, yep. They had red plastic cups before us.

00:43:58Melissa Erbacher: Are you sure it's not just Big Macs? Big Macs.

00:44:02Scott Trickett: Yeah. For breakfast.

00:44:02Melissa Erbacher: Isn't that what they eat for breakfast? To be honest, I don't have super high hopes of the food choices. Maybe I've just watched too many movies where they eat fast food. I don't know.

00:44:16Scott Trickett: It's a big country. You'll find lots of selection. Trust me. Okay, good.

00:44:22Melissa Erbacher: Well, you know what? It can't be all bad food-wise. They do have parkruns there. So there are some sane people in the country.

00:44:28Scott Trickett: They've got supermodels and actors and sports stars. They can't be eating Big Macs for breakfast. So they've got to eat somewhere. And I'm putting you in that same bracket, Mel.

00:44:39Melissa Erbacher: Okay. Supermodel athlete. I like where you're going with this. Okay. So I'm going to a supermarket on the quest to look for breakfast bars in America.

00:44:55Scott Trickett: So when are you heading off?

00:44:57Melissa Erbacher: What day is this? Next Wednesday, Anzac Day, we head off.

00:45:02Scott Trickett: Okay. So what are we going to do? We're going to hear from you. We'll hear from you one more time before you head off.

00:45:08Melissa Erbacher: Yes. Before that adventure starts, we've got a different adventure to have this weekend. Okay.

00:45:13Scott Trickett: And what's that? Remind me.

00:45:15Melissa Erbacher: Well, where are you coming to Queensland for? What are you coming to Queensland for, I should say?

00:45:19Scott Trickett: Well, I'm not coming to the Gainsborough Greens launch, as much as I love Pimpermar. I can't make it.

00:45:29Melissa Erbacher: Okay. But there's... What else could be happening if not parkrun day?

00:45:34Scott Trickett: Let's try something on Sunday.

00:45:37Melissa Erbacher: Yeah? Yeah. Something new? Something different?

00:45:39Scott Trickett: Something new. Something new. Something different.

00:45:41Melissa Erbacher: Something a bit short in stature as well as distance?

00:45:44Scott Trickett: Yeah. Yeah. Let's do that. And on that note, should we say goodbye?

00:45:52Melissa Erbacher: We should say goodbye.

00:45:53Scott Trickett: I feel I'm always saying goodbye to you, Mel. You never want it to end, do you?

00:46:01Melissa Erbacher: I'll chat to you next week, Scotty. Bye.

00:46:03Scott Trickett: Bye.