Episode 111 - Euan Bowman

Episode details · 137 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:16Scott Trickett: I hope you're all ready for 60 minutes, or a bit less, of parkrun discussion with Scott Trickett and Mel Erbacher. Welcome to episode 111, all the ones, of the parkrun Adventurers. Welcome, Mel.

00:00:33Melissa Erbacher: Thank you, Scotty. That was a very formal introduction.

00:00:36Scott Trickett: I'm becoming a – I'm very serious these days. I'm all about formality.

00:00:42Melissa Erbacher: Okay. All right. That's one idea.

00:00:47Scott Trickett: That's one idea.

00:00:48Melissa Erbacher: That's one idea? Yeah. Okay. I'm not going to ask. Did you have a good parkrun day last week?

00:00:53Scott Trickett: I did. I did. I made it to parkrun. Remember, I was a bit touch and go, but thankfully the airlines cooperated and got my brother into Melbourne. on time but i did have i did have an early start gusher and i were out at the airport at 5 30 6 a.m busy but that's the busiest place in melbourne there was like heaps of flights coming in it was the place to be but it allowed me to venture to a new parkrun because i was in a different part of melbourne and i went to newport lakes have you ever heard of newport lakes

00:01:32Melissa Erbacher: I have heard of it. I don't know anything really about it, so I'm looking forward to hearing what you thought.

00:01:38Scott Trickett: Okay, so Newport Lakes, when you look at the map, it just looks like a bowl of spaghetti. It looks really funny. It's in a park that is a converted tip or quarry, but you'd never know because it's just a normal park in Melbourne suburbia. But... you end up running through like a really nice park, but the paths go up and back, up and back, up and back. So that's why it looks really messy. So it's one loop, if you will. So it's not out and back, it's just one track from start to finish. But it's very logical. So there's like, I was speaking to the event director, Tim, afterwards, and the setup requires putting out 35 or 36 signs to direct people around this course. But in reality, I don't think you really need it because the path, as long as you're sort of just following this path, you can get around the course. And I was up the front mill. I got a top 10 finish in a smallish field, which meant that I was actually running most of the course by myself with nobody in front of me. So I kind of had to follow the path and the signs. And there was never any danger of getting lost. But what it did do is it felt like I was running alone in this beautiful little parkland. It's all trails, lots of trees. A little bit hilly towards the end, but not much. They warned us about the hills at the start, but they needn't have. It was very gentle and really enjoyed it. And I also had the experience. So I was there by myself. Kasia ditched me and I didn't know anybody. It's on the other side of Melbourne.

00:03:20Melissa Erbacher: She ditched you how? She didn't want to go for a run?

00:03:23Scott Trickett: No, she's not loving parkrun at the moment.

00:03:27Melissa Erbacher: Okay, so she just waited for you at the end?

00:03:30Scott Trickett: I left her in the car. Locked her in the car. That's okay, isn't it?

00:03:33Melissa Erbacher: Oh, did you have the windows down a crack?

00:03:35Scott Trickett: No. I'll do that next time.

00:03:37Melissa Erbacher: Oh, that's where you... Yeah, see, now that's not cool, Scotty. You have to at least wind the windows down a little bit.

00:03:43Scott Trickett: Okay. No, no, to clear it up. No. She was with her grandmother. Where was I? No. So I was by myself. First time her experience. didn't know anybody, felt a bit awkward. There were moments there, got there a little bit early, there was no one sort of around. There were moments there where you were sort of looking for excuses to do something. I didn't want to do a warm-up. So you kind of had this inclination to go back to the car because... You know, what else do you do when you're just standing around with no one to talk to?

00:04:18Melissa Erbacher: But thankfully... As in, what do you mean with no one to talk to? Was nobody there or you were just too shy to go up and say hi to anyone?

00:04:25Scott Trickett: Well, there was a bit of that. The run director was there, but she was busy. There were a couple of other little groups, but they were talking amongst themselves. So there literally wasn't really anybody for me to talk to. Eventually, the run director said, every first time has come over for a briefing. which was good. You know, she was really friendly and really positive about the whole come to Newport Lakes parkrun. They ticked all the boxes. It was really good. And I really enjoyed my morning at Newport Lakes by myself, which was nice. Different, but nice. And top ten finish. So, happy days.

00:05:05Melissa Erbacher: Icing on the donut. Yes. Top ten finish.

00:05:08Scott Trickett: Yep.

00:05:08Melissa Erbacher: Mmm.

00:05:10Scott Trickett: But I know you're in New York. Is it the concrete jungle that dreams are made of?

