Episode 123 - Penny Redhead

Episode details · 264 speaker turns · sound cues from context

00:00:08Unidentified speaker: Testing 1, 2, 3. Testing 1, 2, 3. Welcome to episode 1, 2, 3 of the parkrun Adventurers. My name is Scott.

00:00:15Scott Trickett: The 100% committed... host of the parkrun Adventurers podcast. I hope, I hope that my co-host Mel Erbacher is with me. Mel, are you there?

00:00:43Melissa Erbacher: I'm here. You saying that you are 100% committed implies that I am not also 100% committed.

00:00:50Scott Trickett: Just my focus is 100% on the parkrun adventurers. I'm not having dalliances with other podcasts. And I got these list of demands from your agent this morning and requesting that I fit it into your schedule. And the list of demands was a bit outrageous. When did you bring the agent on?

00:01:12Melissa Erbacher: Well, you know, obviously I am in demand, Scotty, so I felt it was time to bring an agent on to represent my needs and requirements.

00:01:25Scott Trickett: Yeah, just go through a couple of listed demands that you've included. The pineapple chocolate on supply, that's fine. I can organise that. In all written communication, she's to be referred to as the queen of the Sunshine Coast. I didn't think you thought that yourself like that.

00:01:41Melissa Erbacher: Well, look, Her Majesty will be fine if you can't manage the full title.

00:01:47Scott Trickett: Founder of the number one parkrun podcast in Australia. Not technically correct, but I'm happy to go along with that. Co-founder. Yeah, co-founder, yeah. The last one, to laugh at regular two-minute intervals.

00:02:02Melissa Erbacher: Well, yeah, because I'm hilarious.

00:02:04Scott Trickett: Okay, so I just have to make that quota. So every two minutes. That was hilarious, Mel. Is that what you're after? That works.

00:02:12Melissa Erbacher: That works. Okay. Pretty much. I wasn't expecting you to read out the list of demands on the podcast, so that's a little bit awkward.

00:02:21Scott Trickett: Yeah.

00:02:21Melissa Erbacher: But you know what? I don't have a shame gland or an embarrassment gland, so I'm okay with that.

00:02:27Scott Trickett: Okay. Well, I'm just going to set a timer for that last clause. The rest is fine. But, yeah, so just give me a nudge if I don't hit that two-minute mark. But all this is in reference to your – are you leaving me or are we just sharing you these days?

00:02:47Melissa Erbacher: There's enough of me to go around. I can share the love, Scotty.

00:02:50Scott Trickett: Good, good. Because you're invited on to With Me Now podcast next week, which is great, which means we don't have to do a podcast next week because too much of Mel Erbacher is not a good thing. So we're just going to do – Are we not broadcasting next week? Well, I thought your focus would be on with me now. I don't want you to have to come up with, you know, witty repartee with me and Danny next week. So I'm giving you the week off.

00:03:16Melissa Erbacher: Well, you're two completely different people, Scotty. So I thought you were 100% committed. I'm 100% committed. I was still going to be here next week. But, hey, you know, if you need a break, that's okay.

00:03:29Scott Trickett: No, no, no. Good, good. We're back for episode 124. next week on the podcast but that's all a bit exciting now and um so with me now if you're not following along at home danny and nicola relaunched their podcast after a three-year break i'm sure most of you know about it went really well and um nicola's taking some time off so you're filling in Next week. I am.

00:03:54Melissa Erbacher: And the invitation to do so was as much a surprise to me as I think it was to Nicola and probably everybody else who was listening to the podcast when Danny mentioned it. But very complimented, very flattered to be asked.

00:04:08Scott Trickett: I like it when they do their planning on the fly, very much like what we do.

00:04:12Melissa Erbacher: Yes, absolutely.

00:04:14Scott Trickett: Which leads to our guest later on today. We teased about it a couple of weeks ago, so look forward to that. But let's go back to podcasts, Mel. I want to know, before you started doing this podcast as the founder, apparently, were you into podcasts? Did you listen to podcasts regularly?

00:04:35Melissa Erbacher: the only ones that i would say that i listened to regularly were the parkrun show and the parkrun show australia so but before parkrun i didn't really know about podcasts or or listen or tune into any I've dabbled with different topics and things like that apart from those since then, but nothing has stuck. Nothing is, you know, on my subscribe list. I don't get notifications about a whole bunch of things every week anymore.

00:05:08Unidentified speaker: And so...

00:05:14Scott Trickett: Just the time it went over. So would you say you've been converted? So are you a podcast listener now or do you still just exclusively listen to parkrun podcasts still?

00:05:26Melissa Erbacher: I don't want to say exclusively. I exclusively subscribe to parkrun podcasts, but I do from time to time. If something gets recommended to me, have a listen to something else. How about you, Scotty?

00:05:38Scott Trickett: Well, I've been a long-time convert of the old podcast. I've loved them for many years.

00:05:43Melissa Erbacher: I know you've got some NFL ones in there that rate highly.

00:05:47Scott Trickett: I do. I do love my NFL, which we've talked about before. I don't mind a bit of the odd basketball podcast here and there. Usually just in season. I get excited about basketball in season, but out of season, it drifts from my mind. There's a couple of good running podcasts.

00:06:01Melissa Erbacher: Does it not distract you when… Just hear the sound of the ball going doink, doink, doink, doink the whole time?

00:06:08Scott Trickett: Oh, no, it's a bit like when you listen to a parkrun podcast, it's not us running, Mel. It's a basketball podcast. They don't actually play. Oh, they're just talking about basketball.

00:06:18Melissa Erbacher: Just talk about it.

00:06:18Scott Trickett: Okay. Yep.

00:06:20Melissa Erbacher: Well, see, that's actually a contradiction because we have several times podcasted whilst running, et cetera. So, you know... I didn't think it was too much of a stretch.

00:06:30Scott Trickett: This is true. This is true. But let me get on to, there's a couple of other running podcasts. that I'm sure many of our listeners do listen to, but if they don't, they can search it. Remember our old mate Brady? We had him on last year when he was talking about Tell Me Your Tales podcast. That's taken a little bit of a break, but he's put all his energy into Inside Running podcast, which is probably the number one running podcast. Not probably, is the number one running podcast in Australia. These days, they regularly put out... A weekly pod, good content. Love it if you love talking splits and training.

00:07:06Melissa Erbacher: The real nuts and bolts behind it.

00:07:08Scott Trickett: Yep. And there's another one by a couple of Melbourne guys that I've latched onto lately. It's called Runner Chats. If you want to put that into your podcast app or whatever, give that a listen. It's very Melbourne-focused. So they're two guys in Melbourne, and I think all their guests come from Melbourne. But that's probably a good thing, really. Sounds very niche. And then there's also, of course, Marathon Talk. And our old, old mate, Robbo, who's coming up later in the podcast, he's going to tell us about his new one, which is the Marathon Mystery Tour with Mona, who I happened to parkrun with on Saturday.

00:07:47Melissa Erbacher: Did you now?

00:07:48Scott Trickett: I did. Well, he was at the same parkrun as me. I didn't see him.

00:07:54Melissa Erbacher: You can still claim it. Yeah. I'm sure there's probably a whole bunch of other people that have claimed it.

