Episode 145 - Singleton parkrun

Welcome

00:00:19Scott Trickett: Hey, Mel.

00:00:21Melissa Erbacher: Hey, Scotty.

00:00:22Scott Trickett: Did you watch Stranger Things?

00:00:25Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, the first two seasons I've watched. I'm waiting for the third season to be released.

00:00:30Scott Trickett: Did you like it?

00:00:31Melissa Erbacher: I watched both the first two seasons and I'm waiting for the third season to be released. So, yes, that's a good indication. The second season was a bit, the first one was better.

00:00:44Scott Trickett: Yeah, I reckon we need to pump the brakes on the whole. Like, it was good, but I reckon the best thing about it was the opening montage.

00:00:51Melissa Erbacher: Because of the music?

00:00:53Scott Trickett: Well, funny you should say that. No, but, you know, when I make parkrun the movie, you know what I'm looking forward to the most? Not the interviews and using the excuse to film at all these different events.

00:01:07Melissa Erbacher: The soundtrack.

00:01:09Scott Trickett: No, I'm looking forward to making a great opening sequence.

00:01:13Melissa Erbacher: Ah, for our Netflix original parkrun movie. Yeah. Okay. And where are you going to get the footage for this opening sequence from?

00:01:25Scott Trickett: Well, I'm going to travel around the world. I'm going to take a sabbatical. Once parkrun Australia is just humming along and we've got so much time on our hands to send me off for a few months to capture footage and create and make parkrun the movie, when that happens… I'm going to visit all different parkruns around the world. I'm going to recreate parkruns on like a Tuesday or a Wednesday, invite everyone down.

00:01:50Melissa Erbacher: Awesome. So shots from every country, I'm assuming, at least.

00:01:55Scott Trickett: Yeah, it has to be. It can't be parkrun the movie just shot in Australia. It's not like they're doing that with the Hollywood movies now. They're all made on the Gold Coast, apparently.

00:02:05Melissa Erbacher: Are they?

00:02:06Scott Trickett: Apparently, yeah. They must have a big green screen there or something. Anyway, welcome to episode, God, what are we up to? 145 of the parkrun adventurers. My name's Scott.

00:02:20Melissa Erbacher: My name's Mel.

00:02:21Scott Trickett: And we're here to tackle the big issues of parkrun in Australia this week. The biggest issue is where did Mel go on the weekend?

00:02:31Melissa Erbacher: Well, I'm not sure that's the biggest issue, but I will indulge. I was at Wishart parkrun on the weekend, which is one of the few events left in Brisbane that I hadn't completed. Okay. We decided it was time to get up a little bit early and make the trek down that way. We've already spoken to the ED at Wishart, Adrian Royce, who I did see there. He was out on the course going some kind of blistering pace. I called out to him twice, but apparently everybody calls out to him. So he didn't necessarily recognise me. He was probably too busy focusing on his time. However, I did send him salutations on the course. I know he listens to the pod, possibly still. So howdy, Adrian. I'm sorry I didn't catch you after the event.

00:03:28Scott Trickett: He is a bit of an adventurer from memory. We've had him on before.

00:03:31Melissa Erbacher: He is. He's chasing down statesmanship in Queensland.

00:03:34Scott Trickett: Is he? He is. What was he doing at home then? He's not going to do it running at home every week.

00:03:39Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, well, Queensland's a bit of a big state, Scotty. A lot of our events are quite far away. I think if you want to be a statesperson in Queensland, it's a harder gig to do than it is in Victoria, for example, because A, we have more events than you guys. B... If you live on one sort of end of the state, getting to the other ones, the most remote ones in the same state in Queensland, very difficult.

00:04:10Scott Trickett: Yeah, big challenge.

00:04:11Melissa Erbacher: Yeah.

00:04:12Scott Trickett: Getting back to Brisbane though, is there a club? I'm sure there is a club for Brisbane parkruns, unofficial.

00:04:18Melissa Erbacher: I don't know. For me, it's just knocking off the ones that are sort of close but not so close. I'm keeping my NENDYs, my much closer NENDYs, for a rainy day in a few months time but I'm knocking off the brizzy ones and after brizzy I'm coming for you Gold Coast so but Wishart apart from being a beautiful course and very friendly people and I had a great run um Didn't do anything for my other adventurous needs, you know. It was event number 231. So, checking my Wilson Index, I actually already had 231. Like, seriously? What are the odds that I would already have event number 231? I've run at 157 odd events. One, you know, now I've run at event number 231 twice. So, that was a bit useless. I should have timed it a little bit better. I also didn't get a bingo number. I've still got three bingo numbers to get and I did not bag one of those this week, although I did over the festive season grab a couple, which was great. But it did, you know what it did do, Scotty? It took my total to... Oh, I've got total to 22. That's wrong. It took my total to 72 on what I've just realised is the me list, the M.E. Mel Erbacher slash most events list. Streaking ahead of a certain co-host of a certain podcast.

00:06:05Scott Trickett: Okay. Are we putting this back on the agenda?

00:06:10Melissa Erbacher: It's never been off the agenda, Scotty.

00:06:12Scott Trickett: I think we did call a truce at the end of 2017, didn't we? We had a competition. Who was going to get to a certain amount first?

00:06:21Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, who was going to get to 50 first? But that's not where it ended.

00:06:24Scott Trickett: Okay, it's back on. It's on, Mum. But if we are – none of this is Australia business. If we are looking at the most events list, and Danny mentioned it in his podcast, and I know you've been catching up, so you know what I'm talking about. Don't look at the Australian list. We're global, so we need to include all our global events as well. So who's in front now?