00:05:19Melissa Erbacher: It is a very concrete jungle. However, they seem to be – I don't want to say overcompensate. I think they compensate probably just the right amount by having all these amazing park facilities all over the place where, you know, you can just do all sorts of activities, basketball, roller hockey, football. Ice skating, yeah, you can just pick a sport and they have a facility to do that in amongst other park things. And baseball, they've got baseball diamonds everywhere. It's just amazing. I think they try their best to compensate for the fact that there is a lot of concrete and a lot of jungle with having a lot of spaces specifically for people to recreate, as it were.

00:06:20Scott Trickett: Did the big lights inspire you?

00:06:24Melissa Erbacher: Well, I haven't been out much at night time because Wes is kind of an in bed by 7 p.m. type person and it's still light here at 7 p.m. It's still light, really, 8 o'clock almost towards 8.30, which is great because, you know, I feel like you can get more done. It doesn't make much sense because if shops are open and things are open and lights are on, you should still be able to do just as much as you could in the daytime. But having that extra light seems to make things better.

00:06:57Scott Trickett: Well, of course, this is a new experience for you being a Queenslander because you don't. experience daylight savings. We don't have daylight savings. Which is ridiculous. So the rest of the world goes through this six months of the year where it's like it's light up until, for me, nine o'clock some nights. It's awesome. You guys should try it.

00:07:14Melissa Erbacher: Hey, look, it's not up to me. If it were up to me, things would be different. But that's an argument that I'm never going to win, I don't think. So let's move on to the fact that We discussed last week that I was not going to be, I think we discussed it, that I was not going to be near a parkrun.

00:07:31Scott Trickett: Well, we teased. Were you or weren't you? Were you going to go to Boston or what were you going to do? And you didn't parkrun.

00:07:40Melissa Erbacher: We didn't officially parkrun. So I posted in the Aussie parkrun Tourism Group that, you know, we're in New York. We don't have an official parkrun to go to. Is there anyone who would like to come along and do a little pop-up parkrun with us? I didn't get any bites from any other Antipodeans or otherwise adventurous tourists to come along, which it was a little bit probably – a mixed blessing because we had a bit of a rough night with Wes on Friday night. So we were both feeling shattered on Saturday morning and really not up for getting up to go for a run. So we all had a massive sleep in on Saturday and decided that we would do our pop-up parkrun a little bit later in the day and a little bit closer to home instead. And so we, we did a freedom pop-up parkrun at prospect park, which is, not too far from where we are and it's just a beautiful park. You know they've got all these like it's literally inside these parks they have roads but the roads are not for cars the roads are for people and cyclists and they're all lined so that there are like two lanes for the cyclists to go in two different directions and then either side there are two lanes for pedestrians to go in two different directions and And it's great. You don't get hit by the cyclists and the cyclists don't have to dodge the pedestrians. And, you know, the people that are slow and or, you know, meandering around with dogs or with small children, that sort of thing, they walk on completely different paths. So you don't have to, you know, navigate those either.

00:09:26Scott Trickett: Yeah, I do remember it from my time. It made a lot of sense, didn't it? Because the park's busy. When I was in New York and I went for a run around there, there were lots of people.

00:09:38Melissa Erbacher: Thousands. Like there would have been thousands. I was just baffled. It's like, oh, this is where everybody is. And it was great. It was so awesome to see so many people outdoors and being active and healthy and, you know, you've got your adults and they've got little kids on their bikes following them and everybody was out doing barbecues in the park and having so many parties. It was beautiful weather and it's just like there's moments like that where you think, okay, I can understand a little bit why Adam might want to move someplace like this because there's a lot of community where people are forced to get out their houses or out of their homes because they don't have their own backyards to spread out in, so they have to spread out in public spaces. It really, I think, forges a bit more community in that regard.

00:10:32Scott Trickett: So we're going to touch on it. You didn't get to parkrun, but you experienced their version of parkrun, and we'll talk about it later in the pod. But are you thinking like New York would adopt parkrun? Would they embrace it if it ever potentially one day maybe gets the launch in New York?

00:10:55Melissa Erbacher: Ah, that's a very tricky question, Scotty. I mean, parkrun's already in the United States, but it hasn't happened in this state yet. So I don't know enough about parkrun. the history or the behind the scenes stuff to really make a call on that. But I would just like to go back to my pop-up parkrun because it's worth noting that I was the first female finisher. So you got a top 10 finish. I may have come second. However, it was the first female finish.

00:11:28Scott Trickett: Well done.

00:11:30Melissa Erbacher: Thank you. I'm not sure when that will ever happen again. I was rather chuffed with myself and I ran the whole way.

00:11:38Scott Trickett: Again?

00:11:39Melissa Erbacher: Again. Two weeks in a row. I've been doing that a lot lately.

00:11:43Scott Trickett: See, Mel, I told you. It worked. It actually worked. It was worth the pain, that whole running every day business that you did.