00:07:58Scott Trickett: Well, it was because it was at Albert Park. I went to Albert Park. And I have this habit whenever I go to Albert Park of getting there exactly at 8 o'clock. So I don't think I've ever really heard or seen a pre-run brief at Albert Park because they usually just go to the start line. And so I missed Mona at the front. He was a bit quicker than me on the day.

00:08:18Melissa Erbacher: Really?

00:08:19Scott Trickett: He was. He was. He was taking a day off. I find this shocking.

00:08:21Melissa Erbacher: Yeah.

00:08:24Scott Trickett: But so was I. I had a run with Yvonne. It was just the two of us. And we tried this run-walk technique that I reckon is a good technique if you're getting back into running, Mel.

00:08:34Melissa Erbacher: And who's getting back into running, you or Vonnie?

00:08:39Scott Trickett: Oh, hilarious. The way you ask those questions. Yvonne. Yvonne's getting back. Well, we both are, so I've stopped running. But Yvonne is excited about running now but has had a bit of time off. And she's getting ready for Streaky September, which is coming back. We've got a month, people. We've got a month to get ready to do this again. But the old technique of running, walking, running, walking, I reckon it's pretty good. Have you ever tried it?

00:09:07Melissa Erbacher: I have. Not religiously or anything like that. I do know... It used to irk me that I would, you know, be plodding along at my little pace at parkrun and the people that run and walk, they have a tendency of just, you know, overtaking you and then they slow down and you overtake them very, very slowly and then they speed up again and then you overtake them very, very slowly. And I kind of find that a bit frustrating. I just sometimes I just want my personal space and I don't like playing cat and mouse with somebody else. But, you know, obviously everybody participates however they like and those people are, you know, doing their best. Usually they get a better time than me and they beat me. Maybe that's why. It miffs me a little bit, Scotty. Yeah.

00:09:56Scott Trickett: Look, I can imagine. We were doing it on Saturday and there was a RMA parkrunner who was around the same time and I did feel a bit guilty that we kept running past her and then she just would overtake us when we did the walk.

00:10:08Melissa Erbacher: Ah, see, so you weren't those people.

00:10:10Scott Trickett: We were those people, yeah.

00:10:14Melissa Erbacher: Oh, look, I'm sure she didn't get annoyed at you at all. For doing that. I hope not. But, yeah, it is a good strategy, especially when you're trying to build up. And it's good for speed as well. I mean, it's kind of like fartlek, but with a slower pace, isn't it?

00:10:30Scott Trickett: Yeah. I will say, in my defense, I did try to apologize to this RMA parkrunner, but she had her headphones in, so she didn't hear me. So I'm going to start a campaign. Mel, we're starting a campaign to get people on the app, and I'm going to start a campaign. People, stop wearing your headphones to parkrun. I know some people love it, but for one run a week, don't put your headphones in a parkrun. For this instance, treat it like a race.

00:10:55Melissa Erbacher: Well, that might be their only run each week, Scotty. Well...

00:10:59Scott Trickett: I'm allowed to start a campaign that divides the nation.

00:11:01Melissa Erbacher: You are, but don't include me in that because it's not a we are starting this campaign. No, I said me. You are.

00:11:07Scott Trickett: Me.

00:11:08Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, and then you said we after that.

00:11:10Scott Trickett: Okay.

00:11:10Melissa Erbacher: So I would like to remove myself from Scotty Trickett's campaign.

00:11:15Scott Trickett: If you do, and I mean it could be working against me because they could be listening to us at parkrun, but if you are, just try a couple of weeks without and see if it's better. And if it's not, at least you tried. At least you can tell me you tried. I don't like it. Opportunities missed to have a conversation with me.

00:11:35Melissa Erbacher: It messes with your ego, doesn't it? You don't like being ignored.

00:11:40Scott Trickett: I'm used to it, but yeah, it does mess with my ego. As we've mentioned, Mel and I are massive fans of the parkrun Virtual Volunteer, and we want to learn more about it. We want to learn about the development, why we're using it, and all the troubles and challenges and triumphs they've had developing it. So we went straight to the source. Welcome to the parkrun Adventurers, Penny Redhead from Newy parkrun, but also from Newism, the developers of the parkrun app. Welcome, Penny.

00:12:20Penny Redhead: Thanks, Scott. It's nice to be here.

00:12:23Scott Trickett: That was probably my longest intro ever. You can tell that I'm excited about this app. Oh, good. Let's take it back to the start and how this came about because we're leading the world. The Aussies are pioneering something that the rest of the parkrun world has adopted.

00:12:41Penny Redhead: Yes, very exciting from that perspective as well. But I'll try and give you the short version. I've been an event director for about four or five years, and we might talk about that in a little while. But my business partner, Levi, got a little bit tired of me coming to work on a Monday morning, probably about once a month, saying I've had issues with scanners or stopwatches. And so after about six months of this, we started looking around to see if there's any solutions out there in the market. Tried to contact parkrun, but in their defence, I guess, they would be inundated. We all get those emails, do you need an app? Do you need a website? So it probably wasn't the best approach at the time. So we decided just to make a prototype We weren't really sure what was going to happen with it. We just thought we would build something and see where it went from there, possibly to use locally, Australia-wide, maybe for different athletics groups as well as parkrun. So, yeah, we just began the process from there. One consideration that we did have was... doing it our own bat and spending time on our own doing it. We obviously needed some source of, I guess, revenue or some way to maintain this app long-term because it wasn't viable just to do it on our own and, you know, give it away for free. So I think we released a very early beta version. I think it was even in trial mode and then parkrun got wind of it. So we ended up speaking directly to parkrun UK and, who had said they'd had a few attempts at doing a similar app in the past with not much success. I think there was just a few hurdles that they just couldn't overcome with some of their previous attempts, perhaps developers, perhaps the design, I'm not really sure. So yeah, they approached us and formally engaged us about 12, nearly 12 months ago now. And so we've been developing the app from there. So I hope that was short enough for you.

00:14:45Melissa Erbacher: Penny, I'm not afraid of technology. I'm willing to try new things and test them out. But by the same token, I have no idea how it works. Like when people say they build an app, I've got no concept of what's involved in that. Are you able to give us kind of a brief overview in lay people's terms for people like myself who don't really get it?

00:15:09Penny Redhead: Well, I'm not an app developer, but I can try. So when I first started this process, what I did was wrote a technical spec. So I knew exactly how the app had to function. And as an event director and a volunteer, I'd done timing and scanning before. So I also did some conceptual screens so that when I handed that to our development team, they knew exactly the flow and how that process had to work with some documentation explaining how that had to work as well. And they obviously developed the code. They do it for an app these days. Native code means that you have to develop code for iOS devices, and then you have to redevelop it again for... Android devices. So there's actually two applications, I suppose, rolled into one concept, but they're actual separate builds. And then once that's been built in code with the design elements or design assets, then that's deployed to the Apple Store and to the Google Play Store. But, you know, obviously that's a fairly long process to get. It is very much like building a software application or a program. It's a standalone little application that sits on your phone.

00:16:24Scott Trickett: When you first were contacted by parkrun UK, did you think you were in trouble or were you worried about what they were going to do to you?

00:16:32Penny Redhead: Yeah, we did. When we promoted this parkrun compatible app, they sent us an email saying, you know, we don't really want you using that term. We don't want you using any branding. I don't know whether we had branding, but if we did, we may have removed it, but we retained the parkrun compatible and put a copyright notice on there to say that we weren't associated with the brand itself. But it wasn't long before we started talking with them and realising, you know, they were great. They just said, look, we want to partner with organisations like yourself who know that we can deliver. something really valuable to us. And you've proven that in this prototype that you've got, that's exactly what we want and we want to take it further. So I guess it was a very short space of time for that to actually happen. So yeah, that was really positive and everything's been really positive since. So I've been working together to just do some tweaks and to get it out onto market.