00:06:48Melissa Erbacher: Well, see, this is the thing. Now you've changed your tune to suit the stats because previously – We've had conversations about this off air and previously you've gone, no, no, we only count Australia. We only count Australia.

00:07:02Scott Trickett: We need to mix it up. If we're going to reignite this battle, we need to change it a little bit and let's make it global.

00:07:09Melissa Erbacher: All right. Well, let me just double check in that case because it's got to be close.

00:07:14Scott Trickett: I forgot. Yeah, you went overseas last year. I forgot about that.

00:07:19Melissa Erbacher: I've got to scroll down the list a little bit further to find you. Hold on. Hold on. Still scrolling. Still scrolling. So I am on 100. No, no, that's not right. So I would be technically on 74. And then, Scotty, you would be on 73.

00:07:42Scott Trickett: Oh, there you go. See, it's already more interesting.

00:07:45Melissa Erbacher: Because you just made up three positions.

00:07:50Scott Trickett: Yes. Great. It's on.

00:07:52Melissa Erbacher: Oh, okay. Now the competition is hot. Far out. I was getting a nice comfortable lead on you there. Thanks, Danny Norman. Thanks a lot.

00:08:03Scott Trickett: Hey, well. Well, I didn't make any ground this week because – have you finished your Wishart wrap-up?

00:08:09Kirrilee Robinson: Yes.

00:08:11Scott Trickett: Star review? What are we giving it? Can we start a rating system? That will annoy a lot of people. Let me guess. You're giving it five out of five. No, don't go there.

00:08:26Melissa Erbacher: I had a great morning. It was a beautiful – and Wes gives the park afterwards five out of five. Maybe that's what I'll do. I'll just let Wes's ratings of the parks speak for themselves.

00:08:37Scott Trickett: Good, good. The Wes rating.

00:08:40Melissa Erbacher: Tell you what, though, the bagel afterwards was excellent.

00:08:44Scott Trickett: A bagel?

00:08:45Melissa Erbacher: Yes.

00:08:45Scott Trickett: That's a bit fancy.

00:08:46Melissa Erbacher: I know, but you know, sometimes I just don't want eggs for breakfast. Sometimes I just don't want like the whole big cooked shebang. I just want something a bit smaller and more digestible, easier to eat in the car. Bagel hit all the right spots. Where were you? What did you do? What were you up to?

00:09:08Scott Trickett: I was back at home. It's been a long time since we're back at home and weren't really motivated to go anywhere. So sometimes we just wanted to keep it local and catch up with our mates. So Westerfolds has been around for over five years. So we've got people hitting 250 milestones and that happened at Westerfolds on the weekend. But, yeah, great morning at Westerfolds. Lots of people to chat to. It's a big event now, Mel. I mean, we've pumped a lot of people into parkrun in 2019. And Westerfolds has enjoyed a little bit of a bump.

00:09:43Melissa Erbacher: Awesome.

00:09:43Scott Trickett: In attendance. Which is good, but it does push the numbers up to like 250, 260. And it's a long way from that comfortable zone that we've talked about, like 120, 150. It's big event sort of status, busy at the start and busy at the finish, which is good.

00:10:04Melissa Erbacher: Awesome. Well, I mean, it's also given you a lot more opportunities to meet more people.

00:10:09Scott Trickett: This is true. This is true. And hello to Stephen, who came up and said hello to me, listener from the podcast.

00:10:17Melissa Erbacher: Listener of the podcast.

00:10:18Scott Trickett: Listener of, yes. Listener to. He listens to the podcast as well.

00:10:23Melissa Erbacher: Excellent.

Meet the ED

Interview Kirrilee Robinson — Event Director, Singleton parkrun (NSW)

00:10:31Scott Trickett: In 2018, they disappeared, but we wanted to bring them back for 2019. So for the first time this year, we're going to catch up with one of our lovely Event Directors. And welcome to the podcast, Kirrilee Robinson from Singleton parkrun. Hi, how's it going? I'm great. I'm great. Now, Kirrilee, I'll admit it. I don't know a lot about Singleton parkrun. It's not near me. So you're coming on the pod to fill us in, let us know what Singleton parkrun's all about.

00:11:01Kirrilee Robinson: Sure, and get you all excited about coming to visit our little parkrun, hopefully.

00:11:06Scott Trickett: Absolutely. What I do know is it's in the region. Are you in the region of runners? Do you classify yourself as part of that mob?

00:11:13Kirrilee Robinson: Yes, we are, yes.

00:11:15Scott Trickett: Okay, so you're in that area. Tell us about Singleton parkrun, the course and where it is and all that sort of stuff.

00:11:21Kirrilee Robinson: Yeah, so we're probably about an hour from Newcastle. We're half an hour from Maitland. Our course is an out-and-back course, so it's a bit of a mix. We've got some concrete paths and a bit of grass, a bit of dirt, a few little hills in there, although I wouldn't call them hills. They're probably just little rises. It depends on how used to hills you are. We run along the beautiful river, which is lovely. The big plan for the kids for afterwards in the park. We've got probably average around 75 parkrunners a week. It sort of varies depending on the weather, I guess. And we get a really good range of participants. We've got a lot of young kids that come along. We've also got a lot of older people that come along too. So we've sort of got a bit of everything, all ages, all fitness levels. So it's a really great atmosphere, great community that we've got there.