00:11:52Melissa Erbacher: Running the date in March.

00:11:53Scott Trickett: It got you fitter.

00:11:56Melissa Erbacher: It did get me fitter. Which was the end goal. Well, I don't know that I actually had a goal so much as saying that I actually did it.

00:12:03Scott Trickett: We all had a goal on your behalf. Keeping you in theme with our North American adventures, we're heading back to Canada and we're catching up with the Canadian country manager, Euan Bowman. Welcome back to the podcast, Euan.

00:12:30Euan Bowman: Hi. Thanks, Scott. It's good to be here.

00:12:33Scott Trickett: We've got you back on the podcast because Canada, not only is it an exciting time for you guys because you're getting out of your winter, but you're also booming. You're growing and parkrun looks like it's working really well in Canada.

00:12:45Euan Bowman: Is that correct? Yeah, we're doing very well. I think the last time we spoke, we had just launched our first event, which was in August 2016. And since then, yeah, we've done very well. We're up to 14 events now and attendances are growing. We've had two winters now. So I think it works out. We've had one summer and two winters. So we're due for a bit of good weather now. So let's see how this summer goes. And it's such an exciting time. A lot more events in the pipeline too. We've got a sponsor on board. The word's getting out. I was in the bank the other day just to do some regular parkrun activity, you know, boring stuff. And, you know, you just think that this is just going to be a regular, you know, tedious job you have to do. And, yeah, the bank teller was like, oh, yeah, parkrun, I know about that. My friend takes pictures for you guys. And, yeah, I was taken aback by that. Word is getting out, absolutely.

00:13:50Melissa Erbacher: That is very exciting. And 14 events in less than two years. That's amazing growth. Yeah. How is it distributed across the country? Are you happy that it's sort of getting out into all the far reaches?

00:14:04Euan Bowman: It's going pretty well. I mean, the population, I think there's some crazy statistic like 95% of the Canadian population live within 200 kilometres off the border. It's not those exact numbers, please don't quote me, but it's something like that. So our... parkrun events reflect that a little bit. We're not really, we don't really have much presence in the north. But in terms of west to east, we're doing pretty well. I think we hold the most westerly parkrun in the world. That must be Clover Point. I think Crissy Field were a bit upset when we took that. But, well, they need to build an island or something. Oh, they've got Hawaii, I suppose. They could get that. But on the eastern side, we do have a little bit of work to do. I think the most easternly parkrun we have, it might be Frédéric Back in Montreal. But we need to get out to Halifax and Nova Scotia and the Maritime Provinces.

00:15:12Scott Trickett: So you're based on the West Coast. Is that part of the challenge for you as growing the country? I know in Australia we could use Tim. Tim grew Queensland because that's where he was from. So parkrun boomed in Queensland. But it eventually spread around the country. Is that one of the challenges you're facing?

00:15:30Euan Bowman: Initially it was. But the country is so massive anyway, even if I was right in the middle or even if I was out east, it would still be the challenges. The country is so vast. that it takes a long time to travel regardless of where you're going. And I think Tim must have found that as well. But thank goodness for the technology that we have. I can be Skyping someone and, you know, we're almost in the same room communicating just like we see face to face. You know, the wonders of telephones aren't new, but the fact that we can have video calls throughout the country instantly helps a lot. But I wouldn't say the growth has reflected of where I am. Sure, BC, where I am, British Columbia, it's doing well. But Ontario is doing fairly well, too. I think they're up to five or six events, which is similar to here in BC. So I don't think that's so much of a challenge just because of the hugeness of the country, really.

00:16:36Scott Trickett: you mentioned your sponsor so talk about that that's another big step in growing parkrun in a country you know it's a free event but we need some sponsors to pay for everything so what is bringing Saucony on board done for you guys absolutely so Saucony are a fairly new sponsor to us and

00:16:58Euan Bowman: They're doing a fantastic job and I hope they're doing a fantastic job for them. They've brought their resources to the table and they've got a lot of contacts in the Canadian running industry. They've helped us out with social media and they've got a an army of ambassadors that they're going to get out to our events over the summer and they're going to help spread the word. And I think that's one of the main challenges we have over the next little while is getting the awareness out there. So like I said, people are beginning to hear about it. I always love it when someone brings up parkrun before I do and they say, oh yeah, you should tell me more about this. It sounds interesting. And they're always full of praise. So, yes, Saucony are really doing a great job in that respect. Over the summer, we hope to release lots of inspiring stories. That's part of the partnership between us and them, that we're going to highlight some inspiring stories and how people have come to parkrun, not just to get fit and healthy, but also for the social site as well. I'm still of the belief that there's so many people out there that just don't have the tools, the social tools to leave the house and get out and meet people. And parkrun is one of those tools. So the more that we can get out there, the better.