00:17:31Scott Trickett: So that is really good. Did parkrun Global ever hinted how many times or how many attempts they've had trying to develop an app? Because it looks pretty simple. It's just a stopwatch and a scanner. But obviously a few people had a go at it, and this is the one that they've settled on. So there must have been something special or unique about your app that got them interested.

00:17:54Penny Redhead: I think the part – well, I only know of – we only discussed really one – sorry, one – app that they had tried to roll out. And I think the developer perhaps took some shortcuts in... There's a couple of ways of developing apps. It's either a native version, so you build it for iOS, and then another version for Android, or there's something else that you can develop... encode and then put it into what's called an app wrapper and then deploy it to store from there. So I think they took that shortcut version, but I think there'd been other attempts before. And I think the difference with this app that we developed was that as a user, an end user, I knew exactly what it needed to do. to happen. We were trialling some free apps for quite some time for stopwatch or timekeeping before we developed. And there was lots of advertising on this free app that we were using and there was very small buttons. And the first thing I briefed when I was designing this app was the button has to take up almost half the screen on the phone so no one can miss it when they're timing. So Things like that, I think, made a real difference. So it wasn't only the functionality, it was also the usability. So we just made sure we got that right. And like I said, I was an end user. So that was pretty, I think, easy and a smooth process to achieve.

00:19:14Melissa Erbacher: You've mentioned a couple of times now the difference in, you know, building a native version for Apple versus Android. So what is the difference between the two? This is probably a really difficult question. But obviously, you know, the iPhone version came out a long time ago and the Android one is just sort of like entering the waters now, why is it taking so different, so long to build the Android version when the Apple one was already effectively done?

00:19:45Penny Redhead: So the Apple one, we tackled first, obviously, because we were users of Apple. So we didn't do it for any specific reason other than that, that we were Apple users and Apple fans. So we did that. We didn't realise how big those challenges converted over to Android. And the difference is that the Apple version is, I think, iOS 10 and above, which is supported by iPhones 5 and above. So we're dismissing that older tech. of iPhone 4s to start with. Now, the consistency in hardware technology for the iOS, sorry, the iPhone 5 and above, it's pretty good. The cameras are good. The processes are good. Whereas when you switch over to Android, there's a massive range in hardware quality. So we're talking different cameras, the way that it processes. So there's lots of small differences and lots of small differences combined make big differences. So it's taken us quite some time to iron out the app so that it works at an acceptable level across all Android devices. And I believe there's still a couple of tweaks to go. Just as an example, one thing we didn't consider that's been raised in the last couple of days was I can't remember which Android device it is, the Edge. It is what it says on the box. The screen goes all the way to the edge and wraps around the edge a little bit. So therefore, when you're trying to time, any touch to that edge will trigger a split, so a finisher. So we've got to go back and possibly put a little bit of a buffer or a margin around the touch area. So hands holding the phone don't trigger that start. So that's just one example of the challenges that we've faced trying to get that Android to market. the Android version to market, I should say. So yeah, not so easy.

00:21:36Scott Trickett: So Penny, what's been the initial feedback? I mean, we've been using the iPhone version for a while now. I've never had any problems with it whatsoever. So big tick there. But what's the early feedback been with the Android release?

00:21:52Penny Redhead: Great. I mean, we've had a couple of small issues. I think, again, it comes down to the hardware quality. Those who are using nice new Androids are giving us great feedback and they've had absolutely no problems. I think Michael Sharp from our beaches parkrun locally tested it out a few weeks ago and said it worked brilliantly. And I think he managed, because it's a smaller parkrun, I believe he managed to use it for timing and scanning at the same time, but I'll have to double check that. But yeah, the reports so far are mostly positive with a few tweaks in order, which we would expect for a first version rollout.

00:22:29Melissa Erbacher: Apart from something like the edge, have you had too many people come back and say the buttons are too big? You know, I accidentally knock it all the time.

00:22:37Penny Redhead: No, I don't think so. I think because you're out in the sun and other weather conditions, and I think it needs to be pretty considerable for, you know, just to make sure that you, because you're not constantly looking at the screen. So I think that's a feature rather than an issue. But yeah, probably just have to give it a little bit of a buffer zone around it.

00:23:01Scott Trickett: And so this was obviously born about from a desire for you guys with such a big event at Newey and the larger numbers. So how can you compare the app when you're dealing with 500 plus runners compared to juggling stopwatches and the traditional scanners when you've got such a large event?

00:23:21Penny Redhead: To be honest, it's probably a little bit more time consuming in the actual training and setup and getting everyone's phones in order and maybe a little bit of time at the end to retrieve the data. But the payoff for that is that for the last month... Also, probably the last five weeks, I've received zero emails later post-event to say that I was scanned and I didn't get a result. So I'm not doing any of that. And with an event the size that we get in peak season... it's not unusual for us to get a consistent 550 600 runners we'd probably get anywhere up to say 20 20 plus emails post run to say I was scanned but I didn't get a result so that in itself saves us time and I think just having a little bit of practice getting set up and a little bit of practice retrieving that data I've got a bit of a process and I can probably give you a that it takes me on a good day, on an average day, probably about three minutes to process the results. I can usually do that before my coffee arrives. So that's the benchmark. If you can process results and get it in before coffee arrives, then it's a good day. Yeah.

00:24:39Melissa Erbacher: So we know you're from Newey. We've mentioned that in the introduction and you've spoken about it. What's your story as a parkrunner? You've been involved there as an event director for a very long time, but not since the start.

00:24:52Penny Redhead: No, our friend Robbo, Dave Robbo Robertson, kicked it off in Newcastle, Newey, and I did what most people do. I heard about it through a few different sources and just kept getting this wind of, you know, this parkrun thing, this free event that happened. So I rolled along one Saturday and I think, you know, I was hooked immediately. I just, great community vibe, great feeling over there and I A lot of people not taking running too seriously, but at the same time, really enjoying it. A little bit of self-competitiveness, I guess. So yeah, I just started running within a couple of weeks. I thought, oh, they wanted a photographer. So I volunteered as photographer and then ended up back at the cafe with the team and did that for a few weeks and thought, this is great and started being interested in how they process results. And it wasn't too long before Robbo was off on a few different adventures and the team needed a little bit more support. So my husband and I ended up just stepping in on a very casual basis and that turned into a more permanent basis. And eventually we took over as event directors at the time with Scott and Ruth White as well. So there was four of us for the last sort of four or five years i think it is uh and yeah just just took it from there we we absolutely love it and i think we've only been able to to stick at it for that amount of time because we've got an awesome event team it's it's certainly not just us doing it we've got people who you know do the kit bag they take the kit bag away and the volley vests away each week and come back and and deliver them a couple people set up each week so our job is so easy we we pretty much turn up train people run the event, do the results, and then that's it for the day with, you know, 10 people supporting us. So it's an awesome event and it's an awesome team.

00:26:46Scott Trickett: Well, I can tell that you love it because you've run there a lot and you haven't adventured to too many other events, but you have done an overseas parkrun. You visited Crissy Field and I guess Hobart is overseas as well. How have you enjoyed your time away from Newey parkrun?