00:12:17Melissa Erbacher: 75 participants a week is an awesome number because it's just the right amount, I think, for getting to know everybody's names. And, you know, that's where the community really, really gets built, isn't it, Kirrilee?

00:12:31Kirrilee Robinson: Yeah, definitely. Yeah, it is a really good number. You haven't got sort of too many that it's overwhelming. You know, as I said, sometimes in winter, it might drop down to sort of 50 odd. At the moment, we're probably around the 80, 90, 100. But yeah, you've got those regulars that come along every week. But then you've also got those first timers that you've got time to have a chat to as well, with it being, you know, that good number of participants.

00:12:54Melissa Erbacher: And among your regulars, do you have any, you know, real characters that make Singleton parkrun what it is?

00:13:01Kirrilee Robinson: Probably our most inspiring local parkrunner is a gentleman who comes along every week. He's in his late 70s, always been a runner all his life. He started having some health problems probably 12 to 18 months ago and required a bit of assistance from his parkrun community. And he was really close to his 100th parkrun at the time and was determined to get there. So as a community, we sort of did everything we could to help him reach that goal, you know, made sure we had someone with him when he was running and walking. So it was quite a huge thing when he finally got to that goal. When he wasn't feeling well, he'd always come along and volunteer as a Marshal for us. And, yeah, we finally did his 100th parkrun. It was huge. We all lined up and everyone was cheering and there was actually a bit of a spot in the local paper about it as well, which was great. So, yeah, he's now on about 133 parkruns. So he's got no health problems and he's doing great. But he's probably the one person that anyone that comes to Singleton parkrun regularly would recognise him there. He's great.

00:14:11Scott Trickett: What about you, Kirrilee? I'm sure plenty of people recognise you. How did you get involved in parkrun?

00:14:16Kirrilee Robinson: Well, I got involved... Probably about my first parkrun I went to was in September 2014. So when Singleton parkrun was first starting up, which was August 2014, I had a friend that told me about it and I'd never heard about it before. It was a very unfit time. I was not a runner and I thought there is no way I'm going to parkrun, which I think a lot of people probably think when they first hear about parkrun. I eventually went along in September, was just walking at first and then eventually I was sort of walking and running. had volunteered a couple of times. And then in 2015, when our Event Director at the time, Courtney Robertson, fell pregnant, she put a call out for more Run Directors to train. Again, wasn't keen to do it, but the same friend that dragged me along to start with convinced me to train with her to be a Run Director. And it all sort of started from there. And now here I am, the Event Director. So... And I couldn't imagine not being involved now.

00:15:17Melissa Erbacher: It's one of those kinds of things that really sucks you in, isn't it, parkrun?

00:15:22Kirrilee Robinson: It is, definitely. It just becomes, I guess, a way of life. It's a bit addictive. You've got to get all those parkrun clubs and you've got to get your milestones. And it's something I couldn't imagine being without.

00:15:32Melissa Erbacher: So launching in August 2014 means you guys are approaching your green milestone this year, come August. Yes. Probably knock off your 250th event. Have you got anything planned for that?

00:15:45Kirrilee Robinson: We haven't sort of thought about it as yet. It's still a little while away, but I'm sure there'll be lots of cake. We usually try and do a dress-up for our birthday, so we'll have to try and get a theme going for a dress-up. And most of our parkrunners love the dress-up. We always have some really good people come along with their costumes on and ready to celebrate, so it'll be great.

00:16:06Scott Trickett: Do you get a chance to tourist to other events, Kirrilee? Have you sampled any of the other events in the region of runners, for example?

00:16:14Kirrilee Robinson: Recently I'd only done two, Singleton and Armadale, but in December I did Nulkaba parkrun, which is in our region, and then for New Year's Day I did the double at Lake Mac and the Beaches. So they were both great. The Beaches was tough, really tough. I only walked that one. Lake Mac was absolutely beautiful on the lake there. I mean, the same with Beaches, you're on the beach and it's beautiful. So, yeah, so I've done, including Singleton, I've done five. My goal this year, though, is to get to 20 different parkruns, so that's my parkrun goal for the year.

00:16:48Melissa Erbacher: Now, Kirrilee, we're adventurers. We love to have some parkrun adventures, but outside of that as well, we love to explore the local neighbourhoods that we're visiting. What else is there to do in Singleton if we come for a visit?

00:17:02Kirrilee Robinson: Well, I suppose Singleton is... Their main economy is based around the coal mines and probably the army base. So we do have the Infantry Museum, which is only about 15 minutes away at the army base. Of course, probably the biggest attraction in Singleton that we will claim is the largest sundial in the southern hemisphere. And it is actually located at Rose Point Park where we hold our parkrun. So you're going to run straight past that while you're doing parkrun. We have markets in Town Head Park on the second Sunday of every month. We're only about 30 minutes to all the wineries and Hunter Valley Zoo and also less than an hour to Newcastle. So we're kind of placed really well to be out in the country but also really close to everything as well if you're visiting us. Another thing we do have nearby is Lake St Clair. So that's a 14-minute drive and Lake St Clair is great for camping, boating, fishing, all that sort of stuff. So you can always come and camp out at Lake St Clair and then come and sit in the wooden parkfront.

00:17:57Melissa Erbacher: Awesome. The largest sundial in the Southern Hemisphere. What kind of size are we talking, like, you know, flying saucer kind of size?

00:18:06Kirrilee Robinson: Oh, yeah, not quite that big. I think initially it was the largest in the world and then someone beat us in the hemisphere. So now we're just the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. But I guess it's probably maybe 10, 15 metres tall. I'm just sort of guessing here. I don't have the stats with me, but... Yeah, it's pretty big.