00:18:27Melissa Erbacher: You mentioned you've had two winters and one summer, so we're coming into your second summer. And I know traditionally in Australia we always get bigger numbers in summer. I don't know why because it's much more comfortable to run in winter here. However, what's it like running in Canada in winter? Do you have a lot of cancellations?

00:18:50Euan Bowman: Cancellations wise, surprisingly few. The conditions are really cold in some places. I'm sitting here in Vancouver and I complain when it gets to minus five, which is about as cold as it gets. So it's not really that bad. The real challenge is when it's icy or if it gets below minus 20 Celsius. Those are the two big red flags we've got to watch out for. Both are problems, but... On average, each event maybe only cancels two or three times a year. And I think that's a high average. I'm just thinking of the numbers on top of my head. Only two, three times per event. And that really is a result of a fierce storm coming through. Or on our side, on the West Coast, it's normally ice. Snow is quite nice to run on. It's nice. It's grippy. It's the ice that follows we've got to watch out for. a lot of our parkruns are located in areas where they have an agreement with the local council. Particularly, I know for a fact in, in the Okanagan parkrun and their, their Frederick Back, excuse me, Frederick Back parkrun in Montreal, they actually clear the pass for them, which is fantastic. So every, every Friday evening or Saturday morning, the council's come and cleared the pass. So it's all ready for us to come the next day. So, uh, that is, that is fantastic. But, um, Numbers do go down, understandably, but we would like to redefine what it takes for people to come out and run, or at least what they perceive what it takes to come out and run. I think that if you wrap up appropriately and come out and run when it is really cold, between like minus 10 and minus 20, I don't think there's too much of an issue there at all. And in fact, it helps you get through the winter and even, dare I say, enjoy it.

00:20:48Melissa Erbacher: I was actually going to ask you about the whole path situation when it snows and whether or not people have to, like, do the whole snow cloud situation, but you answered that question. I am interested in running apparel when it is that cold. So I just envision... you know, people looking like Michelin men and running, you know, with these giant padded legs and bodies in massive snowsuits. But I'm sure that's probably not the reality. What effectively does it take to stay warm enough not to freeze in those sorts of temperatures when you're running?

00:21:23Euan Bowman: When you're running, it's not so much of a big deal. You do have to dress appropriately. We have tourists come over that just don't get it. They come out in their shorts and t-shirts and they just don't understand. They're going to be really, really cold. Some of our parkruns are out and back. So, you know, the fallacy will be away as two and a half kilometres from the start. And when you're walking, say if something happens and if you're walking, that's a long way back to the start. And if you're in shorts and t-shirts and it's like minus 15 degrees and a snowstorm, yeah, you're in trouble. Volunteers or no volunteers, There's only so much we can help. So, yeah, there's that set of things. What do you need to wear? You do need to make sure all of your exposed skin is covered. It's difficult when it comes to the face, of course, but once you get running, things do warm up pretty quickly. We have one regular parkrunner coming to Richmond here. Her name is Debra and she sent a picture on social media of her wearing like a full face balaclava and it was just the funniest thing I'd ever seen. She looked like this blue smurf. I'll see if I can forward it to you and I'm sure she'd be happy for us to share that. But I don't think we need to go too extreme like that normally. So runners generally are good as long as they don't come in shorts and t-shirts. Volunteers, on the other hand, are a completely different story. Some of them are based two and a half K away from the start and they're standing there know and they're not they're not running around they're standing there getting cold those are the ones we particularly have to be careful of some of them are on their own as well if they don't have enough volunteers so they really do have to wrap up super warm and make sure that they're going to be comfortable for the time that they are out there you've got the unique uniqueness that you cancel events during the winter whistler is one of those events but whistler's coming back

00:23:23Scott Trickett: in a couple of weeks' time. Those guys must be excited.

00:23:27Euan Bowman: Yeah, they're super excited. The truth be told, I was disappointed when we had to cancel the Crystal parkrun for the winter, that is. It takes place around a lake, but it takes place on land that's used for cross-country skiing in the winter, and pedestrians, let alone runners, are forbidden to go through the area just because they mess up all the ski tracks, which is, yeah, I can understand. It's quite annoying for the skiers. It really does. You know, I've never cross-country skied, but I think it messes up if we get into the tracks and stuff, which is fine. We looked at alternatives. I think there's a golf course we wanted to run around, but it just wasn't foreseeable. It just wasn't feasible to do so without snowshoes. I think people suggest that we should do park ski and park snowshoe the whole time, quite a lot of the time throughout the winter. Perhaps there might be opportunities there, particularly for snowshoeing. I'm not sure what the rules are in snowshoeing on a parkrun. But whatever footwear helps you around, I think, as long as you're effectively running or walking might help. But perhaps next winter we can look and learn to see what we did last winter and see if we can perhaps go around places where we could maybe snowshoe and not run.