00:27:04Penny Redhead: I have enjoyed a lot. And I do realise that I haven't even ticked off. I'm not even what's called a regionaire. So I haven't ticked off the other parkruns in the region. I think you might be able to help me here, Scott. I think we're up to 13 in the greater Newcastle Hunter region. So we've just brought on a couple of run directors. A few have faded off or gone back overseas. So... We're just training up a couple of more run directors now. And then once they're trained up, I'll be keen to get a few more local runs and a little bit more parkrun tourism in. So really keen for that. And that might give me the opportunity to go and see how everyone else is using the app as well. So I might do an app tour.

00:27:43Scott Trickett: And what led you to Crissy Field? We're always curious to find out how the US experience goes. Why were you over there?

00:27:50Penny Redhead: Well, we went on a family holiday for about four weeks through the US. And I think that was the only one that was anywhere within reach of where we were going. So we clearly, like everyone does, we planned our holiday to make sure that we actually got one run in there. So it was a beautiful run, very small. I think there was about 20-odd people, maybe 30 people at the run. And surprisingly, thinking that we'd be the tourists from Newcastle, from Newey, there were 19 locals who turned up for that run. So we ran into some people that we knew. So there was more non-locals than there were locals.

00:28:29Scott Trickett: I think that's a familiar story.

00:28:33Melissa Erbacher: Penny, it's been lovely having you on the show and listening to you teach us more about the technology and things behind the app. Before we let you go, do you have any tips for anyone who is considering using it but, you know, maybe is a little bit... cautious or has reservations?

00:28:50Penny Redhead: Well, I think a couple of things. Firstly, the scanning, if you're a bit nervous, the scanning can be, I guess, dual scan. So maybe start along and go along to parkrun with the parkrun app. And just if you're it's an event that's never used the app before and they're a bit nervous. One tip might be to go along and just do dual scanning. So get your scanners to go along and then just ask people, can I just scan you again just to try out this app? And that might give them the confidence. If they want to take that next step, just jump in and start using it. Like I said, there's a minor, we've got five scanners, up to five scanners at Newey. So I always write down the last digits of their phone number. So when I'm collecting data later, I can work out which which phone delivered which piece of data and I just tick those off as I go just to make sure that I've got all the pieces and I think I've worked out that SMS is the best way to deliver that either SMS or email so that we can get instant clarification instant confirmation that the data's been received before they leave the site so not having to you know have issues post parkrun and then find out that I'm missing a I think parkrun will distribute, if they haven't already done so, some tips like this. But there's probably quite a few that we could give. I've been using this app now for six months, the iOS version, and the Android version I've been using for the last couple of months in prototype form. So... Yeah, the timing is brilliant. I think it's much better than the traditional timers because you can see clearly on the screen at least the last five people who crossed the line. Scanning is the same thing. You get instant feedback. It gives a little vibrate when you scan a barcode so you know it's been scanned. You're not kind of guessing as you were with the old infrared barcode scanners. So yeah, jump in and have a crack.

00:30:50Melissa Erbacher: Awesome. All good tips. I'm sure there'll be people out there downloading the app. And that's something I've told people too, is just, you know, download it during the week and have a play at home before you come along. That helps build your confidence that you understand how things will all work. And no harm's done as well by creating, you know, some fake scanning at home.

00:31:09Penny Redhead: Yes, absolutely. Good tip, Mel.

00:31:12Melissa Erbacher: Thanks very much for joining us, Penny. It's been lovely having you. It's been a pleasure to be on. Joining us next, we have a very familiar voice who hasn't been on the podcast in just a little while. He has got a new podcast off and running and we want to hear all about it. Welcome to the parkrun Adventurers once more, Dave Robbo.

00:31:42Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Thank you very much, Mel. Great to be chatting with you and g'day, Scotty, and all the listeners.

00:31:47Melissa Erbacher: Now, we're very excited. More podcasts happening all over the place from some of our faves in parkrun world. Can you give us a bit of a breakdown? Tell us what it's called and what it's about?

00:31:56Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yes. Yeah, well, I was getting a bit itchy feet. As some listeners may know, I was involved with a couple of podcasts many years ago, the Naked Runners, and then we had the parkrun podcast. Show AU. That was back at a time when podcasts weren't really that cool. You guys, you've been lucky enough to be around in an era where they're certainly cool now and you're leading the charge. Thought, righto, let's get the hands dirty again. And on the back of doing a little bit of work with the great Steve Monaghetti up at the Gold Coast Marathon recently, doing some commentary, decided to see if he'd be keen to have a bit of a chat about running on a fairly frequent basis, by podcast means. And he was up for it, so we've had a couple of episodes now. And it's called the Marathon Mystery Tour. It's a bit of a mystery exactly to us and to the listeners, I'm sure, what direction it's going to take. But effectively, it's all about marathons, running, and a little bit of music as well. We're bringing that in, which is something that both Mona and myself are very passionate, big music fans, and I've been known to dabble in a bit of music over the years as well. So we're bringing that in and adding a little a little bit of a different flavour, so it's not just running talk all the time. But, yeah, what a thrill to be able to have a chat with one of the most decorated and much-loved treasures of running here in Australia, Mona, and he's a great bloke and he's a great talker as well. And as you can imagine, lots of great stories. So I've been able to tease a couple of days out of him so far on that show. But, yes, Marathon Mystery Tour, get that one in your ears if you haven't already.

00:33:34Scott Trickett: Well, Robbo, I have two episodes in. It's a great opportunity. for us to get to know Mona. I mean, we know him. He's been around for years, but there's a bit of personality, as you said, coming out of Mona in the first two episodes. I think that's your challenge moving forward. Let's get to find out the real Mona.

00:33:52Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, no, fantastic to go deeper and, yeah, find out a bit more about the man behind it all, and that'll be my mission, Scotty. So, yeah, so it's been fantastic. And it's been good fun so far. And we'll hopefully rip another one out. Maybe not this week, but next week we should have episode three out ahead of the City to Surf, which is a very famous running event in Australia and an event where Mona still holds the course record as well. No one's been able to knock him off since 1991. So we'll have a bit of a City to Surf themed show coming up.

00:34:25Melissa Erbacher: I look forward to that one. I'll confess, Robbo, I didn't know it existed until Scotty told me about it this week, but I'm keen to get in and have a listen. Is the plan for it to be weekly?

00:34:36Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: I don't think we want to put that much pressure on ourselves. I know as well as you guys know the work that's involved with getting these shows out. At the moment, just around our schedules and availability, we're probably going to keep it as more of a whenever we can kind of deal. But yeah, we'll strive to every week or two get an episode up. And they're only fairly short, 20 to 30 minute jobs at the moment. We'll see what happens. Might be able to bring some guests in. But having a bit of fun using a platform called Anchor. And you can basically be your own radio station using that and play some songs and break it all up and some stings and things so um yeah there's an opportunity for the guests for people listening to be able to send through their questions via audio as well and we can play those and use those on the show so i'm sort of keen to explore that a little bit more um it's a cool little platform so but it's also available on all the other main podcasting platforms so yeah maybe not exactly weekly all the time but um every every couple of weeks it's Mel, so we'll keep you hanging and waiting for the next editions to come out.