00:18:26Melissa Erbacher: Does your Timekeeper stand over there and just like wait for the shadows to move to 8am or are you a 7am start?

00:18:33Kirrilee Robinson: We're an 8am start, yeah. No, I don't know whether anyone can actually read that sundial to be quite honest. It's just a bit of a, there it is. Yeah.

00:18:42Melissa Erbacher: It's for large and decorative purposes.

00:18:44Kirrilee Robinson: That's right. Exactly right.

00:18:47Melissa Erbacher: Excellent. Kirrilee, thank you for joining us on the podcast this week. It's wonderful to have an Event Director back in the saddle on the microphone or the virtual, what do you call it, couch, the virtual podcast couch. We really appreciate you taking the time to speak to us and telling us all about your parkrun at Singleton.

00:19:09Kirrilee Robinson: No worries. Thanks for asking me. It's been great.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Mark Scarborough — Goulburn parkrun

00:19:20Mark Scarborough: Hello parkrun adventurers, this is Mark and today I've driven an hour out of Canberra up the road, the Upper Hume Highway to Goulburn which is the first inland city in Australia for all the fact finders out there and if you are somebody who is also a parkrun adventurer and also chasing the big things here in Australia, Goulburn is also the home to the big merino. Going off the stats for Goulburn, and we're here for their first birthday today, as of last week they have had on average 102 runners per week with an average run time of 37 minutes and 20 seconds. So far they've had a total of 1,181 runners. And today is my eighth different parkrun event in a row, which is a new record for me. See how long we can get this streak going. And I'm here with a couple of other parkrun adventurers. We've got Shady and Scott from Wollongong. But Shady, you're also not from Australia. You're from Seattle.

00:20:13Shady: I am, yes.

00:20:15Mark Scarborough: And you guys both do a bit of parkrun in the Wollongong area, you're saying?

00:20:19Scott: Yeah. Yeah, there's the main one from Fairy Meadow Surf Beach to North Wollongong Surf Club along through Park and then back. But we also do Shellharbour and Bulli, which are all great runs. And you're saying the Shellharbour was a bit of a part path, part beach? Yeah, Shellharbour, come prepared for that one because you drop down from the top of the hill down and you actually run across the sand on the beach. So it's quite a challenging run and then you've got to climb back up through a forest. So it's quite beautiful but challenging to say the least.

00:20:50Mark Scarborough: And Shady, what brought you to Goulburn today?

00:20:53Shady: I'm here for the Goulburn Blues Festival, and my sister-in-law, who's one of my favourite people in the world, lives here, so I get to see her and listen to some good music, so it's a two-for-one deal.

00:21:02Mark Scarborough: All right, and what did you think of the Goulburn parkrun today?

00:21:06Shady: Oh, my God. I found it. It's absolutely stunning. It's beautiful. But it's been a long time since I've done parkrun. So I was a far cry from my fastest time. Yeah. But it's beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. I loved right along the water. Saw some swans. It was lovely.

00:21:26Scott: And Scott, how about you? Yeah, I really enjoyed it. Like, we did the first parkrun last year, and it was really hot. So today it was really nice because you've got that breeze coming off along the creek line, so it's really nice. Yeah, and they've extended the bike track, so it's great.

00:21:42Mark Scarborough: Yeah, I was here for the launch last year as well. I'm going to change the start slightly so I don't have the world-famous corkscrew start, but it's there at the finish for a bit of a challenge up the hill at the finish line. So, well, thanks for coming to Goulburn parkrun today and having a chat with us.

00:21:55Shady: Yeah, thanks for talking to us.

00:22:01Mark Scarborough: I'm now with the Event Director, Mick. Good morning, Mick. How are you?

00:22:05Mick: I'm well. How are you?

00:22:06Mark Scarborough: I'm excellent. Happy birthday.

00:22:07Mick: Thanks very much. Yeah, not my birthday, but certainly parkrun's birthday and we're glad to have it. It's great. Yeah.

00:22:13Mark Scarborough: So how's the first year been for Goulburn parkrun?

00:22:15Mick: Yeah, it's been fantastic. There's been a lot of surprises for us as far as all the different things that we didn't expect, all the pleasures of seeing families out walking and running together and mums and dads and kids and kids in strollers and all sorts of stuff. It's been wonderful to see the community grow and people get to know each other that have never met before, which is great. What's been some of the memorable things for you in this year? 40 people here on a cold, windy, blustery, wintry day, wet day. That's probably fairly memorable. 456 people at our launch and many of them have come back today to celebrate our first birthday with us, which has been great. Seeing people step up who have been shy and get to know others and come out of their shell a bit and even step up and do some volunteering and whatever, which has been fantastic as well.

00:23:14Mark Scarborough: That's the parkrun spirit though, isn't it? That participation, involvement and confidence boosting and all that.

00:23:20Mick: Yeah, it is. It's fantastic. Every week we see people walking along together who maybe six months ago didn't even know each other. We get people at the finish line cheering everyone on and like today we've got a fellow there with a cowbell rattling the bell and encouraging people to finish which is just that's what we're trying to accomplish here in Goulburn is just make it as fun and enjoyable and encouraging as possible which so far seems to be working which is great. And what initiated you to start parkrun here in Goulburn in the first place? Well, it was actually my wife. She is an avid runner, loves her running. I used to run a lot when I was younger, but these days I've got back into it now through parkrun. But Ange was just really, really keen to get parkrun up and running in Goulburn. And so she started the process and started looking into it and then sort of said, oh, look, why don't we do this together? So, yeah, so we both got involved. But it was Ange's initiative to begin with, and she did her first run in Bega. about 18 months ago and just absolutely fell in love with the whole concept and the idea and sort of went right. And then when the path here in Goulburn was created by the council, we decided that this was a perfect place for it just along the river and just really inspirational in that really lovely place to run.