00:25:02Scott Trickett: Because do they have the challenge now of building the community all over again because they've had a long break through the winter? Or are people pretty aware that parkrun's coming back, we've just got to wait for the snow season to finish?

00:25:17Euan Bowman: I think there is an element of rebuilding the community a little bit. Whistler didn't have too much of a run into the winter. Although that said, Whistler does have such a young international crowd up there that parkrun is already well known um there's a lot of australian there's a lot of british there's a lot of south african they know about parkrun and i think they're going to be excited when they see it return and it's on their doorstep so yes and no i think is the the correct answer to that one um i think uh Volunteers may be an issue to get up and going again, but if we do a quick blast on social media, I don't have as many worries there getting the team going again.

00:26:02Melissa Erbacher: You mentioned, Euan, that you've got a few events in the pipeline. Can you give us any sneaky previews to let our listeners know what might be coming?

00:26:11Euan Bowman: I always get in trouble when I do that because then the pressure's on, right?

00:26:16Melissa Erbacher: We won't tell. It's just, we'll just keep it between ourselves. None of our listeners will tell anyone you said anything.

00:26:25Euan Bowman: I could give you a big list and then that takes the pressure off any one event. But we have Springbank in London, Ontario is looking pretty good. A local one here in the Metro Vancouver area, Burnaby. Oakville is looking pretty good. We've been talking about Charlottetown and the Prince Edward Islands. We're looking at Winnipeg, Regina, Halifax, Edmonton, Vernon, Rossland, Scarborough, Rocky Mountain House, Milton, Cranbrook, Steinbach, Vaughan, Tecumseh, hopefully Chilliwack and maybe Barrie to name but a few. But those are the active leads that I have on at the moment.

00:27:12Melissa Erbacher: Wow, you weren't kidding when you said you had quite a few on the go.

00:27:16Euan Bowman: There's so many that are bubbling away. I feel a lot of the enthusiasm gets put on hold during the winter, but it makes it much easier when you have one going in the summer for you to transition through the autumn or fall and into the winter and back into the summer. So it's difficult to start in the winter, but once the spring and summer are going, it's time to start again.

00:27:42Scott Trickett: And what's the relationship like with parkrun USA? Are you seeing any of your parkrunners adventure down there and vice versa? Are you getting many American tourists come up and visit your parkruns?

00:27:55Euan Bowman: Yeah, we get quite a few actually. We had one lady come up from Roosevelt Island to do Richmond Olympic on Saturday there. She was actually in town to do the local Vancouver marathon. So that was fun. And yeah, It makes me realize that parkrun is such a small world. Because generally, if I speak with someone, you know, I'm originally from Scotland, if you hadn't guessed already. You know, they ask me where I'm from, and I go, I'm from Scotland. And then they go, oh, do you know Andrew? And I'm like, well, no. I don't know every Scottish person. But when it comes to parkrun, it's completely different. So she knew someone at Roosevelt Island, and I'm like, yeah, we know her. Yeah, that's so good. And that happens quite a lot of the time, actually. It's such a small world.

00:28:47Melissa Erbacher: And have you been getting much opportunity to adventure around and check out some of the different events that have been launching since you started?

00:28:56Euan Bowman: I do my best and I try and sometimes I have such a good time doing it, it's difficult not to call them a holiday. So I was in Penticton last week. checking out their parkrun I wasn't able to make the launch so I think it was like their I don't know their 11th or 12th one and what a beautiful location so Conticton British Columbia is just south of the first parkrun we had here in Kelowna so it's also like right in the middle of the Rocky Mountains and it's just gorgeous you're running along the south end of this lake and then it breaks out into this little riverside path and then comes back for another route back But it's right in the heart of Penticton. So the exposure is great and the community just love it. They get great attendances. And yeah, it's such a fantastic little town. I did also check out the newest USA parkrun down in Renton, although that was a while ago now. But a great crowd down there. And we're forming a little Pacific Northwestern section of parkruns, which is kind of cool. So I think they've got another new one starting as well in the Seattle area. So even if you include just the West Coast, we'll have Crissy Field. We'll have the two up in the Seattle region. We've got Clover Point. We've got Whistler. Potentially, we might have three in the Metro Vancouver area and then all the ones in the interior, BC as well. That's a nice little group of parkruns. So up in the Pacific Northwest, it's doing pretty well. you got a dream have you got a vision dream vision for parkrun canada ewan do you know where you want to take it in the next 12 to 24 months you know what i look at you guys in australia and in britain and with a parkrun in virtually every park i don't see any reason why we can't do it here and that's the vision just get parkrun to the the mainstream make people realize that parkrun is not just for running, not just for fast runners, it's for people who can run fast, it's people who can run slow, it's for walkers, and it's just for people who want to come out and socialize. So again, I've said this a few times, but there's no reason why we can't have 500 parkruns in Canada like you do have in the UK, for example, or almost there anyway. I don't like to say the J word too often because it gets people really excited. I think the best plan is to establish the 5k series first, and then we can see if we can introduce the children focused events later on. But let's see how many parkruns we can get within Canada. And just think of all those communities that I mentioned earlier on in the north of the country. Sure, the population's not there, But parkrun's not there to get as, you know, it's not there to boast as many people at each event as we possibly can. It's about getting people, it's about getting parkruns as accessible as possible to as many people as possible. So if we can establish these parkruns in all these small communities or smaller communities within the more remote parts of Canada, the better. And now we've got good coverage across the country, now might be a good time to perhaps start focusing on that, particularly as we have the resources behind us with Saucony too.