00:35:45Melissa Erbacher: Awesome. And now you may have already covered this off in one of the first two episodes that I haven't listened to yet, but is the name of the podcast a little bit of a nod to the Beatles and their magical mystery tour?

00:35:55Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, it definitely is. Well picked up. And the graphics that we've got at the moment for the podcast show are certainly the rainbow writing. And so it's very much a nod to that. I actually text Mona as I was dreaming up the idea of the name of it. I said, are you a Beatles fan at all? He said, oh, I'm a bit more of a Beach Boys fan. But he's got all the albums and he certainly knows his way around the Beatles catalogue. So he was happy to go with that. And that's the theme song is, of course, the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour. So we've kind of ripped that off a little bit. But, yeah, the Marathon Mystery Tour. And we're waiting to take you away.

00:36:34Scott Trickett: Can't wait for more episodes. As I said, I've listened to the first two. And everything you do, Robbo, I think is great. And this is a bit of fun.

00:36:43Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Well, thanks very much, Scotty. And, yeah, thanks for the support. And worth mentioning as well, Mona, as well as being one of the greatest runners we've ever produced in Australia, a very passionate parkrunner as well, as you will know, and loves to volunteer at his home parkrun in Ballarat. He was down at Albert Melbourne parkrun, I think, recently, doing a speaking gig after that as well. So it's great that he's aware of his... his position in the running world in Australia, and he's happy to give back, and that's exactly what he's doing through this show. So, yeah, I hope you and other listeners enjoy what we've come up with.

00:37:19Scott Trickett: He was running at Albert. I had a run with him. I mentioned in the intro that we were at the same parkrun, but I didn't actually see him. on Saturday, but I did join in for his speaking gig afterwards. And he is very confident of his position in the Australian running scene. And it's good. It's good that people have got confidence and know where they stand because he is one of our greats and he acknowledges it.

00:37:43Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, and he's still no mug. He's 55 at the moment and still running. What did he run the other day? 32.30 for a 10K. So, yeah, I actually raced him up at the Gold Coast for the 10K up there, and I think he dusted me up by a couple of minutes there. So he's moving very well, and he's in the realms of actually breaking some world bests or world records for his age categories and age groups and stuff too. So he's a fantastic runner, as we know, and even with a bit of age on his side, he's still not picking out some fantastic results.

00:38:19Scott Trickett: Now, Robbo, we had Penny on just before you talking the app, but also talking a bit about Newey parkrun. And you got mentioned again that you were the founder there. Do you want to tell us the story? We may have told it before, but I've forgotten. You've forgotten. Tell us the story about how Newey parkrun came about. Maybe the abridged version.

00:38:40Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, no, that's fine, mate. No, easy. I guess it started with my wife and I. Gabby, you're living in the UK. UK in London and in Edinburgh and I still to this day I kick myself Scotty that I didn't make the effort to take the four train stops from Earlsfield train station in southwest London down to Teddington and get off and go and run Bushy parkrun I was there in 2005 as it was as it was hatching and um so but I did follow it followed it through the marathon talk pod and those guys talking about it so when it finally launched and we'd moved back to Australia I I'd followed it and saw that it was launching on the Gold Coast and within probably, well, what was that, April 2011, by Christmas that year, I was up there at my sister's place and ran it. And Tim Oberg happened to be there that day and I had, my sister knew of Tim and had lined up a catch-up and I had an intention to chat to Tim about how we could get one rolled out in Newcastle. And I reckon it was by... About the second kilometre of that parkrun, my first experience, I was convinced that Newcastle definitely needed one. So that was the origins of it. And the only thing that stopped us launching sooner, because we launched in July 2012, was a three-month trip that my wife and I had overseas where we actually got to go to Bushy and meet PSH and see how it was, which was fantastic. So we got a little taste of it and then got to come back and help launch TSH. Newey parkrun on the Queen's birthday long weekend of 2012. So my wife was heavily pregnant at that stage and there was a band of three or four of us volunteering. 77 people turned up at the first event and we were, I think, number seven parkrun to launch in Australia. So that's pretty much how it happened, mate. And then, yeah, what are we up to? Almost all six and a bit years later and still going strong and still has always kept, you know, that really nice sort of friendly vibe and the great work that Penny and and the current event directors do to keep that going and, yeah, make sure everyone's welcome. Even with a big crowd on most weeks, it's a credit to them. And, yeah, it's great that I can now come along and push the pram or run with the dog and have a barcode scan and a volunteer there. And it's great that, yeah, it's on my doorstep as well. I actually live on the course. So that's a bit of fun.

00:41:02Melissa Erbacher: Robbo, it's been six years since Newey launched. You had your anniversary in July. parkrun has changed a lot in Australia in that time. Can you give us a bit of your perspective on how that change has happened and, you know, what you think has improved?

00:41:18Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: I mean, just look at the sheer weight of numbers, people participating, people volunteering, people being touched by the parkrun bug. And, you know, I remember back in the early days we'd do the pre-run briefing and you'd chat to any first-timers and I'd warn them like I do now that, you know, their Saturday mornings will never be the same. This thing is addictive. And it's great that it hasn't really – the essence of it hasn't ever really changed. It's just been able to be reached out to more communities and more people have been able to be touched by it. So in terms of the change, I guess it's nice that, you know, as it's grown, we've had things in place to be able to handle that. Sometimes you sort of have had to catch up, you know, in a short space of time. But I believe, yeah, it's in really good hands. And as it continues to expand, we're seeing it done, you know, in a safe and a mindful way. And hopefully that, yeah, that first experience that anyone has at a parkrun, it never really changes and it's got that welcoming feeling. feel and it's unlike any event any running event any you know group um participation event that you're likely to ever do so the number of times i've had to sort of i've tried to convince people to come along nothing beats actually getting that person on the ground to the parkrun to see it firsthand and taste it and then generally they're hooked on it so um yeah it's been awesome to see even in our region there's a couple of uh parkruns that i haven't even done in the region of runners now. And so I've got to pull my finger up and go out and do Kaba and Marymoor and there's plenty more on the cards too. So lots to keep busy with parkrun even just in our area here. But, you know, if I make a trip to Sydney or go interstate, there's any number of new parkruns um, that, you know, that I've got on the list to do. And I just recently figured out where I stood in the Alphabeteer club and I was pleased to know I'm up to, I'm up to 20. So I did my Urunga parkrun. I picked off the U. And, uh, so only, Well, five slash six to go. So I'm going to have to knock those over in the next little while.

00:43:30Melissa Erbacher: In that time, Robbo, obviously you've been involved in parkrun in various ways and forms. You know, we mentioned that you co-hosted the parkrun Show AU podcast. You've been an event director, a territory director, a parkrun adventurer essentially. How have you found the experience has changed for you personally as a runner over that time?

00:43:52Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, I guess when I started in 2012, I was an okay runner and was looking to sort of start to ramp up my training and see where I could get to with it all. A couple of kids come along and that slows things down initially for a period of time. And I feel like now the kids are six and three coming out of that young kid phase. set up at home and I've been able to get back to a bit more running again so I've enjoyed just being able to do more running in general and also keep in touch with parkrunning and volunteering but then start to I guess as I the responsibility of being an event director I sort of moved away from that and I was able to sort of start to be a bit more adventurous if you like and that's been fun so yeah My own perspective and my experience of the parkrun are that any that I go to, I just love the fact that you can turn up with that barcode and people are welcoming straight away and you're part of the cult, part of the club straight away when you turn up. And I really love – we have a fairly large – participation number each week at Newey, but I love getting to the ones which have 15 people or 20 people or 30 people in there, maybe just starting out, and that's really nice as well. So it's just so lovely to be able to see the diversity of courses, of the people at the parkruns, and have an excuse to put the shoes on in any little pocket of Australia. What are we up to? Over 320 events now, so there's a fair chance Wherever you are in the country, you're never too far away from one. So, yeah, really, really loving that.