00:24:42Mark Scarborough: All right, well done. Congratulations on the first year and many more to come.

00:24:46Mick: Yeah, excellent. Looking forward to it. I'm hoping that we've got about 970 registered Goulburn parkrunners. So in some respects, we don't want all to show up at the same time, but it would be lovely to see more of them coming along. And we're always welcoming visitors too. So thank you very much.

00:25:05Mark Scarborough: Thanks, Mick. So I'm now with Ange, who's the other Event Director here at Goulburn, and Mick was just saying that this was your idea. So what prompted you to start parkrun in Goulburn?

00:25:17Ange: So I went to – I had heard about it. My cousin did it up in Lake Macquarie, and then we went to Bega actually for Mick to play squash, and I did Bega parkrun and spoke to the Event Director's partner out there, and he told me how easy it was to set up, talked me through it, but I still thought it would be way too much for me to do here in Goulburn. And then, funnily enough, the Event Director from Bega got seconded here for work. Yeah. And so with meeting with her, she made me understand that it was actually quite possible to do. So yes, it was a fair setup, but we had amazing event ambassadors ourselves in Gary and Denise Clark. So they were so supportive the whole way along. So with them holding our hand, that made it seem possible.

00:26:01Mark Scarborough: How long did the process take from when you started initiating the idea?

00:26:06Ange: So I think we first touched base with Gary and Denise about August, and then we were up and running by the February of the next year. So it was quite quick, and they were just so full of wisdom and knowledge, because as I said, I'd only done Bega, so I think I had done two parkruns myself before we set it up here. But I knew a lot about it. But because with Goulburn, you know, country towns, It was an hour drive for our closest parkrun, so it makes it a little impossible. So at our launch and the following weeks, the amount of first-timers that were here was incredible because no one had been outside Goulburn to go drive an hour to do it. Some had, but not many.

00:26:45Mark Scarborough: Well, I think it's a real credit to you, though, that, you know, for somebody who hasn't done a lot of parkruns at that point, the culture that you've obviously got here is the parkrun culture. So well done to you both for that.

00:26:54Ange: Thank you. Thank you. And look, again, you know, Gary and Denise really ingrained that culture into us. And that was what it was all about for us was community. We've gotten to know people this year whose names we knew, whose faces we knew. We saw them down the street, but we didn't actually know them. So it's been great to get to actually know a lot more of our Goulburn community. I think it was at our launch, we had an older guy come along and he just said, I walk this path every morning. And now he has the second most PBs out of our whole parkrun community for the year. So he's improved himself every week. And from someone who, I'm not sure of his age, but he used to walk it and now he's running it. And for us, that's what's exciting. It's the community. aspect of it that's just so exciting for us. So, yeah.

00:27:41Mark Scarborough: Fantastic. Happy birthday and looking forward to many years for coming to Goulburn.

00:27:45Ange: Thank you very much, Mark.

00:27:47Mark Scarborough: All right, that's Mark out from Goulburn and we'll talk to you next time on parkrun adventurers.

00:27:53Scott Trickett: It's a good thing most of our listeners are based in New South Wales because it's been all about New South Wales this week, Mel. Catching up with Kirrilee and now Mark was at the Goulburn anniversary and enjoying all the big things in life.

00:28:07Melissa Erbacher: We've got quite a few parkrunners out there that enjoy the big things when they travel around on their adventures. Have you noticed? I've seen many posts in the tourism group. Really? Yeah, yeah. I mean, obviously, you come to the sunny coast and you've got to take in the big pineapple, which is just like an icon. But yes, you know, well, you did it when you were here.

00:28:32Scott Trickett: Yeah, I did. Yeah, I wouldn't, well, icon, one way to describe it.

00:28:36Melissa Erbacher: Oh, look, it is my spirit fruit. You know how people have spirit animals? Pineapples are my spirit fruit. So, I mean, if I was going to live anywhere, where else could I possibly live but within stone's throw at the big pineapple? But, yeah, you know, I've seen pictures of the big shrimp. I've personally visited the big banana when I went down to Coffs. You know, just all the big things. There should be a big thing club.

00:29:04Scott Trickett: I'm sure there will be by the end of this episode. Someone will have come up with it. I've been to the Goulburn parkrun. I went there. I did a Freedom Run there before it even launched. And we drove past the Big Merino.

00:29:16Melissa Erbacher: Did you stop and take photos?

00:29:18Scott Trickett: No. No. I'm not. Not really my thing. Even though I went to the big pineapple. You're not big on the big things.

00:29:25Unidentified speaker: No.

00:29:26Scott Trickett: Not really. Okay.

00:29:28Melissa Erbacher: Each to their own, I guess. Yeah.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:29:31Melissa Erbacher: Speaking of anniversaries, we don't have any launches this week, but we do have a few annies coming up. Lots of them in Queensland and then, you know, almost an equal amount in Victoria.

00:29:44Scott Trickett: Okay, let's roll through a couple of them. Dalby in Queensland, Kirra in Queensland. Now, Plantation, we've got them listed there, but I don't think they're going to be going ahead.