00:32:35Scott Trickett: Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of similarities between our outback and our remote events that we've set up. We've had a lot of success with those events. And you're right, the numbers aren't massive, but the parkruns and the communities are fantastic. Have you got any plans to come and visit us, Euan, coming down to check out an Aussie parkrun?

00:32:56Euan Bowman: Yeah, you guys booked the 10 tickets and I'm there. I'm there. I'll have to spend, I think it's only 15 hours, right?

00:33:04Scott Trickett: Yeah, I think so. Have a chat to your mates at Saucony and tell them you need to do a bit of research and see what they can do.

00:33:12Euan Bowman: I think so. You know, we have a lot of people doing the opposite, but they do, they do two parkruns on the one day, but they cross the international date line. So it is possible they do one of the 7 o'clock ones, they jump on a flight, it takes like 15-16 hours, and our parkrun is pretty much right next to the airport, and they come and they do it. I think there's only been two or three people that have done it, but yeah, I would quite like to do that if I went to Australia on the way back just for the the joy of doing that. But I'd love to come out and check you guys. I've heard a lot about this main beach parkrun where you're running along the beach and the scenery sounds fantastic. I quite fancy doing that one.

00:33:57Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, we've got a lot on offer. You would be spoilt for choice, I can tell you that much. I do love the fact that you are keen to aspire to this two parkruns in one day on two continents or in two different countries. We actually have a guest lined up in the not too distant future who has done one of those scenarios, one of the few people to have done it. So that's going to be an exciting conversation. We'll get all the inside tips about what you should do and when and how it all works out logistically. So you'll have to tune in for that one, Euan.

00:34:31Euan Bowman: Absolutely, yeah. I can't wait to hear all about it.

00:34:34Melissa Erbacher: Thank you very much for joining us again. It's always lovely to touch base with Canada and see what's going on in the Northern Hemisphere. I'm in New York at the moment, so I've been enjoying a little bit of parkrun tourism in the US of A. Had to fly a little bit solo this week, though, because obviously there's no parkruns in New York, but, you know, we do what we can.

00:34:56Euan Bowman: Absolutely. Yeah, you know what? There's many parkruns in North America as possible. We're all for it and we'll do what we can to make it happen.

00:35:06Melissa Erbacher: Can't wait to come and join you in Canada at some point too in the future. Thanks again.

00:35:13Euan Bowman: Thank you. Really appreciate it.

00:35:26Scott Trickett: So start spreading the news, Mel. You're leaving today, tomorrow. That doesn't work.

00:35:33Melissa Erbacher: Well, I'm leaving tomorrow, but it's your today.

00:35:36Scott Trickett: Do you want to be part of it? Do you get it now? You didn't get it in my intro.

00:35:45Melissa Erbacher: Because you weren't singing...

00:35:49Scott Trickett: Sinatra in your intro and nor were you singing I wasn't singing was I singing then no I've had requests never to sing again on the podcast so at least I don't believe that if I can just reference lyrics from great songs by Alicia Keys and Frank Sinatra that's my little way of you know getting back at those critics who said you know how hurt there is and they've been scarred in many ways since hearing I don't believe those critics exist

00:36:19Melissa Erbacher: All I've heard is nothing but fanboy moments from people wanting to get autographs from their new favourite German singer.

00:36:27Scott Trickett: Hey, and welcome back. You sound a lot better now, too.

00:36:29Melissa Erbacher: Oh, my God. You know... I'm just, it's been a really long day.

00:36:38Scott Trickett: It has.

00:36:40Melissa Erbacher: And yeah, we've only been doing this how many episodes now? And I still have trouble with the technology.

00:36:49Scott Trickett: So microphones work better if you plug them in. That's Mel's hot tip for the week.