00:45:32Scott Trickett: Robbo, thanks for the catch-up. And just watch those numbers, those download numbers, now for the Marathon Mystery Tour podcast.

00:45:40Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Thank you very much. And I'll make sure we give you a reciprocal plug on the show. We're always... Talking with Mono is funny on the commentary at the Gold Coast. We've talked in a number of parkruns to go. So parkruns always, it's only a breath away from most conversations that I'm having. So no, thanks very much, Scotty and Mel. And yeah, keep up the great work yourself.

Poem Zone

00:46:02[music]

00:46:02Sarah: The Poem Zone.

00:46:17Scott Trickett: Aha, weren't expecting that, were you people? We're going straight to the poem zone. Could this be the last time, Mel?

00:46:25Melissa Erbacher: Is this our last poem? It is not our last poem, Scotty. We still have a couple more weeks at least. Really?

00:46:31Scott Trickett: Really. We really should check the email more closely.

00:46:36Melissa Erbacher: Or at all.

00:46:37Scott Trickett: That would help. Yeah, but because this is a long one.

00:46:41Melissa Erbacher: And Scotty... Has, I want it noted for the record that you want to share with me.

00:46:47Scott Trickett: Yes. Yes. So, should I start?

00:46:53Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, let me start. Introduce it first, though.

00:46:55Scott Trickett: This is, once again, from our good mate, Caroline. She's sent us in a few, and we are dragging them out, Caroline, as we said we would. Apparently for a couple more weeks, which is great. But this is, she's put a bit of work into this one because it's long. And it's about Shellharbour parkrun. Very familiar to all of us. parkrun Adventurers Listener Meetup this year. That was a bloody good thing we did, wasn't it? We're going to do it again next year. It was. We should. We'll talk about that in the next couple of weeks. Here we go. Mist fills the space around me as I stand atop this little mountain looking down towards the beach.

00:47:36Melissa Erbacher: Breath escapes my mouth as I wait for the sun to break and my fellow runners to arrive.

00:47:43Scott Trickett: Sound comes from behind me as cars pull into the small car park and one person after another spill out.

00:47:52Melissa Erbacher: Cold seeps through my clothes as I jiggle on the spot waiting, with camera in hand to catch the moment.

00:47:59Scott Trickett: Friends from near and far call out to me as they tumble into the park, also waiting in anticipation for the start.

00:48:09Melissa Erbacher: Ah, my thing doesn't scroll down that far. It's a very long poem. It's my turn, but it won't let me get through. There's only, I don't know, light. That must be it. That must be the whole of the rest of it. Light breaks over the horizon as I look for a way to capture the sun, the mist and the beach.

00:48:30Scott Trickett: Ooh, wowee, that was fancy.

00:48:33Melissa Erbacher: It was. Apologies for the little intermission there as I struggled with the scroll button. Not a rhymey poem for you this week, Scotty, but I think you did quite well.

00:48:43Scott Trickett: I tried. I tried because I knew people would be comparing because we were sharing, so I tried. I tried my best. I put my poem's own voice on for that one. It's a nice one. Thanks again, Caroline. Now let's get to roving reports because we've got three, three batches. First, we're going to catch up with Toc, who went down to Phillip Island and found a familiar voice to listeners. Dave Moss has left us, Mel, and he's left you in particular, Mel.

Channel 5 News Crew

00:49:13Melissa Erbacher: I'm not going to say I feel deserted. However, it's fantastic to have Dave. Dave has gone to the next level in the Channel 5 News crew. He has become our foreign correspondent. And the first week he's coming to us from Hampstead Heath in the UK. Which is great.

00:49:32Scott Trickett: So he's going to be over there for a while, yeah?

00:49:35Melissa Erbacher: He is, yes. So I expect we'll get a lot more reports from the UK and any little adventures he happens to have around Europe while he's over that way.

00:49:44Scott Trickett: Great, great. And we're going to finish up with Em Nicholson, who had the lucky honour of heading to Doomadgee parkrun last week, and she got a couple of interviews. So take it away, Toc.

00:49:56Tony O'Connell: Hi guys, it's Toc reporting in for the Channel 5 News crew down at the lovely Phillip Island. I've got a bit of a guest with me here. She's just set the course record, but I guess before she introduces herself, I think we just need to put a language warning up given the last podcast. If you'd like to introduce yourself and tell us what you thought of Phillip Island course.

00:50:19Hannah Oldroyd: Morning everyone, I'm Hannah Oldroyd and Phillip Island is absolutely stunning. I guess the day helps because it's absolutely bright sunshine, but yeah, come visit.

00:50:29Tony O'Connell: It's a gorgeous day and the course, that out and back course is beautiful around. You get to look out over the bay for the whole way, except if you're running a course record time and knocking about a minute off the course record here. Well done.

00:50:40Hannah Oldroyd: Thank you.

00:50:41Tony O'Connell: No worries. All right, we'll call it quits there and thanks for coming down to Phillip Island. Good luck at Run Melbourne tomorrow. Of

00:50:47David Moss: Thank you. Cheers. Hello, we've just completed the Hampstead Heath parkrun, and I'm with two of the directors and event director, and your names are?

00:50:57Andy: Andy. Michelle.

00:50:59David Moss: Okay, and Michelle, you were doing the directing today. How did you get into parkrun?

00:51:04Michelle: I was first introduced to parkrun by some friends who used to run the Bushy parkrun, which was the original. Then when I moved to North London, I found Hampstead Heath parkrun, and I've been coming here ever since.

00:51:21David Moss: Today was your first, if I believe, as Run Director.

00:51:25Michelle: That's right, yes. I've been doing it a few years, so I thought I'd take the plunge and join the Run Directors. other one directors as a volunteer.

00:51:36David Moss: And how did you feel?

00:51:37Michelle: It was good, really good fun and mainly because I know you've got to know quite a few people here and so everyone was really supportive and helpful. Had a really fab bunch of volunteers today so it went pretty well.

00:51:48David Moss: You seem to have quite a few volunteers actually.

00:51:50Michelle: Yes we do have quite a few volunteers yeah I think we're a fairly close-knit bunch or certainly there's a crowd of us who are and so I think yeah everyone's happy to help.

00:52:00David Moss: And how would you both describe the course?

00:52:03Andy: Very hilly, very pretty, but probably the toughest one in London.

00:52:08David Moss: Yes, I didn't realise London had so many hills.

00:52:11Michelle: Yes, they are a hidden beauty. A benefit is there are some good views from some of the top of the hills of the London skyline in the distance.

00:52:20David Moss: Okay, I may have missed those today. I think I was huffing and puffing too much and just looking at the ground.

00:52:26Michelle: Yeah, I think you can see a bit of London in the distance from the top of Parliament Hill.

00:52:30Andy: Yeah, our course doesn't quite go all the way up to the viewpoint, but it's not very far from our course.

00:52:38David Moss: And I noticed a few people went off for a swim straight after.