00:29:54Melissa Erbacher: No, chances are they're going to be cancelled, so... Probably that means there's an equal amount of Queensland and Victorian anniversaries. Hoping that all the floodwaters are receding and the cleanup doesn't take too long for all our far north Queensland parkrun friends and family. It's been a bit of a crap time up there.

00:30:15Scott Trickett: But we've got some anniversaries in New... No, not New South Wales. Queen... No. Victoria.

00:30:20Melissa Erbacher: Where do you live, Scotty?

00:30:23Scott Trickett: I did the Queensland's one, but I'm saving one, Mel. I'm saving one. You are. So you do the Vic ones.

00:30:28Melissa Erbacher: All right. So there's Darebin and Rosebud and Wyndham Vale all celebrating their anniversary.

00:30:35Scott Trickett: We're going to get to Rosebud soon, but there's one that we've left there because if you go back to episode one, Mel.

00:30:42Melissa Erbacher: All the way back. Way, way, way 144 episodes ago.

00:30:46Scott Trickett: Very timely when we brought back the ED interview, the very first ED we interviewed was Liv Kuepp, who was launching Sirromet, or had launched. Had she launched?

00:30:56Melissa Erbacher: No, we were talking to her ahead of the launch because, yeah, we recorded in the week leading up to it, I think. Yeah, because she was excited. She had plans.

00:31:05Scott Trickett: The reason I'm talking about it so profusely is because you and I are going to visit there on Saturday if everything goes to plan.

00:31:12Melissa Erbacher: Everything will go to plan. What could happen? Throwing the gauntlet out there to the universe. Don't make things happen. We want to go to Sirromet on Saturday, please.

00:31:24Scott Trickett: We do. And it's their anniversary, so what better occasion to combine parkrun with... A bit of an adventure.

00:31:34Melissa Erbacher: And you'll be on my turf, Scotty.

00:31:37Scott Trickett: Yep.

00:31:38Melissa Erbacher: Now, meanwhile... Yeah.

00:31:40Scott Trickett: Yeah.

00:31:40Melissa Erbacher: When are we going to get to our flashbacks this week, Scotty?

00:31:44Scott Trickett: Right now? Here we go. Take us back, Mel. I mentioned Rosebud. So there's a little hint for you.

00:31:48[music]

Time Travel Flashback

00:31:53Scott Trickett: This week in the time travel flashback segment, we're going back to December 29 and the New Year's Day parkruns.

00:32:02Melissa Erbacher: Back to 2018 and then the very first day of the new year. Where were you, Scotty, on the 29th of the 12th, 2018?

00:32:12Scott Trickett: Not a new event, but still a great morning. I visited Gardiners Creek. I am the event ambassador for that event now. So I'm just... Are you?

00:32:21Melissa Erbacher: I didn't know you were an ambassador for any of the events.

00:32:25Scott Trickett: I am.

00:32:25Melissa Erbacher: Well, there you go. You're a multitasker.

00:32:29Scott Trickett: So Gardiners Creek, it's reasonably local to me, which is handy and great event. But then on – well, where were you? Let's do December 29th. Well – Because I've talked about Gardiners Creek before.

00:32:40Melissa Erbacher: You have, yes. I was still working on my goals for 2018 on the very last weekend, of 2018, the 29th of the 12th, and I got in my 20th different event by the skin of my teeth at Kelvin Grove parkrun, which is another Brizzy event. And ironically, well, no, ironically, it's not really ironic, but in a lovely case of serendipity, the full Queensland Channel 5 News crew was there. And not even – yeah, I know, right? Not even pre-planned. Oh, Lyndell dropped me a message on the Friday night and said, hey, you know, I think I remember you saying you're going to be somewhere in Brisbane tomorrow where you're headed. I might want to work on my P index. And I said, well, Kelvin Grove. And she said, that's perfect. I'll see you there. So that was sort of premeditated. But then who else do we see when we pull up to take a park? But – The wonderful David Moss, just wandering down the street. It's like, well, he must be here for parkrun too, because what are the odds? And he was. And yeah, completely random. If we had realised he was going, he could have got a lift with us. and not having to drive his own car. We could have been the chauffeurs for Dave that week. But, yeah, it was lovely to see them. And there were some other adventurers that were travelling around with them that we had breakfast with afterwards, which was really nice. I had actually picked Kelvin Grove that weekend specifically because I thought it was going to grab me my Wilson Index number 38. Turns out, no. Okay. I was off by a week somehow. I must have looked at it a few weeks earlier and just miscounted the weeks up.

00:34:40Scott Trickett: You're really focused on this, aren't you?

00:34:42Melissa Erbacher: Well, yeah.

00:34:43Scott Trickett: It's become a slight obsession.

00:34:44Melissa Erbacher: You've got to have goals, Scotty.

00:34:47Scott Trickett: You've got to have goals. Getting back to that, you were worried about reaching this goal and you got there. Yeah.