00:36:54Melissa Erbacher: No, no, that's not even the hot tip. You can plug it in and it still doesn't matter. You don't select it.

00:37:00Scott Trickett: So it was just a prop for the first 30 minutes of the pod this week. It's just been a prop. That's okay.

00:37:06Melissa Erbacher: I've literally been wearing these things, pressing on my ears. I've heard you through them, so I guess it's not 100% a prop. But yes, the little microphone sitting out in front of my face like Madonna's does when she's on stage. No, didn't need it. Not important whatsoever.

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

00:37:25Scott Trickett: Now, what is important is our new events that we're launching in Australia. Canadian listeners, UK listeners, our Malaysian friends, if they're listening, these events are happening in Australia.

00:37:37Melissa Erbacher: They are.

00:37:38Scott Trickett: And let me tell you, Mel, these two, I think they're going to go on our list as well.

00:37:43Melissa Erbacher: Well, I know one of them's already on my list and the other one should already be on the list too because of the name.

00:37:48Scott Trickett: Yep.

00:37:49Melissa Erbacher: But, You go ahead, Scotty, and tell me why.

00:37:52Scott Trickett: I think the one on your list will be Ocean View, which is launching in Queensland on the weekend. It's in a winery. So we've got another event in a winery. Am I correct? It is. In my assumption that that's on your list?

00:38:06Melissa Erbacher: Yes, and it's one of the few events where you actually get to run up and down through the vines in the vineyard. That's what I've been seeing. Which is very exciting. However… These guys, and I don't know if it's a big call, but they are challenging. They're throwing down the gauntlet to Nambour parkrun, who has held the crown for quite some time now as being the toughest parkrun in Australia. Ocean View are claiming they've got a challenge. Really? That could be worthy of the crown, yeah.

00:38:40Scott Trickett: Okay. Okay.

00:38:41Melissa Erbacher: So it will be interesting to hear the feedback from the runners after the first event.

00:38:45Scott Trickett: And the other one is in New South Wales and it's called Wildflower. And again, this one looks really pretty and in a unique location.

00:38:56Melissa Erbacher: It sounds, well, just the name. It's got me, basically. I've got all sorts of things in my vision for Wildflower.

Channel 5 News Crew

00:39:05Scott Trickett: So no roving reports this week. So hopefully maybe next week we might hear from those two events. Maybe, maybe not. We have no control over this. Anything's possible. Yes. We started giving directions to our Channel 5 news crew and they just ignore us.

00:39:22Melissa Erbacher: Apparently we weren't paying them enough to go out on assignment.

00:39:26Scott Trickett: We have no authority over them.

00:39:28Melissa Erbacher: No, no.

00:39:29Scott Trickett: So we're looking for recruits.

00:39:33Melissa Erbacher: We are still happy with our current team, however, you know. Yeah, okay. That's one way to put it.

00:39:38Scott Trickett: Well, I'm still happy. No, no, no.

00:39:39Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, we love them. Love them.

00:39:42Scott Trickett: Anniversaries also this weekend. There are a few. One of them is at Altona Beach in Victoria.

00:39:48Melissa Erbacher: One of them's at Curl Curl in New South Wales.

00:39:51Scott Trickett: Another is at Timboon in Victoria.

00:39:55Melissa Erbacher: And just because we can't have more in Victoria than New South Wales this weekend, the Entrance is also celebrating an anniversary.

00:40:03Scott Trickett: But Queensland never miss out on a party, and Yarrabilba are also celebrating their anniversary this week. So we know that there's not parkrun in New York. They've got something called Open Run, which certainly looks and sounds like parkrun, but it's not. And you went along on a Tuesday.

00:40:25Melissa Erbacher: To participate, yes. So I'll give you a little brief overview of what Open Run is. It's organized by the New York Road Runners. And it's free weekly timed running events over a three mile distance, which is 5k. Open to everyone, all ages and abilities. Parents with prams, people with dogs. Oh, I think people with dogs. Pretty sure. I didn't see any people with dogs today specifically participating. However, I'm pretty sure people with dogs can go. Parents with kids, fast runners, slow runners, walkers, everybody's welcome. Run by volunteers. very familiar it's yeah it's what happens in New York City instead of parkrun and they have them on Saturdays and Sundays and this particular one which is the closest and most inviting I'll say in terms of like beautiful location to where I have been staying and it's it was at Brooklyn Bridge Park down at pier six and you run along all the piers but it was on a Tuesday night so they don't restrict themselves to Saturday mornings here they do Saturdays or Sundays or sometimes completely other nights of the week and different times I already mentioned in the intro that we did our own pop-up parkrun because we slept in on Saturday morning there were a couple of options on the Saturday morning but they were fairly challenging to get to in respect of um Walking and then Metro and then changing Metros a couple of times and then walking again and all that sort of thing. So after our big night, we decided to let sleeping parkrunners lie and save ourselves for Tuesday night because there was always Tuesday night. And that's what we did.