00:52:41Andy: Yes, I don't swim, but Michelle does, and she seems to love it.

00:52:45Michelle: There are a few ponds in Hampstead Heath, so yes, a lot of the parkrunners go and take a dip after they've completed their run, just to cool off.

00:52:53David Moss: And we should add, today was a rather warm day. I gather last week was even warmer. It's a decent summer.

00:53:01Michelle: Yeah, very decent summer so far. Not typical, but it's been great.

00:53:05David Moss: And how many runners do you normally get?

00:53:07Andy: At the moment we're averaging about 380. Every year we seem to be getting a lot more runners turning up, which is great. But yeah, we have definitely grown a lot since Michelle and I started here, which was in 2013.

00:53:24David Moss: There were a lot of visitors today, or to me it seemed like a lot of visitors. Where did they all come from?

00:53:31Andy: I think we get people from all over the world, really. We get people from different parts of the UK, different parts of London sometimes, especially if nearby events are cancelled for some reason. But yeah, it's people coming from anywhere because Hampstead Heath is very, very pretty and it's a very good place to do a lot of activities. And I'm sure there's something to suit anyone. So people tend to find that Hampstead Heath parkrun is quite popular because... They can do other things after that.

00:54:00David Moss: Andy, I did mention this. How did you end up being event director?

00:54:03Andy: I think I may have got tricked into it. No, no, no. I enjoy organizing things. And Damien wanted a bit of help while he was training for the comrades. So we thought, why not? I was like, I will do it if I have some help from someone because I'm not doing it by myself. So Damien and I do it together. We split the work.

00:54:26David Moss: Okay, thank you very much.

Roving Adventurers (roving reporter crossovers)

00:54:28Em Nicholson: So we've got Trenton and Will with us here. They've just come down to the Doomadgee parkrun launch. G'day, how's it going today?

00:54:37Will: Yeah, good thanks.

00:54:38Em Nicholson: So tell us a little bit about your running or what it's like down here. What brought you out here this morning?

00:54:45Will: PCYC really brought us down here. I started working with PCYC at the end of last year and Basically, they started the Deadly Runners, and they took us down to Brisbane. We took some kids down to Brisbane, and Trenton was there as well to help out, to help with the kids. They took us on our first parkrun, which was at 7 o'clock in the morning. It really took it out of us, but it was really good. A bit of an early start. We completed it, yeah.

00:55:17Em Nicholson: Which parkrun did you do?

00:55:18Will: I forgot what it was, but it was down in Gold Coast.

00:55:23Em Nicholson: Oh, was that the one Mel took you to, Mudgeeraba?

00:55:25Will: Yeah, that one.

00:55:29Em Nicholson: So it's a 7am start at Madjrabah. What time did we start this morning?

00:55:34Will: 9 o'clock. It's different coming here. I didn't really finish this one because the heat is just not that good.

00:55:41Em Nicholson: And it's only winter at the moment. How hot does it get up here in summer?

00:55:45Will: 40, about 40, 41, 42. Maybe more, yeah, yep.

00:55:49Em Nicholson: So it'll be more of a park walk than a parkrun those days?

00:55:52Will: Park crawler, I reckon.

00:55:55Em Nicholson: And you came down to the Gold Coast too, Trenton?

00:55:57Trenton: Yeah. Mel would come and she got me in some mountains, so I enjoyed it, running, so I'm excited running in this one at home.

00:56:07Em Nicholson: And what are the plans for future running goals? Where would you like to see yourself?

00:56:12Trenton: I'd like to improve the scores that I get when I come.

00:56:17Will: Hopefully you get to do it every weekend, every Saturday. Just train up for it so I can complete it.

00:56:22Em Nicholson: And the thing about parkrun is it's not a race. It's all about beating your previous best and doing your PB.

00:56:29Will: It's all about doing your best and beating your own personal best.

00:56:33Em Nicholson: And we have the Morton family that joined us today at the Doomadgee parkrun launch. Tell us a little bit about how you came to be here at Doomadgee today.

00:56:44guest: Yeah so we were camping down at Lawn Hill Gorge and had a look at the parkrun website for events between where we were and Darwin just to try and help us plan out our trip and there was a dot out by itself which happened to be pretty close to where we were, well only a couple of hours drive so we managed to time our trip to come through this morning and be involved with the launch here in Doomadgee.

00:57:08Em Nicholson: And what did you think about the event? It was great. Yeah.

00:57:12Penny Redhead: Everyone high-fived, which is cool.

00:57:14Em Nicholson: Lots of high-fives. Lots of smiles out on the course. Yeah. So we had a lot of first-time parkrunners today who've never even heard of parkrun. So I think having some tourists here to show them how much we enjoy it, that sort of thing, was a really good idea. Where is your home parkrun? Timboon. Southwest Victoria. Oh, okay.

00:57:33guest: You haven't heard of Timboon? No, no.

00:57:36Em Nicholson: It's in the Queensland. Victoria's a bit out of my geographical knowledge. So how many different parkruns have you guys done now?

00:57:47guest: We've done Timboon, Warrnambool, Bundaberg, Poncari and here.

00:57:54Em Nicholson: Yeah. So haven't been to Curie yet?

00:57:55guest: Oh, Diamond Creek as well.

00:57:58Em Nicholson: Oh yeah, Diamond Creek.

00:57:59guest: Yeah, so mostly in Victoria and mostly like visiting family or something like that.

00:58:03Em Nicholson: So compared to the ones that you've already done, how does Doomadgee rate as a different sort of course?

00:58:09Sarah: It's a lot hotter and a lot sandier. It's pretty sandy. Yeah, but it was fun.

00:58:18Em Nicholson: Thanks very much for your time. And we've got Sarah and Shanley here. Shanley and Sarah teach together at the Doomadgee Primary School. Shanley did her first parkrun this morning and Sarah's done 15. What do you think parkrun has the potential to do for the kids in the town?

00:58:36Shanley: I think it's really great getting the kids and community together. They've never really done that before.

00:58:44Sarah: I think they really enjoyed doing Deadly Runners with teachers and adults around so hopefully and there's been a fair few kids rolling a bit later today so hopefully next week we can have a few more with their new shoes and yeah they'll get out and raise the heartbeat and that's what it's all about and have a bit of fun of course.

00:59:01Em Nicholson: How long have you been in town for teaching here at Doomadgee?

00:59:05Sarah: Yeah so I came in at the start of this year so I've just done six months and hoping to stay for at least two years

00:59:12Shanley: I've been here since late last year. I just recently moved back to Doji. I'm originally from here but I've been living down in the tablelands nearly my whole school years.

00:59:28Em Nicholson: I know that when a parkrun first starts up that it really does need the support of the community to continue. Do you think the ongoing parkrun is something that the community will support?

00:59:44Sarah: Yeah, I think so. It's going to be a little bit difficult as it gets hotter. Even my participation, I might end up to volunteer when it's too hot. But no, there's high levels of energy in community and it's just about... putting those feelers out and, yeah, reaching the right people and it's all achievable. Yeah, and especially I'm really lucky with Shenley and so we'll go back into class and show our kids pictures and I'm sure we'll be able to get a few more of our kids here next week. Yeah. Oh, that's brilliant.

01:00:13Em Nicholson: I look forward to seeing those pictures as well. Hopefully. Thanks very much for your time.