00:34:55Melissa Erbacher: Yes. Well, that was the only one I was able to redeem for the end of the year last year. So, I was happy to get there for that 20 and I'm on track for my 15 this year. I think I'm trying, I'm going out hard at the start of the year to make sure it happens and not leave myself in such a tight spot come November, December this year. So, yeah. Yeah, but what does SWB stand for? I've been writing acronyms in my… Single white… Barcode. Single white barcode. I don't know. It means something which has got something to do with something at… Oh, stopwatch bingo. I got my 46 seconds at stopwatch bingo. And you know what? This is funny because you know how you could technically – try to manipulate the results by slowing down or speeding up when you get to the end you know if you're really accurate with you think starting your your own timing device with the stopwatch person when they say go well this is what I thought I was doing people might look down on me for manipulating the results and and and trying really hard to get a stopwatch bingo but damn it you know I I have lots to still get through or that's what it felt like anyway and And so I was desperately, desperately trying to get 47 seconds. And so I thought I had got it. I got it on my watch. My sister-in-law finished a little bit ahead of me and I literally just sort of walked the last five metres like in slow motion to make it get to that time because I've got about three or four at that stage numbers in like, the tens or early teens end of the 60 seconds, but I only have like one or two right at the very end. And I thought 47, I'm pretty sure 47 seconds is one of them. And so I got what I thought was 47 seconds. No, no, turns out I didn't need 47 seconds. I needed 46, but the stopwatch stopped on 46 anyway. So I got what I needed, even though I was trying, To get a different number. So the universe was on my side, Scotty.

00:37:33Scott Trickett: There you go.

00:37:34Melissa Erbacher: It was conspiring in my favour. Yes, I was very excited.

00:37:41Scott Trickett: Now, did you focus on New Year's Day ticking off any more of these challenges or was New Year's Day just about enjoying two parkruns in one day?

00:37:51Melissa Erbacher: No, I was aiming for some things, but I want to hear about your New Year's Day first.

00:37:58Scott Trickett: Okay, well, New Year's Day. So we're at the age now. We're at the age now where New Year's Eve means absolutely nothing. I think last year we were in Sydney and we were in a hotel and Yvonne and I slept, fell asleep. Kasia stayed up and watched the fireworks. We went off to parkrun. This year, none of us even tried to stay awake. We got up nice and early and drove down to the peninsula down here in Victoria, and we visited Rosebud and Hastings Foreshore. Now, Hastings Foreshore has been around for many years. They were originally called Mornington Peninsula, and they were the second leg of the double, but the first leg was Rosebud, which is a big holiday town. So lots of Melbournians head down there in the summer, camp along the beach, and just do holiday beachy things. And so naturally, there was a big crowd on New Year's Day. Great run, nice and flat, out and back, out and back, lots of turns, lots of people running on boardwalks, but you're running along the beach, which is always lovely. And then jumped across to Hastings Foreshore, which is also, it's like it's on the other side of the peninsula. So we're going from beach to, I don't know, inlet. There's no beach as such. It's sort of... mangroves and swampy bits and can be a bit windy but the thing about both these events great community both these events and these are events that have been born out of each other so a lot of the people that were going to Hastings Foreshore when Rosebud started up that was naturally their closer event so they've just migrated over there and so as a coming together a reunion of old and new parkrunners that knew each other but hadn't seen each other for a long time. So the breakfast in the cafe afterwards was very joyous. And I was very lucky to spend it with our ambassadors down in the area, Nadine and Kieran. It was just lovely. It was just lovely, really. Again, nice community, nice events, hot weather. It was warm. It was warm on New Year's Day, down that way so by the time by the time the second event was finishing up it was it was a little bit uncomfortable in fact by the time the second event was starting it was getting a little bit uncomfortable and and I was running with Kasia at the second event and we just what time did the two events start for you in Victoria I think it was a, geez, I should check this. I think it was a 7 and a 9.30.

00:40:39Melissa Erbacher: Wow, two and a half hours between the two.

00:40:41Scott Trickett: Maybe sort of combination.

00:40:45Melissa Erbacher: That must be completely wrong. Oh, no, no.

00:40:48Scott Trickett: Completely wrong. No, it's completely wrong. I don't know. It was over a month ago. We made it to both and it was hot at both.

00:41:00Melissa Erbacher: But you got a double in. There you go. That's all you need to know. And how did Kasia do? Was that the first time she's ever done both events and a double? No. Oh, okay.

00:41:10Scott Trickett: She's old hat at this. Yeah. Yeah. But still, 10K in one day is a lot. And she ran them both.

00:41:17Melissa Erbacher: That's awesome.

00:41:18Ange: From memory.

00:41:19Scott Trickett: Again, it was a moment.

00:41:21Melissa Erbacher: Well, see, the whole thing that we do with the harps and the flashback is supposed to be like – We were there just this weekend and everything's fresh in my memories.

00:41:34Scott Trickett: So there we go. New Year's Day 2019. Yourself? They were both new events. They were both new events. Which is very important.

00:41:41Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, because... See, this is how I know that it wasn't off the agenda, the whole competition we've got going on, because you were originally going to do two events that you'd already done and run between the two, which I thought was a dumb idea because it's a hot day and why would you run an extra 12 kilometres between two other 5K events? And then when you found out that I was getting two new ones in, you're like, oh, can't let you get that far ahead of me on the most events list. Yeah. Yeah.

00:42:12Scott Trickett: No, that was because my partner in crime has broken down for that idea. And just, you're right, it was a stupid idea.