00:42:28Scott Trickett: This one you went to, is it random? Is it every Tuesday night or do they just pick and choose the nights or times they want to do it?

00:42:35Melissa Erbacher: No, no, it's every Tuesday night.

00:42:36Scott Trickett: So this one is every Tuesday. Okay.

00:42:38Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, yeah. And here's a little bit of a difference from parkrun. So for parkrun, obviously, you register once and you get your barcode and then you can go anywhere in the world. For Open Run, you actually register online in advance for the event that you want to go to, but you register for that park. So if you wanted to attend one of the Saturday ones, for example, you need to register for that park. Whereas if you want to attend the Tuesday night one, you need to register for that park, which is a different one, a different location. It's super, super easy to register. You've got to answer like three questions and two of them is like one's your first name, one's your second name, one's your email address. And then the other one is basically agreeing to their terms and conditions. So very, very straightforward to do. It was a little bit of a mystery. There's not a lot of detail on the websites about the actual courses. So even though we knew the distance and we knew the name of the park, to find out the actual address of the park, we had to join the Facebook page, which is something that they recommended you do in the email that we got after registration and then we basically google mapped it so we got the address and then we google mapped it to find out how to get there to the start but we didn't know if it was hilly or what the terrain was and all that sort of thing so we just made a lot of assumptions that because they invited they said it was pram friendly or people with prams are welcome to participate we just assumed we'd be okay with the pram and all that sort of thing. And we were. And there was a few undulations, but there weren't any massive hills or other things to negotiate that would cause any major problems or anything like that. But it was very exciting. I know we've all got our first parkrun story where you go along and you remember the first people you meet or where you first heard about it and all those sorts of things. I got to relive that experience with Open Run because it was the first time I didn't know how it was going to work. I didn't have to print out a barcode to take along. We knew where to meet. We knew we had to get there 15 minutes early because they told you to sign a disclaimer or to receive something. I was a little bit fuzzy about those details. I thought it was to sign a disclaimer but It occurred to me later that I actually signed that disclaimer when I registered online. But it was to receive a little piece of paper that got pinned to your shirt or your running clothes somewhere. And then that's how they did the timing thing at the end. Which was all very interesting to me because obviously it's not the same way things work at parkrun. But that doesn't mean it's, you know, not very effective. And they've been doing this for quite some time now. So... It gets the job done, basically. And the volunteers were amazing. They were so welcoming. And even all the other runners, I mean, it was like a mirror image of parkrun. You know, that same warm community, all that sort of thing.

00:45:57Scott Trickett: So they're not trying to reinvent the wheel. They're trying to refine the wheel or they're just trying to Americanize parkrun? What are they trying to achieve?

00:46:07Melissa Erbacher: Well, I think they just saw an idea that was awesome, which obviously we agree it's awesome. We have a podcast about it. And they just wanted to implement it themselves in New York City. And so they have. And they're doing a great job. They're building communities. They're getting people active. They're promoting volunteering. They're promoting healthy, active lifestyles. So they're doing a really great job.

00:46:34Scott Trickett: Now, I asked you to wear your apricot. Have they heard of parkrun? Did anybody ask you about parkrun?

00:46:41Melissa Erbacher: They have heard of parkrun. When they found out that we were Australian, because we were visiting, and obviously our accents stick out a little bit, they asked if we participate at parkrun in Australia. And so, of course, yes, we told them we did and showed them we were wearing our barcodes, because we never take our barcodes off and that sort of thing. Yeah. And they were very interested to hear what our thoughts were on how their event ran in comparison, I guess.

00:47:12Scott Trickett: So did you give them the honest appraisal?

00:47:16Melissa Erbacher: I did. I said it was great. That's definitely my honest appraisal. And, you know, volunteers the world over are the same wonderful people. And they're doing a really wonderful job with their communities there. And you just had that feeling. It was like parkrun, but not parkrun.

00:47:37Scott Trickett: Open run.

00:47:38Melissa Erbacher: Open run. If you're in New York and you're looking for a parkrun substitute because we're not here, then do it. It's well worth your time.

00:47:49Scott Trickett: Sounds like a great way to cap off your US adventure.

00:47:54Melissa Erbacher: It was. I think today, which was our last full day in New York, was my favourite day.

00:48:01Scott Trickett: There you go.

00:48:02Melissa Erbacher: From start to finish of all the things that we did today, it was my favourite.

00:48:06Scott Trickett: Good. So on that note, should we wrap up episode 111?