01:00:17Scott Trickett: Thanks, crew. We travelled the country and the globe this week. Interesting point about Hannah. Hannah was back. She must be appearing on every parkrun podcast every week these days. She's getting a mention. But you mentioned something to me, Mel, that she's got the most first finishes in the world. Most female first finishes or just most in the world in general?

01:00:41Melissa Erbacher: Definitely most female first finishes. I'm not sure, actually, if she's got more than the boys.

01:00:47Scott Trickett: Let's give it, let's say she has. Let's just do it.

01:00:51Melissa Erbacher: Okay.

01:00:52Scott Trickett: It's a good excuse to get Ian back on the podcast. We haven't had facts in a haystack for a long time. So there's something for Ian to put on his list. But well done, Hannah. She's fast and she ran. Tok mentioned she ran Melbourne on the weekend and won it.

01:01:06Melissa Erbacher: Very nice. Very nice.

01:01:09Scott Trickett: And yay Doomadgee as well.

01:01:11Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, Doomadgee. And you know what, Dave Moss also, he sent me some extra notes as well after his audio and he recommends that anyone who goes to visit Hampstead Heath sticks around for an extra five hours to enjoy breakfast, have a swim, maybe wander around in the park, visit Kenwood House and maybe pop into a pub as well. Little known fact, or maybe it's not little known, Hampstead Heath was actually used in part of the filming for Notting Hill. Did you know that, Scotty?

01:01:43Scott Trickett: No, I didn't. No, no.

01:01:45Melissa Erbacher: Well, there you go.

01:01:46Scott Trickett: There you go.

01:01:47Melissa Erbacher: Some fun facts coming out this week.

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

01:01:49Scott Trickett: We have one launch.

01:01:50Melissa Erbacher: Speaking of funness.

01:01:51Scott Trickett: Yep. We have one launch in Australia this week, and it's going to be a beauty because it's in South Australia. It's been a long time coming. I'm going to have a go at pronouncing it. Packer-Picanthi parkrun is launching. How'd I go? Pretty good, eh? Been practicing all week. Yep.

01:02:10Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, we heard about Packer-Picanthi from PK, who was at the trial a few weeks ago. I hope it goes well. I'm sure it will. We've got a bunch of anniversaries as well. We have Blackbutt in New South Wales.

01:02:22Scott Trickett: Chelsea Bicentennial in Victoria.

01:02:25Melissa Erbacher: Claisebrook Cove in WA.

01:02:27Scott Trickett: And Victor Harbor in South Australia.

parkrun adventure challenge (listener challenge)

01:02:30Melissa Erbacher: Fun for everyone with anniversaries, but you know what else it's time for, Scotty?

01:02:35Scott Trickett: I fear this because we're recording on Wednesday, August 1st.

01:02:40Melissa Erbacher: It means that it's time to pick up the challenge of the Freedom Run Challenge. that we mentioned in July. One of the podcasts, I can't remember which number. But we said that once we get to August, we're going to do Freedom Runs.

01:02:55Scott Trickett: Once a week. So this is an easy challenge. Streaky September's coming. This is a nice little lead-in. What we're going to do, one Freedom Run a week for the month of August. I already started. So I went out to Diamond Creek last week. And did a little freedom run there just to sort of get me back into the mood. It was my closest, so it was easiest.

01:03:18Melissa Erbacher: You know, I'll have to be honest. I haven't thought about this. And I did say at the time that I was not going to get caught up and sucked into your challenge. However, now I'm kind of thinking maybe, maybe I will. It's a pretty easy one, Mel. Or at least I'll start for the first week because guess what? I am heading down your way overnight tomorrow. Well, when I say down your way, Melbourne. So I think maybe I might sneak in a Freedom Run down there somewhere. Where would you recommend?

01:03:47Scott Trickett: Where are you going to be staying? In the city?

01:03:49Melissa Erbacher: I'm going to be staying at St Kilda, I think. I'll have to double check.

01:03:54Scott Trickett: Your options are limited.

01:03:55Melissa Erbacher: Okay. Well, they're only limited in so much as I can travel, you know. Well, if you can travel. I'm perfectly capable of catching trains and trams, et cetera.

01:04:05Scott Trickett: There's a good one out in Templestat. It's called Westerfolds. That's a good one.

01:04:10Melissa Erbacher: I've been there, done that. That's probably a little bit further than I want to travel, unless somebody wants to give me a lift.

01:04:15Scott Trickett: No, I'm busy.

01:04:18Melissa Erbacher: Well, we have more than listeners than just you, Scotty. Okay.

01:04:24Scott Trickett: Chances are they're probably going to be right. Sorry.

01:04:27Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, I think you're a bit overdue for that one there, Scotty.

01:04:31Scott Trickett: Yeah, the timer turned off. So, shit, I hope you come back next week. I tell you, you're closest to Albert Park, but there's plenty. There's plenty if you haven't done it. Head down to Chelsea Bicentennial. That's along the bay. It's only about a 30-minute drive from St Kilda. Nice flat out-and-back course. Okay. Head to Parkville. Catch the tram up to Parkville. That's also nice and flat.

01:04:57Melissa Erbacher: Well, I'll see what I can do. I will get out the tourist tool to see where my closest 5Ks are and try to map out the travel. I think public transport's okay down your way, isn't it?

01:05:09Scott Trickett: Yeah, it's pretty good. Pretty good. I wouldn't know. I'd never catch it. But people tell me it's great.

01:05:15Melissa Erbacher: Well, I will be able to confirm or deny that. in the next couple of days.

01:05:18Scott Trickett: Great. So we want our listeners to join in on this challenge too. I'm not sure how we're going to monitor it, but just do it, people. It'll be fun.

01:05:26Melissa Erbacher: Well, take photos. Hashtag us on Strava. Share your runs on Strava, your freedom runs. Call them freedom runs and share them in the club. And hashtag parkrunadventures on Instagram. Take some selfies. Do it on Twitter. You know, let's get it happening on the social media so we know that you're doing your freedom runs out there. Yeah.

01:05:46Scott Trickett: And it can be local. It can be a home parkrun. And you can do it over and over again. But just they're the rules.

01:05:52Melissa Erbacher: And you know what? Should we invite some audio, Scotty, if people want to give us the rundown on their Freedom Run?

01:05:58Scott Trickett: Well, that's kind of how it started, wasn't it? It was the highlights episode. They used to give us reviews. Yeah, it was the highlights episode, Mel, when we went back and we had to listen to the reverse Freedom Runs. So, yeah, that's a good idea. Share your audio.

01:06:10Melissa Erbacher: Some reviews. In which case, you can email your audio to parkrunadventurers at gmail.com.

01:06:16Scott Trickett: With some poems about Freedom Runs.

01:06:21Melissa Erbacher: Well, now you might be asking a lot, Scotty.

01:06:25Scott Trickett: True. Mel, let's wrap this up this week. It's been another long one, and I know you've got a plane to catch again heading down to wonderful Melbourne. So thanks for joining me. Thanks for joining me. You've been hilarious this week. I'm not just saying that. And I really look forward to hearing from you twice next week.

01:06:46Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, a little bit nervous about the second edition, but we'll see how we go. Hopefully I don't let the team down. Don't worry.

01:06:53Scott Trickett: It'll be the same as we've done for 121 episodes. Don't be nervous about that.

01:06:59Melissa Erbacher: It's not all about you, Scotty, or your podcast.

01:07:04Scott Trickett: There you go again.