00:42:20Melissa Erbacher: Look, for those people who enjoy doing that sort of crazy stuff, more power to you, but yeah, not how I want to be spending my New Year's morning. We had a great one too. We travelled down to Brisbane to get two more Brisbane events in. This is how I'm doing so well with the Brisbane thing at the moment because I've just been knocking them off all of December and January pretty much. We started at Pallara parkrun and we chose this double – I don't know how other people choose their doubles – I like to choose an event in Queensland that starts at 6.30 because this is the only day of the year where events are allowed to start earlier than 7 a.m. And it makes a big difference to me. I mean, obviously, it makes a big difference in terms of the heat and everything anyway. It just baffles me to hear that events in the UK are starting at 10.30. in the morning for their doubles. I'm like, but 10.30, that's half the day's gone. You couldn't do it in Queensland, certainly. not with the temperatures we have here. Anyway, I digress. Yeah, Pallara started at 6.30 and there was a lot more of a comfortable – you could do this double with Forest Lake and another event that started at 7 a.m. It is feasible and it's safe enough to travel the distance between the two. But I'm not going fast at parkrun at the moment and I do like to – beat as much of the heat as possible because just like you guys had in Melbourne, we had a bit of a scorcher and it always seems to be a scorcher on new year's day plus bonus starting at six 30 means that I finish at a parkrun time. Not unlike on a normal week when somebody would finish in 25 minutes. So that's always a bit of a novelty. It's a novelty. I get to experience once a year finishing parkrun at seven 20 or seven 25. Um, because I would never finish at seven 25 on any other week. Um, So it's nice to feel what that feels like for other people. And we did it with my family as well, my extended family, my brother and sister-in-law and their two kids, my niece and nephew, Rowan and Lani. And this was their first double, their first doing, like they've participated in the last few years just doing one event. They're a little bit younger than Kasia, but this was the very first year that they ran or walked both events and did 10K events. So they've been getting up to heaps of adventures at the same time as well. And that was great. It was awesome. I think that was probably the highlight. Not to mention the fact that the Ugly Christmas Singlets came out again, as they do. I didn't wear mine on the 29th, I should have mentioned, but Lyndell wore hers. So that was good to see. Or did I wear mine? No, I didn't. No, I didn't. But I definitely got it back out for New Year's Day because that's what better way to start the new year than with an Ugly Christmas Singlet. So that was cool too. We got lots of compliments once again for the singlets, people asking us where we got them and how they could get them. Sorry, people. Yeah, but beautiful course. The second event we went to was Forest Lake, which started at, they must have started at eight, which is about as late as I could possibly start, as well in Queensland. I wouldn't want to start any later than that. And fortunately, it was a really lovely, shady course, which really helped. And both events had, I think, course attendance records. It was just insane. And for Forest Lake in particular, you know, on a normal week, they – I'm not sure what the average is exactly, but prior to the end of last year, you know, they were getting 75. On most weeks, New Year's Day, they got 500, which just obliterated. That's a big bump. It just obliterated their course record. Since then, like this year so far, the last six weeks we've had, they've been up in the 120s, 150s. which is nice to see. So hopefully a whole bunch of those people who went for the first time at the double, you know, were people who were like, I want to try out this parkrun thing and it's local to them and they're sticking around. So that's really great to see. But the team were incredible. They just managed it like it was an every week thing. I was so impressed and I'm always impressed when the volunteers come can cope with that kind of difference because that is, you know, if you've got 70 parkrunners on normal week, you have like one Barcode Scanner. But to be able to cope with the numbers coming through and even for a Timekeeper, to cope with just the volume of people crossing the finish line. It's just incredible. And our results were bang on, you know. You couldn't fault them. So that was very incredible. And then you've got Pallara as well where we started at. On the 29th of December, they had 26 participants. Their average, which has probably been bumped up quite a lot, their average is 33, 33 runners, and they had 318 on New Year's Day.

00:48:00Scott Trickett: Look at you go with the stats. One thing we've liked about Mark and his roving reports is the way he's introduced the stats into it. But look at you. He's obviously had an influence on you.

00:48:12Melissa Erbacher: Well, you know, I just want to give credit where it's due. The team's handled it. Like, it's one thing to get up early on a public holiday and go for a run, which I indulge myself every year. I don't volunteer on New Year's Day. It's kind of my... guilty selfish indulgence to go and just participate but there are volunteer event teams out there that are putting it on for everybody else to do and to be able to do that and to do it so beyond what is normal and expected of their normal weeks is just incredible so thank you I want to say thank you to both teams at Pallara and Forest Lake for a wonderful morning best possible way to start the New Year um had such a great time family new friends it was it was awesome and they did a great job and also you know all the event teams there were so many records fell that morning it's just insane so yeah great job guys

Sign-off

00:49:15Scott Trickett: It was a big morning. It was a big morning. So that was week two of our Flashback Time Travel series. Tune in next week, Mel. What are we doing next week? It's January the 5th or something like that?

00:49:28Melissa Erbacher: Yes. Yes, it is.

00:49:31Scott Trickett: Okay. Can't wait. Now, that's going to wrap up our episode this week.

Poem Zone

00:49:37Scott Trickett: I want to mention I really wanted to bring back the Poem Zone. We had an entry from Eden at Roosevelt Island. Mel's banned it, so.

00:49:46Melissa Erbacher: I have not banned it.

00:49:48Scott Trickett: You banned it. You banned it. Just like I wouldn't allow people to reorder it.

00:49:54Melissa Erbacher: But I have not banned Eden's poem from Roosevelt Island.

00:49:59Scott Trickett: Okay. Well, this has been a long outro in the end, so we're going to bump it. Who knows? The Poem Zone may still come back. But if it never does, thanks, guys, for your entry. That came in over the Christmas period, and I didn't want to let it go by without mentioning it, that the Poem Zone is still alive and well. Maybe. Maybe. But thanks, Mel. Thanks for episode 145. Catch you next week for 146.

00:50:30Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, where we will both know where we park-ran together. So that could be an interesting episode.

00:50:38Unidentified speaker: Thank you.